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Mixing & Using Traditional Shellac for a Lovely and Very Easy Wood Finish on your Furniture Affiliate Disclosure: When you purchase through certain links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission, at no cost to you. Learn more. In this video, Will

bumblebee orchid pic

This is a birthday present for my son in law. It is almost a month late but I got it out to him today.

hmm......

The back rails are a little longer than the side ones. Between the legs and the first slat (on either end) is about 2 1/4". I hadn't checked or noticed the difference before doing the layout. If I had I could have spaced the slats out a little more. 

done

Whacked out these quicker than the others before this. No splits and all the mortises are clean and nice looking.

first one fitted

I had made two of the slats a wee bit wider than then other three. Two of the mortises were wider R/L than the others. I'm glad I checked them with the two extra slats from yesterday before I ripped out the 5 needed for this.

done

Got it fitted and together. The slats are ready to go as they were all planed on all four edges. All that is left is to sand the rails and I can start the glue up.

inevitable

Got a split across 3 mortises. Didn't happen when I chopped them but when I was fitting the center slat. After I got the last two fitted I glued and clamped it.  I had clamped across the split while chopping the last three. 

fixed

This side assembly I had put the bottom rail on backwards yesterday. I reassembled it correctly to check it with no hiccups. 

side and back sub assemblies

I sanded the rails with 120 and 180 grit. Before I glue them up I have to come up with a plan for the dowels. I had drilled the holes for 2" dowels but with the dowels having to by pass I need to do a dry fit up before I commit to glue. I'll start on that happy journey in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

Just as last week was all about loading up and teaching Historic Woodworking (more about that later) this week is all about unspooling, laying and connecting over a thousand feet of 2-inch Heavy Duty Polyethylene water line for my hydropower system.  My brother is here for a visit and I am working him like a rented mule.

The water line is heavy but not brutally so, each of the four coils is probably about 350 lbs, but being coiled up for an unknown period of time it is set hard into the coil shape.  Basically it is like straightening out a giant Slinky that wants to beat you up at every turn.

Stay tuned.

Between 1905 and 1943, Stanley manufactured the No. 52 Chute Board and Plane. In 1909, the Chute Board Plane No. 51 was made separately available.

While a modern chop saw or table saw can instantly create a glass smooth square cut, hand saws can give an accurate cut, but not something glass smooth. I have never owned a table saw; I have done all the work in making furniture completely by hand. I didn't do this because of high-minded purity. But as someone who lived and did my furniture-making in an apartment, I simply didn't have space or soundproofing for a table saw. With practice and paying attention, sawing something square is not that difficult. But even a great saw edge isn't perfect because the saw marks leave a rough surface. For joints that are not seen, that's usually fine. For anything visible, however, you need a clean straight edge.

The way you create a clean straight edge is by shooting the edge with a plane. There are millions of guides on the internet on how to do this, but the basic theory is you place the work flat in a fixture, and - with a plane on its side - you plane the end grain front to back. Chute board planes were invented to make this easy. Most chute board planes had a skewed blade to promote a slightly better attack angle on the end grain of a wood. The skewed blade also helped push the wood down against the shoot board that the wood was braced against. The better planes also had angled handles - easier to hold. If you used a Stanley No. 9 Cabinetmaker's Block Plane for shooting, you could get an accessory "Hot Dog" handle that fit on the side so that the plane was easier to hold. With a traditional miter plane, or a regular bench plane, you just grabbed the side of the plane.

With an accurate shooting board, you could not only make the edge of a board clean and smooth, but also dead square. The work rests against a fence on the shooting board, and the plane is guided square by riding in a trough on the side.

With a fence on a shooting board set at 45 degrees, you also can make perfect miter joints.

For centuries, wooden fixtures were the way this was done. Making what is essentially a bench stop with a ledge for the plane is pretty straightforward. The trick is building a fixture with a perfect, accurate, 90 fence. In 1905, Stanley introduced a very expensive, but not very popular, Chute Board Plane and Board. It was $10.00 in 1915, which was a lot of money. I've had one for about 30 years. What I love about mine: it's actually pretty comfortable to use with that slanted handle; it's dead accurate; and it produces a great result. I attached a wooden sacrificial fence to mine, because when I'm doing something precise I prefer having support all the way up to the edge of the work. I've never really used it for any miters. Both Lie-Nelson and Lee Valley have created their versions of this plane.

The original plane had a holddown for the work. I didn't get it with my plane. Aftermarket replacements are available, but I never got around to getting one, and I've never really missed it. The plane is heavy and there's momentum behind it. It is beautifully machined and extremely accurate. I find just only has one flaw with it: unlike every other Stanley bench plane, it has a frog that is not adjustable. So you cannot stick a Hock or other aftermarket thicker blade (with their performance benefit) into the plane without widening the mouth with a file - which I'm simply not willing to do. Such an alteration would seriously affect the plane's resale value. When I got my plane I did need to replace the blade and I got a replacement blade from Karl Holtey, who ground one up thin for me special in an exotic alloy. It's an awesome blade.

