Mitres ,Hook and all...

Bench-top Jigs make quick work for tight corners

I've just started my next project and not too far into it, I find myself having to cut mitres at my bench using hand tools. A quick process that could be a lot harder if it wasn't for a few simple Bench-top appliances.
The first step as is true with all good joinery is starting with straight stock that's been hand planed true. Once you've prepared your pieces, measure and mark with either a knife or pencil. For this project I'm using walnut which I find difficult to see at the best of times so for certain cuts I actually use both. I make my knife cut and follow with led, think old school prison tattoos...Actually, it helps to add some contrast my eye can more readily detect when sawing accurately on Walnut.
I always make a 90 degree first with pencil across the work piece; it helps to keep things 'square' when you mark and cut the mitre. I use a Mitre Hook at my Bench top to cut the 45. It's a quick jig made from 3/4" MDF; it consists of a base with a hook glued and screwed to the front bottom that rests against the bench top apron and a fence across the back. For the fence I used a thick piece of hard maple I had in my off-cut pile. I marked and cut out the kerfs for my back-saw to follow when in use. One 90, centered with a 45 degree on each side. This stock is a little better than an inch in thickness so I opt to use my larger 12" Tenon Saw filed cross cut with 13 tpi. I follow my scribe down down through the fibres careful on the exit not to cut into the MDF. That stuff is nasty for saw blades and everything else I can think of save for the jigs around a wood shop.
Once I have my pieces mitred I change over to my shooting board equipped with a mitre fence. The mitre fence is a simple accessory made from another off-cut; this time some 3/4" Birch plywood I had left over from some un-fulfilling job where I had to use 3/4" Birch plywood!
Just kidding, plywoods are getting better and better, the quality and overall look and performance; although in my perfect world I think that I'd use solid wood for all of my projects and be able to convince all of my clients to do the same. On the shooting board I true up the mitres being careful not to blow-out the fine pointed ends. When I'm happy with the results I try matching up the pieces flat on the work bench. I use a small piece of masking tape to pull the pieces together. Looks good; a little glue and this one is done.
For larger applications in heavier stock, this method can be awkward do to the fact that planing stock thicker than 1" can become difficult on the shooting board. Try using a 'bird-house' or 'donkey's ear' jig in combination with the shooting board, this allows the plane to travel across the grain on the 45 and not with it. There are quite a few different mitering jigs out there, look around and find one you'll enjoy using.

Reflection Method of Schwarz

This is just something I stumbled across yesterday and tried it out this morning while cutting the above mitres.
Christopher Schwarz, Editor of Popular and Woodworking magazines was filmed during a talk at Lie-Nielson recently. He shows how to cross cut a perfect 90 using only the reflection of the stock in the side of your saw blade as a guide.
I thought our dear Mr. Schwarz may have been sitting a little too close to the Linseed Oil but hey...voila!
It works; imagine, a perfect 90 cut by eye, my eye, not his of course, that would just be strange...Anyhow, try it if you can't find a square and you happen to keep a bright shiny saw blade tucked away in yer' till somewhere.




Check it out:

Not so, Square...

