Woodworking in a Tiny Shop

It's been several months now that I've had problems with Unplugged Shop, the site to which many of us go to read woodworking blogs.  For long stretches the site doesn't update with current blogs, and when it finally works again, it's short lived and then doesn't update for another while.

I'm probably not allowed to use this image, so I'll just say it's trademarked and thank them for the use of it.

In addition, my blog doesn't seem to be included anymore on the Unplugged Shop aggregator.  I've contacted them about it to get reinstated, but I don't know if anyone monitors that site anymore.

I don't mean to be an ingrate because this has been a free service that they provide and I truly appreciate it.  I can only imagine that it takes more work than I realize to keep it running.

Does anyone out there know what is going on with them?  Please comment if you do.

Any time I rehab an old tool, I think about whether or not to leave as much patina as I can.  In the past I've been more in the camp of trying to make it look like new, shining up the brass and other metal parts and cleaning the wood thoroughly.  Lately though, I've been more apt to just make it useable and keep it looking like it is 100 or more years old.

With this old moving fillister, though, there was enough work required to get it fettled properly that I decided to clean it up all the way.  This is a #68 Sandusky moving fillister plane that initially looked like it was in pretty good shape.  The only thing obviously wrong was that the nicker iron was missing.

Overview

Markings on the front

Close-up of the right side showing depth stop and the dado that should house a nicker

The heel end stamped with former caretaker H. W. Campbell

The 1 5/8" wide iron was in pretty decent shape

This shows the angle of the cutting edge required due to the skew of the iron in the plane

There was a little damage to the aft end of the boxing - not enough for me to worry about

I started with the body of the plane, specifically the sole.  I was mainly checking to see if it was flat, but what I saw was a HUGE amount of twist!  I had to plane that out and it didn't take long.  Then I looked at the right side, which I wanted to be square to the sole.  It too had a HUGE amount of twist, so I planed that out, too.  Planing those two surfaces and making them square to each other had the additional benefit of crispening up the corner between the two.

Plane held in vise upside down, winding sticks showing twisted sole

Plane lying on its left side and winding sticks show twist on right side

Got both surfaces twist free, flat and square to each other

While I was planing, I also flattened the fence (only the face that mates with the plane's sole) and made the edge that rides on the work square to that face.

Squaring up the fence

Cleaned up the brass inserts and screws

Planing the surfaces that I did leads to predictable consequences.  First, since the fence is now a little thinner, the screws holding it to the body bottomed out in their holes before tightening the fence completely.  I didn't want to deepen the screw holes, so I added washers that would bear against the fence's brass and that fixed the problem.  But now the screw heads protrude just a little bit beyond the bottom of the fence.  Not really a problem - it just doesn't sit upright as stably as before.

Second, planing the right side of the plane body made it so that the dado that would hold the new nicker iron was not as deep.  Before planing I had measured it at .137" deep.  The steel I'm using to make a new nicker is .125" thick, so I thought I might have to use a shim to get the cutter to be at the level of the plane's surface.  But I planed enough off the right side that the .125" thick nicker would have been proud of the surface.  I ended up routing the bottom of the dado to make the cutter level with the surface.

The dado for the nicker.  Note how it is tapered in its length as well as its depth, getting wider at the bottom.

Some notes about how to make a new nicker

Getting the nicker close to the right shape

But because I planed the right side of the body, the nicker sits too high

So I used a small router to deepen the dado.

To complete the nicker, I hacksawed and filed a notch that allows one to remove it from the plane

Then shaped the cutting edge on the grinder

Then heat-treated and tempered it and gave the edge a final honing

The plane's rabbeting iron didn't need too much work.  After removing any rust with abrasives, I reshaped the cutting edge to mate well with the plane's sole.  Another consequence of planing the right side of the body was that the iron now extended too far out the planes' side.  So I had to grind and file that back to be in line with the plane's side and the nicker.

You can see how much the iron extends past the planes' right side (top in photo)

Grinding a new cutting edge was tricky due to the angle of the edge

You can see the laminated iron in the bevel

First test cut: rabbet cut along the grain - nicker removed

Second test cut: nicker used here to cut a cross-grain rabbet

A couple of test cuts gave nice results.  But I really had to be diligent about pressing the fence against the workpiece when cutting with the grain to avoid getting a rabbet of tapered width.  The small test rabbet cross-grain using the nicker was great.  It really worked well.

After all the work was done, I gave the wood two coats of BLO.  It's been drying 2-3 weeks now, and here's the final product.

Glamour shot

After I use it a while, I might find that the wedge needs work to fit better.  There's a slight gap down near the iron's cutting edge.  It didn't seem to affect the test rabbets, but I'll keep an eye on it.

During the holiday break, we took a trip north way up to the Eureka, California area.  There are a lot of redwoods up that way, primarily in Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Redwoods National Park.  But because of all the redwoods, you can guess what the main industry was in that area back in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th - logging.

