Hand Tools

almost done......

Accidental Woodworker -

 The current shelf thing is done woodworking wise. When I killed the lights at 1530 I finished the last woodworking needed. Or at least I thought I had. If there isn't something that pops up tomorrow, I will wax it and call it 100% done.

 not a good start

I forgot that I had already sawn the sides to width yesterday.  These will work and I saved the off cuts. The plan was to glue them back on after the drawer was glued up.

 2nd brain fart

The side drawer slips are handed - there is a right and a left. I made two rights and I didn't have any more slips left. So I cut off the offending piece and fit the slip as is. This side won't have the slip extended underneath the back bottom of the drawer.

 stained

The pic shows a difference between the shelves in the four outside faces. Up close and personal I can't see the difference. I am pleased with how the color seems to be consistent throughout it. 

 first drawer fitted

I was surprised that I had to plane this to get it to fit. Yesterday just the drawer front was fitted with a 32nd gap all around. The assembled drawer was wider than the opening (R-L).

 glue and nails

Lightweight construction but I have a lot of confidence in this type of joinery. I made rabbeted boxes and drawers for years this way and they have all held up. I have a drill bit box that is nailed and rabbeted that I made over 40 years ago. It is still together with no hiccups with it at all.

 only two slips

The front of the drawer bottom fits in a groove in the drawer front. Because of that I only needed slips on the sides.

 new ones

The off cuts were too thin and shy of the top edge of the drawer. I had to make a couple of new inserts to glue in.

 drawer pulls

I have some knobs I could put on this but I am liking the idea of making my own pulls. I think have wooden ones made of wood like the rest of the shelf will blend in better. I'm shooting for something simple to match the rest of the shelf unit.

#8 round

The first attempt (on the long piece in the above pic) didn't go so well. I tried to use my fingers as a fence and that got flushed real quick. Nailed a fence to a wider piece of stock for the 2nd attempt and that worked well. The groove is to facilitate pulling open and closing the drawer.

2nd drawer, 3rd mind fart

The 2nd drawer is a 1/4" too long on the front to back. I screwed up on the width of the sides and I thought assumed they were ready to go on the length. I was wrong.

 up against the stop

The 2nd drawer wouldn't fit neither initially and I had to plane some off both sides. I looked at it from the back expecting to see maybe the top back edge or the sides were binding. Instead I found my mind fart as the back of drawer is up tight to the drawer stop. On a positive note, the drawer stop worked a treat.

sawed the back off

No problems sawing the back off the drawer (tablesaw). I glued up two thinner pieces to get the width needed for a new drawer back.

 cooking

I took this out of the clamps after about 45 minutes. Once the joinery on it is done it won't be subjected to any more stress as the back of the drawer.

 while the glue dries

Used the chisel to knock the corners of the handle off. I drew a 5/8 circle and after the chisel got it close I finessed it on the sanding block.

 fingers crossed

I am hoping that tomorrow I can get this wax on and call it done. The guy on the Epic Upcyling uses Briwax on everything he makes. I used it once in 2021 on two sliding lid boxes. Today they look good and they aren't greasy or sticky to the touch. Definitely doesn't look like a shellac finish but they do have a soft satin sheen to them.

new back

Glued and nailed again. I wanted to cut out the pitch pocket but I couldn't work around it.

 drawer sneak peek

As of now the handles are only glued on. I don't have room to get screws in from the drawer front into the handles. If the handles don't survive I will come up with a plan B. Mostly likely it will be the same handle but with a tenon to fit in a mortise.

accidental woodworker

medical appointment......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Had a medical appointment today and it wasn't for me. My wife had breast scan done today to check out a suspicious lump. Good news is that it is a cyst according to the radiologist. He said it was smooth and not irregular like cancer lumps. She has a follow up in 6 months. That was a relief because her mother had breast cancer and this disease is a mother daughter thing. Like prostate cancer is a father son thing.

no stupid wood tricks

The stock is over length and width. It is still flat and straight the next day and it will get a few more days to sticker before I work on it.

 the warm and fuzzy worry

This is the vertical divider and when I glued it up it was tight. The top and bottom opened up a wee bit from me moving the shelf unit around. 


 

french cleat

I used super glue to hold it in place temporarily. Because of the angle I couldn't use a clamp on it.

 ran out

The pilot hole wasn't centered on the cleat. It must have grabbed the grain and it punched out on the face. I used a golf tee to fill in the hole. As an aside these unfinished golf tees are almost a perfect match for a #8 screw. I had to whittle this one down some to get it to fit.

I put 5 screws through the top into the french cleat. I drilled a new pilot hole for this one after the med appt.

 belt sander action

I wasn't getting good results trying to plane the sides flush and smooth. Less than 5 minutes with the belt sander and all was well in Disneyland again.

 yesterday's bridle joint

Got it planed smooth and this is good enough to leave natural. There is a slight gap on the right top but for something off the saw, I'm happy with it as is.

 dated and labeled

I like to keep these so when I do another one I have something to compare it to. I have 5-6 of these sample joints gathering dust on the gas meter.

 comparison

The top one was done with a Ryobi saw and jig on 3/29/2020. They both have good tight joints but I would give a slight edge to the bottom one. Its gap is a tad smaller than the Ryobi one.

 shelf unit drawers

Decided to go with rabbeted joinery for the drawers. I also will be using drawer slips on the sides. Because of the rabbets I was able to plow a 1/8" groove in the drawer front bottom which won't show on the ends because of the sides. This is as far as I got for today. I should be able to finish the shelf unit thing tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

Did the ancient Egyptians invent plywood?

Working By Hand -

We think of plywood as a modern invention, but is it? it is surprising to learn that the ancient Egyptians were already using plywood. In the 1933 edition of Annales du Service des Antiquités, there is a description of a coffin whose walls, and bottom were made of plywood, found at Saqqara and dating from the Old Kingdom (ca. 2700–2200 BC). There are six layers of wood, each 4mm in thickness, placed with the grain alternating in each direction [1,2], just as you would find in modern plywood. The first layer of the interior side made of vertical boards, and the outer layer of horizontal boards. The boards were anywhere from 4-30cm in width, yet none of the pieces of wood was broad enough for the height of the sides, or long enough for the length of the coffin [3].

Fig.1: Diagram of the plywood from [2, p.164] showing the side and bottom layers of plywood joining.
Fig.2: Layers of wood forming the bottom of the coffin.

In certain places on the boards there are small holes, generally paired, which pass through all layers of the plywood, intended to help bind them together. Between boards of the same layer, connection was ensured using small independent tenons engaged and dowelled in corresponding mortises made in the thickness of each board. The joints of the boards a the corners of the body were reinforced with wooden sticks. Due to the scarcity of large wood pieces, it seems the ancient Egyptian carpenters were very skilled at the technique of “patchwork” construction, joining irregular pieces of wood “by means of flat tongues or dowels, butterfly cramps, various forms of lashing and pegging, and sometimes in fine work by tongue and groove.” [3].

