The second time around

As I had mentioned some time ago, I was debating about whether or not to start over on the drawer box sides of the +Tom Fidgen  designed bedside table that I am building for my wife.  I had just replaced a less than stellar $10.00 home center back saw with a pair of Veritas carcass saws.  These sides being wider than the upper rails, I figured the new saws would make a bigger difference here while I could still make use of the narrower upper rails I had previously cut.  And so, with the top and bottom now at the proper thickness, it was now or never.  I wanted to have both sets of rails done and dry fit so than I could take more precise measurements before cutting the top and bottom to length.  And so it began. I cut the lower rails again, to rough length and began the layout and cutting.  I set my marking gauges to the three different measurements required and struck my lines.  To ensure nice finish cuts, I then struck my lines with a chisel and relieved the cut on the waste side of the lines to give my crosscut saw a firm track.

Cut lines struck and relieved on the waste side.

With bench hook in place, I then picked up my crosscut saw and cut the shoulders of my tenons.  The new saws cut so nicely, I had to be careful not to over cut into my tenons.  I left both rails long, so I did the layout and cutting on one end of each, leaving plenty of room to correct any errors on the far end.  Two shoulders cut, time to move to the vise for the cheeks.

Cutting the shoulders.

Being a cautious man, and knowing my limitations, I always leave my tenons a bit thick, I can always fine tune them with a shoulder plane later.  As yet however, I have not found a way to put wood back, short of gluing shims on, which then leads to trimming anyway.

 

Cutting the cheeks.

Again, the new rip saw was a joy to use.  The tracking and accuracy of the cut was amazing.  In the future, as I get better, I am pretty sure I will be leaving less extra thickness on the tenons.  Perhaps it is true that you get what you pay for when it comes to tools (I know, a lesson that I should have committed to memory long ago).

At that point, it was time to clean up.  All of the planing and cutting had produced a decent sized pile of shavings and I had to safely stow all of the tools that remained on and around my bench.

Even clean up is easier in the hand tool shop.

The rest of the night was a blur.  By the time I finished in the shop, my wife and I had to rush to get ready.  Despite a little snow and freezing rain, we had a 30th birthday party to attend.

Happy 30th Steven!

It was a very full day, and we were certainly grateful for so productive and happy of a day.  But, we were also grateful to finally lay down for a good night's sleep.

Next up, some odds and ends and plans for the weekend.  Thank you for stopping by.

 

 

Procrastination comes to an all too brief end

Having tuned up the hand planes, I really had no good reason not to make use of them.  I hadn't worked on the +Tom Fidgen bedside table I am building for my wife since before our snow apocalypse and our winter illnesses.  With the planes ready to go, it was finally time to thickness the board that would become the top and bottom of the drawer box.  My first step was to bevel the edges of the board down to my 1/2" scribe line.  My first several passes would be cross grain, so the chamfer would eliminate a lot of ugly tear out and much smoothing and scraping later on.

This photo shows the chamfers and the first overlapping passes of the jack plane on 2/3's of the board.

I was very happy with the stock removal achieved by my newly cambered jack plane blade.  Certainly the effort required was greater than if I had just plugged in my thickness planer, but so to was the level of fulfillment from doing it by hand.  I took my time and monitored my progress, and the process went along very smoothly, pun intended.  I am relatively new to some of the hand work, learning as I go.  But I will say, I really enjoy the pace of hand work, and more importantly, it is a pleasure.  The sounds of the shop are relaxing, almost meditative.  Good music and the sound of plane, chisel, and saw are much preferable to the whine of electric motors.

Nearing the scribe lines for the finished thickness.

Finished with the jack plane.

 

As I neared the scribe lines, I switched to the jointer plane, also newly ground and honed, taking my passes with the grain.  The results were just as gratifying.  By the time I had flattened the board and brought it down nearly to the scribe line, I was amazed by the finished surface.  A truly sharp blade and focusing on grain direction made the job both easier and a better finished product.

Stock removed, board flattened.

Unfortunately, the photo is a little out of focus, but this is the finished board with no smoothing, scraping, or sanding.

