Journeyman's Journal

There is something deeply satisfying about working wood by hand, the feel of a sharp plane, the sound of a saw cutting cleanly, and the quiet focus it demands. For many people, introducing a computer into that process feels wrong at first. It can seem like it takes away from the craft. But when used properly, a tool like FreeCAD does not replace the craft it supports it.

FreeCAD is completely free to use, and unlike some software, you can use it for commercial projects without any licensing costs. Despite being free, it is a professional grade CAD program that meets industry standards for accuracy, interoperability, and parametric design. You are not just using a hobbyist tool. Your designs can integrate with other CAD systems, generate accurate dimensions, and be used in professional workflows. For woodworking, that level of reliability and flexibility is a real advantage.

One of the biggest benefits is gaining clarity before you ever touch a tool. Instead of guessing proportions or relying on rough sketches, you can build your piece virtually and see exactly how it comes together. Mistakes are caught early, long before they turn into wasted timber. A joint that looked fine in your head might reveal a flaw when you model it, saving hours of frustration in the workshop.

There is also a level of accuracy that is hard to achieve on paper. FreeCAD allows you to define exact dimensions and relationships between parts. If you decide to change something, such as the width of a cabinet or the thickness of a rail, the entire model updates automatically. This kind of flexibility is incredibly useful when refining a design, letting you experiment without committing material or time.

For woodworking specifically, this becomes even more powerful when working with joinery. You can model mortise and tenon joints, dados, rabbets, and see exactly how everything fits together in three dimensions. It gives you confidence that when you cut those joints in real life, they will work as intended. You are not just hoping they line up you have already proven it.

Another benefit is planning your workflow. When you model a project, you naturally consider the order of operations. You see which parts should be cut first, what needs to be milled to thickness, and how the components fit together. This adds a level of intention to your work that is easy to overlook when you go straight to the bench.

There is also a practical side when it comes to materials. By modeling your parts, you can see exactly how much wood you need. You can even create cut lists, which help reduce waste and make your projects more efficient. This is especially important when working with expensive wood.

What surprises most people is that using FreeCAD does not make woodworking feel any less real. If anything, it removes many of the small frustrations that get in the way of enjoying the process. You spend less time fixing mistakes and more time actually building. The craft stays exactly where it belongs in your hands.

At the end of the day, it is just another tool, no different in principle from a saw or a plane. You can ignore it if you want, but if you take the time to learn it, it quietly becomes one of the most valuable tools in your workshop.

mantle clock

Recently, I’ve switched to open source software for all my 2D, 3D, office, and accounting needs. I now use Blender, FreeCAD, Qcad, Gimp, Inkscape, LibreOffice, PDF Gear, and Express Accounting Software for small businesses with five or fewer employees. All of these programs are completely free, professional-grade, and have come a long way since they were first introduced, offering powerful tools that rival many commercial alternatives. This change has streamlined my workflow, reduced costs, and given me the freedom to work the way I want without being locked into subscriptions.

For anyone interested, here is a list with links to download all the software I use:

• Blender – https://www.blender.org
• FreeCAD – https://www.freecad.org
• Qcad – https://www.qcad.org I use Qcad Professional which cost me a one time fee of $72.
• Gimp – https://www.gimp.org
• Inkscape – https://inkscape.org
• LibreOffice – https://www.libreoffice.org
• PDF Gear – https://www.pdfgear.com
• Express Accounting Software (for businesses with five or fewer employees) – https://www.nchsoftware.com/accounting/index.html

This article was written in April 11, 2018 for or on behalf of finewoodworking I’m not sure, but it is an excellent article.

Few things inspire a collision of opposing thoughts in my head quite like a beautiful tool chest. Every time I see one there’s a simultaneous burst of “Oh I really want to make something like that” and “why would anybody spend that much time on a tool chest?!” Because I’m in the midst of designing and building a traditional cabinetmaker’s chest, the noise and impact of these clashing thoughts has intensified. The potential for headaches is high; thanks, in part, to my own indecisiveness and to a mysterious man named R.F. Matthews. Writing his name amounts to telling you close to half of what I know about him.
The other half is that when Mr. Matthews emigrated from England to America in the early 19 century, he brought his neatly fitted-out chest of tools with him. It’s still here with many of its original tools in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg.

