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I brought all the pieces inside where it was warmer. My daughter helped with the gluing up and the finishing.

First the inner shelves and uprights were glued to each other. This was the type of clamping where if you crank down too much everything will sploosh out.

don't clamp the tar out of it

After that set all day or night we glued the sides, top, and bottom. The bottom also had pocket screws driven from underneath.

Upside down

My daughter said she didn't want to paint it, she wanted it to look like wood. I offered her the options of no finish vs putting on something almost clear that might make it easier to clean or keep things from sticking to it. She opted for that so we got ready to apply shellac. I was preparing paintbrushes when she asked why we can't just roll it. She must remember helping to paint walls.

rolling on shellac. first time.

It didn't sound like a great idea but we went ahead and rolled on Zinnser sealcoat shellac. It went on pretty thick, and some areas were foamy or had ridges. I later went back and tried to smooth some of those areas out.

we laid it on thick shellaced (or is it shellacked?)

These shelves were heavy and large. It took several days to get around taking them up one set of stairs from the basement to the first floor. Then it took another 1-2 weeks and an appliance dolly to get them from there to the second floor. Maybe I should learn a lesson from that and assemble/finish larger projects closer to their destination.

in place in use

Now it's gotten to be too cold to do much else.

where the magic happens (march through october)

Although I don’t make a lot of spoons these days, I still haunt the spoon-making discussion groups on social media, and this is one of the most common questions I hear. How can you be sure that the wood finish you’re about to use is actually food-safe?

Here are some freshly-finished utensils made from eastern red cedar. Dust from this wood is a known irritant, and the oil finish hasn’t been officially certified as food-safe! Will they poison everyone who cooks with them?!? No, they won’t.

Let’s say you’ve made a cutting board or a wooden spoon, or maybe you’ve built a baby crib, and you want to be extra-sure that the finish won’t poison somebody.

You go down to the home center and start looking at wood finishes, and only a few (mostly expensive oil-based finishes) make any claims to be safe for food contact. What about the rest of them? Can you safely finish that cutting board with Danish oil? If the baby if starts chewing on the crib rails, will a lacquer finish send her into anaphylactic shock? Why on earth don’t companies tell you if their product is or isn’t toxic when cured?

Or maybe, just maybe, we don’t get the answers we want because we’re not asking the right question.

In a classic article, finishing expert Bob Flexner points out that no government agency actually certifies any wood finish as “food-safe.” A company can call its finishing product “food-safe” at its own risk, but that claim has not been verified by anybody.

So does that mean that there’s no safe wood finish on the shelves today? That only raw, unfinished wood is truly food-safe?

Not at all. Here’s what Bob Flexner has to say:

…there is no evidence of any common wood finish being unsafe for food or mouth contact once it has fully cured, so a distinction between food-safe and non-food-safe is speculative.

You can’t be absolutely sure about the food safeness of any finish you put on wood. There could even be problems with mineral oil and walnut oil that we just don’t know of yet. There could also be problems with raw linseed oil, pure tung oil, wax, shellac and salad bowl finish, because we don’t know where these substances have been or what they might have come in contact with. None has met the regulations laid out by the FDA.

But, based on FDA regulations, the way finishes are made, the complete lack of any evidence to the contrary, and the countless other untested objects food and children come in contact with, there’s no reasonable argument for avoiding the use of any finishes.

(The whole article is worth reading in full, though it’s only available on web archive sites now.)

In other words, the question we should be asking ourselves is this: “Which wood finishes are known to be toxic when cured?”

And the answer, at least in the USA, is “none of them.”

According to Bob Flexner, there are some specialized commercial finishes in some industries that come with health hazard warnings, but they aren’t the kinds of products you can find on the shelves at your local home center.

When you think about it, we come into contact with various cured wood finishes pretty frequently–on wooden floors, wooden furniture, wooden paneling, wooden handles, you name it. Have you ever heard of anybody reacting negatively to handling finished wood? I haven’t. Our common experience indicates that, as far as anybody knows, none of the the wood finishes you can usually buy off the shelf at a home center in the USA are toxic when fully cured. (Check the label. Is there a warning that the finish contains heavy metals, like lead or mercury? No? Then you should be good to go.)

That’s not to say that applying finishes is non-toxic. Many common finishes, like lacquer, give off pretty noxious gasses as you apply them. Others, like boiled linseed oil, can cause fires if oil-soaked rags are improperly stored. So you should always take reasonable safety precautions when applying a wood finish. But once the finish has cured, the finished wood is as safe to handle as any other common object in your everyday environment.

There are even a few wood finishing products that are edible: shellac, beeswax, mineral oil, and vegetable oils (e.g. flaxseed oil, hemp oil, and walnut oil). Some purists stick to these products in older to be double-extra, super-safe. I have also known people to just use whatever vegetable oil they have available, like olive oil or sunflower oil, but that’s a mistake because those vegetable oils don’t actually dry. If it doesn’t wash right off of the utensil, it will eventually go rancid. So if you absolutely must use an edible finish, stick with an oil that dries: flaxeed/linseed, hemp, or walnut oil.

For my own wooden spoons and spatulas, however, I use a three-part blend of polyurethane, mineral spirits, and raw linseed (flaxseed) oil. The oil and polyurethane mix and dry in the wood, and the mineral spirits (added only to thin the mixture so it soaks into the wood) evaporate completely.  The finish is extremely easy to apply, and once it’s cured, it stands up to repeated washings in the kitchen. And it has never, ever poisoned anybody who used a utensil that was finished with it.

So yes, it’s fine to finish your cutting board with the boiled linseed oil from your local home center. Just let it dry completely before you start chopping fresh veggies on it. And yes, go ahead and use lacquer or polyurethane on that baby crib.

Unless it’s the mother’s first baby, and she’s a health nut.

In which case, give that crib a coat of food-grade flaxseed oil followed by several coats of shellac topped by a hand-rubbed coat of beeswax. Tell the anxious mother that while the finish won’t exactly be tasty, it is certifiably edible.

 

 

I am happy to report that my broom-maker is on the mend and just before the snow/ice storm delivered some new inventory.  I’ve got a couple events this year so he has a standing order to crank out polissoirs as his health allows.

But for now, everything is in stock.  Ironically sales for everything has plummeted, about 40% in 2025 vs. the 2024 totals.  Just as well as I am making almost zero on each 1-inch ploissoir sale.  Good thing this is just a hobby at this point.  Not complaining, who else can say they have a hobby that doesn’t cost them anything?

bare wood showing

There is a definite difference with the paint adhesion between the late and early wood rings. There are two coats on the front of the frame and it is going to need a 3rd one.

needs a second coat

The quirk on both the inside and outside had a couple of holidays. The flat areas of the frame didn't need a second coat. I applied a 2nd coat to whole front anyway.

sigh

Way too much quark in this batch of milk paint. It is way too thick and it has a ton of clumps in it. They were easily flattened and didn't seem to be a hiccup sticking to the wood. I added water to it to thin it but it didn't really work 100%.  