  

 I am certainly not a stranger to hand tools.  In some form or function, I have used them my entire adult life.  But I also realize that I am just beginning the journey of learning.  This will be my first major project completed with only hand tools ( I have done several with mainly hand tools).  I have a lot to learn, but I am having a lot of fun reading, watching, and actually practicing the craft of woodworking.  Each new skill that I acquire makes the journey easier and more productive.  I am also learning that every operation is important and they are all connected.  For instance, sharpening.  I always assumed I had mastered sharpening.  After a few years in my early twenties, believing that chisels came sharpened and stayed sharpened (I laughed typing that), someone set me straight.  Apparently I wasn't alone, because before the internet, it wasn't very easy to locate quality stones.  After much reading, trial and error, and practice, I got pretty good at getting a seriously sharp edge on chisels.  Especially narrower blades.  Enter this newest phase of my woodworking life.  Plane blades.  Yet again, I find myself climbing a little bit of a learning curve.  I probably spend longer than some, and may not be a successful as many more experienced workers.  But I am beginning to see the results of my efforts, and I am greatly enjoying the satisfaction of mastering (or trying to) each new process and procedure.  More importantly, the quality of my work is advancing every time I go into the shop.  I enjoy the work, and I look forward to a lifetime of learning.  That said, if anyone has any suggestions or advice, I would be thrilled to hear from you.  I also hope that you will follow along with my progress as I document my journey here.  And to those of you who work so hard to find time both to work in the shop and blog or produce videos, thank you for sharing.  Your efforts are very much appreciated.

Some much needed TLC for the bench planes

As I mentioned yesterday, the simple task of grinding a camber on my jack plane blade gradually became a more involved process.  Miraculously, the grinding went so well, I began looking at the blades on my other bench planes.  My smoother (Stanley #4) was roughly as sharp as a bowling ball, perfect time to begin again by grinding it to a new bevel.  The jointer (Stanley #8) was still relatively sharp, but i had realized a couple of weeks ago that blade was far from straight, not very helpful in flattening surfaces at all.  Again, what better time than now to tune it up.  After all, the afternoon would see all of the planes in use to thickness, flatten and smooth a board for the bedside table that I am building for my wife.

#4 and #5 blades ground to new bevels.  A nice new camber on the #5.

I took the photo above, looked at it, then looked at the planes.  Not really any rust, but definitely a lot of staining.  Nearly 100 years of use, a decade in my seaside basement, and years of sparse use had taken a toll.  I figured I had the whole day, so why not do a little cleaning too.

An older photo of the #8 showing rust and a lot of discoloration on the non-japanned surfaces.

Pre-cleaning, with a lot of caked on saw dust and the marks of years of use.

I started off with machine oil and the coarsest steel wool that I had on hand.  I ended up switching to 600 grit wet/dry sand paper adhered to a marble tile, carefully keeping the plane bodies aligned to keep the faces 90 degrees.  Successive work with finer grades of steel wool followed.  On the japanned surfaces, I used steel wool to remove rust spotting, and then lightly oiled all of the surfaces.  I like the historic (vintage) nature of these planes, and I'd rather not harm the japanning that remains until I absolutely must.  That being said, I will probably look for a less nuclear option than removing all of it and repainting for now.  Maybe paint just the spots that are bare metal and prone to rusting.  That would be an easy project for a weeknight when I have limited shop time.

Cleaned and tuned.

I am very pleased with the outcome.  I did leave some of the marks for a couple of reasons.  First, I was nervous about removing the amount of metal required to get to a pristine surface.  Secondly, and more importantly to me as an historian, based on placement and shape, some of the marks appeared to be finger and hand prints left from those who used the planes well before me.  I really love that feeling of lineage, knowing that hopefully, as my skills improve, I will be adding to the history of craftsmanship with these planes.

I am breaking these posts up a little bit, mainly to keep them from growing too long.  But also, I am in the middle of a very long week at work with very limited shop time.  I hope you will join me tomorrow as I share some woodworking on the bedside table. 

Thank you for visiting.

A productive Saturday morning

There is nothing better than a Saturday morning in the shop.  Another work week in the rear view and the promise of working for yourself, relaxing, and hopefully being productive.  But let's face it, any day in the shop is far superior to the best work day.

