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.

The best laid plans...and a snowstorm of "historic proportions"!

There is a saying in the military: "Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy."  In that world, one hopes that the enemy is a clearly defined entity.  But in the world of the shop (that of the eager hobbyist or the busy professional) what is the "enemy"?  I can only speak to my own experience here, but I am confident that many of you will at least partially agree with my own assessment.  Oftentimes, the enemy can be time.  For me, as a hobbyist, it is a constant challenge to find the time (especially relatively uninterrupted time) to devote in the shop.  Life outside of the shop is a huge factor.  Of late, my family and I have been struggling with this to a far greater degree.  My wife suffered a major injury this past November.  While she is progressing steadily, we all have to pick up some of the household duties.  Also, my shop is a basement shop, so the sounds of family life are easily transmitted through the ceiling above me, a constant reminder of the daily activities that I miss while I am engrossed in my work.  Concentration is another issue, probably exacerbated by the prior issues.  Can we truly "be in that moment"?  How much of the time spent in the shop is truly dedicated to the task, or tasks at hand?  Are our minds preoccupied with other thoughts or happenings?  How does the work suffer along the way?  What are some of your enemies in the shop?

A busy tin shop.

I bring this up because this has been the story of my past five days.  Last Saturday, I had hoped for a decent amount of shop time and focused productivity on the +Tom Fidgen designed bedside table I have been working on.  Of course my plans were formulated forgetting a birthday party one of the children was invited to, things on my mind, and other important tasks around the house.  While I could have taken this in stride, determined to make the most of my time, I instead set about re-learning one of the most basic tenets of the shop.  "Haste makes waste."  The few hours I had in the shop were spent looking for ways to do things more quickly or easily.  The result?  I ended up having to start over on the bottom side stretchers, and by the time I left the shop, I hadn't even gotten back to the point that I had been at.  Lesson Learned... I hope.

One stretcher.  All I have to show for a Saturday in the shop.

So when Sunday rolled around, I decided I could use a little change of scenery.  I would take a day off from the table, re-calibrate my brain and pick up another project awaiting my attention...the lantern I promised my wife some time ago.

The lantern panel from a past post.

Panel bent around a shop made form, also from a previous post.

Panels bent, spacers made, yet again, from a previous post.

Now that we are caught up photographically, we can move forward with my progress.  The next step was soldering the spacers to the lantern body.  A fairly easy task to accomplish, but it is an art to do it well.  And in this age, the selection of solder greatly influences the final result.  Historically, a 50/50 combination of lead and tin would have been used.  For the sake of safety, I do not use lead.  But if you want your solder joints to look "right" by period standards, I wouldn't suggest any of the home center solders.

Solders complete.

A little closer look.

With the bodies completed, all of the remaining joints will be mechanical (no solder) until we place the hinges for the door at the end.  To attach the bottom and top, the edges of the body must be burred.  Burring, is turning the edge 90 degrees to the existing piece.  In this case, I will use a rotary machine first patented prior to 1810.  My machine in particular, dates from the second half of the 19th century.

Burring the bottom in progress.  My flesh powered burring machine.

The completed burr.

I can now move on to the bottom.  This particular pattern is new to me, so I will have to experiment with the diameter of the bottom.

Laying out the bottom circle with dividers.

Circle ready to be cut on the right.

After a couple tries, I found the right diameter.

Ready to burr the edge.

Once the bottom is installed, it will never come off and working space inside is extremely limited.  That being said, now is the time to make and install the candle cup onto the bottom.

Tracing the candle cup pattern onto tinplate.

Candle cups cut with top edge folded and set.

Forming the candle cups: first curving the ends with a rawhide mallet over a candle mold stake. 

Bending the cups by hand around the stake.

Marking the position of the cup.  The holes for the legs will be cut with a cold chisel.

The legs are pounded flat on the outside of the bottom with the rawhide mallet.

Bottom and candle cup finished.  The edge of the bottom is burred in this photo.