When I'm doing cabinet work, the plane rests against a stop on the right side of my bench. It happens I don't use my vise much so it never gets in the way. Most my clamping is done with holdfasts and a tail vise on the left hand side of the workbench.

 

working on the slats

Getting the length between the rails and adding 5/8" for the mortises. I sawed the length of the slats 1/8" less then the OAL.

3 down with 2 to go

Cleaned up the four edges of the slats with planes and then fitted the top mortises first. For the most part the mortises were fairly close and I only lost one slat. I had planed it like the previous 4 but it came up short on the R/L of the mortise. I checked and it was too loose for the remaining 6 mortises. 

first side done (right)

I got the bottom rail on backwards but it didn't matter because the dowel holes are centered on the ends. I'll correct this when I do the glue up. 

left side slats

Wash, rinse, and repeat for the other side assembly.

I'm not coughing much in the shop but it still happens. I have noticed that I am a lot slower than I used to be. Not helping much with me pulling my head out of my arse and making stupid me-steaks though. (like above) Working slower and not as long anymore. But as long as I can trot down to shop I'll continue making sawdust and butchering wood.

hmm......

I like the sides but there appears to be a big hole of nothingness on the back. I checked the pic again it is appears that there is a solid back. I am not fond of that look. I understand that is most likely to keep objects on the shelf from falling off at the back. 

more slats

Slats won't be the barrier that a solid wood back (1/4" plywood) would be but I like the slat look on the back. I have two slats left over but I'm not a fan of even numbers, I like odd much better.

3 slat layout

I like this look but there is still a lot of 'oops' spacing for things to fall and play the bounce test with Mr Floor.

huh

I stepped off the top one with dividers starting one inch from each end - kinda like a dovetail layout. The bottom one I divided it into three with dividers starting from one end and going to the other. Not much of a noticeable difference between the two.

Since I have to make one more slat to go with three I might as well make 5 and match the sides. Although the back won't be as visible as the sides, it should be an adequate backing to keeping things from falling out the back.

accidental woodworker 

The time for dust collection really comes when you get item #1, the thickness planer. It is difficult to run any shop without dust collection. Let’s break it down into sections.  The lighter, smaller, and mobile tool is the shop vac. This cleans up scattered wood dust and particles, including from hand woodworking. It also […]

I’ve been thinking about something that’s always puzzled me in woodworking. How can one craftsman build something beautiful and functional and sell it for an astronomical price, while another builds something just as good, sometimes the exact same piece, and can’t get near that price? Or can’t sell it at all?

How does that happen? A teacher can teach someone to build a chair, carve it beautifully, and the thing never sells, even though the teacher has been selling that same chair for $1,600 for years.

This is a hard thing for a craftsman to accept, because we spend our lives believing the object is what matters. We’re raised on the idea that if you make something useful and beautiful, it should sell. We spend years learning, then refining, then learning more, all so we can produce work that speaks for itself. Naturally, we believe that if two people make the same object to the same standard, the market should value them the same. History says otherwise.

Paul Sellers makes a rocking chair and sells it for $3,000. Peter Follansbee makes a ladder back chair and sells it for $1,600. You take Paul’s class and learn to build that rocking chair. Time passes, your skills sharpen, and eventually you’re producing chairs that match his quality. But you can’t sell yours for $3,000. You can’t sell it at all. You end up giving it away.

That doesn’t sit right with any woodworker. We want to believe that if the work is good enough, someone will recognise it. We want quality to be the thing that decides value. But it isn’t.

A lot of people have tried to make a living copying what other craftsmen already do, then wondered why it didn’t work. Peter and Paul both teach classes. They show you exactly how they build what they build. Magazines run their articles, video crews film their process, and somewhere in all that exposure, it starts to feel like you could sell what they sell too.

But you only learned how to make the object. You didn’t acquire what makes the object valuable to the person who made it. This is what I call the illusion of the classroom. They’d already built something that can’t be taught in a class. They built a name.

A piece of furniture isn’t just mortises and tenons, dovetails and rabbets fitted together. It carries the story of the person who made it, the years spent behind the bench earning the skill to make it well. There’s a story in every piece, but not everyone tells it. The ones who do, and do it well, become known over time, until their name and their work become the same thing in people’s minds.

This isn’t an invention of the internet age. Long before algorithms, it was magazines, newspapers, and word of mouth.