On my way home from work on Friday, I stopped at the hardware store and picked up the nuts, bolts, and washers to mount my grinder.  Again, I could have been smarter and actually measured prior to the stop, but I guessed the size bolts I would need.  Fortunately, I got the size I thought I would need and 1/2" longer.  The longer bolts worked, and I took that as a good sign of things to come.  At the last minute, I decided to change the orientation of the grinder on the table, so I re-drilled the holes and tightened it down.

Grinder in it's original position.  I ended up turning it 90 degrees to face to the right.

The grinder had become a major focus as I needed to camber a jack plane blade for quicker stock removal.  With the grinder ready to go, I started on the blade.  The first step was laying out a template.

The template laid out on the spine of a manila file folder.  I went with an 8 inch radius so that I will be able to hog off serious material.

The next step was marking the radius on on the plane blade.  I didn't have any layout fluid on hand, so I made due with some white spray paint.  I then traced the radius with a scratch awl.  The paint made it much easier to see my line.

 

The template on the blade, radius marked.

Ready to grind.

This was my first attempt at grinding plane blades (I've been fortunate to find vintage planes without heavily nicked blades), so needless to say, I had spent a lot of time thinking about the procedure.  Once I got my nerve up (and realized that I could always order replacements), I filled my mind with pure thoughts and got started.  In most cases, we worry for nothing.  That was certainly true for me in this instance.  The process went very smoothly.  So smoothly in fact, I went ahead and reground a smoothing plane blade and my jointer plane blade.  As it turns out, that was a fantastic idea.  I got the plane with the blade razor sharp, and my trusting self had put it to work.  The edge however was far from straight.  I realized it while planing down the legs for the bedside table.  It created a lot more work as far as checking progress and carefully evening out the stock removal.  My afternoon work would prove the effort worthwhile.

Smoothing plane and jack plane blades reground.  Time to hone.

As with many things in life, I managed to get carried away with the maintenance work.  I ended up completely disassembling the jointer plane and nearly so, with the jack.  I hadn't done more than a very cursory cleaning since I had gotten them, but flush with my success at the grinder, I decided now was the time.  Besides, I had all day in the shop.  I'm still getting used to blogging, so I totally neglected to get a really good before photo and didn't take an after.  I do have a decent photo showing the two planes that I will share tomorrow, and I will get a good after photo tonight.  I will say though, that neither will ever be perfect as both are approaching 100 years old and have definitely seen some hard use.  That said, there was a major improvement in both, aesthetically and functionally.

I'm looking forward to sharing more tomorrow, and maybe even some actual woodwork.  I hope you'll visit again then.  For now, I'm off to work.

Grinding away.

By the time I got home and ate dinner last night, it was around 7:30.  I was tired and probably more than a little cranky (apologies to my wife).  But I did manage to push myself into the shop to get a little work done (thanks to my lovely wife who asked me to retrieve the days laundry from the basement). As planned, my night centered on getting my new grinder ready to go for the weekend.  I really need to grind a nice camber on a plane iron so I can hog a quarter inch of thickness off about 2 feet of 1x12.  Taking the old grinder off of it's stand was of course an easy task.  Two nuts and a little cleaning later, I was in business and ready for the new grinder.

The old grinder, still operable, but with fixed tool rests.

I opened the new box and put all of the pieces aside.  When I took out the main unit, I knew I was going to face a little problem.  The base of the new unit was noticeably higher than my old one.  I really should have looked before I went to work.  No matter, I went to work on the assembly, I could look for mounting hardware when I was done.  Surprisingly, the box contained all of the needed parts and the assembly went off without a hitch.  I didn't even have to consult the vaunted owner's manual (I'm fairly certain I've heard all of the safety procedures from the legal department before).  I did glance at the manual at this point out of sheer laziness.  Being more of a weekend warrior type machine, I had hoped that there would be a template for drilling the mounting holes.  My hopes were quickly dashed. Glancing briefly, I didn't even see a two holes, x number of inches on center.  A good reminder that laziness rarely pays off.  I broke down and took the ten steps to grab my bench rule and got to drilling.