On the back of the frame I painted it two more times. The coverage there was spotty and it wasn't covering entirely. This batch was borderline acceptable. I'll be making a 3rd batch of milk paint but will it be the charm? 

hmm......

In spite of the hiccups with this batch I do like this color. It isn't flat and it isn't shiny but somewhere in between the two. It was hanging out here drying after the third coat. On a positive note the paint, although it is iffy, still seems to be viable.

changed

The pendulum bob (outside the case) is too small for the viewing window. The replacement one is a bigger, shiny brass one which I like a lot. The movement I put in the clock last week is dead with my cell phone time. Now I just have to remember what did I do with the back panel?

hmm.....

Instead of the brass pendulum rod I covered it with a wooden insert. I can't remember where I bought these and a did a fruitless search for them last night. I only have one more left. I waxed it with dark Briwax to match the walnut case.

my version

Rob Cosman recently posted a vid about making a jig for setting stock square in the vise for dovetailing. He made his to match a 5 1/2 hand plane whereas mine will match a dovetail jig I already have and use.

almost done

I used 6mm plywood and a scrap of Philippine mahogany for my version. I rounded over the top on all four sides. 

done

This matches the height of the squaring jig I made a few years back. The new one should be easier to use than the left one.

no more twist

The two mini frames I glued up last week are both twist free now. The smaller one is too small for the photo I wanted to frame in it. The larger one is big enough for a 5x7.

3 days late

Stickers finally came in. They look better up close and personal than on the ETSY website. Still wish I could have found specific Stanley numbered sticker though.

dresses it up a wee bit

Sticker at least identifies the box as holding a Stanley tool.

Yikes

This is the big frame and it fell apart when I tried to plane the first side. Reassembled the frame with epoxy this time.

too small

I like these magnetic stickers. The June Cleaver moms are such a shocking difference from the sayings. I had one more of them but I couldn't find it. I'll have to make another frame because this one is a 1/4" too small.

new frame

Whacked out a new miniature frame. I will glue this one with yellow glue. After it has cooked I will glue a 1/8" plywood back to it. That should hold the miters together and keep them from separating.

grandsons Stanley #2

I rehabbed a bazillion hand planes and this was the only #2 I ever saw offered up for sale. I never saw a another manufacturer's #2 offered neither.  Right out of their toolbox it spit RML shavings.

hmm......

Two sets of RML and two sets of full width and length face shavings. I don't see the big deal with this plane. I think using a blockplane is a better choice. I got this one for the grandkids because of its size. It is a perfect fit for young hands.

it is too small

This plane feels awkward in my hands. It almost disappears when gripping the tote with one hand and the knob with the other.  

the grandson's main tool chest

I put a sticker on the box - it has a Stanley depth stop for auger bits, a counter sink, and a 1/4" driver. There is also a complete set of Stanley planes for them - #2, #3, #4, #5 1/4, #5 1/2, #6, #7, and a #8. Missing is a 4 1/2, 10 1/2, and #1 (which will never happen). Not sure if I'll add two of the missing 3.

accidental woodworker

 

last night

Made another batch of quark. I don't seem to have any hiccups with this part of making milk paint. It is neat to watch how quickly it curdles when the vinegar is added to the milk.

came last night

I have always been fascinated with Mr Wright and his designs. Falling Water is my favorite and his prairie school homes I like more than his earlier ones. But above all I love the stain glass designs that were so prevalent in his designs. I read the whole book in one sitting. 

not in the book

I rinsed the quark and placed in it some cheese cloth and a double mesh strainer to drain any water left in the quark (overnight).

hmm......

I little less than half a cup left in the pan. Water seems to be the enemy in making milk paint from my reading of the book. Seemed like a prudent step IMO.

this sucks

The book says a minimum of 250 grams of quark to make a batch. I'm about 50 grams shy. The quark is hard, much harder than my first batch. I'll had to make another batch of quark.

3rd batch

I used this milk to make the 2nd batch. I used a supermarket generic milk to make the first batch which yielded more than 250 grams. The author wrote that different milk brands yield different results with the quark.

On the 2nd batch I had added a cup and half more than one quart. I thought that would give a wee bit more than the required 250 grams. It didn't and I only got 208 grams.

2nd batch

Rinsed and draining while I went to the VA. I have an appointment at the West Roxbury VA for a PET scan at 0800 on Feb 6th. I checked with transportation and the shuttle from Providence to Roxbury leaves at 0530. After I confirmed that I went to express care for a rash on my left shin. 

I have dry skin and it is a common headache in the winter. Especially so when the weather gets cold like it has been the past week or so. Just another joy to endure in my golden years.

have enough now

Decided to make a big batch. I added 42 grams to the 2nd one to bring it up to 250. I then added another 125 grams to raise the total to 375. 

oops

I didn't notice the max line when I loaded this. The blender was straining to mix it up. I finally got it done but it was slow going. Mixing (even this big batch) was so much better over hand mixing. No lumps or clumps of quark. It was a homogeneous mix that I forgot to add the black pigment to. I had to mix that in by hand. 

kind of black

The black pigment has mica in it which makes it shiny. I think I made a me-steak getting these pigments. I'm going to search for earth pigments next. This paint batch is thick. Thicker than commercial paint not sure how will that effect the coverage? 

the small picture frame

I sanded this with 240 grit before I painted it black. This will house pics of the grandsons.

hmm.....

Two coats on the back. The coverage isn't that bad. There is no washed out look like the miniature chest. The author wrote that milk paint doesn't have a long shelf life. Thankfully this paint did dry quickly - about an hour after the first coat, I was putting on the 2nd one.

