A Toolchest from Estonia

when form and function meet

I received a letter from Tõnis Arjus in Estonia this past week and included were these great shots of his new tool chest.
I absolutely love what Tõnis did with the design. It looks like he took some of the aesthetic elements of my Cabinetmakers Toolchest and mixed it with the size and storage options of my widow maker with drawers, tills and a deep lid to house some hand saws. Excellent work Tõnis and thanks for sharing.
Here are some of his comments:
Hi Tom,
I’m writing from far away Estonia and sending your way some pictures of my version of a toolbox. I was inspired by your design but reconstructed it to satisfy my needs… I added a drawer, two tills hanging above my planes and also a deep enough cover to place some saws. I still have some details to make, like the saw and chisel holders… I used American oak and local birch. I really like how similar in color the birch’s end grain and oak are. The finish is teak oil and wax, giving it an extra silky touch.


I started woodworking in January, setting up an extra space I found in the basement of our apartment building.
The goal has also been to use hand tools only, mostly because I needed some analogue, smaller scale work to be done, to balance my everyday job as an architect….Y
ou can see my first two tables along with my latest architecture stuff here on my blog: www.tonisarjus.wordpress.com
Cheers and thanks,
Tõnis Arjus

Cross Cuts

so yeah, the timber…
Canadian Salvaged Timber to my own back yard.
two cross cuts, no big deal, what? 20 minutes work…make it 35.
I wasn’t doing anything anyway.
; )
happy Bang 7 ~ peace out.

TIMBER

CANADIAN SALVAGED TIMBER


Inner city lumberjacks?
Purveyors of history using wood as their medium?
Sure, that sounds about right and will suffice as an introduction for now.
I’m sure I’ll be mentioning them more often now that I finally found them and stopped in !
If you frequent the King st. West, Lee Valley Tools store here in down town Toronto, ‘my local’ if you would, then maybe you’ve noticed a sandwich board on occasion out front on the side walk?
It says something like ‘timber and slabs for sale’ and has a picture of some seriously large pieces of wood along with a map to the location of this reclaimed wood shop.
Well, to make a short story longer, every time I noticed the sandwich board would be a day when I was too busy to get somewhere else!
I’m happy to say I finally found the time to visit this inner-city mecca for salvaged wood here in Toronto.
Canadian Salvaged Timber I say it’s damn good to meet you~
Finally, a convenient location where the sky is litterally the limit for salvaged and reclaimed material.
‘Every stick has a story‘ and if that’s not their motto then it should be ! ; )

I picked up some 8″ x 8″ elm that came out of an old timber barn here in Southern Ontario. I’m planning on using it for a work shop project and will keep you posted as it unfolds.
Added to that was an arm full of 4/4 Hemlock that was literally dug-up from the Queens Wharf area here in down town Toronto. This wood is truly unique because it has been ‘pickled’ through the decades, sitting for the better part of 100 years and ‘stained’ by the minerals in the local soil.
It has this incredible naturally occurring patina of silver clay tones and earth-green hues. One of a kind wood for a new cabinet design. The Hemlock will be a nice mild wood for working with hand tools and I’ll keep notes as I go once the project gets underway.
I think a misconception about working with reclaimed timber is consumers tend to think the final designs have to be large and/or heavy pieces suitable only for enormous living spaces.
A thick slab with ‘live edges‘ used in a dining room setting or in an office board room would be a perfect example where this large scale furniture really excels. Now on the opposite end of the spectrum, I’ll be using it in my own small work space and offering a piece of furniture that would suit an urban live or work environment where space is a consideration.
As the designer and builder it’s my job to find a way to use this precious material to the best of my abilities while celebrating both the history of the wood itself while trying to bring forth the ‘real life’ story that gets written through the wood and my own hands and heart working together.
If you build furniture or you’re just on the hunt for a ‘one of a kind’ piece of wood, try Candian Salvaged Timber, you may be surprised at what you’ll dig up.
Cheers!

Squarely

NEW FROM LEE VALLEY TOOLS

New Precision Square from Veritas

Do you keep a 6″ inch metal rule close at hand while in the wood shop?
I do, every minute.
There’s one in my tool tray, one in my apron pocket, another one over on the sharpening bench for the Charlesworth ‘Ruler Trick’.  Point is I have more than one and I keep them handy for all sorts of quick little measurements and the like.
This week I started using the new Veritas Precision Square and I think it’s my new favorite steel rule. ( er, square..)
It is milled with the same accuracy of an engineers square (0.001″ per inch of length).
All four edges are ground, and both faces are graduated on the inside and outside edges. The Imperial version which is the one I have is graduated in 32nds on the 3″ leg and in 16ths on the 6″ leg.
It’s convenient to keep close at hand and would imagine it convenient for setting up or adjusting power tools.
If a small steel rule was on your list of things to get then you may want to consider this one as well.
Available from Lee Valley Tools for $24.50.
Cheers!

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.

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)

; )

'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