General Woodworking

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.

 

 

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 

 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

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

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.

 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.

 

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!

If you have questions or would like to learn more about our tools, please click the “Pricelist” link here or at the top of the page and use the “Contact Us” form located immediately below.

Please share your insights and comments with everyone in the form located further below labeled “Leave a Reply.” We aren’t evil Google, fascist facebook, or raunchy Reddit and so won’t sell, share, or profitably “misplace” your information. If I lie may my straightedge warp and my string lines all break!

Most of the planes have gone on to new new homes and parents. A couple of #3s and #4s are all that is left. I'll be doing an evaluation of what my tool herd looks like and what I need and can do without. Keep the eyes open for another possible fire sale in the future.

 

changed   (#3s)

The corrugated plane on the left is a Union and the other two are Stanleys. One of them has been claimed since I snapped this pic. 

five #4s

Far left is a Miller Falls and the other four are Stanleys. The Stanley on the far right has a corrugated sole. As of this typing, two of the Stanleys have been adopted leaving 3 orphans waiting for a new home.

one left

The Miller Falls has been claimed. Just the red headed, stuttering 5 1/4 is homeless. 

The transitionals sold as a set on the same day I posted the fire sale blog.  I'm glad they went as a set - it is a complete and ready to do hand tool woodworking.

hmm.....

Two quarts of skim milk heated to 100 degrees F and 2/3 cup of vinegar to sour the milk. Making my quark to make my own milk paint. I tried finding quark in the local grocery stores, they did have it but no one could tell me if it was made with fat free/skim milk.

wow

About a minute after I put the vinegar in the milk it curdled. I opted to let this sit overnight and maximize how much curd I can get.  Hoping to get the miniature chest painted this weekend.

Still feeling a little bit out of whack. The sore throat is better, 70% of the pain of it has subsided to a tolerable level. Walked to Johnny's Chalet for lunch today. The first stroll I've gone on in a week. A lot of sidewalks are still not shoveled and clear.  A storm is coming on the 25-27 that is supposed to dump 12+ inches of the white stuff. I'm hoping to get my interest back up to normal and make something regardless of the impending doom. 

accidental woodworker 

    The green woodworking world is full of rabbit holes.  Head off in any direction, and you might tumble into a shrink pot, or chase a fanbird, or take a good long rest on a sweet chair.  It is a wonder we make progress in any particular discipline, given all the potential distractions.  But for many of us, certain forms seem to tug on us, and for me, it's bowl turning and spoon carving. While I have tried my hand at a lot of adjacent projects, like basketry and casework, I always return to treen.  Why exactly I can’t say, but part of the answer has to do with flow-state and the state or place in which I live.

    When done well, both carving and turning demand a deftness and confidence of motion that you just can’t overthink.  As I talked about in my previous post, you have to turn off the logical part of your brain and allow your body to make a motion, take a cut, define a curve, without a lot of chatter from your prefrontal cortex.  It is like dancing with the wood; think too hard about the two-step, and you will trip over your own feet. Related to this is the fact that both carving and turning are subtractive arts.  While the chairmaker and the basketweaver can always replace a janky rung or a weak weaver, the carver/turner has to really commit.  Once a piece of wood is gone, you can’t put it back.  When you execute a cut, you are relying only on your skill, dexterity, and judgement to see you through.  As you let your body flow through the motion, it is sometimes hard to keep your prefrontal cortex from coming online and exclaiming, “Wow, I’m doing it!”  If it does, you often mess up.  Like driving at night, we can imagine where we can go, but we can’t see the destination and instead have to trust our skills to get us around the next turn. As David Pye points out in his essay on the “Workmanship of Risk,” the less we rely on tools for repeatability, the deeper we venture into the realm of craft, a place where deftness, serendipity, and creativity rule and where at any moment it could all go terribly wrong.

