Bad Axe

TOOLWORKS


A teaser for all of the Galoots out there patiently waiting for the Bad Axe Tool Works hand saws to become available...we're getting closer!
Stay tuned...

Inner City Lumber Jacks

So Long, Mountain Ash...

This past Sunday I spent the morning with my friend Douglas, limbing an old Mountain Ash tree in his yard here in Toronto. We basically climbed the trunk like a pair of spider monkeys and with a Japanese style, Ryoba saw and some line made quick work of removing the limbs. Some of these were up to 6" in diameter and about 12' to 16' long so a couple of more friends were on hand with a little electric chainsaw, a few 'cold drinks' and some determination. All that was left was the trunk to deal with and we tackled that last night. We decided that instead of simply throwing it into landfill or the fire wood pile we'd try splitting some up for possible future projects. I haven't heard of anyone using Mountain Ash for furniture but hey, why not try? At best it'll be a nice little bench or the like for the backyard.
The first step was dropping this thing and we began with an old buck saw Douglas had...we shared the duties and then settled in with both of us at either side of the old frame. Between a slightly dull saw and the wet wood we were cutting it soon became clear that the little electric chainsaw was in our future. A couple of 'cold drinks' and we were off. It probably didn't save us much time but it did save our backs and arms. A relief cut here and a little wedge cut there...timber!
Even a tree on the small size like this one gives a mighty thump when it finally lands. From here we cut the remaining limbs off and blocked up the trunk into a few lengths. I wasn't sure how or if this would split for me but a couple of wedges and my Swedish made, Gränsfors axe I began the process. I started at the top end of the piece and drove in the first wedge; I wish I had a tape recorder because the cracking and splitting noises were amazing! I'd give the wedge a knock and stop...the wood fiber would continue to split and crackle for a few seconds longer every time-a very cool audio display to say the least.
The first spilt went pretty well although where the limbs once grew the grain had some irregular patterns and it went a little off. No problem though, from here I would quarter the two sides and then quarter those again. The second split went much better due to the fact that I ended up shortening the length just behind the knots and swirls where the limbs grew. We had a good time dropping and splitting this tree. The 'cold drinks' helped as well and I wondered through the entire process about woodworkers of the past doing this kind of job for all of their wood stock...it's not terribly hard work but I'm sure there's a knack to do right. I think I discovered a few tricks in this first session and will keep my eyes out for any more inner city 'gems' needing disposal. Funny this morning thinking about limbing the tree, falling it and splitting it, a few hours spent with a few more hours to go in a year or two when it dries.




I just ordered some Quarter sawn white Oak for my next project but took a slightly different method...it involved sitting in front of this computer, typing out a cut list and faxes it over to a local saw mill; not quite the same work out but hey, it's not how we get our wood onto the bench that counts, but what we do with it from there that really matters. Time for a 'cold drink'
Cheers!

Sam Maloof

January 24, 1916 - May 21, 2009
















Where do we find inspiration ?

Is it the calming curve of walnut-rocking
or the smile on the face behind the hands creating...
An inspiration to all not only working wood; but to all that work and live.
Peace.

Planes in the Mail

Philly Planes


Just got another update from Phil Edwards regarding my hollows and rounds...they're complete and should be in my grubby little hands by the end of next week. I love it when manufacturers give updates of their work while it's being done, it makes parting with my hard earned cash that much easier! Phil has been extremely professional and a pleasure doing business with; if his planes are half as good as his customer service then I'll be a happy woodworker.
I'll let you know when they arrive.
Cheers!

David Charlesworth Comments

On Edge Jointing

In a previous post I was looking at some edge jointing techniques David Charlesworth uses and a few readers made some comments and posted a few questions. I thought it would make much more sense to ask David himself, instead of carrying out another online discussion or thread speculating the how's and why's of his methods with readers. He was gracious enough to drop me a note; if you didn't see the original post you can see it here. Be sure to read the comments there to better understand the topic.
Cheers!




Tom,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I do appreciate your interest in some of my techniques and the mention of these on your very professional looking blog...

If an edge joint is made with a slightly cambered iron, the glue line when visualised from the end should be slightly thicker at the centre of the joint than at the surfaces.

I think he (Tico) is correct. However if sufficient clamping pressure is achieved, Hoadley suggests something in the order of 200 lbs per square inch, I doubt that this effect will be a problem.
Most medium density hardwoods are somewhat compressible. The original hollow from a slightly cambered iron is of the order of a few tenths of a thousandth of an inch, over the width of a 3/4 inch board.

I would suggest that the hollow in width, could only be a problem if the camber is excessive, i.e. a Scrub plane blade, or if the work was very thick.

The correct place to post this is eluding me but please feel free to post it on the blog.

best wishes,
David Charlesworth

Hand Made Modern...Take 3

A Fall Front Desk in Walnut

O.k. so my last few blogs have been about other people's handy work, hand tools and the like and I'm happy to say that I'm back in the wood shop working again on my own projects.
These last few weeks have been busy with life outside of the wood shop so it'll be great to make some shavings again. I'm working on a new piece that follows in the realm of the 'hand made modern' line I'd been designing over the past year. The first was the walnut entertainment cabinet and the second the walnut and aluminum sideboard. This new piece is also made from solid walnut with an interesting take on some through dovetails I've been calling a finger tail split... It's basically a technique where I cut wide through dovetails as per normal procedure and then split each one again with a finger joint. It makes for a unique look but can be a little tricky to execute. The photo shows the main carcass dry fit together with the door panel glued up in the foreground. The upper main carcass is a basic box with a fitted interior secretary incorporating drawers and shelves. The door panel will have bread board face and the cabinet will have a rabbeted back dust panel. The leg frame will really be the component that transforms this piece from a simple dovetailed box and draw it into a more, Mid-Century Modern vein. (at least that's the plan on paper) Funny how things can change when you start to 'get into the grain'.
I'll be posting some more details as I go so stay tuned...
Work really does make life sweet!

