Woodworking is a Gateway Drug

I always thought (naively, I am beginning to suspect) that as a woodworker, I would while away my free hours making wood shavings and dust. And also, sweeping up said byproducts.  As I began the transition into hand tool woodworking, I quickly realized the error of that thought process.  Many of the tools I need, or will need, are currently produced and available from contemporary manufacturers.
However, they are either shoddy imitations of the vintage tools they approximate, or priced beyond a point that I feel comfortable with.  I don't really want to explain to the children that they won't be able to go to college, but wow do I have a great shop.

So, I have begun seeking out vintage tools that require a little love, shall we say.  Along the way, I have had to do a lot of research, reading, and experimenting.  And all of these have led to acquiring new skills and a new comfort level with metal work (other than the historic sheet metal work I need to get back to soon).  And no project has been as challenging as the Stanley 246 mitre box that is currently in the center of my bench.

Once more, fresh from Craigslist.

Certainly, when I first brought it home, it didn't turn any heads. except for the children maybe, but then only because they had seen Roy Underhill use one.  The paint was badly worn, numerous blooms of rust, some more than just on the surface, and several missing parts.  Thank God for the internet and the knowledgeable woodworkers and tool collectors who generously share their information.

Step one of course was dis-assembly and assessment.  I could have gotten away with a very serious cleaning and put it back to work.  But why make things so simple?  Besides, if I have to take a tool apart to clean it, I may as well do the best restoration that my skills allow.  Our shops and our tools say a lot about us as craftsmen, and several decades from now when I am finished, I would like mine to speak of a conscientious workman who made the most of what he was given.

So as the Saturday morning of a long weekend dawned, I began the cleaning and stripping of the larger parts (many of the smaller parts were de-rusted and cleaned nights last week).  

Smaller parts undergoing rust removal.

More of the same.

In removing the rust, grime, and at least two layers of paint from the main frame and legs, I was presented with a surprise.  Apparently, a past owner had done some minimal embellishments.  There was evidence of some red detail painting on some of the parts.  Never one to refuse the opportunity to milk a project, I decided the tool deserved to return to its prior glory, and added a step.

This scale wasn't even recognizable when I brought the box home.

The frame repainted and part one reinstalled, the Stanley plate.

Repainted.  It wasn't much, but I really liked the contrast of colors.

After repainting and my brief foray into tool decoration, I began the reassembly.  I should have taken better pictures prior to taking the whole thing apart, but a few minutes of trial and error and I had the basic assembly back together.

Glamour shot number one.

And another.

Realizing that my Labor Day free time was coming to an end, I stopped there to clean up and took a little time to lay out the new wooden deck.  I used half inch oak and cut the shape.  Then off to my trash can for some ammonia fuming.  Not thinking, I didn't cut the dadoes prior to fuming, so I may be repeating that process.  I'll at least have the photos of the fumed board soon. 

This day in (Mostly American) History:

1664 New Amsterdam renamed New York under British rule
1941 Siege of Leningrad begins
1943 Italian surrender anounced during WWII
1945 American troops partition Korea
1974 President Ford pardons Richard Nixon
1998 Mark McGwire "passes" Roger Maris with his 62nd Home Run*

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

A Time for Reflection

Today, I turn 40 years old.  There, I said it.

All kidding aside, numbers don't bother me as far as age goes.  But birthdays are a time of reflection for me, especially the ones that end in zeroes.  It's another year in the books so to say, and another year beginning and bringing with it new opportunities.  It is definitely a time to take stock and make plans.