Further reading

  1. Eric Marx, “Ancient Egyptian Woodworking”, Antiquity, 20, pp.127-133 (1946)
  2. Annales du Service des Antiquités, (1933)
  3. D.M. Dixon, “Timber in Ancient Egypt”, The Commonwealth Forestry Review, 53(3), pp.205-209 (1974)

Bending Dry Wood – Testing the Noumenon

The Barn on White Run -

I took a 10-foot piece of 3-inch PVC pipe and cut it into three 40″ pieces and glued on end caps to use as my re-conditioning chambers for the dried wood in preparation for steam bending it.  I filled each of the three with “modified” distilled water.

In the first case I added 1% Everclear 151, if you recall I have a lot laying around, to do nothing more than reduce the surface tension of the water and induce greater and quicker penetration.

For the second tube I added 1% of a mild detergent to act as a surfactant.  I would have used some Kodak Photo-Flow, an artifact from ancient days when photography was a film-based process rather than the electron aggregation it is now.  I could not find my bottle of Photo Flow (ordering more now) so I added some mild soy-based detergent, fairly neutral in its properties.  Were I being anal retentive I would have used Triton-100 pH neutral detergent but I don’t have all that much of it left and it is pricey.  Like the ethanol the purpose of the detergent is to act as a surfactant “wetting” agent and induce greater and quicker penetration of the water.

The final tube of distilled water was enhanced by 1% Downy fabric softener, to impart lubricity to the wood fibers.  I have to assume that the Downy has some portion of surfactant/detergent in it for the same purposes I am using, namely penetration and induced lubricity between the wood fibers.

I added one more of the modifications to this exercise, namely the increase of the wood surface area via a toothing plane.  Using one of my toothing planes I worked the flat sides of the wood strips until they were completely toothed, thus doubling the surface area.  Combining the expanded surface area with the surfactants in the modified water I can envision excellent penetration and wetting/re-conditioning.

I prepared a couple of each of the bent wood elements, serpentines, arms, and uni-splats, and stuck them into the tubes of wetter water.  To make sure they were completely submerged on the top end I cut and stuffed pieces of hardware cloth into the ends then topped off the tubes.  What I’m reading from the interwebz and private correspondence the pieces need to stay submerged for a week, so it’s looking like Friday morning will be Steam Bending Day.

I await the event with anticipation.  Even if everything is a complete failure I will have learned something important.  But, if everything is successful I will have the necessary parts in hand to begin L’il Gragg.  Probably not in time to finish before L’il T’s birthday, alas.

Endeavour......

Accidental Woodworker -

 This is the name of the current crime series I'm watching on Amazon. It is the prequel to the Inspector Morse series. This one is about a young Inspector Morse in the early 1960's. So far it has my attention unlike the 3 others I didn't make it through the first episode. This one is interesting and with the volume jacked up I can follow 80% of it. The accents aren't that bad to decipher and this series has 9 seasons. I think after I've watched all of these I'll check the Inspector Morse series.

 no surprises

No creaks and groans when I took the clamps off. I don't have a warm and fuzzy with this shelf thing. None of the shelves seemed to have seated fully in the dadoes and the oak especially gives me doubts. It is brittle and dry and the glue didn't soak into it readily. I'll keep an eye on this as I finish it up.

 this is history

I ordered a 5 gallon shop vac from Home Depot - they didn't have the one I wanted in the store. It is being shipped to the Warwick Home Depot and when it arrives I'll get an email to go pick it up. Until then I'll leave this alone because I haven't told it yet of its upcoming demise.

 ?????

The left vise face shouldn't be toeing in at the bottom like it is. This is why the mortise jig wasn't working for me a while back. It has been getting worse especially when I clamp something like this only at the top.

 french cleat

I did consider sawing it on the tablesaw. I don't like sawing angles on it but I did think of sawing it into two and then planing the 45s. Nixed that idea too and put on my big boy pants and sawed it by hand.

 happy face on

I have tried to saw 45s before this and they have all came out crappy. I have no problem following the line on the face I'm looking at as I saw. The hiccup is the back face, the saw wanders off the line into La La Land like it has a mind of its own. 

wow

The saw isn't dead nuts on the back face line but it is close. It is almost parallel to it and it is the best I've done so far. I scraped both faces clean so I could see/follow the pencil lines.

 done

This cleaned up easily for me. The shorter cleat was almost dead on 45 and straight and even end to end. The larger one I had to fuss with a bit more to get its 45 running straight and parallel end to end (had a slight taper to it).

 end on view

This should work ok and support the shelf unit with no hiccups. I am going to put the smaller part of the cleat (on the left) in the shelf unit. The larger part (on the right) will be secured to the wall. I chose the larger part for the wall to facilitate attaching it.

waiting for glue to dry

While the glue was cooking I sawed out a bridle joint. I wanted to compare using the jig to doing it without it. Layout was dead simple and the oomph part is next.

 so happy I could wet myself

I wasn't expecting this bridle joint to come so nice. My past attempts doing it by hand were nightmares. I sawed the mortise first and then the tenon. Sawed off the lines on that and used the router (on the tenon) to sneak up on the fit. I glued it and labeled as being done by hand (I'm saving it for future reference). The trick now is to repeat this 3 more times. I have one more painting to frame and it is going to be 33x34 on the inside dimensions.

 drawer stops

Glued in two strips of oak to act as drawer stops. The drawers aren't overly deep but will still manage to be about 3 3/4 to 4 inches deep.

 next project

Broke down the 8 foot pine board into the 4 component parts. PITA sawing it out because the board starting pinching the saw after the first 5-6 inches.

 stickered

It will probably be a few more days before I will be able to get back this. For what I have in mind for this, it shouldn't take too long to whack it out neither.

 drawer parts

The fronts are 1/2" oak and the sides and back will be 5/16" pine. Initially I thought I would do half blinds at the front and through at the back. Because of the thin sides/back (and the dry oak fronts) I'm thinking that maybe rabbeted might be a better choice. Either way the drawers will be lightweight.

Got the truck back from the garage just before lunch. No problems with the state inspection and it is good for two years. The registration is only good for one year because it is a truck.

accidental woodworker

glued and cooking......