George Nakashima is one of the clearest examples of this. He became one of the most recognised furniture makers of the twentieth century. His tables, chairs and cabinets were admired, but his work represented something much deeper. His approach to timber, his respect for natural forms, and his philosophy of allowing the wood to influence the design became part of his identity as a craftsman.

People were not simply buying a table made from a piece of beautiful timber. They were buying a George Nakashima table. That distinction is extremely important.

After George Nakashima passed away in 1990, his daughter Mira continued the family workshop. Mira had learned directly from her father and understood the methods, designs and philosophy that made the Nakashima name famous. She was not an outsider copying his work. She had spent years working alongside him and was fully capable of continuing the tradition. But it wasn’t her they wanted. It was her father.

While George was alive, his furniture was in high demand and business was booming. After he passed away, business plummeted. Customers were afraid the value of their investment would drop without him. I remember reading about it in Fine Woodworking back in the early 2000s.

Many customers were looking for the work of George Nakashima himself. They wanted the connection to the man whose name had become synonymous with his work. The furniture remained beautifully made, but it wasn’t George Nakashima who built it. It was someone different.

This is not a criticism of Mira Nakashima. It demonstrates something much larger about craftsmanship. The reputation of a maker becomes part of the value of the object.

The same lesson can be seen in the work of Sam Maloof. He became famous for his sculptural rocking chairs. His designs were instantly recognisable, and his name became almost synonymous with the form. Many skilled woodworkers can make a beautiful rocking chair. Many can study his methods, understand the joinery and produce a piece inspired by his work. But they are not Sam Maloof.

The buyer who wanted a Maloof rocker was not simply looking for a comfortable chair. They wanted the chair made by the man whose life’s work had become associated with that design.

This is the same reason an original piece of historical furniture carries a meaning that a reproduction, no matter how accurate, cannot completely replace. A modern craftsman can study Thomas Chippendale’s work, understand his designs and produce a remarkable reproduction. It may demonstrate extraordinary skill and dedication. But it is not a Chippendale.

An original Chippendale piece carries the history of his workshop, the customers who commissioned it, the period in which it was made and the hands that created it. The maker’s name has become part of the object itself.

This brings us back to Peter Follansbee, the man from the opening of this piece. His work at Plimoth Patuxet Museums, his research, his books, his teaching and his writing have all contributed to the meaning attached to his name. When someone buys one of his chairs, they are not simply buying a ladder back chair. They are buying a chair made by Peter Follansbee.

That is where many talented craftsmen struggle. They look at another maker’s work and think, “I can make that just as well.” Sometimes they are absolutely correct. Their craftsmanship may be equal. Their attention to detail may be equal, if not better. Their understanding of the techniques may be equal. But in the eyes of the market it is not the same.

Take myself as another example. I was selling wholesale. In truth, I was selling myself short for a sure thing.

The shops had the customers. The shops had the reputations. I made the work and they sold it.

There was nothing wrong with that. It was a living. But looking back, I can see what I gave up by doing it that way. I spent thirty years making things without building a name for myself among the people who might have wanted to buy them directly from me at a much, much higher price. After all, it was truly handmade.

Peter Follansbee worked for the museum and honed his skills there. He appeared on the shows, which gave him free advertising, and over time people got to know and trust him. He went on to produce videos through Lie-Nielsen, ran classes and built a genuinely respectable name in the industry. He was vouched for by Christopher Schwarz, and today he can sell whatever he wants at a hefty price tag.

You cannot live in the shadows for thirty years and expect people to know who you are. A craftsman can spend thirty years or fifty years mastering the craft and still remain unknown if they never build a connection with the people who value that craft. Knowledge, skill and dedication are essential, but they do not automatically create recognition. Communication opens those doors.

This is not to say that an unknown maker cannot produce work of equal quality. They absolutely can. There are countless craftsmen producing extraordinary work who will never receive the recognition they deserve. That is one of the great frustrations of craftsmanship. The world does not always discover the most talented maker. It often discovers the maker who has successfully communicated their work with an audience that understands its value.

And that is an uncomfortable truth, because we like to think craftsmanship is a meritocracy. We like to think the best work rises to the top. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn’t.

The craftsman who spends his entire life under the radar producing excellent work is not necessarily going to be the one people remember. Someone else may be just as skilled, or even less skilled, but they wrote about their work, taught others, appeared in magazines, demonstrated their methods, built relationships and became known. It doesn’t necessarily make them a better craftsman. It makes them a known craftsman. There is a difference.

The truth is that making and selling are two different crafts. Many craftsmen dedicate their entire lives to the first and never consider the second. They believe the work should speak for itself. Unfortunately, the work cannot speak if nobody knows it exists.

And this is where the whole thing comes back around to that chair. You can make the chair. You can make it beautifully. You can use better timber, make tighter joints, carve it better and finish it better. You can spend twice as long making it as the person you’re comparing yourself to.