Forty, though, is a little different.  Statistically speaking, I realize that I am in the neighborhood of the half way mark in life.  I am fortunate to be able to look back and realize that I have accomplished a great deal in my forty years.  I have been blessed with a great family (thank you mom and dad for all that you are in my life), wonderful experiences, and many opportunities to gain knowledge and skills. For the most part, I have been able to pursue my interests and dabble in many different areas,

The last year (or seven) has been one of change.  I was blessed to meet and marry a woman who is, at least to me, the picture of perfection.  A truly amazing woman, friend, mother, wife and genuinely good soul.  I have been graced by the presence and love of two wonderful children.  We have made great progress in household renovations (one of the main reasons this blog has been so quiet these past few months) and reclaiming the yard from years of neglect.  Back in January I started this blog as a means of interacting with fellow woodworkers, and it has been a tremendous experience.  Among others, thank you to +Ralph J Boumenot,  +Jonas Jensen and +Robert Demers for all of your advice, encouragement and support. As I get this blog back up and running, I hope to continue talking with each of you and hopefully many more.

Realizing that I have lived such a wonderful forty years, it brings me to what will hopefully be the next forty plus.  There are so many things that I still hope to accomplish in life.  Of course continuing to be a better son, husband and father.  Professionally, I have many goals, not the least of which is finally going to graduate school.  Physically, I have been working for months at taking better care of myself.  Plenty of cardio and weights (although not nearly the way that i worked out a couple decades ago) and a more healthy diet.

But for the purpose of this blog, I am very excited about dedicating myself to finding more time in the shop, taking classes and pushing myself to become a better all around craftsman.  That's not to say that I've been completely inactive.  I have had a number of small projects pass through the shop and I have a backlog of material for posts which I promise to get to in the coming days.  But I do need to be conscious of better documenting my work with photos and actually making the time to update here regularly.

And on that note, my latest project...

Stanley 246

I just blundered into this miter box and it's saw on Craigslist on Monday.  I have been using a shop made miter box for some time, waiting patiently for the opportunity to upgrade.  While the Stanley 246 would not have been my first choice, the price was right and at least this will be good practice in restoring it to working order.  The saw definitely needs some work, sharpening at a minimum.  I am not sure how effective the box will be when I finish, but I will definitely have some fun with the process.  I began the dis-assembly last night with the help of original documents I was able to find online.  Hopefully I will have some time to get to it this weekend, if not before.  I'll update my progress as I go.

Also, in the next couple days, I'll share some of my woodworking related birthday gifts.

This Day in (Mostly) American History

1804 Lewis and Clark promote Patrick Gass to Seargent

1862 Second Bull Run campaign begins

1920 19th Amendment Adopted

1939 First Televised Major League Baseball game 

1944 Charles DeGaulle enters a liberated Paris

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Six months after her surgery and a grueling therapy schedule, my wife has returned to work at a new job closer to our home.  She is loving the work, but it is a change for both of us.  Yesterday began week three and little by little, we are acclimating ourselves to our new schedule.  Couple that with spring break for the children, (very different form my last spring break: rumor has it that I had a great time) and spring bringing a tremendous laundry list of outdoor chores and repairs after our harsh winter, and we have the makings of a dead period here on my blog.  I have been finding shop time where I can, finishing some small projects that have been languishing on my bench for some time. That said, I have a decent amount of material to share here if I can only find the time to sit down at the computer and write.

So today, I would like to post my first completed project, just to prove that I am in fact, still alive and mostly well.

My Grandfather's block plane, finally reassembled and ready for work.

I began work on this plane hoping to do a very basic job of cleaning it up and returning it to work.  I had inherited the plane at a time when I was either not capable of, or unwilling to use it in my work. Roughly ten years of Rhode Island moisture in my basement had taken its toll.

A picture from an older post showing the before.

Some would say that I have a serious problem with OCD, I just think I get enthusiastic about positive results.  Long story short, the plane ended up completely disassembled, paint and rust stripped, repainted, sharpened, and honed.  As you can see in the first picture, I've got the plane adjusted to take a nice fine shaving out of a nasty piece of scrap pine.

Inspired by my results, I have started down the same path with a vintage Stanley #4 that I ran into at a junk store.  I'm working on it slowly, as I also have a couple of small woodworking and a finishing project that I am alternating on (which is to say that I am creeping along on all of them).

As we continue to get used to the new rhythm of life and spring yard work gives way to summer, I hope to get back to more regular posting here on the blog.  Thank you for for your patience and I hope you will keep reading along.  I have some bigger projects on the horizon.