Now back to the hardware to mount it.  I have a fairly impressive collection of orphaned hardware. For 40+ years my grandfather never threw away a piece of hardware and I haven't had the heart to part with any of it.  On top of that, I was raised a true "Yankee" myself and I've added a fair amount over more than a decade.  And at this point I was dealt another lesson.  I think at some point in the near future I must either gain the patience to sort through thousands of odds and ends or break down and take the time to better organize my stash.  Long story short, I opted for some reading before an early bedtime.  I'll be stopping at the hardware store on the way home from work tonight.

New grinder, nearly ready for action.

On the bright side, I'm only a few minutes away from starting on the plane blade and should be able to get that done tonight.  My schedule seems to be fairly clear for the weekend as well.  I should be able to accomplish a decent amount of work.  Hopefully I'll have plenty to show here in the next few days.

It got late early.

The title of this post was first uttered by the great philosopher Yogi Berra, but is was extremely applicable to my night.  As always lately, I got out of work late last night.  Just before I left, my wife let me know that my brother and sister in law would be visiting.  We only live half an hour away, but life often gets in the way of the things that matter most, and it had been too long since we had been able to visit.  As it turned out, we had a great conversation as always, and a really enjoyable visit.  I should also note that they brought a fantastic cheesecake for dessert.  A sincere thank you is due for that wonderful treat.  Long story short, after a ten hour work day, a pleasant visit, and an unusually high caloric intake, I was more prepared for a good night's sleep than a visit to my shop.

I did however, push myself down the stairs knowing that the longer I waited to repair the chest of drawers holding my tool chest, the better I would get at procrastinating.  And besides, it seemed like it would be a simple fix.  Famous last words.  I removed all the drawers, dry fit the tenon back into its mortise and clamped it.  And lo and behold, the case was out of square.  After an intricate dance with the carcass lasting what seemed to be an eternity, I finally got everything lined up, glued, and clamped.  This morning, I took off the clamp and piled all the drawers back in.  Success, even if it was slightly delayed by fatigue last evening.

  

All fixed, and hopefully ready for another 40+ years of service.

By the time I got the clamp tightened, I decided to forego the second part of my plan for the evening.

For about ten years, I've used a very inexpensive Ryobi bench grinder in my shop.  The tool rests on the unit are fixed.  It never really bothered me, my grinding was confined to lawn mower blades and turning tools.  While I am sure that both practices would have benefited from better rests, I was always able to manage well enough freehand.  But as I've been progressing more and more toward predominately hand tools, I knew my plane blades were going to require a little more.  About a month ago, I picked up an equally inexpensive Ryobi model, but this time with adjustable tool rests.  And since then, it has languished in it's box in front of my grinder stand.  Enter my plans for this weekend: to finally get back to the bedside table I am building for my wife.  The top and the bottom of the drawer box will be half inch boards, and so it is finally time to grind a cambered blade for my Stanley #5.  In a perfect world, I would have the plane ready to go so that I can get right to work Saturday morning.  I have an appointment tonight, but hopefully I can at least get the grinder set up tonight.  Then if I don't get to the blade, at least I will still have tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Vacation is Over...Back to Work

It's been nearly two weeks since I posted here and I've been missing the work and the writing.  In addition to what seems like a never ending series of snow storms and shoveling, I've also had the poor fortune to alternate sickness with my wife.  So with all the household duties (and did I mention shoveling?) as well as the very low temperatures in the basement, my shop time has been reduced to practically zero.  Even this past weekend (a four day weekend for me) I only really felt well enough to spend a few hours in the shop on Monday.  Still not totally well, and gearing up for a bathroom renovation, I opted to continue the workshop overhaul instead of working on my wife's bedside table project.  As I had mentioned before, my shop space had become a catch-all storage area for the detritus of a past life.  I had concentrated initially on the areas around my two benches (one for tin and one for wood) so that I could at least humor myself with some small projects while I performed the herculean cleaning task.  But as the spring gets closer, I have to find a space for a new hand tool friendly work bench.  And with the bathroom looming, I actually need to get some (or all) of the power tools accessible and ready for work.  That said, I managed to clear another corner of the basement and re-purpose some items for a more inviting work space.

My new miter saw station.