And you can still have trouble selling it. Because nobody knows you. That is the difference between selling a chair for $1,600 and giving one away.

The painful part is that the craftsman often discovers this only after spending years becoming good enough to make the thing in the first place. By then, it is too late to realise that making the object was only half of the job. You also had to make yourself known.

I know this one from the inside. Thirty years at the bench, and I never once asked myself who was going to know my name when I stopped making clocks for someone else’s shop window. I got the first half of the job right and skipped the second entirely. Nobody outside a handful of wholesale buyers ever had a reason to ask who made it.

So if there are any young people reading this, take the half of the job I missed. Learn and practice until you understand the craft better than the average woodworker. Then make every effort to get yourself known. Write articles for magazines, attend shows, go public, advertise yourself, and never stop until you no longer need to.

My ship has sailed, but your ship has just set sail. The journey is long, but it’s adventurous. Make the most of it, enjoy the journey, and remember, you only get one shot at this.

I learned this too late. You don’t have to.

first one done

Checking that the depth is 3/8" deep on each one.

helper

This spans the two rods of the vise and I set the narrow rails on top of it. Solid base to chop the mortises on.

oops

I was being careful, taking teeny whacks so I wouldn't do this. Didn't help as I still split the outside face from the left corner of the mortise to the end and halfway past the mortise on the right. I guess I was lucky because of the four rails, this was the only split I had to fix.

mortising half done

I was getting quicker the more mortises I chopped. Finished the two narrow rails and started on the tall boy rails.

After I had chopped the tall boy mortises, I checked all of them were at the same depth. It wasn't so boys and girls. The combo square had slipped from 3/8" to a 1/4". I had to deepen 9 mortises to get them to at least 3/8". 

hmm......

The vertical slats are a frog hair less than a 1/2" thick. I can two slats out this 6/4 board (actual 1 3/8"). I should be able to get all ten from this one board with extras if needed.

spoke too soon

This 6/4 off cut (the only one I have) is a 1/4" too short. I'll have to use 5/4 or 4/4 stock to get the slats from.

5/4 stock

Checked and rechecked and went back to get slapped one more time. There was no way I could resaw this board and get two slats. I can only get one out of it. 

not superstitious

Had to use two 5/4 boards to get 13 slats. I only need ten for the project.

wee bit oversized

I purposely did this and I will plane each end of each slat to fit its respective mortise. I want them to be snug so there will be no gaps. 

hmm.......

The width is smaller than the thickness of the slats. However, on the R/L, it is oversized slightly on all but 4 mortises. It is looking like it is a frog hair under. Based on previous slat work I've done, the mortises shrink and tend to close up tight on the slats. Fingers crossed that these 4 aren't too short.

stickered

I'll let these hang out until the AM. One is bowed a little and another is bowed a lot. Having 3 extras is paying off already.

why I did extras

These are the off cuts and I'm sure that I can use them for some future use. The 2nd one in from the left bowed as I sawed it. That is the one that gave up the slat that bowed the most. Fingers crossed that I only need to scrap two. But if not, I have one last 5/4 board I can rip out a couple of more.

 accidental woodworker

mortise layout

Going with 5 vertical slats, one inch wide by 1/2 inch thick. The slats need to be installed before I can glue up the sides.

big brain fart

I thought I was done with the dowel jig but I wasn't. I had broke it down and stowed in when I realized that I still had four more to do. I couldn't remember what shims I had used so I had to by trial and error find the right one again. I missed the first one even though it was awfully close. The 3rd one was the charm. The new dowel holes lined up with the reset jig - the test piece aligned flush with the original rail on all four sides.

sigh

When I found the missing dowel holes. I had done the back bottom rail but I didn't do the two bottom side rails.

me-steak

At least I only drilled one hole on the wrong side of the layout line. Glued in a dowel and this won't be visible in finished project. The bottom shelf should cover it.

hmm......

Mitered two dowels and checked to see that shook out. It will work and the tricky part will be getting the mitered faces to align. I think I will glue the sides first and let them cook, then do the back.

2 done

Only 18 more to go. This was it for today. I wasn't feeling as washed out tired like yesterday but I decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. I'll pick back up on the mortises in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

hmm.......