The search for tools continues.

While my shop time has been limited, and several projects lay languishing on my bench, I have found some time to be a be a seat of the pants woodworker.  I've been keeping up with all of my regular blog reading.  One thing that has become obvious from that, is that if you have contact with enough other woodworkers, you're bound to be working on some of the same or similar projects.  It's nice to get other woodworkers input either before or during a project.  You have all been very helpful to me.  Especially the non-professional woodworkers who's thoughts and issues often mirror my own.

The other aspect of virtual woodworking that has consumed some of my time, is expanding (or trying to) my tool collection.  Since I tend to rely on vintage tools that I rehab myself, I try to look down the road and anticipate what tools I will need in the future.  This allows me to hunt for favorable prices on users that won't take weeks to rehab.  It also gives me the time to work on them before they are needed.  It's not always easy to get into a good work flow, so once I do, I hate to break it to work on a tool for the next step.  My luck in this pursuit is streaky at best, but I am always grateful for what I am able to acquire.  Lately, I've had a mini-streak of good luck.

I've been searching for some time for a brace.  My antique store finds have either been junk or priced beyond what I thought was reasonable.  Same thing on EBAY, especially considering the addition of shipping.  But I finally found the right deal, an old Millers Falls.  It's definitely a user, but it's fully functional and the price was right.

This one won't require too much cleaning.

My next two finds are based on my spring cleaning.  One of the old projects I'd stowed out of harm's way prior to my hiatus from woodworking came to light.  And I couldn't resist putting it on my to do list.

The beginning of the base of a tall case clock.  

When my grandfather passed away, I inherited a set of plans for a tall case clock that he had built for my mother.  After living with that clock on a daily basis for more than a decade prior to leaving home for college and work, that clock came to symbolize my grandfather's craftsmanship to me.  So when I felt able, I began to build my own.  The plans are a "traditional" design, probably from the 1970's   I didn't want to build the clock exactly to the plans, I envisioned something that was influenced by historic examples that abounded in my new home state.  When I began the clock, I was almost exclusively a power tool woodworker.  Switching to hand tools really won't have too much of an affect on my plans, but I know that I'll have to find a way to make the mouldings for the transitions from base to waist, waist to hood, and on the hood.  I got a copy of "Mouldings in Practice" by Matt Bickford for Christmas and realized that hollows and rounds would be my best bet.  My search is not limited to any particular sizes (I hope to build the vaunted half set) but the mouldings around the waist are going to require some larger coves.  Enter my first stroke of luck.

My first set of hollows and rounds.

I found these beauties on EBAY, and I'm guessing due to the larger size (16), I had no competition and was able to acquire them very reasonably.  They are in fantastic shape, even sharp right out of the box.  A huge thank you is due to the previous owner.  I also bid on some additional sets from the same seller, but as those were more commonly used sizes, i bowed out of the bidding well before my competition.

Mere days later, my luck was still in place.  I found a usable set of 18's, also on EBAY.  Again, no competition and another addition to my growing collection of hand tools.  

The 18's just out of the box and in need of some work.

The shipping of these planes provides an odd and (for me) unsettling story.  I received an e-mail while at work that they had been delivered.  When I got home that night, I had forgotten about them, until my family and I were out for dinner.  When I remembered, I asked my wife, but she said they had never arrived.  It really ruined my night (Wednesday) and most of the next day, but I held out hope.  By Friday night, I had come to the realization that they were probably stolen off my front steps.  When the thief of thieves opened the package, I was sure that one more set of planes would be bound for the landfill.  But surprisingly, early Saturday afternoon, the package mysteriously appeared on my porch.  The box was pristine, completely unopened.  I still don't know what to make of it, but I am very thankful that they finally found their way to their new home.

The second set of planes was in need of a lot more work.  I won't go into that here as +William Lattanzio did an excellent job documenting his work on a set of these planes here: https://confusedwoodworker.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/rehab/.  Thank you for your help.

I have a long way to go to complete the set, but at least I've ticked two off the list.