Accidental Woodworker -

 The current shelf/cabinet thing is almost done. I got the shelves fitted, glued and cooking by 1500. I still have the drawers to do before I can put a check mark in the done column. Stilling mulling about what kind of drawers to do. Half blinds are on the pole position but through dovetails and even rabbeted drawers are clamoring for some love too. I'm thinking that maybe wednesday it will be complete. Most likely I'll give this to my sister Kam.

 last night

After dinner last night I came back to the shop and glued the carcass. This was a better way forward with this. If I had waited until this AM I would have glued it up and then what? This way it was ready to work on when I turned the lights on this AM.

 new shelves

I had a 1/2" thick oak board that I used to make 3 new shelves. The 3 I did yesterday I made all too short. This oak board is a wee bit thicker than the original oak shelves. I didn't want to taper the ends to get them to fit the stopped dadoes so I planed a rabbet until they did.

 last two dadoes

This oak is too loose for the dado. I had planned on using new oak for the vertical divider but the largest left over piece was too short. One option I looked at was gluing a piece of veneer on this oak piece.

 frog hair too wide

This piece is tall enough but the grain orientation is not correct. It is also too thick to fit the dado but a couple of strokes with a plane would cure that.

 bottom shelf

I only need a dado fully across the the bottom of the shelf . On the bottom of the first shelf I only need a small notch to hold the top of the vertical drawer divider.

hmm.....

I didn't think this all the way through. Before I glued this up I had thought about chopping this dado. No problems swinging straight down onto the chisel but I missed that I would need to swing from the side at an angle. 

I got it done but it was slow going and awkward. I had to chop it with the bevel down. There was just enough room to whack the chisel and pop out a chip. Thankfully there was only one of these to do.

 drawer divider

There isn't any need to have a horizontal drawer runner at the top. I notched the vertical divider so the dado wouldn't need to come out on the front end.


 top notch

I wasn't sure if I could get the vertical divider in place at first. The top had to be in the notch as the shelf was put into the side dadoes. I got it fitted on the first dry run and on the next couple I tried to make sure I had a handle on it.

 dry fitted

The vertical divider between the 2nd and 3rd shelves is from two pieces I glued together. It is only about 2/3 of the width of the shelves - I think it looks better than if it was the same width as the shelves.

 gluing the shelves

I will glue the vertical divider tomorrow after the shelves have cooked overnight.

 french cleat?

This shelf isn't getting a back so using a french cleat to hang it makes sense to me. This way the back of it will be the wall it is hanging on.

 the french cleat

This is wide enough that I can get both parts of the cleat from it.

 0 for 2

The first two stains I tried were walnut and special dark walnut. Neither of them were close to the brown of the cabinet. Sanding the cabinet is out of the question now that it glued up. I was trying to find a stain that was kind of close to the color of the cabinet. I just need it to be similar enough so the wax coat will blend it all together.

 raw and finished look

This is red oak stain and I'm going with it. The stain on raw wood is brownish and kind of looks like the original stained oak. It is wet looking on the stained oak but that should change as it dries. I'll take a peek at this after dinner but fingers crossed the red oak is the winner.

accidental woodworker

Revelations in Snow

David Fisher - Carving Explorations -

Out of the bosom of the Air,        Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken Over the woodlands brown and bare,        Over the harvest-fields forsaken,              Silent, and soft, and slow              Descends the snow.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Snow-flakes” (1863) Yesterday … Continue reading

2 for 2.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 

 $81

That is the cost for the conservation glass, the teal matting, and the backer board

I went and got the watercolor from the Frame it Shop today. Wow. Even I was impressed with it. I was a little concerned about how the frame, the mat, and the watercolor would interplay with it other. I thought the frame and mat might have been too busy for the watercolor but I like the interplay between them. Not only did I like it but my wife liked it too.

I learned that this watercolor wasn't from her mother but her aunt (her mother's twin sister). My wife liked the frame and the mat but not the water color. She is freaked out by sea creatures. I tried to explain that loggerhead turtles are harmless but to no avail. I was gaga that my wife had expressed liking two things in a row that I had made but it lost a wee bit of shine because she didn't like the pic. She is going to give it to Amanda's husband for his birthday.

 this is history

This is a space taking hog. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks now and its days in the shop are numbered. 99% of what I use this for is to vacuum up shellac dust and steel wool debris. I never use it to vac the deck or hardly ever to suck up saw dust from the tablesaw. I'm thinking of down sizing to a 5 gallon unit that has almost as much HP/suction as this one does or doesn't have. It is an old vac that I got in the early 1980's. She is ready to be put out to pasture.

 all seated

I don't know what I did but I took it apart after looking at the corner that wasn't seated. I looked at the tails and pin sockets and saw nothing glaring. I did another dry fit and nada. All the tails were seated and gap free. Still scratching my butt giving it goofy looks trying to figure out what was wrong and why it is now ok.

 not easy

Routing the dado went in dribs and drabs. It would remove some and then hit something and it wouldn't move forward. I had to switch between chiseling it and using the router to get to depth.

 one side fitted

None of them fit after plowing the dado. I used the skew rabbet plane to shave a wee bit off the end doing that until I got a snug fit.

 1x12x96

Road trip to Lowes to get this -8bf for $49. I wanted to go to Gurney's but it was snowing this AM so I nixed that. I have a project in mind for this that needs two boards 11" wide by 24" long and two boards 11" wide by 21" wide. I'll start on this after the oak cabinet is done.

 frustration highway

What a PITA getting the shelves dry fitted. The bottom kept coming off as I tried to fit the shelves. Even with a clamp on the bottom it was still mostly a hit or miss operation. I should have paid attention to that but it sailed over my head.

 doesn't fit

I was struggling mightily not to give this flying lesson. This was the third time I was fitting/trimming the the shelves. On the bright side each fit was too long so I had to shave them each time to get it to fit. The fit was giving me fits and I was getting frustrated. When I get frustrated with headaches like this I start searching for my 3lb sledge hammer.

 the cause

It finally penetrated my thick walled brain bucket that it was because I kept changing the clamps. Quick and F clamps weren't cutting it and closing up the tails and pins tight. The besseys did it and that was what was changing the fitting of the shelves. I shoulda, woulda, coulda, but didn't use besseys from the git go.

I quit here for the day and killed the lights. Tomorrow I will glue the pins/tails and let that set up before fitting the shelves again. All three were longer than the carcass as is in this pic. After the shelves are fitted I will plow the final dadoes for the drawer divider/runners and the shelf separator between the 2nd/3rd shelf.

accidental woodworker

Pop the bubble wrap – let kids play with tools

Working By Hand -

If you grew up in the 1980s, or before, you likely remember a time when kids were allowed to take risks, I mean our whole childhood seemed to involve a risk of one sort or another. I remember being able to buy potassium permanganate (from a chemist in Australia, the equivalent of a pharmacy), and adding a second ingredient to make it spontaneously combust. We use to carry knives when camping, and learned very early the dangers of fire. Yet we played with all these things and survived. I don’t ever remember anyone getting majorly injured, and if they did, they lived with whatever scars they had… most of which we patched up with some disinfectant and a band-aid. If someone broke their arm acting stupid on a play structure, they didn’t seal off the play structure. People that grew up in the atomic era of the 1950s had it even riskier – dangerous toys like chemistry sets, physics sets with real uranium samples, and rocket kits.