The bottom one is what the dowel jig did first and what two holes look like. I wasn't happy with the empty space so I drilled two holes and shifted the jig to the left and drilled one more hole. I liked that but it won't work when I drill the corresponding holes in the legs. I can't reference the third hole I drilled.

drilled three

The last hole on the left doesn't have a lot of meat on the outside. I think I'll be ok with it because I will place this so this hole is on the bottom.

it wasn't easy

The jig isn't centered on either the rail or the legs. Positioning the jig needs to be set correctly so the rails and legs align -  side to side & top/bottom. The leg/rail sample was a life saving but it was still easy for me to get confused. I confirmed the placement of the jig a bazillion times before I drilled and I still had calm the heebie jeebies afterward.

first two

Got the top side rails done. The inside face is flush with the legs with the offset on the outside.

oops

I might need a change of plans. The dowels for the next set of rails line up with the first rail dowels. I hadn't thought that far ahead. Decided to move the back rail to the opposite side and that opened up some room. One set will still hit the other but with enough meat for the glue to work on both.

While I was typing this I saw another way to deal with this. I could have offset the 2nd set of dowels by placing them in between the first ones. The 5 inch rails had 4 dowels and the offset ones would have had 4 too. On the next one I'll try doing it that way.

hmm.......

This is the top back rail. I will also do this same layout for the bottom back rail. Not ideal but I think it will be adequate for this application.

first bottom rail

Got the bottom rail on the bottom and the bottom front rail I'm on the fence about. I'm leaning towards positioning the outside face flush. The bottom shelf will overhang on the front edge so any offset there won't be seen.

sides done

The first bottom rail is short - I used it just to check I drilled the holes correctly.

came today

I had ordered these yesterday but I hadn't checked for a delivery date. I don't need the 2" ones but I did need the 1 1/2" ones.

last two rails

These are the top and bottom drawer rails. The top one will be dovetailed into the top of the legs and the bottom one is up in the air. Doweled, tenoned, or set in a notch? 

I quit for the day here. I was dead, bone tired and I was struggling trying to not nod out. The oncology nurse had told this might happen and just go with the flow. So that is what I did for the PM session.

accidental woodworker 

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Once again my family and I thank you for your support and encouragement over the years. Folks like you make things possible for guys like me and we appreciate it.

–Bob Lang

Had a great day! John and his wife (a delightful couple) came over to pick up his new Nava mandolin.

almost done

There were two white holidays on the inside I painted and two dings showing some primer on the outside. It will be a while before I can move this into the boneyard. I haven't gotten around to arranging it.

leg stock

Made a me-steak with the 6/4 leg stock. I thought this was long enough to get 8 legs out of it. I also thought that I had bought another 6/4 board but that ain't so boys and girls.

a wee bit of twist

The board wasn't rocking on the tablesaw and the eyeball didn't see any twist. I took a couple of the shavings off the high ends and called it done.

hmm......

I got 5 legs out of the 6/4 board. The two outside ones will be the front legs. The two back legs have straight vertical grain on two faces and two faces with cathedral grain. Not that pronounced and they will be the back legs.

cleaning up

The tablesaw didn't like ripping this poplar. It stalled and grabbed a couple times when I ripped out each leg. I cleaned up those faces and then did a skim cut on the tablesaw getting all four legs to the same dimension.

close

My Olsen miter gauge wouldn't extend the 45" I needed for the legs. I knifed each leg at 45 and cut them on the tablesaw. I will reference everything off of the top of the legs. After it is together I'll even up the legs at the bottom.

rails

Got all the rails saw to length and width. I still need one more rail - the top drawer rail. Holding off on that for now. I still need 3 shelves, slats, and a top. When I do them I'll get the drawer rail from those scraps.

 

Miller Dowel jig

Playing around with the doweling jig to get the set up I want. Initially I was shooting for having the rail centered on the legs. The rails are 5/4 and the legs are 6/4, but I couldn't do that. I like centered because if I brain fart it won't matter and the rail will still fit. 

the final look

In the end after playing with it for a while adding and removing shims, I finally got it. The back is within a frog hair of being flush with the inside of the leg and the opposite face is inset about 3/16".

hmm......

This jig is for setting the depth of the drill bit and I think I finally figured it out. I thought the measurements on the jig were for the dowel length. It ain't so, it is for the drill depth on one side of the dowel joint. It is very easy to confuse me and I could have avoided it if I had read the instructions. Now that I sorted that out I'm trying to decide whether to use 1 1/2" or 2" dowels. 

ready for drilling

I was going to drill the holes but nixed it. I wasn't feeling 100% so I'll come back to this in the AM. 

Day three from my 2nd chemo cocktail and I felt like total crap this morning. I slept throughout the night. I had hit the rack at 2100 and I got up 4 times for the toilet trot races but I was able to fell back asleep right away. It doesn't look like this round of chemo is going to be as nice as round one. 