This Day in (Mostly American) History 

1513: Ponce de Leon reaches Florida.

1777: Ebenezer Learned promoted to Brigadier General.

1863: Riots in Richmonnd , Va. over food shortages.

1865: The Army of the Potomac captures the Confederate lines surrounding Petersburg, Va.

1902: The first female judge passes away in Wyoming.

1917: Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war.

1941: Erwin Rommel recaptures Libya.

2005:Pope John Paul II passes away.

So busy doing nothing, I haven't had time do anything at all

While the title is more than a little bit of an overstatement, it seems like the time that I have in the shop has been diffused into small projects too numerous to mention.  Many of the projects have been either underwhelming, not very much fun, or covered on other blogs (probably better than I would be able to).  Also, using the last of my vacation time before the end of our fiscal year yesterday has led to activities outside of the shop.  But today, good readers, I would like to update my work and also pledge to update this blog more regularly (hopefully with interesting content).

Spring appears to be on it's way here in drab New England.  I can tell from the weeks of fighting the tide of snow melt into my basement shop.  I have not however, been able to discern it's arrival either by the thermometer, or by looking out my window.

Could this finally be winter's last gasp?

This past Saturday brought snow flurries all day.  Sunday morning dawned to reveal a dusting, and more disappointingly, a thin layer of ice covering almost everything.  The heavy snows this winter wreaked more than the normal amount of damage to my yard.  Now if the weather would just cooperate, I could begin the repairs.

In my last post, I had mentioned working on some of my planes.  As is often the case, I got a little carried away.  I had set out just to sharpen the blades.  But maybe in an effort to put off more difficult tasks, I ended up doing a more thorough cleaning of all of my planes and a more serious rehab of a block plane that I had inherited from my grandfather.

Flattening the soles a couple weekends ago.

Another continuing theme in my shop has been cleaning.  I have made major progress in reclaiming the majority of my basement as shop space.  The more I do however, the less satisfied I am with the way things are currently configured.  I want to create a better workflow, introduce some better storage methods for my now growing compliment of hand tools, and just create a more inviting space.  Unfortunately, this generally results in a lot of time holding my shop stool down, or on the computer looking at other people's shops for inspiration.  The goal is to transform thought into action as we emerge from the winter season and lower heating bills result in more disposable income.  A new bench remains a priority for this year.

One bright note from the cleaning is the discovery of several projects that I had begun many years ago, before life changes forced me to take a break from the shop.  Some tinplate and some wood, several are worth taking up again, and I will mention them in a post later this week.  They will be joined by another project that necessity has pushed to the front of the line.

And finally, the biggest project on my plate at the moment is the renovation of my first floor bathroom.  It is not a full gut job, but a previous owner had done a fairly poor job of installing a toilet.  The slow leak that resulted was nearly imperceptible.  That is, until the day a footfall crumbled the wood floor under the linoleum.  I have put this off for a while, but this past weekend, my beautiful wife intimated that my grace period had expired.  Fortunately, the floor was composed of three layers and the bottom one was intact.  Replacing the sub floor was an adventure though.  Metric and imperial, nominal measurements, changes in sheet products over the years, and the settling of the floor led to this past weekend being one of trial and error until I found the right combination of thicknesses to match the existing floor. Fortunately I can report that the floor is patched, level, and nearly ready for tile.

Patched and leveled.  To speed this project along, I will be utilizing power.

In the coming days, I'll be mentioning some older projects long forgotten, some ongoing projects, and some "new" tool purchases.

For the future, I will be closing posts with a new feature, This Day in (Mostly American) History. Occasionally, I will probably include some related items on events that interest me.  Thanks for visiting and for bearing with me.

This Day in (Mostly American) History:

1621: A peace treaty between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in the Plimoth colony.

1700: April Fools' Day popularized in England.

1789: The first Speaker of the House is elected.

1865: The Confederate defeat at the Battle of Five Forks leads to Gen. Robert E. Lee's withdrawal from his Petersburg, Va. lines.

1984: Marvin Gaye shot and killed by his father.

