Marching On...

“Slayer of the winter, art thou here again? O welcome, thou that bring’st the summer nigh! The bitter wind makes not the victory vain. Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky.” – William Morris

Shop made,high angle smoothing plane tames this difficult birds eye maple.

This past week I had three people ask me if things were alright and I hadn’t fallen off a pier somewhere-it’s been four weeks since my last post?  Yikes~ Beware the ides of March, indeed!

I’ve been plugging away around the shop, working through the new book projects and can honestly say I’ve been enjoying every minute of it. It seems everything I write is book material these days and I haven’t found the time to blog. My apologies to you the readers who frequent these pages. All I can say is that the projects are coming along really, really well and I hope you’ll be as happy as I when the finished product is complete.  Some shop made tools, some workshop appliances and of course the furniture projects. What I’m most excited and proud of at this point  is that all of the furniture projects are designs you won’t find in other publications. Fun projects that are both useful and inspirational and things you don’t see everyday. To be honest, I was tired of seeing the same kinds of projects appearing in wood working books and magazines- a blanket chest, a chest of drawers, a hanging cabinet, etc…Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with any of those examples but let’s face it, there’s been enough ink spilled on that sort of project already and I wanted to offer something fresh and well, different. These designs reflect my own personal style and will showcase the passion of working wood by hand.

I’m a little over a third of the way through and on track for our release date for December 2012. This time through I’m not only photographing the steps but also filming the process and will no doubt be spending my summer editing hours and hours and hours of footage that will be available to compliment the book. I’m not exactly sure at this point how everything will unfold but can say you’ll be able to access this footage and it will be a huge help for anyone interested in this body of work.

Well, that’s the news and again my apologies for the lack of posts over the last month. I’ll do my best to keep things updated as I go. With that, time to get to work.

Cheers!

Mitre Shooting Board

1964-2012

Its been a very busy week here in the wood shop. Some shop made tools were at the top of my list both new book projects as well as a few made out of necessity. A furniture project that incorporates a mitered box with splines to hold a drawer is next on my list. It’ll eventually be veneered but the long grain miters is the reason for this new, ‘old’ bench top appliance. Mitered boxes are usually  manufactured on a table saw but here in the Unplugged Wood shop I wanted a method for making them accurately and efficiently with hand tools.
I came across an article online that was originally written for Woodworker Magazine in 1964- Mitre Shooting Board by K.G.Wells shows a great design for a shooting board with end ramps cut at 45 degrees making it perfect for cutting long miters with a hand plane. I made a Donkey’s Ear for my standard shooting board a few years ago but find its better suited for end grain work on pieces 2-in. square and under. This appliance will be dedicated for small, mitered box sides and small cabinet components.

This afternoon I made a quick version of the Wells design and thought I’d share it with you. You may be able to find the article online if you Google the title and authors name.Here is a diagram from the original article. I didn’t follow the exact specs of the pieces but used the diagram for reference.
To begin, I dimensioned some 3/4-in. cherry plywood for the base and cut a small, shallow groove about an inch in from one edge with my plow plane.

a small groove is cut into the plywood bottom board.

The end ramps are made from some 2-in. solid cherry cut down to about 1 5/8-in. These 45 degree miters are critical and should be carefully executed.

main end ramps are mitered on a bench hook.

a block plane refines the slope.

I used some 1/4-in. plywood for ‘packing’ as Wells describes it. This lifts the work piece being mitered off the bed and away from the plane blade.  This thin plywood is glued to the main 3/4-in. plywood base and is carefully fit between the two outside cherry ramps.
The top-guide is made from some stable solid cherry stock and is again mitered along its length. To begin the miter, I use my Jack plane and removed the bulk of the material. I fine tune the angle with a block plane being careful not to plane down past my scribe lines. The top ramp is pre-drilled and attached to the end stops.

a Jack plane removes the bulk of the material.

a block plane refines the angle.

The shooting board is assembled and put through some tests. I’m happy with this design and strongly recommend this bench top appliance to anyone that wants to build mitered boxes or cabinet components. Cheers!

assembled and ready for a test drive.

the dedicated Miter plane works well with this configuration.

 

front view showing plane on ramp.

a quick sample of long and end grain miters.

American Pattern

Beveled Edge Chisels by Ashley Iles

American Pattern Beveled Edge Chisel

 

 

 

 

 

In the Autumn of 1949, a pattern maker named Ashley Iles began making and selling tools in a small workshop in Sheffield, England. Today, the family run business is still making and selling finely crafted tools in a factory now located in Lincolnshire.

I had been shopping around for a quality set of bench chisels without wanting to break the bank and this set I purchased at Tools for Working Wood fit the bill to a tee. They have nicely shaped and very comfortable Bubinga handles with a brass ferule. The overall lengths are between  7 1/2″ – 9 1/4″.
The first thing is the name, American Pattern. This seems to be due to the handle being shaped much like a popular Stanley butt chisel that used to be available. Already owning a few paring chisels, I wanted a small chisel that had finely tapered edges and wouldn’t kill me when flattening and polishing the backs.
I did spend some time flattening the backs but they really weren’t that bad straight out of the box. About 5 minutes per chisel brought them up to a suitable polish and I was ready to go to work.

