More Carved S-Scroll box progress

Posted on September 29th, 2012

A little more carving done this weekend, in two different snatches of time in the garage.  These two panels are going to be the sides of the box I started carving last week.  The front can been seen in a previous post on S Scroll carving step by step.  I’m playing around with different layout choices for these sides, trying to get more practice and experimenting with different ideas as I go.

S Scroll side panel for box 1

The first side I was experimenting with simply stretching the S out a bit to fit the shape, as well as putting the center circle or button in the same plane line rather than offsetting them a little.  Overall I’m not sure about this one, something seems a little “Off” about it, but I can’t really put my finger on it.

S Scroll side panel for box 2

The second side I tried a new trick with crossing the S shapes in the center, which visually fills the space a little more pleasingly to my eye.  I did struggle a little with some grain tear out as I tried something new to me in the top and bottom spaces.  I need a  lot more practice to get some of these muscle memories established.

Over all I can feel myself getting a little more comfortable with chisels, and the body motions on each panel.  This is sort of the point of this box project, practicing and developing my skills in this area.  That and trying different designs and layouts to see what I enjoy carving, and what looks good.

Next up is the back panel, which I’m going to layout in pencil this evening.  I’m probably going to try the front design again, but I might change my mind.

Badger

Posted in carving | Tagged as: | 2 Comments

Quick Review: Woodwright’s Shop DVD 1,2

Posted on September 29th, 2012

When I first heard the news that Popular Woodworking Magazine was going to be re-releasing the Woodwright’s Shop on DVD  I had a number of reactions.

First and foremost my reaction was ABOUT DAMN TIME! I’ve been trying to record as many of them on my DVR as I could, but it’s a pain to save them to DVD-r and we had a equipment failure that wiped about 10 episodes.  I’ve been watching Roy since I was young, and since I’ve gotten into the “hand tool” world, he’s become even more important.  So the fact that these episodes were not available on DVD was a true crime.

My second thought was, oh man, there goes my bank account.  No matter what the cost was, there are over 30 seasons of this show, and it was going to add up.  This thought was quickly shut down by my wife, as she was having none of that argument.  She accepted right away that we were buying ALL of them, no matter what.  I love that woman.

My third thought was best described by quoting a comment on the thread for the original announcement by Megan Fitzpatrick.  ”Shut up and take my money!”

Since then, I’ve managed to get three of the videos, and next paycheck will be season three.  I’ve picked up seasons 20, 1, and 2 so far in that order.  Here are my thoughts on the first two seasons.

Season 1

After having watched a lot of the most recent season, this first season was almost painful to watch.  Roy is clearly new to doing this and has not found his groove yet.  He’s a little stiff and appears almost nervous to start out, but his passion for the subject shines through like a beacon.   You can see some of the standard Roy mannerisms in their infancy, and you get to see him developing the patter that he will use for years.  Still it’s a little hard to watch him nervously careen around the shop as he presents the material.

Production quality of the disc is fine, although the source material’s age shows through at times with a few glitches here and there.  The source material is in pretty good shape though for how old it is, and I am very thankful that it was preserved for us to watch these decades later.  It’s almost comical to watch the “high tech” computer graphics used in the intro for PBS, and the university.

My favorite episode of this season is “Panel Frame and Dovetail” episode, followed by the “Timber Frame Construction” episode.   Watching these episodes have me thinking about finding a blacksmith to make me a froe, and building myself a shaving horse.

Season 2

It’s amazing to watch the confidence building and his ease in front of the camera growing in each episode.  The skinny nervous woodworking zealot slowly transforms into a smooth talking trickster and educator, albeit a clumsy one.  His increasing confidence and experience in pacing himself over the material grew by leaps and bounds in one year.  You can more clearly see the Roy Underhill that we’ve grown used to in the later seasons really clearly.  The transformation is quite amazing, and very entertaining to watch.

My favorite episodes in this season are “In Yer Drawers” with the highlight of glue pot freezing on him at the last minute, and the “Saws” episode.  I really hope they keep putting these out, and I’m looking forward to watching my through all of the seasons again and again.  There is a tremendous amount of knowledge and inspiration contained in this show, and it makes me very happy to have them.

Thanks Popular Woodworking for bringing these to us, and thanks to Roy for… well… being Roy.