After dinner I will get 2 coats on the front of the frame. The paint had thickened between the first and second coats. I had thinned the paint before applying the first coat with 2 tablespoons of water and 5 tablespoons on the second one.

big frame

I'm pretty impressed with the coverage of the first coat on the front of the big frame. I will eyeball it in the AM before I decide whether or not to do a 2nd coat.

thicker

Don't understand why this paint is getting thicker with each use. So far thinning it with water seems to be working. Fingers crossed that I can get two coats on the front before it heads south on me.

accidental woodworker 

January has been a busy month for me. Last weekend, I went to Colonial Williamsburg to give a talk on the Samuel Wing chair.  At the end of two 90-minute sessions my friend Jerome Bias (who was also presenting at the conference) came up on stage to help me assemble the back.  It was an especially recalcitrant back, so my wife Morgan also came up to help:

Both presentations were fun, and I was quite happy (thanks to planemaker Steve Slocum for both photos):

Earlier in January, I drove to northern VA to buy an automatic knife grinder for grinding our travisher and reamer blades.  I’ve been having local grinding shops do this grinding, but it seems time to move it to my shop.  This grinder is as big as a lathe, so we need a spot to put it.  Hence, some machines for sale.  The best is first – my very first lathe, now owned by Seth Elliott who makes the travishers and tenon cutters that I sell.  Here’s what he has to say about it:

For Sale: A Powermatic 90—Elia’s First Lathe

The tool-making section of Hand Tool Woodworking, where I spend my time, is an enclosed shed with big sliding doors off the back of Elia’s main shop. It’s got a little Jotul wood stove and a great view of the woods. Ironically, we use several power tools to make our hand tools and have intentionally housed most of them in this back shop area to keep the noise and dust somewhat isolated. With a 24″ planer, 14″ band saw, table saw, steam box, spindle sander, belt/disc sander, router, grinder, lathe, and drill press, space is at a premium.

Still, for the past couple years Elia has graciously allowed me to store his old pea-green Powermatic 90 lathe against one wall. He originally purchased this lathe in 2004, did put a single-phase motor in it, and turned on it for fifteen years until selling it to me after scoring his massive Wadkin pattermaker’s lathe. I used it for a few years in my own shop that I had set up in an elderly neighbor’s outbuilding down the street from me. After she passed, and I had to break-down that shop, we moved it back to Elia’s shop with the intention of replacing the small Delta lathe I had been using there. My lathe use for the toolmaking is limited, however, and it makes sense for Elia to keep the Delta—a somewhat-mobile lathe—for the occasional demo. So, I’ve decided to stop letting the Powermatic collect dust and instead get it into the hands of someone who will use it.

I had plans to save it for another permutation of my own shop on my own property, but that project will not be happening any time soon and Elia has just bought a metal grinder that needs that wall space in the tool-making shop. Sorry as I am to see it go, it makes the most sense at this time.

It’s an excellent lathe. The Powermatic Company in Tennessee made the PM90 from 1955 to1998. There’s a great thread on its history on the OWWM.org website. Its owner’s manual and parts list can be found on the same site. From that, it looks like this one is from 1961. These lathes became popular for use in high-school shop classes and gained a reputation for standing up to less-than-careful use. It weighs in at 600 pounds and is therefore quite stable. It has a variable speed lever that shifts easily from1000 to 4000 rpm. This one is currently set up with a 1 hp motor and a single-phase, 220v connection. Also included, in addition to original metal tool rest stand (minus the tool-rest itself), is a longer wooden one that Elia built for turning chair parts and also a sturdy tool stand/rest for outboard turning.

Asking price is $1500. The buyer will need a way to load the lathe as we have no lift.

Contact Seth for more info.

I (Elia) am also selling a couple machines. The first is a drill press. It was Peter Ross’s first drill press that he bought in the 80’s. I bought it from him when I moved into my current shop, and it became my first drill press. The motor promptly burned out, so I put a nice 3/4hp, 110v Dayton motor on it and we’ve made thousands of tools on it since. It runs great and has a couple nice features: a very nice quick-set depth stop and a table crank. But it’s a little small for our work and the quill has some run-out, which can cause vibration when drilling metal and reaming large holes (read tenon-cutters). So I recently bought a bigger Powermatic drill press (also from Peter) and this one’s got to go.

$150

When I bought my automatic knife grinder, the owner had five pedestal grinders he was also selling. On impulse, I bought the best one, and immediately regretted it. Not that it’s not a nice grinder – it’s much quieter and better-built than mine. But do I really want to spend time tearing my grinding setup apart and putting it back together again? No! So I’m selling this grinder for what I’ve got in it.

$250

The post For Sale: My First Lathe, My First Drill Press, and a Grinder first appeared on Elia Bizzarri - Hand Tool Woodworking.

When I built the greenhouse last year I was determined to overbuild it.  As the evidence indicates, I was wrong in my assumptions and execution of what I thought overbuilding was,  The center laminated arch just snapped this week under the weight of the snow, sleet and frozen rain.  A pretty substantial rebuild must occur before next winter, building bigger (and more) laminated arches.  In addition to replacing the destroyed center arch I will build two more inside the greenhouse and one in the outer workspace on the far end of the structure. I’ll make them each 1-1/2″ x 3″ rather than 1-1/4″ x 2″.  That calculates to a four-fold increased strength. I don’t know yet whether the plastic skin can be salvaged.  Part of me was pleased to see the laminations remained intact, just the weight and the wind literally snapped the center arch.

Also, if I was so inclined and equipped, I could absolutely ice skate down the driveway.  (I left my ice hockey days behind me many, many decades ago)

One thing I was very pleased about was the performance of my spiked-sole lumberjack boots.  They made traipsing around the icy landscape a breeze.  I was absolutely right to buy these a couple years ago.  I was only expecting to use them when harvesting firewood on sloped ground, but they sure did the trick here.

UPDATE

The plowing crew finally came at 10.15 last night to dig us out.  They brought three big machines.  The first was a V-wedge icebreaker to bust everything up, the second was an 8-foot plow blade, the third was a 6-foot blade to make everything purdy.  Was great to look out this morning and actually see the driveway, we can now get out after four days of being icebound.  Free at last, free at last!

Right around zero at dawn this morning.

 The chest is done and my wife liked it. I am thinking that aliens have cloned her because she rarely likes things I make. She especially liked the color and asked me if I had done it on purpose. I explained that it was the result of my first failed milk paint. In spite of that, I kind of liked the color myself too.

new toys

Surprise. The bullet blender I ordered arrived a little before 2000 yesterday. Got some  spatulas to clean out mixing jars. Went searching for small canning jars and nada. I went to a bazillion stores and I found quart sizes but I wanted the smaller one. I'll be mixing a new batch of milk paint (black) tomorrow.

sweet

This came with 3 different size mixing jars, this is the largest one. The blender only has one speed but I don't see any need for pulse blending.

nope

The white spots are wood putty and the milk paint didn't cover it. Not sure if that was because of the crappy first batch I made or whether a good batch would have covered it.

happy face on

I didn't get any paint bleed through on the tape. All the edges are clean and sharp. The underside of the lid was the same.

last coat

Ended up slapping 5 coats of shellac over the milk paint. The shellac didn't change the paint color in the least. I used a blonde shellac that wasn't 100% clear, so I wasn't sure if it would add a tint of shellac color to the milk paint.

wood poster frame

I picked brown and I like the color. The border on the poster is black and my original color for the frame was black. There wouldn't have been a line in the sand between it and the poster border. Now with the frame being brown and the poster border black, I can pick a matting color that will blend the three together.