Fun and dangerous toys?

A recent article on this subject talked about letting kids take risks… including “supervised play involving tools, like using an axe and hammer to build a fort”. But instead some parents continue to dump their kids in front of a screen of some sort – I mean it’s easy right? Kids use to be outside, building forts, climbing trees, and damming creeks. These days when you walk through a neighbourhood there are few if any kids outside. There are ravines close by to where I live, which in the 1970s I imagine would have been filled with kids in the summer… today they are mostly empty. Sure the difference is that anyone born before 1980 had to amuse themselves as kids. The adage “children should be seen and not heard” rang true, although I kinda believe it was more “children should be neither seen nor heard”, at least until dinner time (when they could be seen).

Stanley Tool Chest No.904½
Children’s play-tools from Bonumwerke Tigges & Winckel (Germany, 1935)

Look, I’m not advocating for dangerous toys, but iPads and gaming platforms likely do more damage to young people than any of the 1950s toys ever did. What we have managed to do is raise a couple of generations of kids that have no perceived skills with tools, few ideas about building things – whether that be tools in the kitchen, in the workshop, or outdoors (Lego sets are not really that imaginative these days, they really are just follow-the-instruction type toys), and little in the way of problem solving skills. Hammers are not dangerous, if kids are taught to use them properly, and that’s the key here, learning to use them properly. Already in the 1930s it wasn’t unusual for tool companies to sell “children’s tool kits”.

Building models from scratch or using building kits?

But it isn’t even woodworking tools. Kids from bygone eras built models, like ships, or aircraft, and whole model railroad systems, from scratch. There were magazines dedicated to building things, like the British magazine (and store) Hobbies, and systems of building like Meccano, Minibrix, or Fischer-Technik. That is to say there were also methods of learning to build things that didn’t involve axes and chisels. Meccano Magazine for instance included articles on building things with Meccano, but also articles on engineering things, and new concepts in transportation, aircraft, building.

You had to teach yourself basic tool skills, because if you wanted a go-cart, you had to build one yourself. Maybe you got hold of some lawnmower wheels, and salvaged some lumber from the neighbourhood somewhere, but basically you had to build the thing yourself. All these skills, often self-taught boosted your problem-solving abilities, and likely had an impact on developing fine motor skills as well.

The bottom line is that we have somehow concluded that all these skills can be learned in a virtual digital realm, and that just isn’t true. Because what we end up with is people who grow up with few if any real skills, i.e. they can’t even use a hammer, all because parents (and schools) feel like everything is too dangerous. Again, I’m not advocating for kids to walk around with pocket-knives, and whittling branches in the school yard, sadly those days are gone. But what about advocating for more summer camps where kids can learn some basic tool skills? It is time to pop the bubble-wrap and let kids actually learn to play with tools and build things.

DMV.....

Accidental Woodworker -

 I think these 3 initials strike dread and fear in whatever state you live in. My living hell was today. I need my state inspection but I also need the current registration which I did not have. Couldn't find it in any of the holes I checked. So I made an appointment with the DMV to get a copy of it. Unbeknownst to me the appointment I thought I had for today was actually made for monday which was too late for me. How does someone confuse today with monday? At least I have a good excuse with being partially deaf.

My wife told me to go to AAA and get it there. I called ahead, got an appointment for today, and I confirmed it. I got there a half hour early, filled out the paperwork, and I got called early. That made sense because I was the only customer waiting for service. Instead of getting a copy of my registration the rep told me I should renew it because it was due for renewal in march. So I spent $65 earlier than I thought I would but I'm good for another year. State vehicle inspection on monday and I think that one is good for two years. 

 it was rocking

The base was a wee bit twisted - the bottom left and top right corners were high. I wanted to get this started with shellac but I'll put it off until tomorrow.

I checked the date on the bottom and it is 10/2023 which I find incredibly hard to believe. I know I made this at least 4-5 years ago. I think this date is for when I fixed the hinge issue even thought I don't recall doing that.

 another no mortise hinge experiment

I got a comment from Kevin about these hinges that Sylvain commented on and clarified for me. It got my curiosity piqued and I had to try it out. I'll be using the same two scraps of pine I used on the first hinge experiment.

 inset door

In the first experiment the door over laid the edge. This one will have the door inset on the inside face. First step was squaring a line across the two pieces.

 small leaf first

Like I did the first one, securing the small hinge was done first. With the hinge as is here I used a vix bit to drill the two pilot holes first (counter sinks facing down). Then I flipped the hinge and screwed the small leaf in place.

large hinge next

I didn't have to flip the large leaf and I drilled pilot holes and screwed it in place. I used the reference square line I drew first to align it.

 sweet

Flawless and awkward free installation. I had the square reference line and I was able to use the barrel to align the hinge for the small and large leaves. Doing a inset door like this also means there is no headaches with the screws poking through to the face.

 mystery solved

I believe the key to installing these no mortise hinges is to get the small hinge screwed on first. It doesn't matter if the door is an overlay or an inset one. If I had done inset doors on the carved leaf cabinet I wouldn't have any problems with the screws being too long.

 off the saw (oak cabinet)

These are not my best tails/pins but I am ok with them. I was expecting this to be a whole lot worse than this. The half pins have gaps but too small to throw a dog through. The slopes of the tails are pretty close considering I sawed them with muscle memory rather than following a pencil line.

second set

Went together off the saw and the fit is lot better. I'm pretty sure once glue is applied the pins/tails will swell shut and tighten up.

 tail side

The tails aren't seating tight in the pin sockets. This is the only corner that is doing this. This end is also one of the wonky ends of the two sides. The other wonky side is nice with only one half pin gap.

 nope

It didn't close up boys and girls with moderate clamp pressure. I'll have to check into this and see what is holding the pins and tails from fully meshing.

 dry fit

The carcass is square within +/- a 32nd and I am laying out the first shelf visually. It ended up being 3 1/2" up from the bottom.

 the final layout

No adjustable shelves in this cabinet. The drawer opening is 3 1/2" and there is 7" between the first and second shelf with the distance between the other two shelves at about 6" each. I was thinking of making the drawers different widths and I still might do that. For now the plan is two equal, centered drawers

The dado work for this should be exciting. Chopping the dovetails was an adventure. They splintered, cracked, and it was not like doing them in pine. I'm not sure what is going to happen chopping the dadoes or how hard it will be using the router on them.

accidental woodworker

Bending Dry Wood For L’il Gragg – The Noumenon Phase

The Barn on White Run -

Over my many years of teaching furniture conservation, essentially an amalgam of materials science and aesthetics with a dash of esoteric problem solving, I always emphasized my conception of Synthetic Thinking.  By that I meant employing/combining, or synthesizing, both the observable physical effects of doing this-or-that, along with the unobservable — ideas, knowledge, speculations, hunches, theories — roaming around inside our heads.  In bringing both to the problem we would be synthesizing the Phenomenon, that which can be observed, with the Noumenon, that which can only be contemplated.  I am reminded of the opening lines to historian Paul Johnson’s monumental work Modern Times, a history of the 20th century.  As Johnson remarked, as I recall but it’s been a number of years since I read the book, Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved that Einstein’s theories were no longer just theories.