One of the remaining mills is Blue Ox Millworks.  I had originally become aware of it via YouTube.  The owner, Eric Hollenbeck, has done several videos about some of the tools he's collected over the years, about the local architecture (some for which his shop has done a lot of architectural millwork) and about his experiences in Viet Nam (some pretty intense stories).

A sign outside gives some history of the building

Eric and/or his wife will give tours of the works on request (you should call or e-mail ahead).  Unfortunately, on the day we visited Eric couldn't give us a tour, but we could take a self-guided tour.  Immediately inside you get a view of several Barnes foot-powered machines: lathes, table saw, scroll saws.

A poster advertising Barnes' machines

A few of the treadle scroll saws

A little further along was a serious machine that would cut a tenon on a stick of wood.  Eric's got a video of this machine in action.  It's a serious machine!

The H. B. Smith Tenoner

Some info on the tenoner

There were other rooms where a lot of work gets done, and I couldn't help but get some pictures of old planes.  This was a big wall full of old wooden and metal planes.  I don't think they use these regularly - they're more of a collection of what used to be used 100+ years ago.

The wall of planes.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to fondle them.

A sweet old plough (with no iron)

Now check out this item.  They had a GIANT lathe that could do the turnings for columns or tall posts that hold up porches and the like.  This lathe could turn wood up to 18 feet long!  The piece on the lathe in the picture is about 10 feet.  Yowzah!

The lathe is against the windowed wall

The city of Eureka and surrounding small towns have many old Victorian houses.  Most of those houses have porches or balconies with railings held up by dozens of identical turned balusters.  Blue Ox has done a lot of work when these houses need repair.  But they also do work for buildings all over the country.

Finally, in addition to the millwork, Blue Ox is also a "Historic Village", showing off several other trades of old.  Two such trades were housed in the main building.  There was the Print Shop and the Fiber Arts areas with lots of old equipment.

A case with letters to be loaded into a printing press

Old cabinet with hundreds, if not thousands of print letters

Old sewing machines in the fiber arts area

Looms for making fabric

I was really stoked to meet Eric, but a little disappointed I couldn't chat with him more.  He was very gracious and I'm so glad to have gone there.  If you ever get a chance, by all means seek out Blue Ox Millworks.

For the mini chest of drawers that I recently completed, I struggled to decide what type of drawer handles to use.  Eventually I chose small wood handles that angled on each side and had a tenon to fit into a mortise in the drawer face.  After making a couple of one-off prototypes to figure out sizing, I decided on a shape I liked.

The prototypes - one sticks out 3/8", the other 1/2"

I needed four of these handles.  Sometimes when making small parts like this, it makes more sense to make them all from one stick of wood, then cut them apart.  You can get greater consistency between parts, and it's far safer and easier to work with a longer stick of wood.

A 5/16" thick, 1" wide stick laid out for 6 handles. Always good to make extras just in case.

Routed out dadoes which will be tenons later

Then removed the tenon sides

I used this "stop" to chisel a bevel on the wide sides (top and bottom of handle)

You can see the beveled shape with the piece on edge

Then I used the stop again to bevel the edges (sides) of each handle

The tenon areas were made longer than needed so that I could cut the tenons off at the length I wanted (1/4") and still have some cleanup to do on a shooting board to get the next handle ready.

Cutting off a handle with 1/4 long tenon

That leaves the next handle with extra material ...

... that I remove safely on the shooting board

The tenons were just over 3/16" thick and they fit nicely into mortises chopped into the drawer fronts.

One handle fitted

The moral of the story is this.  When making multiples of small parts, it makes sense to lay them out on a stick much larger than needed for a single piece.  It's easier to lay out this way, safer to do the cutting, and the repeatability is probably better, too.

OK, so way back in July, I started on this project.  Then knee problems made it more complicated to get in the shop.  Over the second half of last year, I gradually got most of it finished.  And finally 6 months later it's complete.

The wood is reclaimed red alder.  The main carcass is about 5" x 8".  The sides, top and bottom were 3/8" thick, the dividers 1/4".  Drawer parts were 1/4" or slightly less thick.  Here's the build in pictures and captions, with a little prose thrown in as needed.

The four sides arranged

First corner tails cut ...

... and assembled with the tailboard

Dadoes for drawer dividers laid out.  You can see on this board some screw holes - the price of using reclaimed wood.  All screw holes were on the inside, back or bottom, so will remain unseen.

Grooves to house the back are done

Carcass dry-assembled

Using the mini router plane to level the dadoes

The main carcass dry-fitted with dividers

The drawer sides were made from poplar, with a 1/8" ply bottom.  Each drawer had a single dovetail at each corner, and the bottom was glued on to the underside.  Later, a red alder front was glued to the drawer box and a handle was added.