Feeling nauseous sucks pond scum so I finally broke down and took a pill for it. I felt better about an hour later with the nauseous feeling knocked back 98%. I had my friday fish 'n chips and so far I've kept it down without the urge to make an offering to the white porcelain throne. Blah feeling slowly dissipated over the day and by the time I killed the lights I was feeling a wee bit better. Fingers crossed tomorrow will be better.

accidental woodworker

 I got on the road a little after 0600, heading north to Highland Hardwoods in New Hampshire. It was a nightmare driving up there. 95 and 495 had several log jams I had to deal with and I don't do good in traffic. Especially so when nothing is moving. The closer I got to New Hampshire it started to thin out but a surprise was waiting for me in NH. They were doing massive construction for several miles on the road to Highland Hardwood. Coming home was much better - no log jams and I sailed through the bazillion mile long construction zone.

$262 worth of poplar

I know I have enough for one and I'm going to try and squeeze out two if I can.

the honey do project

This is what my wife asked me to make for her. Surprised me to no end that she liked this style. It is definitely something that I like and I like a lot. 

painting done

On the front no holidays but there are a few spots to do on the back. The front looks good after two coats. It is smooth to the look and touch with no brush marks.

flipped it

Back went on next. I screwed it into the backs of shelves and nailed it off around the perimeter. No glue because of the paint.

last screw

The back wasn't glued and nailed/screwed. The screws (#6x1") stiffened the bookcase much more than I thought they would. The edges and the top and bottom on the back needed a top coat. I am only putting on one to cover the white primer.

done

I have a couple of spots to touch up. Wrestling it off the workbench and getting it upright didn't go smoothly. One down and one more to go. This one is for Leo I think based on the color of the paint. Both of the grandsons have gray dressers but different colors.

15"

I got 3 boards this wide and one 16" wide. All four of them are 5 feet long.

I'll get started on this in the AM. I made some doodles on paper that will guide me. I'll settle on the height, depth, and width as I start cutting the stock to rough dimensions.

Day two from my 2nd chemo cocktail and no side effects so far. I didn't sleep well last night, I had woke up at 0215 and couldn't fall back asleep. I finally nodded out sometime after 0430 and woke up again at 0515. I hope that I sleep like the dead tonight.

Had trouble getting the wood into the truck at Highland Hardwoods. I had to go old man slow because if I tried going at my normal balls to wall speed I got winded. Getting the lumber out of the truck at home and into the cellar took a long time. I get winded and short of breath now more and more when I exert myself even slightly. I had to rest and catch my breath several times. I don't know if that is due to the lung cancer or the ILD. From what I read about ILD that is most likely the culprit.

accidental woodworker 

I’ve been having a field day.  Last weekend I started researching a long-promised post about pole-late treadles. In the process, I discovered that the internet can translate just about any book. That set me off translating Latin, German, and French books on pole-lathes from the 16th- to 18th-centuries.  It takes some effort, but it’s much easier than learning another language.  I’m sure an expert human would be better, but it’s pretty good: I compared a human-translated section to my internet version and the gist was mostly the same.  You’ll be hearing more about these translations – and pole-lathe treadles – soon.  

In the meantime, I’ve decided to book one more class this year from November 16th to 21st, on Curtis Buchanan’s loop back.  I’ll be booking more classes for early 2027, including some 18th Century Chairmaking classes.  But I’m also overseeing the construction of an addition on my mother’s house to help her age in place; I’m not sure how much time that’s going to take, so I’m posting just this one class for now (I may even need to leave this November class for an hour or two to meet contractors, but if so, I’ll have someone cover for me). More info and registration here.

The post New Class, New Translation first appeared on Elia Bizzarri - Hand Tool Woodworking.

 

ready

I eyeballed the bookcase checking for any holidays and found none. Last night after dinner I had put primer on the molding. This AM I sanded it down with 320 grit, wiped down it down and rolled on the first top coat.

nope

Used a roller to apply the top coat and I like the look. No brush marks and the coverage looks smooth. I had to brush some parts - corners and the molded edges of the shelves.

the left one

Both frames have the same molded outside edge. The left one I got today and it is just a wee bit larger then the right one. That is the one I made first and ran a bead on the inside of edge. I still don't remember how I made that frame. Pretty sure that I ran the bead before sawing the miters but it is still fuzzy.

fuzzy looking but done

Finally got all the of the black scraped off. There are a few scattered spots of black in dings that I can't get out. 

ready for paint

I got all the screws and loose parts wire brushed. The frame came out better then I thought it would - cast iron doesn't shine up as nicely as brass does. I'll wipe everything down with acetone before I paint it.

hmm.......

There were a bazillion little dust nibs all over the bookcase. I hand scraped them all off with a small card scraper. I painted the base and molding with a brush because the base had the most dust nibs. 

The plan as of now is to roll on the 2nd coat after dinner. That will have given the bookcase over 8 hours to dry after the first coat.