 My miter saw used to live on an old rolling microwave cart along one of the long walls adjacent to my workbench.  It was really not as much of a pain as that might sound.  The saw itself is far from a precision instrument, and so, I really rarely used it in the shop except to break down long boards. Since then, I've bought a rip panel saw, and actually prefer to perform this operation by hand.  The saw generally is used at the site of a project on a pair of garbage, store bought saw horses (too tall to saw on, too short for a comfortable working height) and a piece of plywood.  The saw's new home though, is a re-purposed cabinet that I had built for a friend years ago, but had never finished as a move had made it obsolete.  In the coming days, I'll finish it up so that it can safely house all of the accessories for the miter saw, my table saw, and maybe even my circular saw. Maybe an hours worth of work, if that.  I cleaned out a small niche near the stairs for the cabinet, making more room in the center of the shop.  My son has claimed the cart for a desk, so I'll have to pull the wheels off and give it a thorough cleaning.

With the new location for the miter saw and the microwave cart gone, I had more room along the wall adjacent to my bench and decided to space things out there.  I began to move a  set of drawers my grandfather had built to hold his tool chest (now a coffee table in my mother's house) and that now holds mine.  Of course things were going too well, so one thing had to go wrong. I would guess that the chest of drawers is at least 40 years old.  And the ocean air here in Rhode Island hasn't done it any favors.  Long story short, the lower rail tenons pulled out of their mortises.  It'll be a quick fix tonight, and it was the only mishap of the afternoon.

My tool chest and the damaged chest of drawers.

A close up of the damage I inflicted.

The cleaning and organizing is an ongoing task and I have neglected to post photos, or mention some of the steps I've taken in the new year.  One of the biggest annoyances I've faced is that my tin patterns have never really had a dedicated space.  At this point, I am probably approaching 75 or more patterns which have been living wherever I could find a nail to hang them.  Many had fallen and become separated from their mates.  I am now about two thirds of the way to reassembling the pieces and providing proper storage.

Tin and copper ware patterns neatly sorted and hanging ready for work.  A shop made form sits below the peg rail.

Another few hours of sorting pattern pieces and I may someday have a table saw again.  Clearly, I'm in no hurry to have it back.

When I invited my lovely wife down to see my progress, she rather quickly fled upstairs.  But little did I know, my work had inspired her to lend me a helping hand.  When she returned, she had all the supplies required to eliminate at least five years worth of spider webs, and in some cases, their deceased occupants.  The effort may not have been completely altruistic, but it was greatly appreciated.

Little by little, the shop is really coming along.  The sense of dread I used to feel about going down there is slowly giving way to sense of joy to be there.  Even if it's only for a few minutes to look around, brainstorm, or just spend some time.  The next few nights will be for some small work, gearing up for what I hope will be the productive weekend I've been searching for.

Hope springs eternal, I just pray for no snow.

Renewed motivation sometimes comes in a small box

This post will be a somewhat short one, but I will confine this entry to craft.  Thank you for bearing with me last time.

After a rough few days, Tuesday night began to look up.  Shortly after I got home, a UPS truck stopped in front of my house and dropped off a package I had eagerly been awaiting.  Two new carcass saws from +Lee Valley Tools.  Tuesday was family night though, so I confined my exploration of the saws to unpacking them to make sure there was no damage, and taking them to my shop.  Fast forward to Wednesday.  I had to work late and we had a family dinner out.  By the time we finally got home, I was exhausted from the long day, or more like a series of long days.  But I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a couple minutes with my new saws.

Right out of the box. I also included the dovetail saw my lovely wife gave me for Christmas.

Fair warning, this is in no way intended as a review.  I have been working with inferior saws now for many years and so, I have no real frame of reference as to what a proper saw should feel and function like.  That said, there is a fairly clear difference between these saws and a $10 home center back saw. The difference in tracking and control was phenomenal.  My use was fairly brief, but I can't wait to get back to work on my wife's bedside table this weekend.  In fact, I am thinking I might begin over again on my lower stretchers and then compare the results to the uppers I cut a while ago.

My only trial cuts last night.  The larger kerf near the center is actually two cuts and a paper thin shim I neglected to save for photography.

I definitely needed some motivation to get back to work and this will be more than enough.  It's a lesson that never gets old: having and using the best tools you can acquire really does increase the quality of your work, and the amount of fun you have doing it.

My tool chest with the new saws added.  It even looks better and more inviting to my eye.