A good size for general purpose use in the wood shop.

Polishing the backs.

I bought a set of six and added two more ‘in between’ sizes to bring the collection to eight. A good choice for anyone that wants a well made, well balanced butt style chisel.

A set of six costs just under $150. That is an incredible price for a hand tool of this quality. I’ve been using them all week in a variety of different applications and hardwoods and so far they’ve lived up to all of my expectations.
Cheers!

There must be something in the water.

Coincidence?
I recently volunteered on my sons Grade 2 class visit to the ROM and a funny thing happened.
The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) is a spectacular way to spend a day if you’re ever in Toronto. The big-draw no doubt are the dinosaur displays but for some reason, on this day, the group I had wanted to keep moving past and we ended up making our way through areas I had never been before. When I first moved back to Toronto, a family membership to the ROM was a must and it  quickly paid for itself during that first year. I thought I had seen pretty much all there was to see but on this trip, while trying to keep up with three 7 year old boys, I discovered a new wing full of antique furniture.
The boys and I shared a common interest and our pace slowed as we walked through the seemingly endless galleries of hand crafted furniture. How did I miss this? Maybe it was new?  Starting with ancient forms and Gothic displays we worked our way through history and gazed at literally hundreds of examples of furniture from every imaginable era. Nelson, kept telling his group  “This is what my Daddy does.“  That was worth the price of admission right there! ; )
As we worked our way through the displays I was keeping one eye on the boys and one eye on the pieces so I really didn’t have time to stop and read the information offered for every one. I was more worried about loosing one of my group members and the ROM is a pretty big place. Anyhow, short story longer…I was making my way through and while lots of pieces were interesting, nothing really jumped out at me until I spied this small book shelf. Nothing too fancy but well made with some interesting inlay on top.


As someone who is always sketching furniture ideas I often ask myself what it was that drew me to the piece in the first place. Why did it catch my eye?
I was drawn to this piece more so than any other we had seen. What was it that captured my attention?
Was it the overall proportions?
Was it the wood species?

Was it the two drawers placed at the bottom?
Perhaps it was the inlay work?
I snapped a couple of quick pics with the ‘ol iPhone…



I’ve been designing some inlay and string work on a couple of the pieces in my new book and absolutely loved the style on this piece. It’s funny, out of all the pieces in the galleries made by wood workers from all over the world, through all the ages  of furniture making it was this one that caught my eye.
I wondered where it could have come from and took a moment to actually stop and read the information card.


Halifax, Nova Scotia! What a small world it is… go figure eh?
There must be something in the water.

Ain't no Feathers...

From Greg in Glastonbury, CT
 

"Ain't no feathers around here boys..."

I just received an email from Greg in Glastonbury, CT.
He just finished the second project from Made by Hand, the dovetailed wall shelf.
Here is his letter and some pics.
Great job Greg!
And thanks again for sharing~; )

Dear Tom,
I’m really enjoying your book, and I’ve worked through project number 2.  I made it pretty much the way that you described.  I went with different hinges and a slightly different take on the front curve, but other than that, it’s about the same.
I did take a stab at french polishing this one.  I found a good tutorial by a luthier online.  This was my first attempt, and it turned out pretty will, all in all.  I’ll do a lot of things differently next time, but that’s the way it works.
The thing I’m proudest of is that there’s no plywood in it at all!  I resawed a mahogany plank for the back and some scrap walnut and maple for the bottoms of the drawers.  I didn’t think it would work at all, but you said I could do it, so I did!
I’m attaching a couple of shots!
Sincerely,
Greg
Glastonbury, CT

P.S. You were right about the dove tails.  My abilities improved greatly throughout this project, although I find that the half-blind dovetails are much easier to get right for some reason.  Now all that is left is to start saving my pennies for the wood for skinny legs!




Edit

Sally

2000-2012
 
My last post was written with a light heart- this one isn’t.




It’s always hard to say goodbye so instead I’ll say thank you.
Thank you for 12 years of love, loyalty and constant companionship.
Waiting for me after endless hours in the wood shop, curled up in a big pile of wood shavings!
Your quirky, larger than life personality will always be remembered.


Rest in peace ‘ol girl.
I’ll see you on the other side…

Saw Stop

Old school style
 


I really don’t know what all the fuss it about- saws with automatic stopping mechanisms and the like. Not to brag but my antique Disston has been equipped with this so-called ‘new technology’ ever since I got it.
Yesterday, while ripping some maple my thumb somehow got in the path of the blade. Yikes! Could have been catastrophic but as soon as it started cutting into my flesh it stopped- go figure.
Saw stop old school style.

; ) It’s Monday morning- time to get at it…