Photos by Bill Pavlak with permission from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Though I often copy original pieces directly, I wanted to make a tool chest that was uniquely my own while still within the parameters of historic examples. This is, after all, exactly how so many 18th-century cabinetmakers made their tool chests. The Matthews chest is stunning and unique in some ways, but in a lot of ways, it’s just like many other tool chests from the era (its overall size, general interior organization, and decoration are all pretty standard). There is one feature of the Matthews chest that I couldn’t resist borrowing and that’s its saw storage system.

Photos by Bill Pavlak with permission from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Sure, there are simpler and equally effective ways to build saw storage into a chest till, but a dovetailed box with saws sticking out of it is undeniably cool. When I started designing my own chest, I wanted to keep its decoration fairly austere – show off nicely figured mahogany, but no elaborate veneer work – and its organization straightforward – no mechanically activated, secret compartments. Nonetheless, like so many originals, I wanted my chest to have some features that transcend the purely practical and that could become small points of pride going forward. The pull of the Matthews saw till was irresistible, so let’s take a closer look at it.

Photos by Bill Pavlak with permission from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Photos by Bill Pavlak with permission from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

As the above photos show, the saw box is built like a traditional drawer, but turned on end – half-blind dovetails and primary wood (mahogany) up top, and through-dovetails in secondary wood below (spruce on the original and long leaf pine on mine). The partitions in the middle are dadoed to the underside of the top and secured to the bottom with wedged through-tenons. These partitions solidify the box (remember it will be sawn nearly through several times) but also support and restrain the toe end of the shorter joinery saws. The slots for the saws run deep to keep the saw handles below the plane of the box top. In both the Matthews chest and mine, there is a till above the open till where this saw box is kept, so nothing can stick out above it. The saw box should be made to fit your saws, so I’m not going to get into measurements here other than to suggest an overall length between 16 in. and 20 in. One more word on the structure of this saw box: It’s weak all by itself – some of those saw slots undermine its strength laterally. It will, however, last at least a couple of centuries if it’s kept snugly in another box that will
prevent it from flexing to the side – the larger till in both the Matthews chest and mine.

Though the construction is straightforward, the building process requires a few special considerations.
The layout of the half-blind dovetails is dependent on saw placement. Matthews was careful not to saw through any of his fine dovetail pins, but rather place them between the saw slots. This approach means you first need to figure out where the saws will go. To do this, I simply cut a couple of scrap boards to the overall width of the till and experimented with where to place each saw so that there was enough room around each handle for my hands to get in.

Once this was done, I could confidently lay out my dovetails and proceed with all of the joinery. You may have noticed that the saw box top has half-tails instead of half-pins on its outer edges. While this might offend the sensibilities of woodworking writers from the past century and a half, it held up quite well, so don’t worry about that – half-tails show up regularly in period work.

If you want to glue up your box and then cut your saw slots on the tablesaw, skip this paragraph. If you’d rather cut your handsaw storage slots with your handsaws, there a few things to keep in mind. Before I glued up my box, I dry-fitted it and made sure that all of the parts (except for the bottom) were perfectly coplanar on one side. I marked this edge as a reference on each board then knocked everything apart. While I knew it was a terrible idea to completely saw the slots into the parts before assembly, I also felt that at least starting the cuts in each part would help keep things far more accurate and easier later on.
The only risk in starting the cuts prior to assembly is that they might not line up perfectly (misalignment would result in storing the saws with bent blades). This is where the aforementioned reference edge comes into play. With a marking gauge riding along this edge, I scribed the location of the saw slots on
each board. Next, I clamped all the boards together, face to face, with the scribe lines perfectly aligned and cut the first 2 in. or so of each saw slot all at once. For each backsaw I made three cuts: one for each side of the spine and one in the middle for the blade. On my box, because only two of the saws go through all four vertical pieces (the ends and partitions), I had to remove pieces from this clamped-up stack as I went along.

Once everything was glued up I connected all of my saw cuts. Sawing a nicely dovetailed box is likely to test your nerves, but the starter cuts will guide you and go a long way toward making everything come out great. In general, I used a saw with a larger kerf than the saw that was going to live in a particular slot so things wouldn’t be too tight. For the wider backsaw slots, I used a coping saw and chisels to finish up the stopped ends. With the slots that run all the way through the box, I started my cut from one end and after I made it a little over halfway across the top, came in from the other side.

When you get right down to it, the scraps I used to figure out saw placement could have been fixed into my saw till and might have done a fine job keeping my saws safe for a lifetime. There’s nothing wrong with something so simple and practical, but there’s also nothing wrong with treating yourself to some impractical cabinetmaking every now and then.

