Tuesday, May 24, 2011

To the Teeth...

in the hand saw valley

5 1/2 rip tooth on the left and an 8 point x-cut on the right. The Disston D-8 duet.

This week I’m shipping saws and receiving saws, some for review and some for wood class work and student aids. I’ve been teaching sawing techniques this week and last, ( thanks again Dave ), reading about saw design through history and into more recent years, speaking at lengths on saw design with actual hand tool manufacturers and if that wasn’t enough I’m working out details on some new hand sawing ‘items‘... ( more on that over the summer )
You could say I’m up ‘to the teeth’ and enjoying every minute of it.
The shipping portion of my week involves panel saws destined for Southwestern Wisconsin.
I did an over haul on these two beauties last week and thought I’d share it with you. After putting in the elbow grease I’ve decided their worth sending out to get ‘dressed by a professional’.
I do enjoy ‘putting the file to the plate’ and sharpening my own hand saws when they need it. My rip saws aren’t too bad ..??.. but cross cut tooth geometry is a little more complicated and I’m the first to admit my saw sharpening isn’t my strongest point.
It’s something I practice but felt these two worth the extra effort.
They’re antique Disston D-8′s and both family saws. They had fallen into that dark place under the stairs and in bad need of some work. They’ve been on my to-do list for years and years and I’m happy to finally see them again and anxious to get them back to work. I’ve held onto them as ‘family heirlooms’ but never took the time to set them up. That changed.

Disston D-8 after 3 decades unused. Rusted and tarnished but lots of life left in it.

The 5 1/2 ppi rip saw was my Uncle Johnny’s. John Pier who lived on Keltic Dr. in Sydney River, Nova Scotia. He was a WWII veteran and growing up we were very close to him and his wife, ‘Aunt Ivy‘. When I was young my father and I would visit Uncle Johnny’s basement work shop and now thinking back you could have filmed horror movies down there!
The low ceiling clinging cob webs on bent nails, a few bare light bulbs to accent the jars of food preserves, empty and now recycled into storage containers nailed to the floor joists above holding ‘sets’ or ‘collections’ of nails, fasteners and other unimagined horrors. Uncle Johnny and Aunt Ivy both died during my first year of middle school. Johnny died one night while I was at a ‘social event’ on Argyle st. in the Ship yard area of Sydney. It was Grade 7, I still remember that night like it was yesterday.
He used to wear a Tartan vest, a nice old guy with a big belly and big smile to go with it.
Funny, I had a Tartan vest for a few years…

The second hand saw is also a vintage D-8 but filed at 8 ppi, It’s a bit of a mystery in that it either belonged to my Grand Uncle, Stan Wadden from Matilda St. in Whitney Pier, or it came from my wife’s side of the family who also had Wadden’s. I don’t remember when or where I got this one. The initials almost look like FW. ?

A second Disston D-8 from a family member. I'm a lucky man indeed.

Nelson Wadden, ( my son’s namesake) was my wife’s grand Uncle from Wadden’s Cove on Cape Breton Island. This was where a couple of my old hand tools came from. He was a fiddle player and lobster fisherman. I got to meet him a couple of years before he passed away in his little work shop in the back yard next to the vegetable garden. You can see the initials end in W but I’m not sure about the first. Looks like an F but still need to figure out the origins.
Interesting that Johnny’s was made at Disston Canada and the other in Philadelphia, USA.
That is what’s leading me to think my wife’s side of the family due to her connections in Massachusetts. The mystery will continue for now.

Here’s a photo journal from last week. I’ll call this bit,
‘How to prepare an old hand saw for another generation of work.’
Isn’t that just the best feeling in the world?
; )
A hand saw resurrection.

Cheers!

Rust Never Sleeps while I'm confident the 'green slime' took a few years off of my life, it did a wonderful job at removing the rust and wear from the saw plate.

Creeping along through the green and the grey.

Shining like a new dime.

5 1/2
Close to home.
8 ppi
Brotherly love.
The toxic avenger.
Made in the USA
After a little brushing and sanding I trace my fingers to fine tune the fit for my hand.
Both sides.
Lest we forget. I carefully deepen the initials using an awl before the final finishing.
ACHTUNG ! Purists close your eyes-; )
One for Uncle Johnny
Working through the oil and wax.
Ready for sharpening.
The resurrection.
Still there after the rusty vinegar bath.
Ready for another generation working wood.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

In Stages

a sharpening system

these are my Norton water stones I've been slowly wearing away to nothing over the last few years. I keep them flat and have never had a problem with them. The tool marks and water tracks left after use are like artwork.