Badger

 

 

 

Posted in books, learning | 2 Comments

Carving S Scrolls step by step

Posted on September 22nd, 2012

Carving S Scrolls – Finished Panel

I thought I’d do a post on carving, and show the process step by step.  The design I picked for this box front was taken from a carved chest image that I got from Peter Follansbee.   The bottom rail has a nice simple S Scroll pattern than I am using as the inspiration for this carving.  The original box  is a carved joined chest, dated 1676 that is attributed to Thomas Dennis of Ipswich Massachusetts.  The extant chest is housed at the Winterthur Museum and doesn’t appear to be pictured anywhere on the net.  There is a lot of patterns on this chest and I’ve already used a strapwork pattern from this chest for my tool box.  You can find examples of these carved chests all around the net, and Peter Follansbee does a lot of this kind of work on his blog which I highly recommend checking out if you’re interested in this type of historical carving.

The wood I’m using here is Alder wood that I picked up, and resawed down to approximately 1/2″.  I think it’s kiln dried, but the grain is nice and tight so it carves pretty well.  I took a series of pictures as I went to show the step by step process of carving the scrolls with little measuring.  The layout started out with eyeballed edges scribed with a marking gauge.  I found the mid point with a pair of dividers, and scribed center lines to start out.

Step 1 – Starting with the corners

Chisel: Swiss made 8/20 Gouge

I start out bounding the curved scrolls by using a curved gouge that looked right, although in retrospect I think it might be too small.  I probably should have used a compass here to draw out the circle at the ends to give my self a starting point.  It didn’t turn out too badly, but I think it could be improved.

Step 2 – setting in the “Button”

Chisel: Swiss made 8/13 Gouge

Here is where I made my first “mistake” but it was I was able to quickly pivot and move on.  The center of the top curve of the S starts out as a circle, but if you notice, they are not directly on the center line.  I did them opposite of the picture I was working from, but I was able to cut the picture in half and tape it back together (with duct tape, naturally) so that it matched where I was going.  It helps to have the image in front of you, but it’s mostly for reference since I’m using the shape of the tools as the guide lines for the most part.

Step 3 – V-tool work on the main body of the S

Chisel: Swiss made 12/8 V Tool

Now we need to connect the “Buttons” (which is the term that Peter Follansbee uses in his S Scrolls video.  I used a V tool to connect the two of each, and to be sure I wasn’t screwing up I sketched it lightly with pencil first on one side.  After I got it work out the other side was easy to follow and it’s quick work to outline the main body of the S in the S Scroll.  the rest of the work is done with a variety of gouge shapes.

Step 4 – Outlining the pattern

Chisel: Swiss made 4/20, 6/20, and 8/20 Gouges

Next comes the part that looks hard but really is the easiest.  With your pattern in front of you (or sketched out on the wood lightly) lay a variety of gouges down on the wood till you find the right curve that matches approximately the curve you need, and set it into the wood with a couple quick raps of the carving mallet.  Be sure to strike straight down so you don’t pop out the wood.  For this pattern I started on the circles and built out from there.  You’ll notice the center pattern is a mirror of the outer pattern.  If you look closely you can see that I’m not really that precise but the eye is very forgiving and will see the pattern for what it is.  I need to practice more to get more precision, but it is not a huge concern for me.

Step 5 – Outline the edge

Chisel: Flat chisels

Next step is to take a flat edge chisel and outline any edges that don’t get cut in the main pattern.  I reground a couple old flat chisels I got ages ago with a sharper angle and a double bevel for these two.

Step 6a – Relieving the background (halfway)

Chisel: Swiss made 5/12, and 5/8 Gouges

Taking a couple sizes of gouges with a flat curve to them, I start working out or relieving the background.  I find the #5 sweep to be perfect for this work, and I have a couple sizes for bigger removal or getting into tighter corners.  The best way to do this step is work towards on of your gouge cuts, and take a bit out at a time.  Grip is important, and control is desired so work slowly and carefully.  You’re looking for a nice crisp edge, but not necessarily a flat bottom.  It will somewhat faceted once you’re finished, and a roughly uniform depth is good.

Step 6b – Finished relief

Here is a shot of the relief work all complete prior to texturing the background.  It’s useful to have a coarse stiff brush to get all the chips out.  I also spend a little time going over the whole pattern in detail to find any missed spots, or areas that need a little clean up.