For now I am in the “Noumenon” phase of addressing the problem of steam bending dried wood.  The Phenomenon phase will come soon enough as I put those noumenon contemplations to the test in reality.

For starters, there is great doubt as to whether kiln dried wood can be re-moisturized exactly as the wood was before it got dried, or whether it can only be conditioned to mimic green-ish-ness for the purposes of bending the wood.  I suppose the chemical thermodynamics of re-integrating water molecules into or in between the wood fiber molecules could be accomplished, as my late friend and colleague Mel Wachowiak used to comment, “With enough force you can pull the tail off a living cow.”  For now all I am trying to imagine is mimicking the effects of that integration.

So, how do I best get water into the wood to make it “green” again?  (This may be the only time I will ever utter any desire to make things “green.”)   There are many considerations to test out, but the point is how do I, or can I even, get water back into the wood to affect its behavior under the conditions I want, i.e. steam bending dried wood?

Merely soaking the wood in water is a place to begin conceptually, but by itself I surmise this to be a low efficiency way to approach the problem.  Example: when I was trying to ebonize some tulip poplar to see if I could use it as banding for my tool cabinet, I soaked some 1/4″ pieces of the wood in a bath of India ink.  Since the ink was waterborne shellac with a carbon black colorant, I could discern the effectiveness of the penetration by simply sectioning the wood and see what happened.  What happened was that two weeks’ soaking submerged in the bath yielded a penetration of less than 1/16″.  Though the objective was entirely different then than now, the memory of that exercise makes me less optimistic about that approach for re-moisturizing wood as a precursor steam bending.  True, moisture diffusion in tulip poplar is not the same as with oak, whose moisture transport is much more dynamic.  Even the oaks are dramatically different in their moisture transport, with red oak being much more transparent to moisture transmission than white oak due to the comparatively open cell/fiber structure.

Even so I considered several ways to enhance the introduction of moisture and came up with a few ideas to test out.

Modifying the Water

What could happen if I could make the water into something better?  How about if I —

Make water wetter?

If I could make water wetter, in other words to increase its capacity for infiltration into the wood, I just might have something.  Well, the two methods I have at my disposal for making water wetter involve reduction the surface tension of the water, to make it wick or flow better into the substrate more aggressively than it would on its own.  The two methods are to 1) add surfactant, and 2) add solvent.  In the first case simply adding some detergent or soap would greatly reduce the surface tension of the water and let it soak in more deeply and more quickly.  In the second, adding water miscible (compatible) solvent like ethanol or propanol would do the same thing.

Increase surface area for better penetration

Regardless of how the water is modified, it is, I think, an undeniable proposition that giving it a greater surface area in which it does its penetrating magic is a winner.  The question is, how do I go about that?  I could easily multiply the surface area by dragging the surface over a bandsaw blade but that simultaneously imparts a multitude of cross grain irregularities, which would serve as a focal point for fracture origination.

But, how about increasing the surface area with along-the-grain striations?  Something as simple as quickly working the surface along the grain with a toothing plane would increase the surface area by some factor approximating 2X.  I think I’m liking this noumenon.

Or, changing the chemistry/structure of the wood on hand – ammonia gas at pressure, surfactant/fabric softener lubricity

I do not have either a pressure/vacuum chamber adequate for the chair pieces, so that isn’t even something to really contemplate.  Maybe some day, but not this day.  Besides, I do not expect to ever possess gaseous ammonia.  Because.  Besides, when using ammonia to facilitate bending wood there could be a lengthy off-gassing period.

On the other hand I do have fabric softener in the shop.  I cannot pretend to possess a full understanding of how that would work but the product’s main functionality is to “fluff” fibers through ionic interactions, but also, more importantly, penetrate into fiber bundles and impart lubricity.  Sure, wood fibers are not identical to textile fibers but they just might be close enough to do the same trick.

Quote David Bowie

How about some p-p-p-pressure?  Or its inverse?  As I said earlier I do not possess a vacuum/pressure chamber to force the water in or suck the air out, resulting in the wood sucking the water in, while this is a definite winner it requires technology I do not possess.

Use bending straps

Bending straps are a routine part of the equation when I’m bending full-scale Gragg parts, generally somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-1/8″ x 5/8″ in cross section.  Since the Gragg chairs are always painted I just screw plumbers’ straps in the necessary places and get going.  But for the L’il Gragg the pieces are only 1″ x 3/8″, with a bending cross section only half as much.  I really hope to bend these without straps but will use them if needed.

Exploit Thermodynamics

In its most basic and fundamental applications, thermodynamics is the study of energy (applied to some function) x time (that the energy in applied).  At our level of work we can assume some general inverse relativity; more energy means less time, more time means less energy to accomplish the same task.  This may or may not work here as there are activation energy thresholds.  But what about changing the formula for steam bending from 1 hour per inch of wood to 2 hours, 3 hours, X number of hours?  It might just work, but my steam generator only holds about 1-1/4 hours of water.  If I take a lengthy trip down this theoretically sensible route, I would have to devise a whole new water heating/steam delivery system.  That strikes these lazy bones as non-optimal.

Using different wood (harvest new trees)

It could be that in the end none of these options, individually or in concert, will do the trick.  In that case, fire up the chain saw and reach for my bag of wedges and the froe.  It’s about time to continue work on next winter’s firewood harvest so maybe that’s the route.

But not until I gather some phenomena.

another check mark......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Put a check mark in the done column for the 15 drawer dresser. I don't like to think about it but I'm pretty sure it is going to be painted. Especially so if my wife has anything to do about it. At least until that happens I can ooh and aah over it until it goes away.

 nature's best painting

I can't see why anyone would want to paint and hide what nature has done. On the bucket list is another 15 drawer chest but made in cherry. Hopefully I'll get that done before I take my dirt nap.

 back up frame

Used my set of round over tools (Veritas ones based on Stanleys) to round over the inside edge of the frame. I used the tool to offset it from the corners. It would be too difficult to extend the round overs into and out of the corners.

 rethinking painting this

I got the outside edges rounded over and smoothed the top edge of the chamfer so there is no longer a 'line' on the face. The corners aren't horrible looking and there isn't glaring evidence of the shim work I did on the bridle joinery. I'm thinking of shellac now instead of paint. But again, the wife will be the one to say nay or yea.