    That creative “place,” if I can extend the analogy, often feels especially alien in my world.  In college, one of my majors was comparative religion, where I became especially interested in how Eastern philosophies imagine the world in fundamentally different ways than we do in the West.  I am reminded of those lessons when I think about how carving, turning, and the creative flow state feel cathartic for me.  Take, for example, the notion of creation.  In the Western Judeo-Christian tradition, creation occurs when an all-knowing maker assembles life from constituent parts, looking at the workpiece from the outside in.  In many Eastern cultures, creation is not assembled but instead flows, grows, and divides into existence from a creative force found within a piece.  Or consider language.  In the West, we build meaning one letter at a time, like using a spotlight to pick our way through a dark room.  In the East, folks see the whole meaning at once, in the flash of an ideogram that illuminates the whole space. We even see this difference in the way words and parts of speech work.  English is exceptionally good at identifying, delineating, and classifying, possibly as a result of the trajectory of Western society: Renaissance--Enlightenment--Scientific Revolution. What English doesn’t do especially well is handle flow and change. As Alan Watts writes, “‘What happens to my fist … when I open my hand?’  The object (the fist) miraculously vanishes because an action was disguised by a part of speech usually assigned to a thing!”  In Chinese, many words serve as both nouns and verbs, and as such, those who speak Chinese have an easier time recognizing that objects are also events.  All things flow.   

    As I settle in to turn another bowl, I wonder if I am in part trying to correct for a sort of cultural bias.  I am leaving behind notions of assembly, of delineation, of logic.  I do not imagine a curve as a series of straight lines plotted on graph paper.  Instead, as every woodturner knows, I envision the form in a flash of creativity and insight, and once I start a curve, the sweet sweep of the entire form has already been set, and the only thing to do is surrender to it and flow. 

AI-Generated!?!

 Had to share this as I just heard it from the Doctor who did the bronchoscopy. The good news is there were no cancer cells in the lung biopsy or in the lymph nodes. That was unexpected because I had already made my peace with having lung cancer. Everything pointed to it. That was a leading reason for my fire sale too. 

Now that I know I'm not under the Sword of Damocles anymore, maybe I can breathe easier. The flip side of the coin is the doc doesn't know what is causing the enlarged lymph nodes (which didn't have bacteria) nor what is in the infected lung area. 

So I'm out of the woods with the big 'C' but on the fence with the unknown with what is out of whack with my left lung. It isn't slowing me down when I stroll. The doc is hoping something will show up on the PET scan I have scheduled for the 11th of Feb. 

I can get back to long term planning and doing. I'm still going to empty the boneyard because I'm sure that I can fill it again. And I decided to do the wood type poster frame. I'll be hanging it in the wife's 'reading room'. Although I'm thinking now of changing the color of the frame from black to some other color, brown maybe?

accidental woodworker 

 I had a few takers on my plane fire sale and spent most of the day packing them up. I also made a few trips to the computer shop for help with my printer. I tried for several days to get the printer to work and finally said NO MAS. The techie at the shop said it booted up and saw the printer right away. He printed a test page and couple more from the Providence Journal site.

Turned out that I was using the wrong USB port. That is the one thing that I didn't think of to change/check. That was a quick $65 for Tech 911. The printer is working and the  4 extra toner cartridges I bought won't be going to waste.

Going to and back from the computer shop was a PITA. They were doing construction at one of the busiest intersections on Post Road. What should have been a 10 minute road trip turned into a 30 minute journey from hell. And I got to enjoy it 4 times.

better

The iron and chipbreaker on the 4 1/2 had a line of rust on it. Of all of the planes on the bench this was the only plane with rust. Cleaned it up and touched up the iron on the stones.

one down

I couldn't believe the prices on the priority boxes. The cost of them jumped more than $5 since the last time I used one. The smallest box was too small for a #3 and and next size up was too big. I had some boxes that were a little smaller. 

The #5 fit in a priority box and the cost is $22.95. That is $2.05 less then the cost of the plane. Yikes.

Still feeling a little out of sorts due to the anesthesia, but better then yesterday.  The throat is still sore and it doesn't seem like it is healing all that fast neither. Fingers crossed it will be better in the AM. It doesn't bother me to eat but I can feel it - a burning, achy feeling that sucks pond scum.

accidental woodworker  

 I didn't feel 100% today so I took it easy. Anesthesia makes me feel funny for a couple of days. I spent most of the day cleaning and sorting out the boneyard. My wife wants half of the space for a reading room. That will happen after she gets back from going to North Carolina. She is going to keep daughter #2 company while her husband is away on business. 

flattening

This is the frame I glued yesterday. All of the corners were proud. Knocked them flush before doing the merry go round routine with the #4.

survived

Sanded all the sides with 80 and 120 grit and nada. None of the corners whimpered or wiggled in the least. Strong and secure and I'm thinking of using it for a photo.

wee bit of twist

Both the top and bottom had some twist to them. I'll have to think up a way to hold the photo within the frame. I want it to be set in from the front.

boneyard

This is actually cleaned up some. I can the bookcase against the far wall.

hmm......