Texture Punches

I thought I’d show you my home made text punches that will be used in the next step.  The one on the far right is just a nail set which work perfectly for this, and makes a mark very accurate to the old examples.  You probably have one in your tool box already.   I also make a simple “maltese” cross punch for decoration from a nail, and some files.  The two texture punches are made from round bar stock I got at the hardware store, and a big nail cut short.  I just free handed the grid with a needle file.

Step 7  - Texture the background and add decoration

I use the big punch where ever it fits into the background and tapping it with a metal hammer.  You don’t have to fill the whole background precisely, just try to cover as much as you can.  Any areas the big punch won’t fit, I hit with the smaller sized texture punch.  I added a couple circles with the nail punch, and added a couple cross punches.  I realized I should have set the sides in further on the design since I plan on nailing this together, and didn’t allow for that.   The nail set punch decoration is straight out of the original pattern.

Step 8 – Decoration on the Leaves

Chisel: Swiss made 8/13, 8/20 Gouges and 12/8 V Tool

I used a couple of gouges to add some decorative “half moon” cuts to the leaves, as it was in the main pattern I am following.  I also added a little V tool work as well to break up the flat spaces.  Once thing I’ve noticed about the patterns of carved boxes from this period is that they really don’t leave much open space clear, either in the background or the surface level.  I guess nature abhors a vacuum in the design, and I think it helps.

Carving S Scrolls – Finished Panel

All finished with this box front.  I’m planning doing the sides of the box with a single length of the S, and maybe a different pattern for the back.  I am mostly just practicing my carving and design, as well as testing out this Alder wood for carving.  I don’t have regular access to the wonderful riven white Oak that Peter uses, but this might just be a good local substitute.  I like the color and grain, and I can pick it up fairly easily around here in the Pacific Northwest.

There you go, let me know what you think and I hope it helps understand this type of carving.  It’s easier than it looks, is very forgiving and makes a great presentation.

Badger

Posted in carving, learning, woodwork | Tagged as: | 3 Comments

Resawing a board by hand

Posted on September 15th, 2012

It feels like it’s been a million years since I got down to the shop, but it’s really only been a couple months.  We had our annual family vacation road trip down to San Diego and back which we took three weeks for.  But right before that I’ve been having a lot of worse stress and dramatic changes there that set me back on my heels a bit.  Fortunately things are looking up  again, and I think it’s going to work out.

So, not much woodworking happened while I hunkered down mentally, and slogged through the hard times.  So I know things are getting better because I made it down to the shop and cut a board in half.  The long way.  :)

Finished boards, resawn by hand.

A few months back I picked up some pieces of wood down in Portland, and I have been wanting to get some carving going again.  I picked out a chunk of Alder, must be about 1″ thick or so, but I didn’t measure the thickness.  In actual fact, I didn’t measure anything today as I eyeballed stuff or just used my dividers with standard proportions.  The thick alder board was some nice wood and should be lots of fun to carve, but it was much too thick for making a box out. I don’t own a bandsaw that will do resawing, as the one I bought on sale at the home center is a pile of crap.  I’ve never had any luck with this thing, and I’ve spent hours trying to get it cutting even remotely straight.  Plus, it scares the crap out of me since I’m clumsy on a good day and I happen to like my fingers.  (more on this later).

I’ve been thinking about making a frame saw, but I really wanted to spend some time working wood and not making yet another tool.   When I do though, I think I’ll be using this as a guide:  http://www.hyperkitten.com/woodworking/frame_saw.php3  Josh is an amazing tool peddler, and apparently also works the wood too.

I have a 5 1/2 Point rip saw from Tools for Working Wood that I thought might do the trick, and I’d seen Roy Underhill do it on his show a few times so I jumped in and tried it.  And just like Roy I managed to nick my finger and draw a little blood.   Had I been using the Bandsaw, I’d probably be singing the Frodo the Nine Fingered ballad while I asked my wife to take me to the ER.  Anyway, back to woodworking shall we?