Hand Shaping and Carving can add Interest to a Small Cabinet

My wife, a school teacher who's morning routine consists of a cup of herbal peppermint tea and then again in the evenings a cup of some other herbal tea blend. For Christmas I wanted to build a small tea cabinet she could keep some of her more prized, specialty teas in as well as a few small tea making appliances.
I had some wonderful Maple in my shop that I was hoarding away, waiting for the perfect project to use it on. I found it way in the back of a wood pile at a local saw mill here on Cape Breton. It was locally grown and milled as well as stacked and air dried. Lots of figure, I thought it would be a good choice for this project.
The carcass for the cabinet is built pretty traditionally using mostly hand tools. The corners are dovetailed together with rabbets on the interior for the shelf and drawer dividers. The back panel is floating in a groove at the back. Nothing too complicated just a sturdy box for a practical use.Once the carcass was together I found the piece to be a little...well,...square.? I decided to start shaping the outer carcass with spokeshaves, files and scrapers. I didn't think simply running over to my Router table and rounding over the corners would do justice to really make this piece come to life. I started shaping the edges, following the grain as well as the natural flow of the wood. If you think of the side piece of the cabinet as a rectangle then the flow of the wood grain may meander across it like a tiny river. I followed the movement of the swirling grain pattern taking light passes as I went. Keeping my spokeshave finely tuned and very sharp was imperative for this highly figured Maple. I was actually carving a trench down the side of the piece, gently following the natural patterns occurring in the wood. Nothing to deep but shallow enough for shadows, creeping across the un-square box in front of you, perhaps playing tricks with the eye. From the front bottom corner to the top back side the grain moved and swirled in it's own organic way and I simply followed it into it's natural form.
The top of the piece if you look straight at it is actually more bone shaped, the outer edges are rounded while the centre dips down giving the piece a softer feel.
Again making sure to take very light passes with the spokeshave and followed with a file and card scraper you really have to trust your own judgment and the grain of the wood. The result is quite subtle but definitely worth the extra time to make. To take a simple box and make it not so square really adds visual interest to the piece without really making an extreme difference. Just small shaping here and there makes the eye play tricks on you. Is that side flat or is it symmetrical top to bottom? No, probably not, that's actually the real beauty of this process. Shaping and carving a straight and sort of simple piece, giving it a rounded and softer feel can really add some visual interest to it. The two small drawers I built are made from Quarter sawn Cherry for the faces with Maple for the drawer sides and back and Poplar for the bottom. They feature half-blind dovetails on the front with through dovetails at the back. The bottom is captured on three sides in a groove cut on the bottom of the sides and face with a small brass screw in the back; very traditional method of drawer making. Again I wanted to give these elements a more hand-crafted feel and accomplished this with carving a small drawer pull from a Walnut dowel.
A great way to make these tiny drawer pulls is to use store bought dowels, in this case I actually used a Walnut dowel I had from my Miller Dowel System, a great pre-fab dowel available through most fine woodworking tool shops. The initial shape is done by chucking the small end of the dowel in my drill press. Turning it to it's slowest speed I use small files and shape the dowel. When I reach an appealing shape I take it out of the drill press and carve the small flower detail into the end. A good way to do this is to drill a mating hole into a scrap piece of wood and insert the dowel into it. This will then get clamped in a vise keeping it straight and secure while you carve the end. For the larger drawer at the bottom I simply cut out a half round and shaped it a little more with files.
Making a small cabinet like this is a lot of fun and adding these small details really can bring a simple design and give it a real hand crafted feel.
You can watch some video clips I shot when building this piece. Just click on the three VIDEO CLIPS at the middle of this page.

Traditional Style Tool Chest

If you found this post chances are you’re interested in either building or purchasing a traditional style tool chest; either way you’re in luck!
For those who are looking for a tool chest design to build on your own, my new book “Made by Hand-Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop” will be available in November through Popular Woodworking Books and has the complete plans and building procedures to walk you through the process of building this design. Watch my blog for pre-order discounts and specials. For anyone that is interested in purchasing a Traditional Style Tool chest, I’m building a limited number of my Cabinetmakers Toolchest design. Due to my schedule I will only be able to offer six this coming year, they will all be signed, numbered and dated. Using only the finest solid hardwood and hand cut joinery, this will be a heirloom in years to come.
If you’re interested please contact me at tomfidgen at yahoo dot ca

Below are some shots of the unique work holding features incorporated into the design that will make this Toolchest double as a makeshift workbench while on job sites.









The Toolchest has a built in/removable shooting board on the lid. It can easily be removed to allow a larger work surface.

















The pre-drilled holes on the front and top allow for a surface clamp or hold fast to be used for work holding applications. Edge jointing, dressing or cutting joinery in the vertical position also works extremely well. I store two cam-clamps in the built in tray on the rear which are used to hold the toolchest in place while on site.





















The toolchest has a solid Poplar tool tray and can be customised in whatever wood species you'd like. Tools and clamps are not included but if you're interested in purchasing a 'finished model' with the clamps included just ask and I'll give you a quote.

Thanks and I'll look forward to hearing from you. Below is a blog I wrote on a another toolchest design I built last year. You'll be surprised at how much these things will hold!
Cheers.














Simple Joinery makes for Quick and Sturdy Construction

I'm just finishing a major cabinet project and have found some time between finishing coats to build a traditional style Tool Chest. I always had a tool cabinet in my shop as well as a peg board wall for hanging odd size tools but never seemed to be able to find the time to build a proper Tool Chest.
I think I started this train of thought after reading the latest issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine and seeing the great article on Gerstner & Sons. Truly amazing, 100 years. My initial thought was to simply copy the Gerstner style chest of drawers but once I started taking inventory of the "must have" tools I'd be putting in this thing,I quickly realised the chest of drawer design wasn't going to suit my purpose. What I did like about the Gerstner design is the simple construction methods that clearly could stand the test of time. Dadoes and rabbets, no fancy joinery; reliable and sensible I decided this would suit what I needed and wouldn't eat up alot of shop time. Having a background in wooden boat building I've always loved the old Mariner style Sea-Chests and thought of a way to incorporate the two styles while keeping the Chest relatively light.