I went to the Frame it Shop and I got there at 1045 and Maria was just getting there (opens at 1000). The picture is still not done. She has had it for over 3 weeks and she told me she would do it today. I told her I would stop by again tomorrow. Any bets that she won't have it done when I stop by? 

 almost done

I made this 3-4 years ago and it languished waiting to have the hinges installed. The problem was the lid is only 7/16" thick and the screws were too long. The lid is bridle jointed with a cherry insert in the middle. The main carcass is pine so it isn't exactly a fancy jewelry box but I think it would be nice for a young girl. I have always wanted to carve the initials of the recipient in the cherry panel. I've been reading my Chris Pye book on letter carving. Not so sure I want my first letters to be done on this.

 interior

This tray lifts out revealing more storage underneath. I was surprised to see the hinges installed because I don't remember doing that. Since there aren't any screws poking out on the top I can surmise I solved the too long headache. The leaves on the top are surface mounted rather then being mortised. I'll get some shellac on this and then wait for some young lady to show up on the horizon.

 oak cabinet

I've been doing dovetails now for 14 years and this is my first time dovetailing oak. I couldn't see the slope (done in pencil) when it came time to saw them. I just let muscle memory kick in and sawed away. Not perfect symmetry but still looks hand sawn.

 PITA

These two ends are wonky and the blue tape couldn't pull the two together flat. This was a bit of a challenge sawing and trying to avoid the clamps but I got it done. I thought of doing them separately but decided to clamp and work around it.

 healthy gap

Putting a clamp at either end didn't fully flatten this. I had to use two clamps to remove it fully. I put an extra tail in the mix to help with keeping it flat come time to glue it up.

 last one

It was a bit awkward sawing but I didn't hit the clamps doing it. I feel better knowing that both ends are symmetrical. 

dull

It did ok on the first side dovetails but it ran out of gas quick on the 2nd side. One of the slopes on the tails was off the angle from the others. It was also a bear to chop the waste. I felt like I was trying to chop stone. I stropped the chisel several times and it wasn't up to the task. I'll be spending some quality time with the stones in the AM.

accidental woodworker

International Shipping and Globalization

Tools For Working Wood -

Joseph Smith's "Explanation or Key to the Various Manufactories of Sheffield" C. 1816
Joseph Smith's "Explanation or Key to the Various Manufactories of Sheffield,"also known as Smith's Key, is one of the earliest tool catalogs. Originally published in 1816, The Key is simply a collection of tool engraving showing many different tools and style. Pretty much all the manufacturers made the same products. Smith, a printer, would print the engravings and the manufacturer, dealer, representative, or salesperson would assign their own prices.

The EAIA (Early American Industries Association) reprinted a copy of the Key in 1975 (a different copy than the link to the scan) and included the only surviving price list connected to the key - a printed price list from James Cam, a Sheffield manufacturer, complete with hand-written Spanish translations of many of the categories. The theory is that this particular price list and key was used by a salesman in Spain or another Spanish-speaking country to take orders. Think about this: in the 1820s you could be nearly anywhere in the world and order from an English tool company. And eventually your tools would show up! This is globalization in action, at a time much earlier than we tend to think of global trade. As technology changed, we went from a guy taking orders and money, and sending a letter by ship, and then waiting months, to Sears and Roebuck, and then mail order tool companies, and then the internet (and us). What made the mail order business grow (and in my view, the trigger for the entire Industrial Revolution) was that the English government recognized early on that in order for international trade to grow, it had to be reliable. So the English established and guarded safe sea routes, and kept standards to trade that enabled demand to skyrocket. And reliability in global international trade has dictated the way business works around the world since then. Sadly, from a retailer's perspective, since COVID the world has gotten smaller. And it's really unfortunate.

I mention this because I am sorry to report that we have once again suspended international shipping. Before Covid, we shipped a lot of orders all over the world. We had some challenges from time to time - I'll always remember a hand-scrawled note of "No Sharp Knives" written on a return-to-sender shipment of rasps to Buenos Aires that the USPS claimed could have been written by anyone, including the Argentine pilot - but service was acceptably reliable even if not great. During the height of Covid, most international shipments were suspended and even when service resumed or quasi-resumed, shippers backed away from their commitments and guarantees to actually deliver the packages. Post-Covid, two things have happened: the first is that the actual cost of shipping has skyrocketed. What used to cost fifteen bucks now costs fifty. The second thing is that both in the EU and England VAT taxes are supposed to be collected by the shipper. This has complicated matters tremendously.

During Covid we had to turn off international shipping. Since then, we have been slowly resuming international shipping. We addressed the VAT issue by using Global Post, which takes care of taxes and other paperwork concerns. The company uses a combination of services that starts with USPS but includes a managerie of independent carriers for other parts of the international journey. They seem to use whatever is cheapest for them.

We were initially delighted to offer a service that was strikingly less expensive than the USPS International service. But unfortunately we have discovered it loses about a third of our orders. Actually, of that number, probably only half are truly lost (we'll call this group "if we're lucky"). The other half is temporarily lost in that the trail disappears. Sometimes they decide the order is undeliverable even if it's going to an address that's been confirmed six ways from Sunday. Those orders eventually come back to us. If they lose the order, and we're lucky and spend a lot of time on the issue, we might get a refund that includes the cost of the postage. If we're unlucky, we'll get a beat-up package months later returned to us as marked undeliverable, with no refund of anything, especially not of the postage. By then, of course, we have refunded the customer. A scheme that loses so many shipments is not sustainable. It is also it's a time sink. In order to track down where the order might or might not be, we might have to deal with three different vendors, with no automated coordinating system in any of them, with all of them offering variations on the theme of "Hey it's not us, it's the other guy." Needless to say, since we're only billed by one company, if the package was lost by the other two companies there's no incentive from anyone to help us.

So that's why we feel forced, very regrettably, to shut down international shipping.

Some of our products are available in Europe from Dieter Schmid (Germany), Baptist (Netherlands), and in Canada from Lee Valley.

If the situation improves, we will revisit this. If you have currently an international order in process, fingers crossed that it arrives. Otherwise email us and we will figure it out.

N.B. If you page through the tools in the copy of The Key that I link to above, you'll see are all B+W engraving, but the tableware listed later in the catalog is hand-colored and is just amazing.