      

A Weekend of Odds and Ends

As last weekend approached, I was greeted with some good news, and a dilemma.  The dilemma, as I mentioned last week, was the water infiltration into my shop.  I had worked hard to eliminate what had already gotten in, and to remove snow from around the house to a less threatening position in the back yard.  I mentioned that, as I was writing my last post, the snow was falling.  And it continued throughout the day and evening.  The foot that we received quickly replaced all the snow I had removed and with more warm weather the last couple days, also replaced the water in the shop.  So I once again took up my shovel to relocate much of the newest snow.  We'll see how well that will worked in the coming days.

As for the good news, we are nearing the end of our fiscal year at work, and I have some vacation time leftover, so I will be taking Fridays off for the entire month of March and hopefully that will translate into some productive shop time, fingers crossed.  Also, this past Saturday, my wife and children spent a good portion of the day with a friend and her son, so between Friday and Saturday, I was able to visit two antique stores for a little rust hunting.  On Friday, I nearly purchased and old Miller's Falls block plane, but at the last minute decided against it.  Something about the shopkeeper's attitude reminded me that somewhere in my shop, I had an old Stanley 9 1/2 that had belonged to my grandfather. It was gonna need some work, but I have nothing but time (tongue in cheek).  Saturday's trip netted a couple small egg-beater drills.  Both were small, one for me that needed some cleaning, and one for my son's tool chest.  His was nearly pristine, but a brand I had never heard of.  Off to the big box for some cleaning supplies.

So back in the shop, I spent about twenty minutes finding the block plane.  Not as bad as I remembered it being, but definitely in need of some work.

A little rust and a couple non-moving parts.

A little better from this angle.

I disassembled the entire plane and the body and blade went into a rust removing bath.  The bath made quick work of the blade, just a couple hours.  It came out looking nearly brand new.  Not bad for a plane that is at least thirty years old and has seen very limited use for the last two decades.  The body was another story all together.  Between two soakings, the total was about twelve hours in the bath.  In addition to the rust, it also removed some loose paint, so I'll have to touch that up, hopefully some night this week.  The blade will need some honing as well.  The cap was easy.  No rust, just a lot of dust and grime.  A little WD40 and an old toothbrush and it's as good as new.  I'll show the after photos as soon as the process is finished.

A much needed bath.

While the plane was soaking, I took a look at my new drill.  Nothing complex at all.

A "few" years of dirt and grime.

One screw and a couple parts removed, and on to the cleaning.  A few more minutes with the toothbrush, and reassembly, and the drill was ready to take it's place in my chest, and more importantly, go back to work.

One small project finished: a miracle.

Also filed under odds and ends, I am continuing my sharpening odyssey.  On Friday, my wife and I visited Michael's so that she could look at some much needed painting supplies.  I figured she would be a while weighing her options, so I wandered the store for a bit with that classic "deer in the headlights" stare.  I thought it would be a very cheap (read free) stop for me, but au contraire.  In my wanderings, I stumbled across the leather section.  Something unusual happened, a timely thought. While I stood there, I realized that I still didn't have a means of a final polish on my edge tools after sharpening.  A couple bags of leather remnants later, and I avoided having to make a return trip. Saturday evening, I used a generous coat of yellow glue on some scrap wood, layered on the leather and covered it with plastic wrap and clamped it up overnight between two additional boards.  Sunday morning, I cut the leather to the edges of the board.

Another simple project, but at least it's completed.

It's just about time for work, so I'll leave the most "important" work of the weekend for tomorrow. Thank you for visiting.

Winter Doldrums

Having wandered around the blogosphere, (maybe more than my fair share) I know that there is no shortage of posts dealing with this extraordinary winter which just seems to keep on giving and giving.  In fact, big puffy flakes are falling as I type.  I hope that my readers will humor me as I add one more.

As always here in Rhode Island, we had a snow-less December.  The one day of the year I can be fully accepting of mother nature's winter blanket (Christmas) past with cold showers of rain and the sickening browns of dead foliage.  And then, without even so much as a few dustings to acclimate ourselves, we were welcomed to winter with the snowstorm of "historic proportions" in late January.  Since then, it's been a series of lesser storms, one or two per week, sometimes every other day, just to refresh any snow that may have melted in between.