 While we are on this topic; when I started woodworking in my teens, I dreamed of having a shop like Norm Abram.  Don't get me wrong, my family and I watched every episode of The Woodwright's Shop.  But unfortunately, at the time, those skills seemed so far beyond me.  And where would I even look to find those tools?  Besides, at that age, I derived my joy not from the process, but from results: finished projects.  Of course life is easier with machines, right?  Set them and forget them. Repeat-ability of an operation is a foregone conclusion.  Every piece is precise, quickly executed, and on to the next step.  Results, finished pieces.

My philosophy changed  though as I entered my mid-twenties.  I still had plenty of use for all of the power tools and machines I had acquired and inherited.  I owned a house, and an endless list of projects to complete.  I still use power tools for these projects, and I have a few of these coming up in the very near future.

But when I went into my shop, looked at plans, began projects, and even looked at past furniture work, I realized that I didn't really have an investment.  I began to incorporate hand tools slowly into my work.  I slowed down and began to enjoy the process.  My time in the shop became my form of meditation. I was more relaxed in, and out of the shop.  Woodworking became less of a dull science and more of a liberating art.  I was hooked, but as I scanned my shop and the thousands of dollars worth of equipment, I knew that I would need to acquire thousands more dollars worth to truly have a shop where I could practice my new found art.

I had learned the lesson with power tools: buy the best you can afford the first time.  Cheap tools do work.  But the results aren't quite the same, and more importantly, the joy of use is often missing.  On the other hand though, I could save my money for years, and confine my experience to reading and watching.  Like most woodworkers though, I realized that knowing and understanding were dramatically different that actually building the skills to execute what I was reading.  And so I made a decision.  I would make do for a while, use what I had or could afford quickly and actually work as I learned.  I would buy vintage tools where I could find them and spend my hours to restore them, rather than my dollars to buy new.  I have functioned like that for more than a decade.  Finally, although it is still a sacrifice with a family of four, I am ready to move forward.  It's time to begin replacing the make-do tools with tools that will increase my enjoyment of the craft.  Help me to produce results that both I, and my family can be proud of and hopefully treasure for generations.  I know that there are more noted, and probably higher quality options on the market today.  But the Veritas line will allow me to work with high quality tools now.  Hopefully down the road these decisions  will not be necessary

I know that most of us do not have unlimited budgets for tools and wood.  Many of us have to make difficult decisions when it comes to our hobbies.  I hope some of you will share your decision making process.  I have a lot to learn and many of you are much further down this road than I.  I will gladly accept any advice my readers, guests, and friends have to share.

Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again soon.

Blowing off a little steam...and some older woodworking

I will make a valiant attempt to keep the material on this blog directly related to craftsmanship and history as I promised in my welcome post about a month ago (please refer here if you would like: http://thenewportmechanick.blogspot.com/2015/01/welcome.html).  But late last week, our household received some news that truly incensed me.  For those of you who would like to skip my diatribe, please skip to the first photo.

I have mentioned in previous posts that my wonderful wife suffered an injury last November and has been recovering.  I really never mentioned the severity of the injury.  Well, long story short, she was unfortunate enough to sever an artery, a nerve, and several tendons in her right (dominant) forearm.  The night of the incident, she was rushed to two separate hospitals that managed to mishandle the case.  Not until the following week, when she saw a specialist suggested by our insurance carrier, did the true severity of the injury come to light.  He was appalled, that neither hospital had seen fit to operate that very night.  Fast forward through surgery and still ongoing therapy to last week.  Although she still has extremely limited use of her dominant hand, the State of Rhode Island has seen fit to deny her Temporary Disability claim, stating that she has limited use of her hand and could perform other duties.  I was slightly angered when I read this.  But after I looked at the website, I was incensed.  The site clearly states that to be eligible for benefits:

To be medically eligible for TDI benefits, a Qualified Healthcare Provider (QHP) or medical practitioner must certify that you are functionally unable to perform your customary and regular work duties [emphasis added by me]. Your QHP will tell us the length of time he/she expects you to be unable to work. 

For your eligibility to begin the first day you were disabled you must have an in-office examination by a licensed Qualified Healthcare Provider (QHP) that week, the week before or the week after, your disability began. A contact with the QHP via a telephone call is not acceptable by TDI law as a timely examination by a licensed QHP. 