I got a 'honey can you......' project. I'm going to Highlands Hardwoods in New Hampshire in the AM. I called Koszela lumber and they didn't have all the sizes I needed. My wife likes bland looking wood so I'm making it out of poplar. I need 3/4, 5/4, and 6/4 and only Highland has all three in stock. 

accidental woodworker

Last post I wrote about buying several tools from the widow of a woodworker who, after several months of grieving, was ready to let go of her husband's tools.  On a separate occasion, I got a few more things from her and this post shows them.

A few more new-to-me items

I already have a pair of mag goggles (though I can't seem to find them right now), but these had an extra lens that pivots in front of the right eye for extra magnification.  This pair does not have a light like my other pair, but it'll be nice to have the extra lens for looking at finer things.  It's already helped me get a better view of cutting edges.

I also already have a set of brad point bits, though my set only has 7 bits - 1/8" to 1/2" by 16ths.  This new set goes from 1/8" to 1/2" in 64ths, and already it has come in handy when I had to drill a 15/32" hole.  The set looks to be in great shape.  They had been used, but probably not too much.

A nice complete set of brad point bits

I had been looking for a circular (or "compass"? - not sure of the correct term) plane for the last year or two.  When I saw this one in the man's collection, I really hoped I could get it.

Stanley #20

View from above the front portion

It's a bit grungy and has some issues, but I'll clean it up and get it working.  Can't wait to try it out.

Finally, I picked up a book that looked interesting.  It's "Shoji and Kumiko Design, Book 1: The Basics", by Desmond King.  I had experimented with Kumiko a few years ago and enjoyed it.  And I recall seeing King's name when I was researching Kumiko at that time.  This book will give me some more information to continue with the techniques.

Desmond King's Book 1 on Shoji and Kumiko

That's all for now.  I've got some tools to clean up, materials to read, and some woodworking to get to.

Our showroom barely earns the name - it's just the front part of our warehouse/manufacturing where we have some products on display. But we nevertheless manage to host customers from all over the world, and we're very happy to see them.

Often one of the visitors is driving the visit, with some bored loved ones in tow. We try to suggest local delights that will offset the boring-to-them tool talk. Recently we had visitors from Brazil, Germany, the Dominican Republic and the UK, in addition to states far away from Brooklyn.

We recently also hosted some local browsers - probably extremely local, as in the river one block away. A family of geese stopped by to check out the shop.

The geese didn't talk much so I don't know their names. It was a family of four, and they really came by to get out of the heat. The father wandered around looking at the tools on the lower shelves. The mom and the two goslings sat down on the cool concrete and rested. They didn't actually buy anything, which isn't a surprise since they didn't seem to have cash, a card or a phone. I suppose having webbed flippers not fingers is a handicap for woodworking. But you didn't hear it from me - I like to be encouraging. Basically they visited to get out of the heat, have some water, and use the bathroom (let's just say their habits here left room for improvement). Just to be safe, we called animal protection to find out if we should do anything special to protect them - we're down the block from an expressway extension with a lot of traffic. Animal Protection said that if the geese didn't seem to be in distress, which they weren't, they would probably wander up and down the block and go back to the river.

Apparently this is what they did, we've seen them several times subsequently. They're I guess staycationing in the city for the summer or at least until the goslings are old enough to fly. Our FedEx driver said he has seen them in other spots in the neighborhood near the river, so there's probably a way for them to get to water. But I don't exactly know where. We have been delighted to see that the goslings have definitely been growing and look pretty healthy. So that's very nice. I know this is a story about retail not woodworking, but one of the best parts about buying things in person whether you're doing it by coming to the store or calling up, is the personal connection we get when we actually meet our customers. Even if they're just plain quackers.

In other news, we are almost finished delivering all the pre-ordered treadle lathes. Delivery has definitely been slower than we would like, because we are having trouble with some of our suppliers. Manufacturing is hard! We will be taking a few lathes to Hand Works in Amana. How many we will bring depends on if we get another shipment of bases from our welder. And we just won't know for at least another week. Either way, we should be able to reopen ordering either just before Amana or just after. (We hope.)

That leaves me right into saying I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of you at Handworks on the first weekend of September. It's the only woodworking show we do, and it's well worth the effort for both us and you. Pretty much the entire hand tool world is there and the admission is free. It's a great, fun, exhausting time for all. The big problem is for me is that I've been to every single Handworks, and because I'm working a booth I have yet to really see the show. But stop on by, say hello, play with the lathe. You will have a great time.

it fits

I had my 2nd chemo cocktail this AM but before I left I checked the base and how/if the molding fitted. The base fits well along the front gap free not that it matters much.

left side

This gap is tapered going wide at the front to almost nothing at the back. The gap is because of me planing the tails/pins flush. I didn't check or pay any attention to keeping the corner square.

right side is a little better

hmm......

