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.

      

Pressing Business

Some jobs are clear priorities.  One of those crossed my path this weekend.  My wife and I sent the children upstairs to clean and neaten.  Several trips later, all of the trash had been collected and we had a new candidate for the" Isle of Misfit Toys".

Flight grounded indefinitely.

My wife had purchased this plane used some time ago.  It wasn't terribly well made, and while not one of our son's favorites, I guess I had a soft spot for a wooden toy that required more imagination than most toys on the market today.  Besides, it was an excuse to putter around in the shop on a day when I didn't have the ability to work on something more involved.  At a glance, it looked like an easy fix, just glue the wing back on. Off we went to the hangar for some much needed maintenance.  

Once in my shop, lucidity (and a cup of coffee) kicked in.  Not only was the wing broken free, but the entire tail section had been snapped off along the grain line.  Judging by the wood color, my son had never enjoyed the plane in it's entirety.  Looking further, on the bottom of the wing, there had once been landing gear.  Now, being something of a perfectionist, clearly, just gluing the wing on would not be an option.

My first order of business was to glue the wing back on.  I figured that if he enjoyed the plane in that state for so long, he would continue to, at least for a while.  Then I would assess what more could be done.

A little closer to air-worthy.

Next, I sawed the remaining tail section back to a 90 degree angle to the sides of the plane's body. That would give me a solid surface to glue to.  The body of the plane was slightly thicker than  the one inch stock that I had in the scrap bin.  So I planed down an off-cut from one of the bedside table legs I had on hand.  Once I reached the proper thickness, I drilled both pieces for a dowel, as the curved bottom of the plane would not allow for proper clamping.  I rough cut the tail piece and glued it up, using a rubber band to hold it in place.

Once all of the glue had dried, I cut a new rear wing in a profile to match the main wing.  I attached that with glue and brads.  I'm hoping to keep this plane on the flight line for some time to come.

The plane, waiting for a little blending on the tail section with chisels and a rasp.

Over the next few evenings, I hope to shape the tail section and figure out what to do about the landing gear.  I was going to cut the wheels with a plug cutter I had, but as with many tools, it seems to have gone missing for a time during my on-going shop reclamation project.  I'll keep looking as I also work to remove the growing pond of snow melt from the shop.  

Thanks for visiting, and I hope to see you again soon.  I'm off to bail more water out of my shop.

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.

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.