Gratitude

Another year has come and gone, punctuated by another birthday.  One of the many highlights of the day was the gifts that I received from my loved ones. One that made me laugh was a fantastic t-shirt from my wife and children.

Am I really that bad?

I was also fortunate enough to receive some gifts for the workshop.

New additions to my sharpening kit.

As I have evolved into more of a hand tool woodworker, I have begun to realize the limitations of my former sharpening kit.  I had smaller soft and hard Arkansas stones in a smaller size.  The stones were fantastic for learning the basic processes involved in sharpening and the size of the stones were no hindrance when it came to sharpening chisels.  Having progressed to planes, I began to see some limitations.  Enter this gift.  Each of these stones measures 3x10.  Also, I have added the Black Arkansas stone for a much nicer polishing.  The Veritas MK II jig is also a useful addition, making it easier for me to create repeatable bevels on the wider plane blades.  The very next day I spent a couple hours finishing the restoration of my Stanley 4 by honing the blade and putting it to work.  After some fine tuning, I was very pleased with the results.  More on that in another post.

Continuing Education

Thanks to the sale at Popular Woodworking, I also added some new DVD's to my collection.  The next frontier for me will be saw sharpening and maintenance.  Hopefully these will be a good start.

And of course, my little gift to myself, the vintage Stanley 246 I mentioned last week.

A gift to myself.

I was able to download a great deal of original information from the web and have begun the dis-assembly and cleaning process.

The first of the parts being treated.

After the bath, more work to do.

Hopefully the weekend, will bring enough shop time to continue the process and make a major dent in the work remaining on this project.  And maybe even a little time to start viewing the new DVD's to gear up for working on the mating saw.  We shall see.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to my wife, children, and parents.  I am truly blessed to have each of you in my life.  I hope to spend many more birthdays with all of you.

Today in (Mostly American) History

1777 The Stars and Stripes is flown

1783 Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolutionary War and establishes the United States of          America

1861 Confederate forces march into Kentucky

1919 Woodrow Wilson begins a tour in support of the League of Nations

1943 Allied invasion of Italy begins

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.

 

 

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.

Christmas, a little late...

Since I just started this blog, I'm a little late in taking the opportunity to show off some of the woodworking Christmas gifts I received this holiday season.  And of course, I also would like to give thanks.

The first gift came before Christmas.  Knowing that I had been looking for many years, when the opportunity arose, my parents were kind enough to gift me the Stanley 55.  The plane is not that hard to come by, just difficult to find at a decent price.  This one was priced to sell. The plane came complete with all of the important parts and all of the standard cutters that originally came with the plane.  The box is missing the lid, but it probably won't be living in the original box for very long.  The only part missing is the screw for the cam rest.  I don't know how easy it will be to find a screw, but I can pick up a complete cam rest fairly easily.  Thank you Ebay.  While I love the plane (I know many people don't) the cutters are the true beauty of this gift.  I also have two Stanley 45's that I've picked up while rust hunting.  All of the symmetrical cutters that came with the 55 can be used in the 45.  Now I can set up three different operations and not have to tinker with the planes in between.  So far, I haven't experienced any difficulties with this plane, although I will admit there are a lot of moving parts.

Also from my parents, "Mouldings In Practice", by Matthew Sheldon Bickford, from Lost Art Press. Going back to my days of power tools, I've always enjoyed making mouldings.  This book will certainly make hand tool mouldings a lot easier for me moving forward.  Now I just need to fill out my wooden moulding plane collection.

My wonderful wife also made was very generous this holiday season.  "Calvin Cobb Radio Woodworker" also from Lost Art Press, was a fun read, even if I would have preferred a different ending.  Roy Underhill is just as entertaining as a novelist as he is a speaker, educator, and television host.

My wife's second gift was also greatly appreciated.  A Veritas dovetail saw.  I have been plodding along with an old, cheap gent's saw I purchased many years ago.  My dovetails have improved greatly with practice, but since getting this saw, the difference has been amazing.  The saw just feels so much better in my hand.  It is true of course, that every job is easier when you have the proper tool.  But I'm sure that this saw will cause additional purchases as I fill out my saw till.

Thank you to my entire family, for making this one of the best holiday seasons in memory.  I hope that it goes without saying that the gifts were a distant second to the blessing of their presence in my life.  But now I've said it anyway.