Rob Cosman Dovetail Saws

A New Hand Saw from the Dovetail Master Himself

Rob Cosman is a well known Canadian 'hand tool coach' offering DVD's and books on wood working for the past 10 years or more. When it comes to sawing dovetails he's absolutely incredible. I've watched pretty much all of his videos and can honestly say they've helped me a great deal along my own hand sawing journey. I would strongly recommend them to any worker at any stage. I'm very happy to hear Rob is offering a dovetail saw on his website. It seems to have some interesting features and I'll be curious to hear what people have to say about it. For starters, it has a heavy brass back that Rob says is almost twice the weight of a standard dovetail saw and is much better suited to "vibration free sawing". Second it comes with a 22ppi for the first 2" of blade and then a more standard 15 ppi. This fine tooth will make starting cuts much easier for beginners. Another plus, the saw plate at 10" is an inch longer than most dovetails saws on the market. Well, without trying one before purchasing one, (which you already know from my last blog I don't really enjoy doing all that much), I can only go by what I see and what I read. Again, I'll be hoping to hear from anyone that gets a chance to use it.
Lastly, on this point of 'Trying a tool before Buying a tool...' The description of the saws and the pictures on the website are all I have to go off of so with that I say this: These new resin saw handles are scaring the hell out of me! I know Rob said he went with the balance and durability in this "resin” composite handle, but from the picture on the website it looks like he had a few old bathroom counter tops he decided to recycle. I'm sure they feel great in hand and as Rob mentions are water-proof (for all of those times I'm cutting dovetails back home in the fresh Atlantic surf)
Maybe I'm a wood snob or am completely naive to this new technology of resin in handsaws, but for me a saw needs to have a wooden handle. Now just so everyone doesn't think I'm 'Rob bashing' or anything I'll also mention the new Veritas DT saw...they're a little bit on the creepy side too. I'm well aware that a hand tool doesn't have to look great to be great but it sure is nice when they do! Theres a truck load of hand tool manufacturers making sculpture like tools that perform as well as they look.
Robs new saws also come with a custom wooden box which I like. The idea is nice but I think it would be even nicer if the customer had the option of solely purchasing the saw without it; I'd be curious to see the price difference. Maybe I should take my own advice and see about trying one out. I'm sure he'll be at the wood show next year with some of them. I'll look forward to it.
With that, knowing Rob Cosman, and being a fan of his work for years, these things will probably eat dovetails for breakfast-but brother please...from one East Coaster to another...those handles?

Purchasing Handtools

Do you Buy before you Try ?

Over the past few weeks I've been surprised at how many new hand tool manufacturers are popping up on the Internet and all of the well known manufacturers are offering new and exciting product. This is nice but I'm sometimes weary...it either takes someone with a bucket of dough or a trusting consumer to buy tools on the Internet without first trying them out, unless it's from an extremely well known tool maker or you've at least done some homework and read some reviews from reliable voices.
I know I don't have a bucket full of dough but I can say there are a few hand tool manufacturers I feel quite confident in. I see a new product in a nice little picture, I read a few details that the manufacturer obviously wrote themselves and with that I reach for some plastic and wait for the mail truck.
Looking at some recent articles showing the rise in the hand tool market I know I'm not alone on this. So all that said what does it take to do that?
I'm just curious if there's a lot of people out there who would never think on buying a hand tool that they've never once put their hands on...I suppose in a perfect world I'd be able to get to all of the wood shows and special hand tool events, try out all of the new tools before I commit, but my reality is something quite different than that. I try to develop a relationship with manufacturers and when they offer new product I go further than just reading a short paragraph on a web-site. I'll contact them and make conversation, discuss the company history and see how the new product came to be. I've found almost every hand tool manufacturer I've contacted with questions or concerns to be absolutely forthcoming with information and assistance. If they're not I'll go somewhere else right? That is my job isn't it ? My duty as a member of society to go elsewhere when I get bad service...let people know of my bad experiences as well as the good ones of course!
The good ones thankfully out way the bad and as a woodworker in 2009 I feel fortunate to be living and working through this exciting time. Whether you realise it or not we're watching a section of history unfold in the hand tool market alone. This renaissance will be looked back upon the way we look back on our vintage Stanley's and the like. My Lie Nielsen such and such will probably be worth more when my grand kids hock it on 'What-Ever-Bay' in a hundred years....
I digress...
Wooden bodied moulding planes, panel and back saws, specialty tools and educational platforms-it's going to be an interesting few months with so many new and exciting things happening in my wood shop. I'll fill you in on the details as they unfold. Stay tuned...
Oh yeah, the picture at the top has nothing to do with the article; I just thought it was a nice shot of our first born- Sally, the Unplugged Watchdog is our nine year old Beagle. She spends just about every waking hour with me in my wood shop. Maybe I should use this photo for my tool chest for sale advertisements? What a disgusting thought.

Cheers!