4th finger got cropped

I could have stopped here with four but I was in the shop and couldn't do anything else. So I applied a 5th and final coat to kill some time.

from china

14oz canning jars from the Dollar Store that the clerk warned me shouldn't be used for canning due to lead in the glass. I used it to mix 1oz of black pigment. I'll use it to make the milk paint for a picture frame.

glamour pic #1

It isn't so much the color I like, but the washed out look of it is what appeals the most to me.

pic #2

Seeing this pic now I'm thinking that maybe I should have have knocked the height of it down a few inches.

3rd glamour shot

I like the contrast between the bare wood of the lid and inside compared to the milk paint.

final glamour pic

Back looks funny to my eye. It doesn't quite match the washed out look of the sides and front. So in that respect it is good that it is the back.

hmm......

The Union #3 continues to perform well. This is a scrap of wood that I used to close the lid on the shellac can. It had dings and divots in it on both faces that the Union smoothed out lickety split. However, my OCD is in overdrive because the lever adjust is over the right.

ten minute project before the bell

This is a riser for my computer keyboard. The feet on it don't tilt it up high enough for me.

just right

I eyeballed the height and I nailed it dead on. It is 3/8" higher then the feet and it lies in the plane from where my elbows rest on the edge of the desk to my hands on the keyboard. Glad I didn't have to play with it to get the height of the riser correct.

accidental woodworker

Dowel joinery. It takes little equipment. Even beginners can do it with care. Yet among many woodworkers, it just does not get the states it deserves. Let’s consider. I learned the principle and technique mainly from pages 130 – 140 of The Fine Art of Cabinet Making, by James Krenov, published in 1977 and read […]

Let me establish from the start that many, many methods of sharpening can work. And while I may be courting controversy in my approach, I really am interested in this blog post in discussing how I sharpen, not offering a comprehensive review of all plausible methods. I will also say from the get-go that there is also a big difference between regrinding a tool to a new geometry to repair damage and routine maintenance because of use.

Here is how I am keeping my tools sharp.

Except for one 3/8" spindle gouge ,all my turning tools are made of high-speed steel (HSS). There are gradations of quality of HSS, but in general HSS tools stay sharper longer than traditional carbon steel tools. On the other hand, carbon steel is easier to sharpen. Pole turners have a tendency to want to use carbon steel tools, because such tools are easily sharpened with a stone in the field. Other that that, HSS tools have replaced carbon steel in the marketplace.

One complaint people have with sharpening high-speed steel is that HSS doesn't get as sharp an edge as carbon steel. I would suggest that with modern sharpening equipment such as diamond stones, CBN wheels, and quality waterstones, HSS can get pretty darn sharp. It not so much the steel, which is kind of gummy, but diamond and CBN cleanly cut through the carbide inclusions that are found in HSS.

For the one or two times I've wanted to really change the geometry of a tool, I've used a grinder with a CBN wheel. The CBN wheel isn't essential, but it does mean my chances of burning the tool are nearly non-existent. Many people finish up on a grinder and call it a day, although they are usually finishing up on a much finer wheel (220 and up) than I have (80).

Since I don't have a super fine grinding wheel, in all cases no matter how I get to the ground edge I'm following up the fine and extra fine diamond stone. And then I'm doing one of three things. Leaving the tool as is and getting back to work. Stropping with strop treated with micro fine green honing compound, or polishing on an 8,000 grit water stone. I'm going back and forth between the strop and the 8000 grit waterstone trying to figure out which is better. I don't have an answer yet. I do think however if you have a sharp tool to begin with. a polished edge will cut better and longer.

Since I free-hand sharp everything anyway, I free-hand sharpen my turning tools. Learning to sharpen the handle heavy turning tools took some adapting, but it's the same skill. One of the reasons I'm a big fan of free-hand sharpening regular chisels is once you can free-hand sharpen chisels and plane blades, you can also free-hand sharpen pretty much everything else as well.

When my turning for the day is done, I feel the tool for sharpness. If I'm unsure if it's sharp, it's probably not. I then touch it up on the fine and extra fine diamond stone. And then follow whatever polishing medium is handy.

In the photo above, we have a 1" skew chisel and a 1" continental gouge. You can see the hollow from the grinding. I have a 6" grinder. Most turners prefer a lesser hollow and use 8" grinders. But unfortunately I can't justify a new grinder. The polish marks on the heel and toe of the bevel are the result of hand honing.

I can't emphasize enough how much of a pleasure and a rush it is when I take a tool that was cutting weirdly, sharpen it, put it back on the lathe, treadle away, and get curly shavings.

 It snowed overnight and I woke up to about an inch plus on the ground. Unbelievable after the ton of crap that fell the day before. At least it is was light and fluffy. There is the possibility that a repeat of the past sunday will happen on this coming sunday. After the last 5-6 years of minimal snow fall I can't really complain. 

not bad but also not welcomed

I was not a happy camper this AM. My arms and shoulders didn't hurt anymore but my back was frantically shaking hands with me. Spent a lot of time today molding my butt cheeks to my desk chair. But that happened after I shoveled the driveway. 

nutso results

About 15 years ago when I decided to go the rabbit hole of hand tool woodworking one of the things I went nutso on was getting replacement irons and chipbreakers. I have at least two sets of iron/chipbreakers for all of my planes except for my #8. I have an extra iron but no chipbreaker. I took out two sets for a #3.

much better

I got a Stanley iron in the Union #3. Cutting smoother and easier than the Union iron. I had a similar problem like this with a Miller Falls iron. Sharpened and honed and nada. It would not make a shaving. I ground the bevel back on my bench grinder and again nada. I couldn't get it to make a shavings. The Union iron cuts good on the right side of the iron and garbage on the left. Couldn't improve it by sharpening it again concentrating on the left side.

what a difference

The shaving from the Union iron was jagged and It wasn't continuous from end to end. And it tore out like crazy around the screw holes. The Stanley shaving was continuous, full width, full length, and the screw holes were intact.. Thinking of offering this up for sale again.

One thing I've found over the years was swapping out sets doesn't always work. What works is swapping just the iron and keeping the original chipbreaker. I don't know why but it was a hard learned lesson.

prepping the chest

I don't want any paint on the underside of the lid or the inside of the chest. If I get any bleed through the tape, I'll paint the underside and the top edge of the box.

hmm......

