TOOL STORAGE UPDATE

"Well, I've never been a religious man, but it seems as though I've been building an Altar lately..."

The Tool Chest from a few weeks back has found a great home for itself on the floor in front of my full size Tool Cabinet. Funny how it fit so nice there? Coincidence?
Tool storage is something every wood worker should consider; it's a great way to practice a new set of skills or maybe trying out a new design idea. My scrap wood and off-cut pile is getting smaller...Next items are a traditional Saw Till that should nest perfectly on top of the Tool cabinet and after that, a Shaker style Plinth for the Tool Chest to stand in. It'll have two more drawers in the bottom for extra tool storage. Always thinking ahead you know...
Cheers!

Keepin' it Together...

New Poll asks readers which fasteners they use most...

After receiving our best feedback to date with the last Poll, I've added a new one today for all of the Working Wood readers out there. 'The Poll', for those who don't actually realise you can scroll down the page via that little arrow over there at the lower right hand side of the screen, is a weekly updated section of the site where devoted readers will answer questions directly related to their wood working preferences. Go ahead now, scroll down and look for it there on the bottom right side. Make your voice heard! Vote...Besides, it's a great way to see if you're working on 'The Road Less Travelled' or simply following the norm. (And no, not the New-Yankee type of Norm )
Today's topic deals with your most used method of attaching or fastening wood together. Do you use Hand cut joinery or store bought dowels, cut nails or cast Bronze screws? Time tested methods are all over the place for you to refer to, all you have to do is take look around.

A Fastener for Every Application

It seems no matter what it is you're building there's a special way of 'keepin' things together'. Maybe you're building a small side table and all of the components are held tightly together by accurately cut hand joinery. Bridle joints and dovetails, aprons cleanly mortised into the legs. A little glue perhaps? Ahh now, which kind will you use my boy? Fish glues or Hide, Polyvinyl Acetate Glue (PVA) or Fast curing Epoxy? Let's leave the glue types for another day and actually look at the different mechanical fasteners used. So, the small side table, with it's apron mortised into the legs. Did you draw bore the tenons, pulling them together for a tight fitting joint that will probably be around for someone else to dissect in 100 years? If you did you use a dowel, where did you get it? A scrap piece or off-cut, left over form the same project? Driven like a pile driver, down through a dowel plate, shearing off the edges making a rounded wooden cone to draw things together. Maybe a store bought dowel of a different species to accentuate the contrasting wood types being used. No dowel? No problem; a cut nail is not only historically accurate to alot of period style pieces, it's a great way to use a mechanical fastener without having to spend the time to cut fancy joinery. A gimlet in hand and twist in a pilot hole, you're done. Simple butt-joints, grooves or dadoes as well can safely be fused together with nails; driven in at opposing angles they can be as strong as any other fastener I can think of.
Maybe you subscribe to the cordless drill and screw methods of work. A 22 Volt, super-charged, impact driving wrist-breaker that can sink 4" screws into hard Maple all afternoon! Perfect! If that's what works for you then all the power to ya! Besides, you'll need the power to keep that thing running. I actually use screws in a lot of my work depending on the project. Take the Cherry Kitchen cabinets I recently finished; pocket holes and yellow carpenters glue all over the place. Did I use them in the small five-drawer table I recently made from Birds Eye Maple and Black Cherry? Of course not, it would have taken away from the piece and stood out like a sore thumb. Nails could have been used for sure, but I chose to join everything with beautifully cut joinery and glued things together. I could always go back and add some dowels later if need be. I don't think it will be necessary but it's nice to have the option.
A little trick I'll share with you here involves using screws during set up and finishing off with dowels. I'll explain further...