The Carcass and Interior

For the top, bottom and two sides I used 4/4 Cherry. I joined the corners with a simple rabbet and dado joint. A stacked Dado on the Table Saw set-up with a wooden sacrificial fence made the job of cutting the joinery here quick and painless. Glue and Cherry dowels will assure this stays put for a long time. The front and back of the chest I made frame and panel style; the frame is again 4/4 Cherry joined with through mortise and tenons while the panels are off cuts of 1/4" plywood. This is a safe and stable material that will keep things from moving around in future climate changes. I built two drawers into the front bottom and installed sliding panels out of plywood to keep the drawers in place without having to resort to mechanical fasteners. Again on the table saw, a simple dado for the drawer corners keeps everything running smoothly. The drawers are solid Cherry for the front, back and sides while again plywood for the bottoms. The right hand drawer has a false bottom for two levels of storage. This is dedicated to drill bits, knives and chisels leaving the left drawer for lay-out tools. On the inside of the lid I made a custom cleat that holds my full size cross-cut saw, (this actually determined the Chests' width during the design stages of this project) to hold the end of the saw blade secure during transit, I added a strip of leather. I knew I wanted to leave the majority of the Chest interior open to accommodate larger items but always liked the whole "till" system you see in the old Mariner style Sea-Chests. I secured two cleats at the top inside of the Chest sides, about an inch lower than the lid bottom which enables the tills to hang safely inside. The rear till is slightly wider and deeper than the front to accommodate two back saws as well as some other items. I made some custom dividers and tool holders that actually can be a real mind-bender when you have to put things away. It's sort of a puzzle in the making when fitting tools into a small space like this. The front till handles some screwdrivers, spokeshaves and hammers. I'll include a full inventory of the Chest at the end of this article. I used some 'Flame Birch' for the tills I had kicking around my shop; it was good and dry as well as an aesthetically pleasing contrast to the Cherry. At this point it came time to make one of the hardest decisions of the entire design; which hand planes to take? Which ones were worthy of coming along to 'on-site' locations? I quickly got into the whole "If you could only take ten items to a desert island scenario..." I made myself a plywood template of the Chest bottom and on my Bench I started to arrange my hand planes. Moving them here to there, taking this one away and adding that one; when I finally decided on my plane selection as well as the orientation of the lay-out I traced around each one and using a small jig-saw, cut out the shapes. I then took this perfect template of the lay-out and glued it into the Chest bottom creating a kind of French-Fitted compartment which is much fancier than I originally anticipated. This method also helps to keep items from shifting when moving the Chest around.

Finishing Touches

I used a Piano style hinge across the back to hold the lid with a heavy-duty Bronze closure for the front. I had it left after a boat build I was working on last year and this proved a perfect application for the Naval hardware.(Note: A Ship Supply Store can be a great place to find interesting hardware suitable for all kinds of furniture making as well as being different than the stuff you'll find in most hardware stores.) The handle on the top is made from 5/4 Walnut. I made it wrap over and around the top to add some extra surface and help keep from pulling off while carrying it. Some glue, walnut dowels as well as some 3" wood screws driven up from the inside will hopefully take care of any movement in the handle. For the finish I decided to try a homemade method of 'Ebonising' the plywood panels. A simple mixture of steel wool in a mason jar covered with household vinegar and left to 'cook' for a few days turned the wood a rich Black. I added a second coat when it dried and finished it off by taking a card scraper and lightly scraping the black residue left behind. Over this as well as the entire Chest I rubbed on my now exclusive Oil and Varnish mixture. This really brought out the grain in the Cherry and will provide a strong finish. The Tried and True Oil/Varnish product has become the only finish I use and every time I apply it I like it more and more. This Traditional style Tool Chest was a quick and relatively painless project that will protect my tools for many years to come while keeping me fit everytime I have to move it.
Here are the overall dimensions of the Chest as well as a complete inventory of it's contents.

Dimensions:
Width: 28 5/8" Height: 16" Depth: 9 1/4"

Contents
Right Drawer:
Upper:
Set of 8 Forstner Bits, 1/4" to 5/8"
Set of 12 HSS Lipped Brad-Point Drill Bits, 5/64" to 1/4"
2 Paul Beebe carving Knives #8 and #12
Small block of Paraffin Wax to lubricate hand planes
Lower:
2 Lie-Nielson Mortise Chisels, 1/4" and 3/8"
2 Japanese Dovetail Chisels, 1/4" and 3/8"
1 Hand Counter Sink
Small Jewelers Style Drill with Bits
Stanley Scratch Awl
Hinge Centre Finding Punch
2 Lie-Nielson Gunsmith's style Screwdrivers