Accoya timber is one of those materials that quietly changes the way you think about woodworking. It looks like any other softwood at first glance, but what’s happening beneath the surface is entirely different. This timber is essentially radiata pine that has been modified through a process called acetylation, which changes the chemical structure of the wood. The result is a material that is incredibly stable, resistant to rot, and surprisingly durable, even in harsh outdoor conditions. For a hand tool woodworker, this makes it both a joy and a challenge. It planes, saws, and finishes beautifully, and because it doesn’t move much with changes in moisture, you don’t get the warping or cupping that makes other softwoods frustrating for work.

What’s also fascinating about Accoya is its environmental story. Unlike some exotic hardwoods, it comes from sustainably managed forests, and the acetylation process itself doesn’t introduce toxic chemicals. This gives you peace of mind, especially if you’re making furniture or joinery that will be in contact with people, animals, or even food. The stability of the wood also opens up possibilities for projects you might have avoided with traditional pine or cedar. Decking, window frames, cladding, or outdoor furniture all benefit from the low maintenance and long lifespan Accoya offers. You’re not constantly worrying about sealing, staining, or replacing pieces after a few years.

Using Accoya doesn’t feel like using a compromise. It’s strong yet lightweight, easy to work with hand tools, and takes finishes well. You can glue it, screw it, and even carve it with the kind of predictable behavior that makes woodworking enjoyable. It’s the kind of material that rewards patience and craftsmanship because what you craft from it will last decades without the usual problems of movement and decay. Every cut, plane, and joint you make holds its shape, and over time, you realize that the effort you put into crafting something is protected by the wood itself.

Accoya isn’t cheap compared with ordinary softwoods you might pick up for a quick shed or internal project. It’s marketed as a premium engineered wood, and that’s because its performance and durability come from a chemical modification process that makes the wood resist moisture and rot far better than untreated pine. Accoya’s own site says it is a premium product and not the lowest cost option, but the trade‑off is longevity, less maintenance and strong warranties that ordinary timber just doesn’t offer. You can read more about that on the manufacturer’s site here: https://www.accoya.com/au/faq/is-accoya-expensive/

Actual prices in Australia give a sense of what that means in practice. For example, Accoya cladding boards listed at one timber supplier are around forty to fifty dollars per metre for thinner pieces and just over fifty dollars per metre for wider boards. Another supplier shows decking starting around thirty eight dollars per metre and running up to around seventy six dollars per metre for some profiles. A third local dealer lists sample retail prices including decking and cladding from roughly thirty to over a hundred dollars per metre depending on size and thickness.

Those numbers put Accoya solidly above untreated pine or basic timber products but in a range comparable to durable hardwoods and high‑end engineered materials. What that means in a build is a higher upfront material cost, but with the benefit of reduced movement, fewer refinishing cycles and decades of performance that often makes the initial spend feel worthwhile to people building long‑lasting work.

Here a link to where I sourced the prices from :

https://www.canterburytimbers.com.au/collections/accoya-decking
https://www.canterburytimbers.com.au/products/accoya-natural-cladding-185x21mm
https://austim.com.au/pricing/

To get a closer look at Accoya and see what makes it special, watch this video from the makers themselves.

NB. For the regular home hobbyist who isn’t a banker, Accoya’s cost may put it out of reach. Many of us are now forced to scale down our projects rather than creating the furniture and larger items we once enjoyed. Timber prices have risen sharply over the last five years and continue to grow, which makes some of us question whether woodworking can remain a financially viable hobby.

In the last video I showed that one of the two keepers used to hold the blade in the brackets snapped. These are the same keepers Chris from Blackburn Tools describes and supplies. After looking closely at the failure it became clear why it happened. The hole in the saw that the keepers pass through was biting into the steel. I do not know exactly what type of steel was used but we can see from the damage that it does not hold up very well over time. The idea with a part like this is not for it to last for a short while but to last indefinitely.

Another factor that likely contributed to the failure is how I was using the saw. I was leaving the saw under constant tension so it was always ready to use. This is not a good idea with frame saws or bow saws. When a saw is left under tension the hardware is under continuous stress. Steel under constant load can slowly deform or fatigue even if it looks fine on the surface. Wood also moves with changes in humidity and temperature and that movement can increase stress on the metal parts. Over time this combination weakens small components like keepers and clips and makes failure far more likely. Releasing tension after use greatly extends the life of both the saw frame and the hardware.