Borrowed from the Boat Shop

Having a background in wooden boat building, I've been aware of different techniques used to fasten wood together and expect it to withstand all sorts of harsh environments. Much more than any other piece of furniture I've designed; unless it's being installed on the deck of the Titantic, I don't think we have to worry about the same forces reacting to a dovetailed cabinet as say a traditional North Atlantic Dinghy. When manipulating wooden planks to conform into the tortured twisted form we see as a finished boat we sometimes will use screws like small clamps every few inches along a seam. After sufficient drying times on what-ever type of bonding agent was spread into the joint, once dry we remove the screws and fill the holes with wooden Bungs or an Epoxy mixture. This works well especially when working alone and can't seem to find a way to fit that third hand around a piece to hold it together while the glue dries. Clamps are great, don't get me wrong, but sometimes they simply won't do the job required. So a wood screw driven through like a spike down into a railway tie. Just long enough, until everything sets and then slowly back it out. Never drive them deep enough to damage the surface fibers of the wood grain when removing them. Another thing to consider is where to place them; keep things symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. And now what to do with all of the screw holes? I use the Miller Dowel System to fill them in. The smallest size dowel they have is a great size to fill a #8 screw hole. Carefully pre-drill the already existing screw hole left behind with the appropriate drill bit supplied by the Miller Dowel System. They offer a few different wood species and three different size dowels. When you're done, all you see is a smartly placed dowel along a seam or joint. No one will ever know you were filling a screw hole made during the 'clamping-up' stages of building. A great way to hold difficult glu-ups or anywhere you may want to use a dowel instead of a nail or screw. Let me know how it goes.



The Miller Dowel System is available through mail order from Lee Valley Tools.

FINISHING SECRETS-UPDATE...

The Real Deal; this time...

O.k. so the phony headline on the last post was a little mis-leading. You thought you were going to find out some top-secret finishing techniques I have locked away in some old turn of the century wood working encyclopedias, but no, you only got a mellow-dramatic tale of one small Block Planes journey through wood life in my shop.
I felt pretty bad after hearing from the countless readers who wanted the 'Real Truth' behind my wood finishing procedures. What follows is my advice to you; my secret finishing techniques revealed, with a detailed diagram for a unique and truly state-of-the-art Sanding Aid. I urge you to try this technique on some scrap wood first and then let yourself become comfortable with this method. I don't expect anything in return for this information but please, work safely at a pace that is comfortable for you.

Proper Wood Finishing

The first step in fine wood finishing is to go out and buy yourself the nicest Smoothing Plane you can possibly afford. Sharpen it like there's no tomorrow and take a light pass over all show surfaces of the piece in question. Make sure to overlap each pass slightly. Once this step is complete follow with a cabinet scraper, taking care to watch for tiny tear-out in the wood fibres from the last step. When you feel the heat building up in the card scraper, stop. Put it aside because I'd really hate to hear that you burnt the tips of your fingers. Now the secret weapon; the Sanding Aid that will change the way you think and work with wood. I'll include specific dimensions at the end of this post. The Sanding Block. An approximately two and a half inch squared piece of hardwood, ( I used Oak for mine ) take this small off cut and reach down onto the floor of your shop. Scoop up a handful of shavings left over from the Smoothing plane earlier. Place the pile of shavings on the work piece and compress it down with the block of hardwood. Rub vigorously around for as long as you can stand it and step back. Look at the gleam rising out of the wood grain! Incredible isn't it. I usually follow this step with an oil and varnish hand rubbed finish. Amazing eh?
So the specs...about 2 1/2" squared.
Cheers.

THE SECRETS OF FINISHING WOOD - REVEALED !

TODAY ONLY...DON'T DELAY!!