I received this letter from a reader asking me about my experience with the Shapton Ceramic/Glass water stone products.
Tom.
I was wondering what sharpening kit you use? I have the shapton glass-ceramic stones and although I love them I have gone through two of the 1000 grit stones in the last few years. Do you use or know anyone that use the professional shaptons? Thanks…

Unfortunately I’ve never used them but have heard that they work really, really well. Two 1000 grits in two years sounds like alot but maybe you do a ton of wood working.
I see how this system may be out of reach for some wood workers due to the expense of the lapping plate that keeps them running smoothly. But if value means what you get back from a tool and not how much the price tag says then these seem to be the bomb. From 1000 grit up to 30000 I think ?? I should go and check but keeping it short for today….
Some thoughts?
If the reader has gone through two 1000 grits I’d say use a less expensive method of removing that initial metal. Grind it, sand paper it, heavy grit oil stone what ever…there are cheap methods to get rid of metal.
To budget the sharpening kit try keeping the super fine ( and higher priced ) water stones for the sweet spots. Just for the final polish or maybe use the 1000 for the secondary bevel and a grinding wheel or coarse stone for the initial removal.
Well that’s my two cents…hey, it’s Thursday afternoon on May 2-4 wekend in Toronto.
I have classes all weekend ~ no rest for the wicked !
cheers and play safe where ever you’re at this weekend.
you know, just in case…… ( cue Science fiction music)

; )

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

'Arts Weeks' in England

FROM ACROSS THE POND

This is a letter I received from a friend in the UK and thought I’d share it.

Hi Tom,

I’ll be fascinated to see how all your shop changes materialise in time, new bench and tools etc, good to hear.

On my own front I’ve been making a few visits in the Cotswold hills and villages to a selection of furniture makers, one particular being Waywood Furniture Creation.

I’ve been meaning to visit and meet up with Barnaby Scott for some time and ever since I heard that his company were producing some lovely work and also since Charlesworth mentioned them as excellent furniture designers when I met him at Ryecote Wood Furniture College over a year ago.

‘Arts Weeks’ in England, this basically means any artists or crafts people can open their doors to the public for a limited time to see their work and sometimes their actual workspace.

So off I went to Chaddlington in Oxfordshire and only about half an hour from my home to see if I could have a look around Barnaby’s shop. I arrived at a lovely group of buildings nestled at the outer edge of the village surrounded by typical rolling Cotswold fields woodlands and hills. I parked and walked up and into Waywood’s showroom which was flooded with light from one side of the stone building, this lit up a selection of finely made furniture in mainly native hardwoods, while a couple incorporated some exotic woods that were responsibly sourced. After a couple of minutes Barnaby came down from the office upstairs to meet me and have a run through each piece.

It was a real treat to get the low down on a few of the many techniques used in some of the more unusual pieces including some particularly unusual veneering methods. All useful to understand and not straight forward at all.

I was then invited to have a look around his very commercial shop, which was almost entirely kitted out with pretty big machinery including a massive planer thicknesser, this wasn’t to say that Barnaby doesn’t favour handtools when the moment comes, mainly for finishing but none the less beautifully executed.

I guess it was a kind of reality check on where the spirit of Arts & Crafts currently sits in the Cotswolds, Barnaby very much loves the work he produces and the whole point for him is that the furniture is still individually made by a very small team of often four people. The client and what they want from the crafstman is still very much on a one to one and therefore there isn’t the slightest hint that machinery has in any way compromised the woodcraft one bit, in fact it’s helped to keep it very much alive, yes there was perhaps less handtools used from beginning to end, but when they were used they were used lovingly and with deep knowledge and appreciation.

I took a couple of pics of Barnaby Scott at the side of one of the benches, all manner of kit was scattered around, but everything looked as I guess you’d expect from a very successful and very fine furniture maker’s busy commercial shop, innovation, design all intact and he was on the look out for another craftsman to join the small team in the near future….it was all very gratifying to see that man, machine and handtools has a very good balance here in the Wolds of England.

I’ve attached a pic of Barnaby and a link to his site.

www.waywood.co.uk

A most enjoyable visit

P.S. ….Oh yes just a little pic too of the finished Oak plinth for Sue’s Horses head sculpture, which look like it’s already got a buyer on the opening day of her exhibition….i went for a very natural finish in the end, choosing to refrain from filling in the cracks and just oil and wax it, simple is sometimes best eh!

Cheers

Steve

Sunday, May 15, 2011

SUNDAY SUNRISE

Sunday Sunrise

A WORKSHOP WEEKLY UPDATE Now where did the week go again?
I know I have to write a post about the guitar set up but couldn’t steel a single hour so far.
The week, right.
It began at the bench with new hand tool ideas and designs dedicated to the sole purpose of working and sawing shop veneer;
‘real veneer’ as JK wrote.
The wood shop is in desperate need of an over haul and that starts at the work bench.
Four new designs for shop made hand tools and a new bench design to go along with it !
I’m just at the mock-up stages and getting things planned for September. September you may say is still 4 months away.
Well indeed it is but this is where it begins, on the page in form of an idea, an interest and then maybe a gut feeling.
Some trial and some error and then some more thoughts and scribbles to hash through.
; )