A price list to The KeyA price list to The Key

she wants it.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Well boys and girls you could have knocked me out with a snowflake today. I asked my wife if there was someone I could give the carved leaves cabinet to. She shocked me into a stupor by saying she not only liked but that she wanted to keep it for herself. She readily admitted that she would have to find a hole for it somewhere in the house, but she wanted it for herself. This is only the second thing I have made (not expressly for her) that she was this gaga about. Hmmm...., I'll have to file this away in the brain bucket for future projects.

 enlarging holes

The 3/8" holes are exactly one frog hair too snug for the Stanley pilot hole pin punches. The headache with using a rat tail file to enlarge a hole is the file is tapered and the likely hood of getting an oval tapered hole is fairly high. As a back up I had a dowel wrapped with 100 grit sandpaper to help out.

 getting closer

From looking at the fit of the punch the hole is still round and concentric to the punch. The fit was loose but I widened it a bit more because this should contract come summer time.

 done

I glued a thin pine scrap to the bottom  because the 3 pin punches on the right have their holes drilled completely through.

 why I made it

These are the holders for the #3, #5, and #9 Vix bits. I lost 2 of the caps and all 3 of the holders are split at the top and none of them capture the red cap. I got tired of having to read each Vix bit to see which number it was because they never seemed to be able to stay in respective holders. That is no longer a concern.

 prepping the new frame

The frame is 3/4" pine that will be painted. I didn't want to put a rabbet in it and lose any depth so I put a frame offset from the inside edge a 1/4". That will house the glass, the art work, and the matting. 

 the front face

This is why I nailed and glued a 2nd frame to the back. I want the full thickness of the 3/4" thick frame to offer depth before the art work. I don't like it being close to the front face - I like it to be recessed and 'window' like.

that sucked pond scum

This is one of my favorite molding planes. It a Preston and Sons ogee profile but today it let me down. It molded the long grain perfectly but going across the end grain on the bridle joints tore out like crazy. I fixed that by planing a chamfer removing the molded profile and the tear out on the ends of the bridle joints. I didn't want a chamfer but the tear out was especially ugly looking.

 MIA

Got some blowouts on the ends planing the chamfers. I got it on all four corners and I filled them in with putty.

 cabinet layout #1

This doesn't do anything for me. It looks like it needs more shelves to complete the layout pattern.

 the 4th layout

I kind of like this one but it looks too busy for my eye. The bottom opening is getting two drawers and the second shelf I think would look better if the vertical dividers were 'L' shaped instead of extending from the 2nd to the 3rd shelves. I have lots of time to agonize over this.

 frame 99.9% done

I am not in love with the chamfer on the frame. My gut reaction is to shitcan it and go with a round over. I stopped here and my wife and I went to lunch. Fish 'n chips for me and a patty melt for Diane.

The layout on the cabinet is the one that I think I'm going with. The second and third shelves are divided and the top one will be open.

 better look

I have enough stock left to get the center drawer divider and the drawer fronts. The sides and back I'll use pine or whatever else I have that is wide and long enough. All through lunch I was running this through the brain bucket and I'm leaning towards putting one 'L' shaped vertical divider on the second or third shelf.

 round over it is

I just don't like the chamfer and it is a wee bit too much to sand out with this. I'll have to give it a helping hand by planing the bulk of it first and then smoothing it with the sander.

 one more

The carcass of the dresser has 4 coats and the base and feet have 7 or 8. One more on the whole of it and I get to ooh and aah over it.

 who knew

I brought this upstairs to cure the shellac by the radiator rather then have it sit in the cooler shop. My wife saw this in the shop but never said anything about it. Once it was upstairs she went gaga over it. She just mentioned to me about hanging it on the porch somewhere, somehow.

accidental woodworker

Makers Meet To Make A Mold, Second Part

The Barn on White Run -

The next morning I demolded the first half of the silicon rubber for MattC’s hammer head.  I cleaned all the surfaces of any residual clay from the embedding.  I spread a parting agent (petroleum jelly) over all of the silicon mold surfaces and reassembled the first half mold including the original wooden master pattern and the attendant elements.  [Sorry for the blurry pic — note to self, do not drop your camera on the concrete floor, it don’t work so good after that)

Reconstructing an identical plastic brick dam, I repeated the mixing and Matt poured the liquid silicon molding material and we let it sit again overnight to harden.

Once the entire rubber mold was separated and cleaned it was ready to go for making wax models for lost wax casting.  I did cast one wax pattern and saw that I needed to expand the sprues a little with a scalpel.  Had I used a larger piece of wire or tubing there would not have been a problem.

Just for the heck of it I walked him through the process for casting pewter directly into the mold, which requires depositing powdered graphite on all the cast surfaces to reduce the surface tension of the molten metal.  I mimicked the process with wax and he got a kick out of the metallic-looking wax pattern.

At this point I turned the mold over to Matt to proceed with the enterprise from his end.  My work was done.

Except for the second hammer head.  Stay tuned.

European Spruce/Canada Cypress Classical Guitar Available at Savage Classical Guitar

Wilson Burnham Guitars -

My 2021 European Spruce/Canada Cypress classical guitar is available again at Savage Classical Guitar!







 

European spruce top 

Back and sides are triple laminated : cypress, birch, curly maple

654mm string length

52mm wide fretboard at nut

62mm at 12th fret

59mm string spacing at bridge 

490mm body length

278mm upper bout 

245mm waist

372mm lower bout

Ebony fretboard

East Indian rosewood bridge

Schaller GrandTune tuning machines with bearings

A beautiful instrument with a gorgeous voice that is loud and projects, classical guitarist Alfredo Muro declares “it is a marvelous guitar!” 

wet and heavy......

Accidental Woodworker -

 When I got up this AM there was a white blanket covering everything as far as I could see. It snowed steadily, albeit lightly, from when I got up to about 1500. Some where in between that it rained a wee bit and turned the snow into flush. It was heavy and difficult to dump when I shoveled it. I got the sidewalk cleared and removed the snow from the truck when I said No Mas, No Mas. My back started to protest after the second shovel full and it didn't stop whining and crying until I went back inside. What is left will probably freeze and I'll deal with it as best I can.

done

The bottom right corner is camera shy but all four corners are fitted. I was surprised by how well the corners flushed up. They weren't perfect but they weren't out much more than a few frog hairs.

 dry fit

The diagonals were dead nuts on.

 glued and cooking

The gaps on the right due to the shim blowing and tearing out. Otherwise the fit would be almost perfect.

 2nd corner

Gaps again due to the outside edge of the shim tearing out.

3rd corner

One spot ruined a good, snug fit which I got in spite of the tear out.

 4th and last corner

I have no hesitation with the bridle being strong and staying together. I am pretty confident that all the corners will clean and smooth up seamlessly too.

 3rd coat

I was trying to do the drawers and still have the workbench free. I gave up once I realized that sawdust and shellac don't mix.

 couldn't do it

I was all set to paint the carcass but changed my mind. IMO this should be finished naturally so the 'picture' of the wood shows through. If Amanda wants to paint it the shellac will be a good sealer base coat for paint.