I lost 12 grams of quark over the past 3 days. I am still going to make my first batch of milk paint regardless. It is all part of the learning curve.

done

I think I made way too much dye for the paint. The author says 1ounce/30 grams and I stopped at 20 grams/1/2 ounce. The paint mixed easy but not completely. There are lumps of quark that no matter how much I stirred,  wouldn't go away.  The color isn't as blue as I would have liked. I really wanted something more like a cobalt blue.

One thing that surprised me was how liquid the paint became. The lime got 4 tablespoons of water and I drained the water that was in the quark container. I couldn't see how mixing the lime quark would become a liquid or even a loose, watery paint. 

It became liquid almost immediately. A bit on the watery side but a paint quality liquid. The author recommends a blender and I now agree with him. I bought a small juicing blender from Amazon. I'm supposed to have it today but I find that doubtful but I'll keep my fingers crossed. If I get it I'll make another batch in the AM.

left over

There is more then enough to color a 2nd batch of milk paint. I would have mixed a 30 gram/1 ounce sample but this jar wasn't big enough.

yikes

I wasn't paying attention when I grabbed the paint can and I tipped it over. Sigh. I am not impressed with the color on the wood. It isn't blue but it looks greenish. I wanted this to be a pale wash that showed the grain but not green and that is working. 

ugly color IMO

Besides the color being off, the coverage wasn't what I expected. I think part of the problem with that is I didn't sand before painting. This paint was applied to a surface that was hand planed. Too smooth and no tooth for the paint to grab.

hmm......

There are bumps and clumps of (quark?) on all the surface. They look like crap. The dark specs.

an hour later

The greenish tint has toned down some and it looks like a pale blue/green color now. It is dry to the touch and I'll be putting on at least one more coat.

clumps

The little dark spots are clumps of quark? They are hard and I couldn't remove them scraping with a finger nail.

worse spot

The coverage here sucks pond scum. 

240 grit

The sandpaper cut and smoothed all the clumps. It also left behind a lot of dust. I'll try to get a 2nd coat on after dinner, hopefully. If not then in the AM. I will also be applying 3-4 coats of shellac.

accidental woodworker

Although I have been spending any shop time over the past few months cleaning, tidying, and reorganizing the barn, I had long ago penciled-in this week as Firewood Week 2026/7.  We are deep into Winter 2025/6 with an extended forecast of unseasonably cold weather, with overnight lows for the next fortnight running at or below zero.  That was motivation to get a good jump on next winter and beyond (we’re fine for this winter).

My target was the cluster of windfall trees (mostly maple and birch IIRC) that came down in a storm some time ago, up the hill behind the cabin.  The main trunks on these are all 18-24″, a few a bit more.  The beauty of such a trove is that it is already down but standing above the ground, making it easy to get to while seasoning “on the hoof.”  I’ll have to clear a couple of scrub saplings to get my 4WD S10 up there but if the ground is clear it will be a piece o’ cake.

Then came the disheartening forecast last week for a Storm of the Century!!! with somewhere between 12 and 24 inches of snow.  Such an event would disrupt my firewood harvesting and processing plans.  Not an existential problem, but I did have my mind set on it.  Then came the Snowpocaplyse.  Big whup.  Not even enough to get out the snowblower.

The forecast is still for very cold (for us) weather so I’ll see if I can work in well-below-zero wind chills.  My old Minnesota home town has wind chills of minus-60 so this isn’t all that bad in the cosmic scheme of things.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE

The monster snowfall never materialized, but the gradual deposits from the storm front wound up to be about three inches of snow, followed by three inches of sleet, all encased in a saturating half inch of freezing rain.  Even my 13hp snowblower choked on that combo.  We spent yesterday hacking out two of the vehicles and will spend today and tomorrow working on our long driveway.  It’s like clearing demolition rubble as I first have to break everything up then shovel it out of the way.

wow

Sunday it started snowing and it came down in small flurries. Those flurries laid down to about 9 inches. Drifts were 2-3 feet high. Snapped this pic from my back door to where I park the truck. It took me 2 hours to clear this area which is a 1/3 of the total needing shoveling. 

Shoveling this white @)%&^&@)%@_) crap wore me out. There was no where to put the snow. I had to walk from the right side to dump the snow on the left . I am fxxked if we get another snow dump like this before this blanket melts.

3 hours to clear

Can't throw more than a few shovel fulls by the bushes. I had to make my own mountain range on the right. I can usually shovel the driveway and the front walk in a couple of hours (3-4 inches). That didn't happen today boys and girls. I got lucky that a neighbor a few doors down came with a snow blower and cleared the end of driveway and the road. That would have taken me more than an hour to shovel.

late in the PM

I found these 4 poor man miter jigs when I cleaned the boneyard. They don't last long - the kerf gets worn and too wide. It doesn't matter because I don't use the miters off the jig. I always clean and smooth the miters with a hand plane on a shooting jig.

clean up

Not necessary but I wanted to put the Union through its paces. Performed adequately but not in the top 3 of my #3 planes. The iron is freshly sharpened/honed but it felt dull. It was dragging a bit rather than sailing over the wood. 

hmm........

I don't do good sawing the 45 slots. The left one I don't have problems with. I usually nail it dead on 45. The right one giggles at me every single time. I don't have any headaches with the top horizontal saw cut. It is the vertical down cut. No matter how much I try it comes out tapered, on the line at the top going out to right at the bottom. A nice tapered, slanted saw cut,

nope

I thought I could saw from the opposite side but it didn't work. It came out better but the taper was still there. Smaller and still not square up/down.

3rd try

A little help with a square was just that, a little help. Still had a tapered vertical kerf. A minor hiccup but I would still like to get dead nuts 45's off this jig.

left one

No light and it is tight and seamless in the square.  This is the first time I remember achieving this. Left or right I always seem to be a wee bit off 45.

pretty good for off the saw

The right miter is wonky. It looked good in the square but there something about it I didn't like.

the problem

The left miter heel is tapered. (the left was sawn on the right miter slot). The other miter is square and parallel. The miter won't close up and form a 90 with the pieces plumb. 

nope again

2nd attempt and the miter heel is tapered. The other miter is square and parallel. The miter won't close up and form a 90 square up/down. 

the best one

I tried correcting this cut because I could see it going OTL (out to lunch). I had also penciled a square line on the backside of the front cut. All of them were better then the front but still tapered.

I wanted to play more with this but my shoulders and left arm were singing arias to me. I'll come back to this in the AM if they are feeling better.

accidental woodworker

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

There is also an old sawmill building, but a storm (don't recall when) picked up the roof and slammed it back down, so it was out of commission when we were there.  I hope they get a chance to fix it up, but that'll be a large undertaking.