Got lucky and planing the top of the base was correct. There is a strong 16th between the top of the molding and the top of the bottom shelf. I would have liked it to have been an 1/8" but this is acceptable.

I like it

This is the look of the miter off the saw. I am going with this because it is a paint grade miter and it will look tight and gap free when the paint is on it.

It was 1334 before I made it back to the shop today. The chemo infusion took forever. I got there at 0815 for blood work. I got my premed infusion at 0930 and I left finally at 1220. After filling the pie hole I ambled down to the shop.

sanded

I am gluing the molding to the base only. I will nail (pin nails) it to the base and the bottom shelf. That should be more than adequate for securing the molding. Sanded the primer off with 80 grit.

securing the base

I went back and forth with putting the base on now or waiting until I painted the bookcase and base separately. Nixed that because I have to apply primer to molding after it is secured. Two of the screws poked through and said hello. Replaced those two with 1 1/4" long ones and filled the errant holes with putty.

sigh

I checked the molding dry and it look good to go. I glued and nailed off the front and left side moldings and got a surprise when it came time to do the right one. The front molding ran long about an 1/8". I used a chisel to trim it so the heel was on the outside edge of the side. I didn't chisel it at 45 though. I eyeballed the short leg and checked it - it was way off. I tried several times to adjust the angle by sawing and that wasn't working.

I used a 100 grit sanding stick to getting the mating miter to match. It was easier going then I thought it would be. I eventually got the miter 99% gap free with a minor space at the toe. I filled that in with wood putty. The paint will hide that sin. 

I set all the pin nails and filled them in with putty. After dinner I'll go back to the shop and sand them smooth and apply the primer to the molding.

fixed

Initially I thought having a gap here at the back wasn't a big deal. But I didn't think the gap would be as big as it is. After seeing it I decided to put a shim in around the middle. The shim is about 9-10" long and roughly centered on the back rail. 

done - ish

There are few stubborn spots on the interior that are resisting my charms trying to scrape. Overall I'm satisfied with the removal which now showcases a bazillion dings and casting imperfections. No rush on this and I'll get the last of the recalcitrant paint removed.

hmm......

I found another can of red paint and two cans of black. The red had a skim coat that I removed and it looks viable. The red sample I did yesterday is toast - it was still tacky and more so than it should have been given the warm temps and the 24hrs. Can states dry to the touch in 4-6 hours. Tossed it into the shitcan without getting a pic of.

went 1 for two

The first can of black had thick skim coat with a small puddle of black paint. Tossed that without giving it a second thought. This can was perfect - no skim coat and the paint looked and felt good when I stirred it. I will try it out painting the tenon maker once all the old paint is history.

accidental woodworker 

prepped

Got the base sanded (120 grit) and it is was ready for paint. The tear out I filled with putty felt smooth and flush when I checked it with my finger tips. The bearers/cleats are just screwed on and I will screw up through them to secure the bookcase - no glue there neither.

hmm.......

I would have bet a lung that this was flush yesterday. Not so today. I had checked that the top of the back was square to face but it wasn't. Squared that up and that increased the light under the square. Same headache on the other side to deal with.

fixed

Initially I was going to use veneer but I had to use 5 pieces to get the height needed. Instead I ripped out a thin piece of pine and planed/sanded it until it was flush with the bearer/cleat.

I am going to use the cove molding from yesterday. I took four shavings off the sides and the front which now I think was the wrong way to go. Having trouble trying to visualize if dropping the base will sink the molding down further against the bottom shelf of the bookcase. I'll find out in the AM.

step one

Painting the base is a two stepper. Step one is painting the underside and the inside. Step two, to come, is painting the outside faces of the sides.

flipped a coin

Heads I left the back natural and tails I painted it. Tails won.

one more two stepper

Got the primer on everything except the two outside vertical faces. I'll do them after the paint has dried for a couple of hours.

the oops

Mishandled the router removing it after I had routed the rabbet. It on the back top and it should face a wall unseen. I am not painting the backside of the back panel.

primer coat done

I will let this go until the AM. Then I will lightly sand it with 320 grit and apply the top coat. I have zero confidence that one will cover. On a brighter note I did like the primer coat - it laid down smoothly with no visible brush marks. Will I get lucky with the top coat?

it is working

The paint is coming off effortlessly with the screwdrivers. I got most of the outside done I would say about 90-95%. The inside is scraping off but it is slow going. Hard to hold it conveniently and scrape. Ideally I like scraping having both hands free. 

If I remember hardly anyone is selling pint cans of oil based enamel. I need red and black - my black can had skimmed over and is total crappola. I have a can of red but it is iffy. I slapped some on a scrap to see what it looks like when I check it in the AM.

accidental woodworker