Left Drawer:
Sheffield made Rosewood Mortise/Marking Gauge
Sheffield made 3" Try/Miter Square
8" Steel Engineers Square
12" Combination Square
2 sets of Dividers, 4" and 8"
Dovetail Marker
6' Folding Rule
3" and 8" Sliding Bevel Gauge
10' Cabinetmakers Measuring Tape
Tite Mark III Marking Gauge
Brass Compass with pencil
6" Dial Calipers

Front Till:
10-1/2 oz Warrington Pattern Hammer
Veritas® 1-1/4 lb Journeyman's Brass Mallet
Veritas® Beading Tool with assorted Cutters
Veritas® Flat and Round Spokeshaves
4 Wooden Handled Screwdrivers
Assorted Card Scrapers with small Burnisher

Rear Till:
Lie-Nielson 15 tpi Dovetail Saw
Lie-Nielson 14 tpi Carcass Saw
Fret Saw
Lie-Nielson Side Rabbet Planes #98/99
James Krenov custom made Smoothing plane
Wood and Brass adjustable plane Hammer
Veritas® Detail Chisels, set of 5
Very old German made GENKO hand drill
24" Steel Centre-Finding Rule

Under Lid:
10 tpi Panel Saw

Interior Compartment:
Lee Valley Scrub plane
Lee Valley Small Router Plane
Lee Valley Plough Plane plus additional blades
Lie-Nielson #4 Bronze Smoothing Plane
Lie-Nielson # 5 1/2 Bench Plane
Lie-Nielson Skew Block Plane
Lie-Nielson Medium Shoulder Plane
Lie-Nielson Bronze Low-Angle Block Plane
Stanley #90 Rabbet Plane
1 set of custom made Mahogany and Brass Winding sticks

Amazing what you can squeeze into a relatively small footprint isn't it?
While I was finishing up this project I glanced out my rear shop window to see this friendly visitor helping himself to the fresh buds starting to grow on the trees. If you look closely at this picture, through the window just past the utility trailer you can spot the Moose...Bon Appétit!

Workbench Zen

Taking pride in not only what you build,
But where you build it

I find it rather ironic to see a beautifully made piece of furniture come out of a wood shop only to discover that the wood shop looks like a bomb went off inside of it. Tools left out everywhere, saw dust piled high, glue and paint stains on the work bench top, a broken vise...you get the idea. Maybe it’s just me but a work environment like the one described is no where I would be able to, nor would I care to work. I’ve been in a lot of wood shops, from high end production houses to basement hobby rooms and the one thing I’ve realized is that a well kept work space is very conducive to well made work. There is no coincidence in my mind of this.
The workbench
If you’ve gone through the trouble to build yourself a nice heavy-duty cabinetmakers workbench or spent your hard earned money to purchase one or maybe you’re one to use a hand-me-down “Work-Mate’ style bench your great grand Uncle left you, first and foremost is to keep it clean. Make sure the top is flat, clean and free of tools. Scrape it off after you do glue-ups or if you need to stain or paint on it, cover it up. You stand over this space for hours and hours on end, dreaming about how you’re going to transform some pieces of wood into a beautiful piece of furniture so; you may as well enjoy it. Even more, be proud of it. Make sure your vises work. A little oil every now and then and some adjusting to keep things running smoothly are imperative. How can you expect to split a knife line with a dovetail saw if the piece you’re trying to cut won’t stay perfectly still and chatter free? If your bench has a tool tray, brush it out at the days end, put your tools away in a tool cabinet or at the very least, hang them on a wall near by.
Placement
Where do you put your workbench? If at all possible, place your bench in front of, or near a window. The natural light will not only make things easier to see, it will make you feel better. Lighting is so very important when thinking about a workspace. Natural light mixed with artificial works best. I have a fixture directly over top of my bench as well as an adjustable lamp with a magnifying lens attached to the bench top. I’ve also installed two banks of fluorescent on the ceiling behind the bench. The more the merrier; I don’t think you can have too much light. Another thing to consider is the color of the walls in your bench room. I painted mine egg-shell white. This helps reflect light as well as keeps a neutral base when composing wood species for a specific design. I mentioned putting away tools and keeping a bench top clutter free, however, I do have a short list of tools I think everyone should keep at their workbenches.
The necessities
I find it very useful to keep this handful of tools at or on my bench at all times. It saves running to look for these most used items. First off a few sharp pencils; you may think this an obvious choice but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in other shops and had someone marching around screaming “Where are all of the pencils gone?” A 6” and a 24” metal ruler; I keep these hanging on the wall just above the bench. The six inch for measuring widths of smaller stock etc. the 24” I have is the centre finding variety. I find this comes in very handy for lay-outs.
Next is a measuring tape. Another obvious one but I always keep one here on the bench as well as one over in my machine room and another in my apron. You can never have enough of these. An 8” engineers square; a well machined precision square is essential when laying out joints. Two sets of dividers; I keep two sets of dividers hanging on the wall just above my bench. Used when laying out dovetails, they can be easily reached when doing multiple drawers and you want to keep the same measurements. A mallet; I made a simple mallet out of hard maple a few years ago and keep it standing proud on my bench top at all times. A small block of Paraffin wax; This is great when planning, just a few wipes on the plane sole and things get a little smoother. I find it also helps to rub on the teeth of your saw blades.A dust brush; It’s a great habit to get into, after you make a saw cut or plane a board just a quick swipe across the bench top and you’re done. You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve turned over a nice piece of finished stock to find a dimple or mark left in the face due to a tiny little wood chip left behind by an earlier operation. The brush keeps things clean.Under my Bench there are a few appliances that I always have at arms reach as well. These workshop aids are irreplaceable in mine. A shooting board, a miter hook and a bench hook. This trio pretty well covers all of the joinery jigs I need in my day to day shop activities. Any specialty or one off jig hang them on some un-used wall space out of the way, but these three, keep them close. They not only protect the bench top, they make the joinery easier.Lastly are a few hold down, clamping items. I always keep two 16” wooden cam clamps under my bench for an extra couple of hands when needed as well as a traditional style hold fast. This required drilling some holes in my bench top, but an incredibly useful aid to have around for holding odd shaped items or over sized pieces a traditional clamp can’t handle.