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.

Probably like many of you, as I watch the paroxysm of manufactured “rage” throughout urban America I am almost continually running an OODA Loop especially when I leave Shangri-la and go out into the larger world.  (OODA is the military acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act, a decision-making model for use in uncertain situations.)  In the environment that is the USA 2026, OODA is in my mental background like a virus scan.  Since many/most/all(?) of the “spontaneous” riots are conducted by trained out-of-state professionals provided by entities like Crowds on Demand, Inc. (a real LA-based rent-a-mob temp agency!), the need for OODA is an imperative.  I for one am curious about the money trail for the rent-a-mobs.

But ruminations on OODA are just the gateway for this post.  Almost all of us of a certain age have had our awareness formed, at least in part, by two classic dystopian novels we read in high school — 1984 (1949, George Orwell) and Brave New World (1932, Aldous Huxley).  However, my favorite novel of this (or any other) genre and roughly contemporary to them, and one that I am unreservedly recommending to you, is the far less known 1945 C.S. Lewis That Hideous Strength.  When reading THS I find many of the parallels to 2026 to be inescapable.  It is almost a fictional recitation of the seduction Hannah Arendt described as “the banality of evil” but set in the campus and village of a small British university.  It brings to mind the old quip, “The smaller the boat the meaner the rats.”

The understanding from this trilogy of dystopian fiction is IMHO foundational to being a modern grown-up.  Not the full foundation, but still foundational.  Read or reread them for a refresher course in the human condition and of the evil that men can do.  And if you are unfamiliar with That Hideous Strength, pick it up and be edified.  Every time I reread it I find myself saying, “Holy cow, that’s just like now!”  Yes, it is a semi-fantasy, but the parallels are too powerful to ignore.  It is not a fast read, not because it is turgid or difficult, but because you might just find yourself pausing by necessity to consider the implications of the tale for our modern, debauched world.

For extra credit when exploring the dysfunctional human condition take a stroll through The Minor Prophets of The Old Testament, Hosea through Malachi.  Since the books do indeed chronicle accurately the nature of the human condition, like me you are likely to pause and reflect that the truths therein are as current as tomorrow’s headlines.

 Wanted to make some milk paint today but it didn't happen boys and girls. My kingdom for a horse slapped upside the head instead. I couldn't find a container or any kind in which to mix the paint in. Since it was snowing and had been since around 0700, I wasn't going out to Wally World to buy said container. I'll try to do it tomorrow. Not sure how long the quark is viable - I have in the refrigerator for now.

back to square one

Tried to get RML shavings this AM and nada. It was like I hadn't spit them out yesterday. Found one hiccup with the iron not being square so I started with 80 grit on the runway until the iron was square.

getting closer

I have a bench grinder but I don't like the hollow grind it leaves. Nor do I have the skill to straighten the iron at a 25° angle. I expended a lot of calories on the runway and I eventually got it.

paper change

This runway gets two different grits. This face has 150. I had to change the paper because it wasn't cutting anymore.

60 grit on this face

I usually go with 80 grit but because I had to square the edge, I dropped down to 60 grit. I have a rough diamond stone which I think is 250 grit but it doesn't cut as quickly as 60 or 80 does.

hmm.......

Looks pretty even across the mouth. Yesterday the headache I had was the left side was high and the right was buried. Moving the lever didn't straighten it out entirely. I had to reset the frog as it was too far forward and the mouth was too tight to pass shavings.

ta da

First try I got RML shavings. More importantly for my blood pressure, the lever is centered. 

accidental woodworker 

Anita got two new booths in the antique mall she sells in. She went from having a small 8′ x 10′ L shaped booth to having two big rooms. Because of this, she needed a big display cabinet for the back wall in one of her rooms. She searched the internet and asked me if I could make this apothecary cabinet for her.

She wanted the piece to be made of a light colored wood but didn’t want maple or poplar. We went to Lowes and bought a bunch of 1×12’s that were a light pine made in Sweden. Being that they were from Sweden, I assume that it’s the same pine that IKEA uses in their furniture.

The first thing I did was make the legs by glueing up boards into a square. There’s a special lock miter router bit for this purpose but I have always heard that your stock has to be completely straight and flat in order for the bit to work well. My boards were neither, so I opted for 45 degree cuts and a lot of clamping pressure with band clamps and duct tape. Fortunately, they came out fine.

After the legs were made, I cut notches into them to fit the shelves. Then I wrapped the edge of the shelves with 1 1/4″ pieces of wood. On the end grain, I used a little bit of glue and pocket screws for the wood movemnet. The rest of the base was built with Festool Dominoes and glue.

I wanted robust drawers so I made those with handcut half blind dovetails. It’s a lot of fun cutting dovetails by hand and it really doesn’t take too long once you get the hang of it.

I wanted to make sure that the drawers wouldn’t bind, so I made the drawers a 1/8″ smaller in length and height so there would be a 1/16″ gap all around. I made sure the drawer runners were 1/16″ proud of the opening and screwed them in place with pocket screws and glue.

Once the base was made, I focused on the top. I wanted the sides to have a thicker panel in the middle of them, so I glued up the 1/8″ panels together. I used as many clamps I could find and stuck newspaper between the two panels so they would stick together. Luckily, when the panels dried, I was left with two oversized panels for the sides of the cabinet.

I built the case with more Dominoes and glue and created adjustable shelf supports with the scrap wood I had left over.

I love this technique for adjustable shelves. You drill a 3/4″ hole every 2″ then you rip the piece in half on the table saw. Then for the support, you add a 1″ filler on the bottom of the support stick. This way, if you need your shelf 1″ higher, you simply flip over your shelf support.

I installed the back with more of the 1/8″ thick panel wood and Anita put a natural aging solution on the piece as she didn’t want it stained.

People in the antique shop love the piece and are perplexed that I built it out of 1×12’s from Lowes.

Between the holidays and other things, I was a little out of rhythm in the workshop for a while. But this past week, I made some progress on several projects, including the prep work for some cherry bowls. The cherry … Continue reading →

 

Wow

The temp at 0603 this AM. (The time on the display never got changed on the last fall back. ) An hour later the temp had dropped another degree to 7F.

hmm.....

This is all that is left from 2 quarts of skim milk. I rinsed it until the water ran clear. I ended up with 268 grams of quark. According to the author, 250 grams is the minimum to make milk paint.

the last one

The box underneath holds four, #4 planes, he wanted 5 but the MF #5 had already sold. This is the Union #3 with a corrugated sole. I'm thinking of keeping this one because it got absolutely zero interest.

dropped 5 degrees

This is the biggest drop in the shop temp so far this winter. The temp was hovering at 59F and it is a wee bit on the chilly side now. Definitely will be wearing  long sleeve shirts now.

hmm......