Forgot I had these molders. If I remember correctly these are Ohio tool molders and the far right one is a 1/8" beader.

another batch

These are 4 match planes that I never got around to playing with. I offered these up to someone  and if he declines I'll send them to whoever expresses an interest in them.

Lie Nielsen leg vise

This is up for sale too and priced to move. $40 plus the dreaded S/H. I couldn't find it on Lie Nielsen's website and I think I paid around a $100 for it. 

last of the scraps

I filled up 1 1/2, 30 gallon shitcans with wood scraps. I got rid of every piece I had in the boneyard. I had the heebie jeebies doing this last pile. I know that I'll regret it in the next couple of days because I could have used it.

xmas gift from 2008

I made this for my wife but the movement never worked properly. The chimes never worked even once. It kept time good until the pendulum stopped moving. Don't understand that because the pendulum is/was independent of time keeping. I put another movement in it (no chime) and I'll let it go for a few days. I was going to give it away to my sister but my wife wants it back.

5 hours later

Except for the clock and the 15 drawer dresser, the rest of the stuff is going to my sister Kam. I'll email her first to see if she if interested. Fingers crossed on that. If she says nay, nay, I'll put it curbside.

blast from the past

I am in the 2nd from the top, on the far left. Hard to believe it has been over 50 years since this pic was snapped.

old delta mortiser

This is going to cost a fortune to ship so local pick up only. It comes with a 1/2" mortise chisel that I think is unused or at least I don't recall ever using it. It is missing the fence and it is no longer available at any of the tool part sites I tried. It would be easy to make a new one - just need a 25mm rod and someway to fix a fence to it at 90 degrees. Free to whoever wants it.

accidental woodworker

 

 I need to move along 12 planes. A few years back I went nutso rehabbing planes for my own use. These 12 are all extras but I did use them.  I have tried to sell them before and this will be my last attempt at that. I think I've priced them to sell quickly too.

All of these planes were used by me in my shop for a couple of months. I didn't have any problems with any of them making shavings. You'll be buying a plane that can be put to work after you fettle it to your way of working.

first lot

Four #3 hand planes. From the left - my personal user for several years. I only replaced it because I rewarded myself with a Lie Nielsen #3. This plane has my initials engraved on the lever cap. If yours are RJB, it is a done deal.

2nd from the left is a Union #3. Every bit as good as any Stanley #3.

3rd&4th from the left are Stanleys. Both of them don't have the frog adjust. 50 years of using planes and I have only used a frog adjust once. IMO they aren't necessary.

2nd lot

Five #4's. The first one on the left is a Miller Falls. Again this was a personal user that got used for about 7 months of work. No complaints with it all. The other four are all Stanleys and all got a work out with no headaches.

3rd lot

First one on the left is a 5 1/4, the second one is Miller Falls #5, and the last one is a Stanley #5. This Stanley jack plane is the only one in all the lots with a frog adjust. The Miller Falls was my first non Stanley jack and it impressed me. It was the first time I had compared another plane against a Stanley. It opened my eyes to start to look for other manufacturers plane's to rehab. I use the MF plane for almost a year.

4th lot

I had to satisfy my curiosity about these. I rehabbed 4 others and sold them, and another I kept because I couldn't find parts for it. From left to right #3, #4 1/2, #5, and a #7. I used these for a short time. They have a different feel and it took me a few to make shavings and get used to them. They are easier to push and worked as well as their metal siblings.

All the planes are for sale for $25 plus actual S/H ( I know S/H sucks pond scum). All the #3's (except the transitional #3) and the #4's will fit in Postal boxes. The rest will need custom boxes. 

I would like to sell the transitionals as a set for a discount at $75. Barring that they go singularly for $25 ea. 

My email is rjboumenot at gmail dot com. The one with the earliest time stamp wins the brass ring.

accidental woodworker

Here is a question for you: should the point of a marking gauge be sharp or dull? And why?

Woodworking instructors answer most questions based on their experience. And most of the time when you're studying with a woodworking instructor, what you're paying for is not some universal truth of woodworking but rather your instructor's way of doing something. "This is the way I do it and that's what I know how to teach," is the instructional mantra. The more open-minded of the group will also say something along the lines of, "This is the way I was taught, and I recognize other traditions do it differently, but as I said, I teach what I know and I know that's just works very well." Some instructors have been teaching the same way for decades, whereas others see themselves as lifelong learners and explorers so their instructing evolves along with them.