At this point, the bottom is ready for installation.  The burr on the bottom is snapped tightly into place over the burr on the bottom of the body.  When i turned the burr on the bottom, I went further than 90 degrees.  This will make it easier to hammer the burr on the bottom flat onto the burr on the body.  There is a setting machine for accomplishing this, but I find it more satisfactory to do this by using a setting, or paning hammer.  It also allows me to make small corrections as I go, achieving a more perfect bottom circle.  Like most things hand tool, it goes a little slower, but it allows for a better feel for the process and achieves a much better fit and finish.  The hand of the artisan is far more skilled than the machine.

First bottom installed, with the candle cup inside.

I had hoped to have these finished prior to this post.  But as the theme goes...I spent a long day at work on Monday preparing for a snowstorm of "historic proportions."  Monday night, I made the same preparations at home and began shoveling periodically in an effort to avoid shoveling feet of snow all at once.  By midday on Tuesday, it became apparent that the 40+ mph gusts of wind were going to foil that plan.  But after a few hours spread over the last three days, I am pleased to report that I think I am done digging out.

Hopefully My remaining weeknights can be spent working on these lanterns.  And this weekend, I hope to return to the wood side of the shop to keep going on the bedside table.  Hopefully I will return a wiser woodworker for the experience gained last Saturday.

Wish me luck, and as always, thank you for visiting.

Weekend Update

As always, my weekend didn't go exactly according to plan.  And also as usual, it was mainly because of filling the glue-up time with other tasks and ending up knee deep in multiple projects.  I did get a very good start on one storm window.  I didn't get all of the photos I wanted to though.  Partially because my wife was busy with projects of her own, partly because I didn't want to break a really good workflow, and partially to hide my shame over using a $10.00 home center back saw to cut the tenons.  A situation I hope to remedy in the very near future.  Long story short, the storm frame is out of the clamps and just needs some slight planing to fit and a coat or two of paint prior to installation.

Cutting the groove for the glass.  This later became a rabbet.

Cutting mortices.

During the glue-up, I also finished a very simple peg rail to hang and organize the many patterns for tin work that I have acquired and developed over the past decade.  It's not pretty, but it is effective.  I'll post a photo when the reorganization is complete.

And finally, I made some time to work on the tin panel I showed in last weeks post.  I had promised my wife a punched tin lantern (also known as a barn lantern or Paul Revere lantern) quite some time ago.  All of the cleaning and organizing in the shop finally got me motivated.

Last week's photo.

Finished panel.

Bending the panel around a shop-made wood form.

In the round.

This is the pattern used to make the lantern, with a few additional bits made by eye later.

Two lanterns with the pattern and the two spacers that will be soldered to the body in the next shop session.

That leaves plenty of small steps to fill my limited week night time in the shop.  But I am truly happy just to be working again.  The feeling of fulfillment that comes from creating by hand is a blessing.

Welcome

Welcome to my workshop.  While I have no way of anticipating the kind of readership this blog will achieve, I hope that over time, I will be able to present posts on a wide range of topics that will appeal to several different niches.  It will most likely include some history, and heavy doses of tinplate, copper and woodworking both historic and modern.  I envision this blog as a way of documenting projects, progressing skills, and hopefully a forum for myself and like-minded "mechanicks" to exchange ideas and information.  Please feel free (I invite you) to offer suggestions and advice as the blog moves forward.

On a personal note, the last six or so years have been ones of upheaval and change.  Having just gotten married in July of 2014, the changes continue as my wife and our two children settle into domestic bliss.  That being said, it's time to dust off the workbench, clean up the years of rust, and reclaim my workshop from the storage space that it has become.  After months of work, the sheet metal side of the shop is nearly ready to go, and as such, this blog will most likely be heavy on tin and copper to start. Woodworking will not be far behind, but due to my changing preferences and my daughter's allergies, I will be converting to hand tools almost exclusively.

The first order of business in the spring: a workbench better suited to hand tool use.

A glimpse of what is currently on my bench.  More on this soon.

Please pull up a stool, grab a coffee, and join me on this journey.  I look forward to making new friends and learning as much as I can in this life.