O.k. now that I've got your attention...what's up with the screws in my ECE (Primus) Block Plane.? Not a straight head or flat head, a square head er,,...a Robinson here across the border. No. It has two, sort of 'softish', poorly machined metal Phillips style screws.? Hmmm....
This really boggled my mind, which obviously doesn't have enough to worry about these days. It seemed to me that this may actually be an error. No, not the name of the kind of screw head it is, but an actual manufacturing error. I think the original design was meant to have heavier and a more universally accessable screw style on the lever cap. After all, it was manufactured by a dependable company that's has been making wooden bodied, European style hand planes for years now. Ahhh, but there lies the question; are they still 'assembled' where they're actually manufactured? This is my question and this is the story. Let me take you back a bit to tell you how I arrived at this mystery.
As it goes recently, I was working with some nice Walnut, putting a chamfer on the edge of a foot-board, bed-rail. I decided to actually take the time to 'mark out the chamfer' in an attempt at giving the bed a slightly modern feel. Funny how a simple detail such as this can change the over-all look and feel of a piece of furniture; allow me to elaborate. Seeing as the rail in question will be the last thing you (my clients) touch before you, or should I say-they, crawl into your/they (you get the picture!) bed. That private or perhaps not so private sanctuary where God knows what takes place; this rail needed to be relived of any harsh or sharp edges. My first thought was to use my handmade rosewood Hollowing plane; a gentle round-over would be nice to the touch. I opened my tool cabinet to reach for the 3/4" Hollowing Plane and there it is, my ECE Block plane, starring at me. I haven't picked this poor old dog up in the past six months I'm sure. In a moment of haste and blind romanticism I lifted up the short, rather plump beach wood vessel from the darkness of the tool cabinet and dusted it off. It felt different from what I remembered; sleeker and a little more refined. I grabbed my Lie-Nielson, Gunsmith styled flat head screwdriver, you know the ones, all pretty with brass ferules and turned out of hardwood. I placed the plane down on my work bench and lowered my hands around it's body; cradling the block, I attempted to un-screw the lever cap..." My God" I cried. "It has Phillips style screws in it!" Shaken, yet determined I went back to my tool chest and found an old Phillips style screwdriver. It was hidden in a kind of suspended animation, lying there quietly under a pile of old Hockey cards I used to have back in the days when I used to use these Phillips style wood screws. I focused at the job at a hand and removed them. Slowly, backing them out of the Beech wood. Turning and twisting they started to bend and tear, a little at first and then a bit more. That Star shaped Phillips head, gleaming and proud, cast into each and every one of it's kind. C'mon, really does anyone still use these things? Apparently so, I thought to myself.
Once I had the cutting iron out of the finely machined plane body, I sharpened it like no other blade I know of. Honing and re-shaping, polishing and rubbing until finally, ready as the day it was born, I put it back into the plane. "Ahh, those damn Phillips screws again." I stumbled through my screw and bolt bins to find a couple of 'Square-Head' machine screws, suitable for the job with no danger of getting stripped. I picked up my old friend and brought it over to my work bench; the walnut trapped, pressed between my bench dogs like an offering of sorts to the newly reclaimed Block plane. I thought about my James Krenov-custom made Smoothing plane and my heavy in hand and perfectly produced Lie-Nielson Bronze #4. I thought about the planes of old, wooden bodies alike. I saw the similarities in the shape and body of the block. I pressed the sole to the crest of the stock and pushed ahead taking that first virgin shaving, peeling it off like an outter layer of skin. It purred almost like an animal, tearing through some prey; and then suddenly stopped. A grabbing-action and choking sputter, followed with tear-out from the stock. I took it back and waxed the sole, adjusting the iron and starting again, it hiccuped and then staggered. I thought again of my finely tuned arsenal of quality made hand tools, ready to use right out of the box. No fussing, reliable; a true joy to use. I walked back over to my tool cabinet and slowly swung open the door, and quietly, almost secretly, placed the little block plane back inside. Until next time old friend, I guess you really do get what you pay for.

**This story was a work of Fiction. If it sounds like a hand plane you have or have ever heard of, it must surely be coincidence. In defence of the Character plane of the story, I do like using my ECE Block plane as well as the larger bodied Jack plane by Primus I have. Just so happens, I didn't like using it yesterday morning to do some fine tuning on the piece of Walnut I have in my shop at the moment. Funny how hand planes can be so cranky at times. Both are available through mail order at Lee Valley Tools and both are very reasonably priced.
"This is a good all-purpose wooden plane at an almost affordable price!"