My own woodworking mentor, Maurice Fraser, was compulsive, and basically taught woodworking techniques only if he had explored them extensively. The reason he taught a particular technique a particular way was because he tried every other possible method he could think of (or found out in his books) and determined that that way was the best.

Many years ago I wrote extensively about flatness of the back of a chisel or a plane blade and I polled some woodworking experts for their opinions. A very famous woodworker, a writer and instructor addressed my question, Why flatten the entire back of a chisel rather than only the first 1/32" - especially considering that Japanese chisels are purposely not flat and have a hollow? He responded by saying it was easier to teach a student to flatten the entire back properly rather than stop after the first 32nd or 16th of an inch.

A secret of woodworking is most techniques actually work. They may work at different speeds and efficiencies; they may require more or less capital investment or practice; but they work.

Certain tools fall out of favor for one reason or another, and then they can come back into vogue. Sic transit gloria mundi.

The ancient Egyptians built stone pyramids, furniture, and an empire with bronze tools.

When it comes to marking gauges, I have seen all sorts of modifications. Many of the modifications seem based on misunderstandings about how these gauges can be used. When you start out you don't know anything, you feel free to assume the problem with the tool is that it's not as good as it should be. As I turn on the treadle lathe I am connecting with New Learner energy. The trick is to bring some humility to the process as well. The wheel has been invented; I have to continually remind myself that I do not need to reinvent the wheel.

Incidentally if you want to know how to use a traditional marking gauge click here to a article I wrote ages ago. If you just want to cut to the chase, the answer is a slightly dull point works a lot better than a very sharp point because it doesn't cut the fibers. The dull point simply depresses the fibers of the wood - no scribe line that will catch stain or finish and leave a mark. The dull point also isn't as vulnerable to grain shifts as a sharp point is, so it stays straight and doesn't wander in the grain.

I'm hopeful that this year I will be able to write more blogs. I'm constantly getting comments about people who say they enjoy reading them, and I like writing them. I really do. But my time has been very very constricted this past year because I'm working on the lathe and running a business in a very tough environment. Whoever said necessity is the mother of invention is actually completely and totally wrong. Leisure is the mother of invention. If you don't have time to sit down, relax let your mind free and wander, you won't get any new ideas, and if you don't have time to actually explore new ideas from a practical sense, you won't have them fully fleshed out either.

Happy New Year, everyone!

 That is what the pulmonologist said was the time needed to do their procedure - a bronchoscopy and a needle biopsy of my lymph nodes. . Well boys and girls that didn't happened. Three doctors did the procedure starting at 1300 and the they completed it at 1637. I woke up in the PACU (Patient After Care UNIT) at 1655. I felt a used dish rag. Tired, disorientated, and weak as new born babe along with a wicked sore throat. I was able to go home at 1740 with a happy face on.

I debated even posting a blog for today I was feeling so crappy but decided to do it to maintain the streak. I got in a couple of shop hours in the AM. I didn't leave for the VA until 1030. Not much but I got to play woodworker before the procedure just in case.

super glued frame

Absolute toast. I barely twisted it and popped apart effortlessly. Super glued miters are garbage and unreliable. It is good for holding miters together while yellow glue does the actual securing of them.

yellow glue frame

Like night and day against the super glue frame. I twisted all the frame sides and nada. The miters held. I didn't go Cro Magnon on them but I did use a wee bit of force.

hmm........

What to do with this? This is the frame I clamped off the miter box rough and trimmed the miters to fit with a chisel.

cooking

Yellow glue applied. Glued it just see how it will come out. Sized the miters first before applying the 2nd coat of yellow glue. I couldn't get the top left corner to seat flush.

done at 1800 last night

The plywood bottom blends perfectly with the box sides. Four coats of shellac and I'm calling it done. The wife doesn't want it but I do. I like how the inside and the bottom looks. I'll use it at my desk for something?

1900

I had to come to the shop to get the camera so why not? Unclamped the frame and twisted the sides 2 at time. I didn't feel like Cro Magnon man so the twist was on the weak side, but all the sides held. The miters look decent with no gaps and I'll clean the smooth them in the AM with a plane.

accidental woodworker