Tried to make RML (right, middle, left) shavings and nada. The iron was slanted at the mouth and I couldn't straighten it out with the lever do hickey thing. It looks like the circular boss that fits in the iron slot and moves it R/L is too big.

hmm......

Getting better. I filed the the round boss a couple of times and each time it improved. The lever was moving sufficiently now and the iron was square to the mouth. Still wasn't able to get RML shavings though. Getting close, but no cigar.

finally

Over an hour later and I got my RML shavings. Full width and length with all three. The downside is the lever has to be fully over to the right in order to get them. That drives me postal but everything I tried did diddly squat with centering it. The plane does work ok now with it there. I'll keep this plane for myself. It is too fiddly to fettle and pass on to someone else.

accidental woodworker 

Torre Civica in Assisi, Italy

I’m not only a philosopher, sir, I’m a fatalist. Somewhere, sometime, there may be the right bullet or the wrong bottle waiting for Josiah Boone. Why worry about when or where?

Doctor Josiah Boone, Stagecoach, 1939

This series of articles is about tools that have been around a long time, used by nearly every craftsman and builder throughout the span of human existence. Tools without batteries, with no plastic parts, with no need to update or replace glitchy decepticon software that intentionally breaks or evaporates after a few months. These are tools that don’t lend themselves to mass-production and corporate profits. You could even make them yourself with little effort.

I call them “Ancient Tools” because their origins are older than writing.

In this post, your humble servant would like to consider two of the most ancient such tools: the noble stringline and its stiffer brother: the straight edge. We will also touch on the divider.

But before we go into details, let’s consider some background about these tools and why they are so important.

Some History

It’s not even a featherweight of exaggeration to say that each of these tools was essential to the design, fabrication and installation of the wood, brick, stone and steel that make up the foundation of both ancient and modern human civilization.

Indeed, beyond simply making stuff, these small tools were critical to the elevation of human civilization above subsistence hunting, gathering, and the herding of goats. How did these simple tools build civilization, Gentle Reader may ask?

Well the reasons are simply that the stringline and straightedge were essential to the development of mathematics, geometry, trigonometry, navigation, astronomy, architecture, engineering, external ballistics, and many other practical sciences, all of which are essential to not only craftsmen, but modern civilization in total. An exaggeration? Not in the least degree.

Does Gentle Reader use round objects? How do you think the number Pi was first approximated? 

Does Gentle Reader ever ride ships on oceans, or airplanes in the sky? Or use objects transported by trains, cars or trucks over long railways and highways? Have you given thought to how ancient builders were able to plan and layout those railways, roads and highways? Or layout and cut the earth, stones and wood to make them?

Have you considered how ancient sailing vessels were able to navigate oceans and chart constantly changing courses?

You may think that these tasks are all handled by theodolites, lasers, computers and GPS widgets nowadays, and that may be so, but it was the string line and straightedge that started it all.

It’s my humble contention that these simple tools remain of significant utility even to modern woodworkers.

Relevant History

Pardon me while I momentarily wax academic.

Did you know that the oldest and most respected treatise on geometry was a 13 book collection titled Elements of Geometry, written around 300 BC by the Greek mathematician, Euclid? That was along time ago.

A fragment of Euclid’s Elements on part of the Oxyrhynchus papyri.

The fact is that Elements is the world’s oldest, extant, large-scale deductive treatment of mathematics, and for nearly two thousand years was the definitive document studied in the West and Middle East by those seeking an education about the physical world. This includes, of course, Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci) (c. 1170–1250 CE), René Descartes (1596–1650), Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), and every other mathematical giant. It’s an impressive set of books by any standard.

Of course, Maestro Euclid did not invent all the principles presented in his books but summarized the works of Eudoxus of Cnidus, Hippocrates of Chios, Thales and Theaetetus.

The exact same principles of mathematics and geometry written about in the Elements are taught in schools and universities nowadays, although the textbooks employed are abbreviated, fancier, plagiarized versions of the Elements shamefully giving no credit to Maestro Euclid or his teachers. Interestingly, the word plagiarize comes from the Latin word plagium, meaning to kidnap.

And here’s why The Elements is relevant to this humble scribble, because, you see, Euclid limited the constructions he presented in his books to those that could be produced using just a simple straight edge (not a ruler) and a basic divider, the two most important tools to civilization, and worthy of mastery.

Let’s first examine the father of the straightedge and ruler: the string line.

The Stringline

Before the straightedge there was the string line, a simple tool older than the straightedge, the ruler and the divider. Anyone can make one.

Think about it. If you must draw a straight line, or check that something is straight, and you lack a precision straightedge or carpenter’s square, or the tools you have are too short, how would you do it? The quickest, cheapest, most reliable tool for the job is the simple string line, be it made from palm fiber, camel hair, hemp, nettles or dried fish guts. Anyone can make it, and anyone can use it. They sell it at Home Despot, but batteries are not required!

The same string line can also be used as a divider or compass.

For example, if you need to divide a distance into 4 segments, simply stretch the line over the total distance and fold it back on itself 3 times. Each fold is a perfect 1/4 division of the total distance. This may be the origin of the 1/2″, 1/4″, 1/8″, 1/16″ progressions of divisions used in imperial measurements.

If we tie a knot, or make an ink mark at each of these divisions, we’ve now made a very accurate, graduated string line which can be used like a tape measure. And all it took was just some cordage made from a nettle plant or horse tail. Batteries not included.

A commercially-available string line I recently purchased for quality control of a robotic customer fulfillment center construction project in Chiba, Japan. In Japan this tool is called a “mizuito” (水糸), which translates to “water string.” In Japan the “water line” has nothing to do with boats but is a datum line critical to layout in construction, BTW. Made by Takumi in 4 colors, this string line is made of 0.8mm x 120m low-stretch nylon. Stretchy nylon would be a big failure. The black plastic reel that came with it measures 80×52×31mm and comes in both 120m and 240m sizes and is designed to fit into a breast pocket. To use this reel, one places one’s thumb and forefinger on the opposing free-wheeling red circular centers on each edge of the reel. This allows one to completely control the reel with just two fingers while spooling line in or out and all without striking the web of the hand. A very handy tool indeed and one I use all the time.

The Straightedge

The straightedge is a stiffer, shorter, handier version of the string line. It takes some skill to make.

The ruler is a straightedge with marks (graduations) instead of knots. This takes more skill to make.