Starting the first cut

To get it started I sized the length of my board using dividers, cross cut it to length and found the middle line with marking gauge.  Running the line around all four sides is essential, as we’ll be flipping this around a lot and we need to have that reference line.   To start the cut, I clamped it up in my face vise at an angle, and used my dovetail saw (the only rip back saw I had handy) to carefully but quickly start the cut.  I needed to create the first line for the saw to track into, and once I had the corner cut I followed up with the Rip hand saw.  The trick I found was to let the saw and gravity do most of the work, as it will naturally follow the track left by the last saw, a trick we use through the whole board actually.  Because once you cut through the corner you unclamp the board, reverse it in the vise retaining the same angle and cut down the other side.  You keep flipping it back and forth like this because the front half of the saw is cutting wood, but the forward half is in the track of the last cut you made keeping it pretty much on the line you want to follow.

Ripping along

I kept flipping it back and forth until the vise wasn’t grabbing it firmly anymore and then flipped it end to end to start on the other side.  This is why we needed to mark all four edges of the board.  A couple of tricks I tried with excellent results are as follows:

- Waxing the sawblade kept it running smoothly in the cut.  I have a block of beeswax I rub on it every time I switched the board.

- Angling the tip of the blade upwards a little helped the cut a lot, and prevented binding.

- I used a little wedge at the top of the board to open a little, which also helped keep the saw from binding.

Wedged

After my cuts met up from the other side, i was able to pop them apart and see what the inside looked like.  It wasn’t that bad as I’d been able keep pretty much on my center line through the magic of tracking.

Board cut in half before planing

After that it was a pretty simple matter of planning down the saw marks, and cleaning up the edges with my Fore and Smooth planes.  All in all, it took me about an hour to complete this including thinking it through, then marking, cutting and planing the board.  If I had a fancy bandsaw it would be quicker I’m sure, but for me since I don’t own a decent band saw, this was a pretty good result for the effort.  Plus, now I know how.  I’m going to make a box out of this, probably carved on all four sides.  Not sure what I’ll use for the lid, but I’ll deal with that later once I get through the carving.

Badger

Posted in learning, woodwork | 2 Comments

Chisel Roll v2 – Now for sale!

Posted on June 8th, 2012

The chisel roll that my wife made had garnered some interest and had a number of interested queries including one sale.  She fine tuned it a little based on my feedback, including making the center gap smaller to reduce the chances of fingers grazing sharp edges. I put it to the test last night and I quite like it.

She is making these to order now, so please get in touch if you’d like one!

Chisel Roll version 2

Chisel Roll - Rolled up

Posted in Tools | 4 Comments

New Chisel Roll

Posted on June 2nd, 2012

Chisel Roll - Unrolled

My wife just made me a new chisel roll as a prototype to test out.  She’s considering making them available for sale down the road, but she wanted to make me one to see how it worked out.  She even made it in this cool “wood grain” fabric that she found, which is kind of neat.  Sure beats plain old canvas!

It fits quite a few chisels (my entire set of carving chisels), and has some room for more.  In practice I think we’re considering removing some of the space between the two sides, to make it a little safer to get chisels out, but I’d be happy to throw this in my toolbox and take it somewhere like Port Townsend for a woodworking class or something.

Chisel Roll - rolled up

The chisels are secure when rolled up because the blades pinch together in the  middle when tied up, and makes it very unlikely for them to slip out.  Plus putting them in handle first helps you know what chisel to grab, prevents the very sharp blades from tearing up the bottom of the pocket.

She was curious if anyone would be interested in these (with different fabric probably, but she has enough to make at least one more).  So if you’re interested, please send me a note and we can chat.

Badger

 

Posted in Tools | 7 Comments

Tuning up a Dado Plane

Posted on May 11th, 2012

Dado Plane before tuning up

A while back I picked up a set of three Dado planes, one of which was 3/4″ in good shape from the ever amazing tool seller Hyperkitten.  Of course that’s the really useful size in our modern day lumber world.  I hadn’t spent the time to tune it up to working condition, so this afternoon was a good time.  I needed to make some grooves in the case for the drawer supports.  I could easily do it with my carcase saw and some chisel work but I’ve been wanting to try this plane out.

Disassembled

I started out taking it apart to check the steel of the blades, and nickers which turned out to be in rather good shape.  I wire brushed it a little to clear some bulk of the crud off, and they both looked quite decent although the long part of the nicker had a bend in it.  The plane body was solid, no checks or warping.