Earning their Keep

Nice to have 'em when you need 'em

This morning while working on a rabbet and dado joint cut using power tools, I discovered the fit to be a little too tight. It would have taken me hours to re-set my Table saw and start to fine tune this fit; instead I reached for a few Special Purpose Hand Planes. I don't use these tools everyday but when you need them, there isn't anything better.
So I'm at the beginning stages of a Platform Bed project using 4/4 Walnut. It's a basic box with solid frame and rails. I wanted to make the side platform rails a permanent fixture so I cut a rabbet and dado along the underside of the stock. I then cut a groove into the top of the 3/4" Walnut plywood that makes up the underside box section of the bed. I used my Table saw with a stacked Dado blade attachment for both operations making sure to set up feather boards on top of the cut and along the length as well to insure a tight fit. The solid stock over it's length had a slight twist which made the entire process a little harder than it should have been. The result; a joinery fit that turned out to be much too tight. I could have set up the table saw to re-run the same procedure making sure to take shallow cuts until everything fit as it should. The problem with this is that to re-set the saw, do some test runs and then finally attempt to peel off a sliver at a time from the joint,would turn into hours of prep for something that may not work. I quickly realised this was the perfect time to do some fine tuning with hand tools.
My two Lie-Nielson side rabbet planes were the perfect tool for widening the dado walls ever so slightly. What took me 5 minutes with these hand tools would have taken an hour on the table saw. I followed with my small Router Plane manufactured by VERITAS here in Canada. It was the perfect tool to ride down the edge of the stock, cleaning up the depth of the cut. A quick and easy hand tool fix for a joinery problem from a power tool. Nice!
I don't reach for these tools everyday but when you need them, they're sure nice to have around.


Tool Chest Update


Just wanted to say that the new Tool Chest I built two weeks ago has been performing everything I had hoped for. A great way to transport my essential tools to a work site it's actually been on the road for two weeks now with me. I thought out a few minor design changes and will add them to the next one. Stay tuned...

The Colours of Working Wood

A Shade Away...

I love working wood, from the feel and the weight of the rough stock coming off a truck and into my shop to the smell of the fibres as I rough plane and cross cut the planks to a more manageable size appropriate to the piece that I'm building. The feel of the surface as I bring it from it's saw milled state to a silky finish that greets the hand and welcomes the touch. The color of the wood, the shades of blond and brown, red, yellow and pink hues; all of these elements are what makes wood unique. These colours, grains and textures are what gives a specific species of wood it's charm. After talking to a friend and fellow woodworker recently, I realised that the majority of people out there have no idea what I mean by the colour of wood. The real colour of wood. The natural, unchanged colour of wood. Sounds strange but that is the truth. My friend said he had recently finished a Maple dining room table for a client and had to take the piece back to his shop due to the fact that the colour was not to their liking. He used an oil based stain followed with varnish and wax. So my point here? Why was the client disappointed with the colour? What colour were they hoping the table was going to be when they ordered the 'Maple Table'. At least through my eyes Maple is a lighter tone wood that can go from blond to medium browns, with high lights of yellows, sables and well, maple...think of maple syrop. mmmmmmm...maple syrop. Hey, we're in Canada eh?
This is not the first time I've heard from someone, "I'm not happy with the colour" Why are we so determined to change the colour of wood? If you want a dark table, build it out of Walnut or maybe a Black Cherry? If you wanted a piece that was light, use a Birch, Beech or Maple. I sometimes laugh to myself when I walk through the big-box style stores and see a piece of furniture with a finish called say, "Cherry" and when I look at the finish it's so dark that you can barely see the artificial wood grain they have generated into it. Stains and dye's, oils and pigments; the market is flooded with hundreds of magical mixtures to alter and change the natural colour of wood. Sometimes I wonder why we're so quick to try to change something that I believe is so perfect to begin with.
Not to be a narrow minded purist, I do see a place in stains or dye in wood working. Sometimes a highlight here or a shade or two there, but really; if it's Walnut you want then build the piece out of it, not out of a white Birch and then spend days and days trying to darken the Birch to some ridiculous colour it was never intended to be. Maybe I'm crazy but I like the colour of Birch; I also like the colours of Maple, Walnut, Cherry and Oak. Poplar with it's yellows and Oak with it's browns to reds. Any North American domestic species of woods can offer up a full range of colours and shades to the woodworking palette. If it's something more extreme you need then a quick look at some of the more exotic woods out there which have become quite attainable reveal an entire rainbow of colours. So with that I say before you start trying to change the natural colour of the wood your using, ask yourself if you're using the right wood.

RECENT COMMENT:
Adam King said...
I have to say, I certainly agree here, Tom. It simply comes down to the fact that people do not know any better. All they see are pieces offered by retail outlets that have nothing but under-built and over-designed pieces that cannot last more than a decade at best. Thanks for such passionate writing. Keep it up!

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.




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