The folding rule and metal ruler are more durable, convenient versions of the wooden ruler, but take a lot of skill and expensive materials to make. They were too costly for ordinary craftsman to own until recent times.

Public Standards of Measurement

In ancient times, each upstanding, well-organized community, be it town, city, abbey, temple, or castle, had a person responsible for establishing local legal standards of weights and distances, for maintaining official references materials (e.g. actual weights, graduated rulers or containers), and for checking on behalf of the local authorities, such as the Pharaoh, king, baron, castle owner, abbot or mayor, that the subordinate members of the community were in compliance with those standards.

In past millennia this system of public standards was considered proof of civilization, one of the primary justifications for government and taxes, while the lack thereof was considered a sure sign of barbarism and crooked government.

Indeed, failure to establish, maintain and enforce these standards frequently resulted in bitter disputes and even bloody wars in the not too distant past.

With every Tom, Dick and Pharaoh striving madly to become emperor of the world and establish themself in history forever as the person who governs “standards” (aka the “ruler”), until relatively recently, these weights and measures varied from kingdom to kingdom, castle to castle, and town to town. What a confusing mess!

Matters of health, welfare and uniform commerce aside, from the days of Melchizedek, standards were, and still remain, absolutely essential to taxation, of course.

To ensure that buyers and vendors were familiar with the standard measures current in a certain place, in ancient times these standards were carved onto or embedded into the walls of public buildings and church facades in such a way that all could see and copy them, and so they could not be removed or defaced.

Defacing/modifying standards, sometimes by the taxed and often by those imposing taxes, has always been a convenient but ruinous way to make money. The recent bout of intentional high inflation and currency devaluation the world is experiencing is a symptom of currency adulteration, another ancient criminal activity related to defacement of standards.

Indeed failure to comply with officially-established standards was deemed a serious offense in many communities punishable by fines, imprisonment, dunking, public exposure, dismemberment, hanging and even crucifixion. Worldwide more than a few shopkeepers, bakers, brewers, weavers and even tile makers were maimed or executed for “shorting” their customers.

Historically, master builders and tool makers were often required to provide a letter from the local standards officer attesting that their measuring tools were in full accord with the latest standards.

While we no longer embed standards of measure made of iron or stone in the walls of churches and city halls, in one form or another, this practice continues even today.

Standard measures on the façade of the Torre Civica in Assisi (photograph Elizabeth den Hartog). Shown are public standards for various units of length at the time (yard, foot and palm), as well as the respective official standards for the thickness and size of roof tiles, bricks and floor tiles. These standards often included the minimum size of a loaf of bread and size of a tankard of ale.

How To Use a Straightedge

I learned how to use straightedges, scales, dividers and compasses for carpentry and woodworking as a boy from my father, and from carpenters and other craftsman on jobsites over the years. But I learned the most from drafting classes in college. This was before drafting heads, digital protractors, dot-matrix printers, and CAD. Back then even lettering was done by hand or using plastic/metal templates. The professors back then were justifiably proud of their hard-earned skills and the beautiful and precise documents they could deftly produce entirely by hand.

The first lesson the Masters taught was this: Never lay one’s tape measure, rule or scale on the drawing/workpiece and mark from it directly using pencil, pen, scribe or marking knife, but instead use dividers to first measure the required distance on the scale/ruler, indexing the divider’s points in the engraved lines, and then use those same dividers to transfer and mark the distance onto the workpiece or paper. High precision indeed.

The intuitive, but inefficient way most careful people do the job is lay the ruler, yardstick or tape measure on the workpiece, index one end (a careful man will always “burn” 1″ or 12″ or 10mm and not index directly on the tool’s end), locate the target distance on the measuring tool, and make a mark. But if he is trying to layout an irregular distance like 2-3/64″ (= 52 (51.99) mm), for instance, a pencil’s lead or pen’s tip is too wide for precision, so he will use a scribe or marking knife instead. But in many cases, this requires extremely good eyesight, and sometimes even a magnifying glass. When I as a young man, many senior carpenters kept a magnifying glass in their toolbox. It works.

The wiser craftsman will tip the scale or ruler on its edge, kneel or bend down so he can see the scale’s/ruler’s marks clearly, fit the point of his marking knife or scribe into the engraved line on scale/ruler, and then transfer that to the workpiece, paper, or story stick with a quick “tick.”

There is a risk that the far end of the ruler/scale at the point he is measuring from may wiggle out of alignment messing up his precision. Or that the scribe/knife point may shift while making the “tick.” With practice, these tendencies can be overcome, but clearly this method is time consuming and the results may be questionable.

The improvements I recommend to make one’s marking knife more effective at this task can be seen here.

But using dividers, the wise craftsman can fit/index their points quickly and precisely into the engraved lines in scale/ruler at each end of the measurement, first time everytime, and without kneeling, squinting, pressing down, or worrying about wiggling and shifting mark the desired distance on the workpiece. Once he has set the dividers to the required distance, he can fit one of the sharp points precisely into the index hole, or onto the line he is measuring from, and then use the other point to make a precise scratch or hole in the workpiece, which can be used again for future layout reference. This technique greatly improves precision without using a magnifying glass.

This technique works with both dividers and trammel heads.

Standard dividers are quickest, but a locking divider with screw adjustment is easier to adjust precisely and is more likely to retain the measured distance with repeated usage.

You will find when drafting or doing layout that you repeat some distances frequently. Having 2 or 3 locking dividers set to these distances close at hand will allow you to layout those distances quickly and accurately without the need to refer to scale/ruler. Your humble servant keeps three in my toolchest.

The quality of your scale/ruler becomes important when attempting precision layout. A high-quality, professional-grade scale or ruler must of course be of proper length and uniform width and thickness, be free of twist, and have accurate lines. But to qualify as a high-quality scale/ruler, it must pass 2 simple quality tests, not an easy task nowadays. 

1. Accurately spaced graduations. Performing this quality check requires the skillful use of precision tools and time, so it is seldom economical to purchase discount scales/rulers.
2. Consistently engraved graduations. Besides being spaced at the right distances, the graduations engraved into the metal must be the right length, width, depth and have smooth, straight walls. This too is also uncommon. Don’t settle for cheapo tools with shallow, uneven laser-etched or acid etched graduations. Photo-engraved graduations are best. Seldom found in Chinese or Indian tools.

We’ll consider more uses for these tools in the next installment of this crazy adventure.

YMHOS

A fusuma screen by Kano Nagatoku, a designated National Treasure of Japan, commissioned by the Tokugawa clan, Japan’s last and most famous shogunate. Imagine presiding over a meeting with this as your background!

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