I'm sure that I am not alone, but my house sits on a corner lot that even during the best of weather, seems impossibly small.  I am fortunate enough to have a large driveway, but also sidewalks on two sides of the property.  And so, every morning when I awake to a "winter wonderland", I have to do at least enough shoveling to get myself to work and our children to the bus stop.  At lunch, I often spend more time further cleaning up, and sometimes even more time at night.   It's a common occurrence to have to move snow banks as the storms progress.  My tiny yard struggles to accommodate the snow from the driveway and two sidewalks.  No big deal, I just work until I'm tired, take a break, and pick up where I left off.  But this year has been special.  This year, my wife hasn't driven since her injury in November.  And being the way of things, I allowed temptation to get the better of me.  I allowed the snow to build up on and around her car.  Oh yes, I've seen the warning signs.  Steadily her hand has regained function.  She has started doing things around the house that she had been unable to for quite some time.  Somehow, I managed to ignore the signs until they practically slapped me in the face.  Last week, my beautiful, wonderful wife took my car and went for a drive.  I savored the moment of victory for all of a few moments, before my gaze turned to the window, and the sight of the humongous snow bank that was, at one time, her car.  And so, fellow inmates of this horrendous winter, I picked up my shovel and went to work.  It didn't take me long to realize the cost of my lethargy.  Several storms and several freeze and thaw cycles had made my work all that much harder.  Now, I am relegated to removing the top layer and praying that the sun will loosen the next layer.  It seems to me a perverse form of archaeology.  With luck, by spring, I will be able to reclaim a past civilization from the grips of ice and snow.

Phase one of digging out complete.

And that is my first excuse for being absent from this blog for so long.  My second, is actually the opposite (yes, i know...I'm difficult to please).  This past weekend and earlier this week, the mercury in the thermometer stirred to a point slightly above freezing (although the difference was imperceptible in my frigid shop) and we had several days of bright, almost springlike sun.  And while all of that made my digging out far easier, it also presented a new problem.

The bench side of the shop, adjacent to the driveway, and the ever growing pond.

The far side of the shop, where the onslaught of melting snow has just begun.

I knew when I first toured the house that the basement was damp and probably had some water issues during heavy rains and spring thaws.  The furnace, water heater and storage being placed on blocks was a dead giveaway.  And in fact, I have gotten used to small puddles throughout the basement on occasion.  But never like this.  It's actually gotten me to thinking.  If I turn my basement into a reservoir, at least I could cut the city water bill.  As tempting as that might seem, I've decided that I'd really rather not sacrifice my shop for the cause.

And so, when I am not digging out the car, or pumping out the pond, I am willing myself to the task of moving snow away from the foundation of the house, and hoping the melting snow will find its way to the harbor, without a side trip to my shop.   At the very least, perhaps someone else's basement? (I know this is terrible, and I'm very sorry for the thought.)

I have, however, found the time for some mundane cleaning and repair tasks in the shop.  Most notable is the cabinet I am now using for my miter saw.

A photo from an earlier post.

I was able to find the time to remove all of the detritus that had found it's way into the cabinet over the last decade.  And I'm happy to report that I even managed to properly store, or throw away all of it (as opposed to my usual practice of piling for a later date).  I also was able to cut the back and secure it to the cabinet.  Lastly, I was able to rehab the slightly warped right side door and get it into place, although the effort was slightly greater than what it took to make it in the first place (in fairness, it was made with power tools, all of this work was done by hand, and my current mood may have played a role).

The cabinet is finished and ready to store a variety of saw accessories.

 

And life continues here in Rhode Island.  Certainly, it is not always as planned, but tomorrow will come.  It may even be a better day, with more time in the shop and hopefully here at the blog as well. 

Thank you for visiting, and I hope that wherever you are, spring is just around the corner for all of us. Please be safe and well as we "patiently" wait out the winter doldrums.

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.

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.