The Woodworker (1940)

I came across this old film and thought I'd share it here. Really great stuff, check out some of the old tools and workbenches shown in the background shots. Enjoy!

Shaker Style Lap Desk

A Lesson in Hand-Cut Dovetails

This is a small project I made this past winter. A gift for my wife, a school teacher who always sits with a pile of books and papers on her lap, it proved to be a pretty useful gift. Although it looks like a simple enough project, the joinery quickly became a lesson in cutting dovetails by hand.
The piece is a Shaker design I modified slightly in overall dimension. This version seemed to actually fit on my lap better and the angle of the top was adjusted as well. I used Black Walnut for the piece, the main carcass has hand cut through dovetails and sliding dadoes house the inner shelf, dividers and bottom.
The drawer was built in a very traditional way, solid wood for the interior as well as the drawer bottom. I used Butternut for the drawer sides and back with Poplar for the bottom. The top lid has battens on the interior to help keep things in place; I fastened these with Maple dowels down through the top for added strength as well as a visual accent. A fun piece to build it didn't take up too much time and doesn't need a whole lot of material. I used a hand rubbed oil finish on the exterior with wax on the inside. You could easily change the dimensions of the piece to suit your size requirements.

Treasures From the Far East

Hollows and Rounds...Made in China?















Being a user, collector and lover of hand planes I'm always keeping my eye out for rare or unusual styles. When recently surfing around the Japan Woodworker Online Catalogue I discovered some wooden bodied, Hollows and Rounds that are being manufactured in China. China? I thought...Why not, every thing else is made there so I decided to take a closer look. I've always wanted a nice old set of hollows and rounds; I've searched e-Bay, online and local antique tool dealers but always found that most you come across are over priced old planes that you'll need to spend a lot of time refurbishing to get them back to a user friendly state or are simply nice old tools for someone to put on a shelf and look at. I wanted something I could use and hopefully not have to spend a small fortune on.
After reading the description and studying the photos of these planes I decided to order a few select sizes. They're manufactured in China and arrived well-packaged in cardboard boxes with a borg logo on the side. (no Trek-ie affiliation as far as I could tell)


The description on the Japan Woodworker web-site said the planes have been manufactured in and around Hong Kong for the past 20 years by Mujingfang. They decided to begin producing these high quality Chinese Style Planes seeing that previously, it was a cottage industry with little or no quality control. Furniture makers in and around Hong Kong use hollowing and rounding planes to create moldings and for shaping pieces of furniture. The plane bodies are hand made from well aged Rosewood and are nicely contoured to fit the hand.
They are 6-1/4" long and width varies according to size. The blades are high carbon steel and although needed honing and sharpening on arrival, the extremely reasonable price made it worth my while. They are sold as a set of one hollowing and one rounding plane for each width. I went with the 1/4", 1/2", 1" and 1 1/4" widths. After using these planes for the past six months I'm very pleased with the quality and performance; as for the very-affordable prices all I can say is...Resistance is futile.