A drawer box coming together

Two drawers with bottoms being glued on (one in the end vise, one in the back corner of the bench using weights as a clamp), another drawer's parts being sized and made ready for dovetailing

Drawer dovetailed

Three fitted

Experiments with handles.  I'm going to write a separate post about making these.

Now for the feet: making a template

On a 1/2" x 1/2" blank, cutting close to the line ...

... and finishing with flat chisel, incannel gouge and file

After mitering the ends, gluing two together to create a foot

Gluing on a foot.  Note the air-release holes in the back. Without those, when you close one drawer, others get pushed open.

Four feet in place

The piece is finished with shellac, followed by a coat of wax.  The following pics don't show it well, but it got a nice luster and reflects light nicely.

The finished product

Another view

This is going to my 2 1/2 YO granddaughter.  She might not appreciate it just yet, but hopefully later she'll have some jewelry or other treasures to put in it.

2025 was not a banner year for my woodworking.  I did very close to nothing in the second half of the year due to knee problems and ensuing knee replacement surgery.  I've been getting back to it lately, albeit slowly.  Hopefully 2026 will be a better year.  That said, here's what I got done in 2025.

Projects

This year started out with a (sort of) Shaker handled step stool.  It was a great project from a joinery standpoint, with dovetails on the front corner and multiple through mortise and tenons at the rear.

Shaker step stool with heart-shaped handle for the wife

In May, I made a picnic caddy for my sister.  This was my take on a similar item we saw at a restaurant, and it came out great.  It's got dovetailed corners, dividers in dadoes, and a bottom fitted into grooves in the sides and ends.

Picnic caddy

Also in May, I made a Paul Sellers project: a woven seat stool.  This also went to my sister.  This was an easy project, but I really wanted to try a seat weaving pattern I had not done before.  The weave isn't perfect, but it's good enough.

Easy woodworking, but tedious weaving

In July I made a quick cutting board to replace the plastic one we had been using for years.  This maple board has been very handy.

Another easy and quick project

Finally, I'm just finishing this project now, but it was mostly made in July through December of 2025.  It's a miniature chest of drawers that I hope my 2 1/2 YO granddaughter will use as a box for jewelry or treasures.  It's made of red alder, which I think is a very attractive wood.

Shellac yet to come

Tool Making or Rehab

In January, I made a new iron for my homemade extra-course scrub plane.  The old iron I had found at a garage sale, but it turned out not to be good tool steel.  The new one is from a piece of O-1 steel and I shaped it, hardened and tempered it, flattened the back and sharpened it.  It's thinner steel than the old iron, so I had to modify the wedge to accommodate the change.

Shaping the bevel with a file

In February and March, I was focused on threading small diameter wood.  I had done larger diameters, typically 1-2", a few years ago, but I was interested in trying diameters of 1/2" and 3/8".  It was a big time sink, but eventually I had success with a homemade "machine" that could cut the inner and outer threads for these sizes.  This was helped immensely by a YT video from Paul Hamler.

Overhead view of threading machine clamped in vise

Eventually it allowed me to make this thumb screw for  a marking gauge shown below

That walnut thumb screw was the finishing touch on a marking gauge I made in March.  I really love this gauge.  I knifed and marked 1/8" graduations on one side of the beam.

A walnut beauty

The impetus for the marking gauge was an old Worth marking gauge that I had been given years ago.  The mortise in the fence had gotten too big for the beam, and the wooden thumb screw to hold the beam in place was no longer holding.  So I made a new fence and wood/metal thumb screw and the gauge is a user tool again.

The old (right) and the new

Odd contrast in woods, but it works great now

I found this snipes bill plane at a tool show, but the body was bent and the boxing was warped.  I managed to get it into better working condition.

The front showing the profile

I can't recall where I found this old screwdriver.  It's got "POLAND HITEST" stamped on it.  But I cleaned it up and now I have a big honkin' screwdriver in the kit.

POLAND HITEST screwdriver with wooden scales

For some years now, I've used a makeshift small router plane that utilized a 1/8" chisel as the cutter.  But I always wanted something better.  In June, I made a better small router, using modified Allen wrenches as the cutters.  It has come in handy, and it works well.

The small router

Miscellaneous

In January, I made a spreadsheet that would help me calculate radius, given an arc width and desired bulge of the arc.  This was helpful when looking at the camber of the scrub plane iron.  But the spreadsheet can also be used when figuring out an arc at the bottom edge of a table apron or a rail component of whatever furniture you want a curved rail on.

A simple little spreadsheet

Well, that's it.  I hope 2026 will be a better year for projects.  My knee is doing much better now, but my leg gets tired quickly and I'm just not used to being on my feet for long periods.  Hopefully that's nothing that more shop time won't cure.  To all who read this, I hope you have a healthy and productive year!