Suddenly I was into Wednesday and refurbishing two old panel saws destined for Wisconsin to have the final touches done by a professional. Two sweet old Disston saws, one rip and one cross cut.
Friday and Saturday came and with it a student from Montreal. He brought four large cans of Quebec Maple Syrup ! Giddy-up…
We spent two days in the shop covering everything from furniture pricing and one-man, work shop solutions to hands on sawing techniques and finished off with half blind dovetails.
Two days of Maple Syrup and then the play offs resuming again last night.
Hockey eh? What can I say?
I wouldn’t want to be waking up in Boston this morning…
Today is Sunday and Nelson and I are working out some shelf and storage solutions for his Transformer collection and this evening I’ll be at Clinton’s Tavern here in Toronto playing my new album, a boy called fish front to back.
If you’re in the down town area this evening stop by for a pint.
It’s an early show starting at 8pm and I hear they have some good food there as well.
A review on Yelp says this:
“Another spot where vegetarians and meat-eaters can dine in harmony!”
Who can argue with that?
Cheers!

Monday, May 9, 2011

It's in the Intonation

this is just an observation...

Most of the woodworkers I meet know how to play a musical instrument.
From string to wind and wind to wood, what ever.
Point is most woodworkers seem to naturally have or gain through repetition, a sense of rhythm while we work with hand tools, we’re musical even if we don’t actually play instruments.
Nestled in the saw dust lies the rhythm and the rhyme.
And with all that in mind…

'The Recording Model' by Brown Guitars. Photo from Soundpark Studio website.

This past winter I traveled to the East Coast of Canada on two occasions, once in February and again in March to play some live music and promote my new album. ( shameless I know )
On both adventures one of my closest and oldest friends, Scott Brown joined me for the shows playing bass guitar. Scott also gave me some insight into guitar set ups and I finally got around to setting up one of my own guitars on my return back to Toronto.
I bought a OOO1R, USA made Martin in 1996 but it was actually made three years prior to that making about 19 years old..? This is a sweet little guitar and has been my faithful ‘road warrior’ over the last couple of decades give or take.
Funny enough though it didn’t make either trip this winter because Scott is a wonderful luthier on Cape Breton Island and he offered me to leave ‘my axes’ here at home ( no stress flying you know ) and invited me to use some of his custom built guitars during the performances. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity.
Scott is the man behind Brown Guitars in Bras D”Or, Nova Scotia. He builds custom electric and acoustic guitars in his home work shop about 20 minutes from down town Sydney and will ship his work ( as stressful as that may be ; ) internationally. Another close friend of mine, Jamie Foulds owns a studio in Cape Breton and recently posted some sounds clips of Scott’s latest and finest. Follow this link…
Now back in the wood shop we wood workers are all well aware of wood movement. ( say that 5 times fast )
Take all of those elements and multiply them by 10 and you have ‘luthier wood movement stress‘ !
I’m exaggerating a little but you get the idea.
Wood movement in guitars = bad intonation, a neck that may need to be set up seasonally or at the very least annually. Even a brand new guitar shipped from a music store on the West Coast to a musician on the East Coast will need to be set up to perform as it should.
With humidity changes, the neck on a guitar can move and cup and the differences between CB Island and Southern Ontario are pretty drastic. I realized that not one of my guitars had been set up since moving back from the East Coast 3 years ago and it was time to do something about it. Yikes!

Brown Guitars

Returning home after playing Scott’s guitars all perfectly set up and tuned, I could feel and see how high the action on my little Martin was getting. Every guitar player should know how to go through the steps of checking to see if an instrument needs an adjustment and then decide whether to carry out those adjustments or have a professional like Brown Guitars make them for you.
After my crash course lesson in guitar set up and light maintenance by Mr. Brown himself, I decided to take up the challenge and can happily say my guitar feels and plays like it did when it was new.
It was in bad shape although I ignored it for three years and learned to live with the high action on the strings. I knew it was getting harder and harder to play with each winter passing and I suspected the intonation was starting to get out of whack as well.
Three years can really make a difference.
It’s a wonderful feeling setting up your own guitar to suite your own tastes and I encourage you to take a close look at your own instruments at home.
I’ll walk you through the steps Scott taught me in another post.
It only involves a hand full of tools that most of you already own. This is what you’ll need:

guitar tuner
new set of strings
capo
feeler gauges
small metal rule in 1/16″ increments
reliable straight edge
Allen or Hex keys
wire cutters

For now, follow the links and check out Brown Guitars.
Cheers!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

When the Bow breaks

I bought a Gramercy Tools bow saw at Tools for Working Wood in NYC a couple of years ago and it has turned into one of my very favorite tools.
It’s a nice gentle shape, really light weight with well made parts that work really well.
I use it for all of the typical bow saw tasks like sawing curves, pierced work and the like. I soon realized it was also perfect for waste removal. Using the bow saw much the same way you would a fret saw or maybe a coping saw removing the waste in dovetails.
Not so long ago I took it apart for transport and when I reassembled it and put tension back on the bow-

SNAP !

; (

Damn…
always right in the middle of a project isn’t it?
Well, I better fix it.
Nothing fancy, no time for that, just a quick fix with some quarter sawn Ontario white oak.
The straight grain will be perfect for this application.
It went something like this…