Additionally, you may be asked to make an appointment with an impartial medical examiner if we believe an exam is necessary. Your benefits will be stopped if you do not make or keep the appointment with the impartial medical examiner.

Functionally unable to perform customary duties...not other duties.  Now, that being said, I am not a fan of big government or government regulation in our daily lives.  But equally, both my wife and I have been forced to pay into this system our entire working lives.  It would certainly be nice to see that the government bureaucracy and programs that we are mandated to pay for are available to us as well.  If government programs will not be available to the masses, they should kindly leave our hard-earned income in our pockets.   Coupled with the stories of abuse of the system, it makes me at least, wonder how many other legitimate claims are being denied while our representation worries only about reelection and the balance of political power at the state and federal level.  I vote in every election, but this will certainly bring a new level of importance to the exercise of that right, privilege, and responsibility.  We as a people must force our representatives to serve their constituents before their parties.  And moreover, I can guarantee that I will make my concerns known to my representatives by e-mail, letter, and phone if need be.

I appreciate that not all people feel the same as I.  That is the beauty of our country.  We are all entitled to our opinions.  We may not agree with the opinions of others, but it is imperative that we respect the rights of others to their opinions.  And I hope that instead of arguing among ourselves, that we can have an honest discourse about ideas.  As long as we allow ourselves to be divided, we will continue to perpetuate a political system that is not in anyone's best interest.

Thank you for weathering my screed, and I sincerely hope that my position has not offended any of my readers.

Beginning a set of green carving tools.

So, discretion being the better part of valor, I determined that I would not let my anger and disappointment keep me from the shop this past weekend.  But I also didn't want to risk the progress I have made on the bedside table and barn lanterns I have been working on through lack of focus. Instead, I finally buckled down and began the mundane tasks that most of us put off until the very final moment.  I began cleaning, organizing, rehabbing, and just generally bringing the shop back to the level it had been at years ago before my hiatus.  I took the opportunity to sharpen an Ebay hewing hatchet and carving knife.

Stanley #4, and I've been caught: two Stanley 45 blades I failed to put away properly.

I also disassembled a 1930's Stanley #4 that I have had for months in preparation for restoring it to working order.  I have a few cheap newer planes that I use, but there's just something about vintage tools for me.  We will see.

I also continued the process of eliminating a decade or more of accumulated detritus from the basement.  It will be a slow process, but I want to make room for a new workbench in the spring, once I have finished a bathroom remodel and a new living room ceiling. 

Also, I've been lacking in real work, so I'd like to share an older project.  I've been collecting hand tools for some time now, and this past spring I realized that my damp basement was creating more upkeep than necessary.  I began researching tool chests.  Being mainly interested in historical work, I turned to the ubiquitous Lost Art Press and +Christopher Schwarz, a site I'm sure most of us have been following for many years.  A floor chest was out of the question a I just didn't have the real estate to devote.  I also believed it would be some time before I would require that much space (I laughed to myself as I typed that misguided thought).  So the Dutch chest seemed to fit the bill.

Laying out the angle for the side pieces.

Sides cut and dovetailed. And my table saw filling its new role:assembly bench.

The dados cut with a chisel and finished with a router plane.

The assembly begins with the dovetailed bottom and sides.

Clamping the shelf into the dados.  I added nails later for insurance.

Front in place.  Beginning the tongue and groove back.

Just as advertised, plenty of space for the bench planes.

Gluing up the top.

Finished, in the white.

Almost ready to go to work, after a few coats of my favorite Federal Blue milk paint.

I was able to go this far in one weekend in May while my wife and children were away visiting family.  About a month later, I got back to work and finished the interior.

My chest, as it appeared this morning.  The tool rack was finished in June.

Please excuse me for sharing a project that has probably already received its fair share of publicity with other blogs around the virtual wood shop.

In other news, I have also ordered a pair of carcass saws from +Lee Valley Tools, and they should be waiting for me at home tonight.  That's another reason I've been procrastinating on the bedside table.  I know they will be a joy to use in finishing the project, especially compared to the $10 home center back saw that I've been ashamedly keeping out of photos here on the blog.

As always, thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again soon.