A Good Road Trip

White Oak, Irons and Wedges

This past Saturday turned out to be a good one for me; first off I finally made it out to A & M Wood to pick up my order of Quarter Sawn White Oak. Terry Johnston did a fantastic job finding some of the nicest Oak I've seen in awhile. I now have a shop full of planks in the neighborhood of 1 3/4" thick by 8" wide by 8' long. Some serious weight there indeed. On my way out to Cambridge, where A & M is located I made a quick pit stop in the Ontario Carpenters Training Center. That's where I hooked up with Dan Barrett of DL Barrett and Sons toolworks.
I had contacted Dan earlier about an old plough plane I had and was in need of some irons and a wedge. I had never met Dan before but he's one of those guys that when you do meet him it's like you've known him for years. He said he had some old irons for me and also a wedge I could have. I dropped by with my plough plane for him to see and he ended up fitting the wedge for me and sharpening up an iron to take it for a test drive! Way beyond the call of duty he really helped me out by taking the time out of his schedule.














Now if you don't know about Dans work he makes amazing wooden bodied planes here in Southern Ontario. Chris Schwarz wrote a review on one of their ploughs at his Lost Art Press blog. I'm putting one of these at the top of my wish list.
As a side note, while I was there visiting Dan he had some of his tools on his workbench. I quickly noticed two backsaws and asked him where they came from. He said they were custom builds from Ed Paik of Medallion Toolworks. One was a small dovetail saw and the other a larger backsaw fitted with an ebony handle. Dan being the kind of guy he is quickly said "Here Tom, take 'em for a test drive." I did indeed and can say I was blown away. They looked and performed great although I did only make a handful of cuts with them. Again the wish list grows longer and my wallet is getting nervous! It's nice to know that here in Southern Ontario, we have some of the finest craftsmen making truly incredible hand tools.






















Cheers!

Ripping Wood

Saws, Bents and Benches

















I recently had a question about the specs on the rip saw I was using in the Moulding plane/Miter blog from a few days ago. Instead of answering in the comment section I thought I'd do it here.
I have a few old Rip saws I've acquired through yard sales and flea markets as well as a new Pax from England. I barely touch the Pax except for soft, green wood outside of my shop...kind of the weekend work, helping out the brother-in-law build a fence or deck stuff. The particular saw in question is the one pictured above; the medallion says Corporate Mark Kangaroo and the plate has Rob Sorby Sheffield punched into it.
It's 28" long and filed at 6 tpi. (teeth per inch) I sent it down to Mark at Technoprimitives and he over hauled it last year. Needless to say he did an amazing job and it became my daily user.

It's the main saw I reach for except when ripping stock in the 1/2" range. I have another old Disston that has a 24" saw plate and is filed at 10 tpi. Between these two that usually takes care of my ripping needs but I'm very interested in the new Lie Nielsen panel saws. I have a few other old Rip saws as well but they're in need of some work. When ripping wood, to further answer the question asked I generally use my saw bench. This is the design by Chris Schwarz published in Woodworking Magazine a few years back. It's a nice design and a perfect height but I find with the two angled legs I sometimes hit the end of the saw into the lower stretcher...I've since designed my own saw bench and will share it with you here in a future post. For small stock I usually just fore go the saw bench and use my tail vise for most of my rip cuts. My bench is low enough that I never seem to have an issue with this method. I'll sometimes hold the piece in the tail vise and use a hold fast as well on my bench top to keep the work piece stable. I also have a couple of 'shop bents' as I call them. Basically they're saw horses that are the same overall dimension as the end profile of my work bench. I'll use these from time to time when ripping the edge of real large work but this is pretty rare in my shop.
The plans for these will be in my book so I better not put them here...my editor may whack me across the knuckles with a yard stick!
Ripping wood by hand is probably one of the most intimidating things for people considering a hand tool only work shop; it's time and labor intensive but once you get your head around it it quickly becomes second nature. I clearly remember thinking back when I was first considering a shop with no power tools and the idea of ripping all of the wood for a piece of furniture scared the hell out of me! That said, it's been a year of hand saws and wood shavings and I don't even think about it now...assembling a cut list and grab the saw. It actually doesn't take that long either-another mis-conception I had.












So for anyone starting down this road I'll recommend a full size panel saw in the 28" ball park with a low tooth count for thick stock and then a smaller panel saw with a finer tooth for lighter work.
The saw bench mentioned from Woodworking Magazine is a great design and I'd recommend it to anyone but for me and my body type it wasn't a perfect fit. Try ripping along the workbench too, this is my preferred method but again to each his own...what ever feels comfortable is always the best way to go.
Cheers!

Greener Is as Greener Does...

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
















As a woodworker-day in and day out, working with a medium that is truly all things living, I have a hard time not thinking about our planet, our forests and our environment. Not to get all 'Al Gore' on you- but global warming, green house gases and my own carbon footprint...we've all heard the arguments and hopefully we're all doing our share to help. That said I just received a letter from Mark at Technoprimitives describing how he's doing his own part. Bad Axe Tool works is his new saw manufacturing company and I thought (or hoped) that some of you out there may be interested to hear about his choices for packaging his new hand saws. This is a blog link from a company called Salazar packaging out of Chicago, they specialize in 100% recycled products. He's also working with another company that manufacturers a void fill/blocking/cushioning product called green cell foam to safely and soundly pack his saws- which by the way should be shipping next week!
On this note, I try my best to use reclaimed lumber whenever I can but when buying from a mill it's up to you as a woodworker to ask if the wood products you're using are sustainably harvested. Every little bit counts right?
Here is the blog: Salazar Packaging
Cheers!