After sharpening

I started out on a Medium India stone on the blade, and worked through to Translucent and finally stopping all by hand.  I was a bit worried that the nickers would be problematic, but after propping my stones up on the case I was able to get to the inside edge (never the outside edge if you can avoid it, you don’t want to make the over all width go down.)   As I worked the inside slowly I was having problems keeping it steady, and on closer inspection the last guy to sharpen it had the same problem.  It was rounded a bit, but the points where sharp so I figured it would be good enough which turned out to be correct.  I tweaked the slight bend in the top part of the nicker, and re-assembled it.

Testing the plane

I tested it out on a scrap piece of pine, and it worked fantastic.  I used a fence clamped to the board as a guide, and set the depth stop by eye.  The sides of the trough were square, and the bottom was smooth enough.  It took very little effort to use, and is now my new favorite way to make dados!  I put it right to use on the sides of my dovetailed three drawer carcase project.  The prototype is in Pine, and check out the cross grain shavings I was getting with the dado.

Shavings!

All in all, I’m VERY pleased with this plane.  Thanks Josh!  (If you’re in the market for old user tools, follow his blog for excellent deals.  He has never steered me wrong, and he finds great tools.  Highly recommended.)

Badger

Posted in Tools, woodwork | 3 Comments

Old German Workbench

Posted on May 6th, 2012

My wife and were out Antique store browsing, and I ran across this interesting piece of work.

It’s supposedly from the 1800′s, and was German in origin.  The plate for the shoulder vise was missing, but otherwise it was complete.  It was very well worn, and had seen a lot of use in it’s day.  I couldn’t afford it, or had any space for it, but it was pretty cool to check out.

German Workbench 1800's

German Workbench 1800's

Stuff like this is pretty rare out here on the West Coast.  I’m sure those East Coast people are all like “whatever dude, I see five of those every time I turn around”.  Heh.

Badger

Posted in Woodworking History, workbench | 4 Comments

Drawing some Gothic Tracery for carving layout

Posted on April 28th, 2012

I’ve always been fascinated with the carving examples of “Gothic Tracery”, and the intricate and delicate feel to them.  After taking the “By hand and by eye” class with Jim Tolpin, and the ideas I picked up behind laying out things with a compass, I was somewhat inspired to do a little research.  However, there is VERY little out there for the aspiring carver to pick up and learn from.

Gothic Carving example from a 15th Century French Chest.

I did finally find a book on Google Books that was of some help:  Practical wood-carving: a book for the student, carver, teacher, designer, and architect by Eleanor Rowe.  She touches on Gothic Tracery in some what obscure language in the book, and I sat down today to try and figure out how to lay this stuff out.

Starting with this (Page 99)

Layout starting point

I came up with this:

Sketching some Gothic Tracery…

I learned a few things, and actually feel pretty good about laying out this basic “quatrefoil”.  No measuring happened, just arcs and lines.  It’s a starting point, and I’m going to try and get some time down in the garage to lay this out, and try some carving.

This one was my favorite of the two, where I used a midpoint on the radius to base the circular lobes on.  I know that makes no sense, but putting compass to paper really helped figure this stuff out in my head.  The layout was fairly simple once I got started, it’s just complex looking to start out doing.

Shield shaped center quatrefoil

Let’s see what happens when the chisel hits the wood.

Badger

Posted in books, carving, learning | 1 Comment

Bit of Pen Work…

Posted on April 15th, 2012

Finished up a special order for a set of 10 pens to be used as a graduation gift at a ceremony.

This is for a repeat customer of mine, and I’m pretty pleased with these pens.  The Koa wood I used showed a lot of variation, and has some very nice grain patterning, as well as a substantial curl in some of the wood.   The Paduak looks gorgeous as always, and there was on in Rosewood by special request.

 

Special Order of Pens

I haven’t had a lot of work in the Pen department for a while, so it was good to get down to the shop and turn a bit of wood again.

I did have one blow up slightly at the last possible moment, so I had to make one extra in the 11th hour.  The wood near the tip pulled up slightly, and was noticeable.  It’s not terrible, just not up to my quality standards.  Sucks that it happened at the last possible second, when I would have to totally pull the thing apart (no easy task, and no guarantee of success either).

Badger

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