To solve the issue I went to visit Gerald at Complete Engineering. He is a fellow woodworker who has moved into metal work and he is extremely pedantic about what he does. After looking at the problem he suggested using stainless steel, explaining that it is much harder and more durable than the steel being used in the original keepers. After walking through both of his factories he managed to find a single stainless clip left in stock and gave it to me free of charge.

What really struck me was the time he gave me. Gerald spent a good half hour helping me work through the problem. Considering the size of his operation and how much work he clearly has on, I was genuinely lost for words at the kindness he showed.

Gerald then suggested I head over to Build It Fasteners in Molendinar. As luck would have it, just as I pulled into the driveway the owner was starting to close the roller doors. I showed him the clip I needed and without hesitation he knew exactly where it was. He also had only one clip left and he gave it to me free of charge. I tried to pay him but he flat out refused.

Two men I had never met before showed me an incredible amount of kindness. It was honestly a heartfelt moment of absolute gratitude. The irony that both of them only had one clip left was not lost on me either.

When I got back to the shop I hammered both stainless clips into a shape that matched the original keepers supplied by Blackburn. I then cut them to length with a hacksaw. The whole job took only a few minutes. Gerald was absolutely right. These stainless keepers are far better than the originals. There are no bite marks from the saw plate and they feel solid and reliable.

Sometimes a small failure turns into a good lesson. In this case it was about material choice, tool care, and the reminder that generosity still exists in abundance if you are paying attention.

To show my gratitude I would like to give these businesses a smal promo. Please take the time to visit their links.

Complete Engineering provides machining and fabrication services for industrial and building work. They handle custom jobs and ongoing work and have been operating in this space for many years.https://comeng.au/

Build It Fasteners supplies fasteners, tools, and related hardware for trade and construction use. They carry a wide range of standard and specialty items and provide practical advice when selecting the right products. https://www.builditfasteners.com.au/

Used together, these businesses cover both fabrication and supply requirements, making it easier to move projects from planning through to completion.

The sofra is now complete, and to my eye, the table looks good. I am very happy with how it turned out. The carving in particular stands out to me. I like it a lot and would like to repeat this style of carving in future projects.

Years ago, I used to follow a woodworker in Russia on YouTube who carved the most beautiful work I have ever seen. When my account was hacked, I lost everything and with it, I lost track of his channel. I do not know his name, and no matter how much I search, I only seem to get results from western countries. That is disappointing. I would really like to see how people in other parts of the world work wood and approach their craft.

The finish I used on this table is food safe. My preference for food safe finishes is tung oil thinned with a citrus solvent. You cannot use mineral spirits or turpentine to thin tung oil. They are petroleum based and not suitable for a surface that will be used with food. It is also important to use one hundred percent tung oil, not a blend. Many products sold as tung oil are mixed with other oils or varnishes. If you want to buy it, I highly recommend this company. You purchase directly from the source instead of through shops, which are middlemen, so the price is much lower. https://www.sceneys.com.au/product/tung-oil/

The citrus solvent is ridiculously expensive. A 4-litre (1-gallon) can costs $176. That’s why I only use it for food-safe projects and never for everyday work.

I prefer tung oil over mineral oil because tung oil actually cures. Once cured, it hardens within the wood and provides real protection. Mineral oil never cures. It stays liquid, continues to weep out over time, and needs constant reapplication. Tung oil, once cured, is stable, durable, and better suited for a table that may see regular use.

Tung oil takes about four weeks to fully cure. The table should not be used before that time. It may be possible to serve food on it with a tablecloth under the plates, but I am not fully confident recommending that before the cure is complete.

The legs of the table are turned and foldable. Unfortunately, the folding brackets are poorly made. I bought them from Amazon, and they took a month to arrive. On one leg, the rubber pad you press to activate the spring was torn in several places. After attaching the brackets to the legs, another bracket failed, and the leg now flops around.

None of the brackets properly secure the legs or lock them upright. You only press a lever to unfold the legs, but there is no solid locking system. Every bracket is flimsy, so the legs rattle instead of staying firm.

Lastly, the screws supplied with the brackets are very weak. You have to turn them slowly and gently, even when using a pilot hole. If you are not careful, the screw head can snap off, which is exactly what happened to mine.

If I were to make another table like this, I would spend more time searching for better quality folding brackets, assuming they exist. The table itself deserves better hardware than what was used here.

Been a while since I last posted. I made a small video of my current project rather than writing about it. There is an aweful lot that many lessons could be derived from it, but I just found it a little simpler to show it to you rather than go into any great detail on how I arrived making a smooth round table by hand.