 2nd coat
I like to get a lot of shellac on the bottom end grain feet along with the cutouts. I did the first coat with it vertically and #2 I horizontally on the saw horses. Much easier this way and I didn't have to kneel on the deck to do it.

 experiment time again

I was cleaning up and started to play with this hinge. I noticed that the countersinks are on opposite faces. The larger outer leaf has the countersinks facing up. The smaller inner leaf has its countersinks on the other face.

 hmm.....

The countersinks still aren't that deep but it got me thinking that maybe I had installed these wrong. I think the correct way is to screw on the smaller leaf first and then the outer larger one.

 no reference edge

On the cabinet I just made I installed the larger outer leaf first and then struggled getting the smaller inner leaf second. I should have reversed the order but there was a hiccup. The barrel can't be pressed against the edge to reference and steady the hinge leaf.

 my preference

Push the hinge barrel up tight to the edge and mark/drill for the screws. This doesn't work for these no mortise hinges.

 small leaf reference

The hinge barrel is not up against the edge of the stock. With the countersinks facing up the inside edge of the barrel hinge faces down. There is nothing to steady the hinge while you mark/drill for the screws.

 1000

It was still coming down in a mixture of wanna be snow and rain. Took a break on the hinge to get a headache thinking about it.

 next project

I don't remember where I got this 1/2" thick oak from but it is going to be another cabinet.

 back to the regularly scheduled program

As soon as I did this I could see it was the only way to do this. The countersinks in the small hinge are facing down but I was able to use the barrel hinge to register the hinge where I want it. I use a Vix bit to drill pilot holes for the screws with the hinge in this orientation and then flipped it and screwed it down.

 looks good

I have always had a lot of problems with these hinges but so far this is falling into place for me. After drilling the pilot holes I flipped the hinge and screwed the small leaf down. In my experiment the small leaf would be on the door.

 what was missing

With the small leaf secured I then butted the large leaf hinge barrel against the edge and drilled the pilot holes.

 done

Very simple and definitely repeatable. The large leaf is screwed to the edge of the side and both were referenced off the barrel of the hinge.

 I can't argue with this

I don't know why I hadn't figured this out before this. All the awkwardness I had installing these on the last cabinet would not have been an issue. Now I just have to remember to do the small leaf first and then the large one.

 happy with this

I was further surprised by the hinge closing fully and not being hinge bound. I thought for sure that the screws would have wanted to shake hands with everyone. What is nice is the hinge barrel is parallel to the outside edge of the side. I might actually start liking this style of hinge.

 new cabinet

I figured out what I wanted and what piece of stock will be used for. I tried to scrape/plane the finish off but it wasn't cooperating. Instead I think I'll leave the finish on and after the cabinet is done I'll rub it down with dark Briwax and maybe a slap on a couple of coats of shellac.

 got side tracked

I was going to kill the lights but the call to make a pilot drill stand over whelmed me. I need to get the large Stanley pin punch set but I don't have a correctly sized drill bit. The hole for it needs to be 14.5mm or a tad less than 5/8". 14mm is too small along with 9/16" and 5/8" is too big. I have a lot of drill bits hiding somewhere as I'm sure you have read it before - I don't remember where I hid them. I'll save that hunt for tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

A. J. Wilkinson’s catalogue 1870s

Peter Follansbee, joiner's notes -

I’ve been up to Pete Galbert’s place to re-learn how to make a WIndsor chair – while I was there I saw Joel Paul ( https://www.instagram.com/13starsfarm/?hl=en ) and he kindly gave me an original A.J. Wilkinson catalog from the 1870s. It’s astounding what they carried then. My idea of nothing is to go shopping, but if I could shop at Wilkinson’s of that day, I’d do it in a hurry.

How about the “old reliable”? I don’t know how old this pattern of brace is – one website says that John Fray got a patent for his brace about 1859 – but the early ones are all-iron – the wooden inserts came a little later. And yet in the 1870s someone writing for Wilkinson’s catalog came up with “old reliable” – that’s marketing for you. The Spofford brace was one of Jennie Alexander’s favorites – I have 2 that came from her. Curtis Buchanan famously talks about JA giving him one and I have a letter from Dave Sawyer thanking Alexander for sending him one. JA liked them so much she made sure her friends had them too…

Spofford brace

Every page has something good on it – whether you like planes, saws, braces, etc – after seeing the Spofford brace – it needs bits. Which brings up another Jennie Alexander favorite – what she called “piercer” bits – after Joseph Moxon (& other 17th-century sources.) I had heard “pod” bit before but have never been clear on how it’s a pod – and we used to think that some of the bits we run across today have been altered, eventually pointing the end like what this catalog calls “spoon” bits. I expected the top bit (the “pod” bit) to be considered a small spoon bit – shows you what I know.

I always called them “piercers”

Probably every user of old tools sooner or later falls partway or more into collector-mode, buying tools they don’t really need. And then ephemera like these old tool catalogs only throw gasoline on a fire like that. I try to avoid that temptation, but sometimes fail. There’s worse ways to spend money I guess. I’ve written before about why I sometimes buy tools marked A.J. Wilkinson – (my father worked there) but I don’t go all-out. I’ve seen some very nice planes of theirs go for lots of money – we all have limits. I’ve had several of their folding-handle drawknives – I might even own two of them currently. I wish they were better than they are – imagine if they lived up to the hype in the catalog: “We have at last a perfect Draw Knife…”

I see they also sold Kimball’s drawknives which are actually very good knives. I’ve got a few of the saws they sold, some marked “Disston” some not. All have the Wilkinson name, some the address as well. One I have is marked “between State Street & Dock Square” and when I showed that one to my brother Steve he remembered when the store was at that location. He was 8 years old in the late 1950s and our father was taking him to the circus. They stopped at the store for something and he was waiting on customers – cowboys from the circus – and brought Steve to meet the “real” cowboys. This is the imprint – not my saw, this one was way out of my price range –

The catalog has a full line of Buck Brothers “London” style carving tools, and firmer gouges, chisels and turning tools. And lots of planes – 7 pages of wooden-bodied planes and 11 pages of metal-bodied planes, including some Bailey’s, Stanley’s and more. Some transitional planes too.

One more – Le Page’s Liquid Fish Glue – “And it never smells” Words to live by.

[this is only my 2nd post on this blog in 2024. Most of my writing is concentrated now on the substack blog – https://peterfollansbeejoinerswork.substack.com/ I try to post one “free-to-all subscribers” post there each week. Otherwise, free subscribers get a short preview. Paid subscribers ($5 a month/$60 a year) get the whole shebang. Is it worth it? Not for me to say…but to give you an idea, since my last post here, there’s been 17 posts on my substack… which may or may not be a good thing. Meanwhile, I’ll still put something here when time permits.]

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