Just saw a posting about a new book by Chris Schwarz workbenches.

The Workbench Design Book.

And it’s on sale for pre-order plus free shipping.

Sounds like a must purchase to me.  Mr. Schwarz is doing quite a lot to further woodworking as a craft, and research methods into the practical history.  He’s starting to work his way into my list of favorite woodworking gurus who are advancing the craft.  I just ordered my copy.

The Workbench Design Book - Chris Schwarz

I am hoping that this book might help me in my “workbench paralysis” that I’m in right now.  There are lots of options, and many ways to go, but I am stuck trying to figure out whether to build or to buy.  I don’t have a lot of time in the shop, but when I do I would like to be able to work on a thing rather than the stuff to make the thing.  I’m spending my spare moments building stuff to make stuff, and while very fun and rewarding, is not making things.  But then, a new work bench is VERY expensive and if I only spend a little time in the shop, is it worth it to spend that kind of money?

And around and around I go.

** Edited to fix mistake in spelling of Schwarz **

So, why on earth do I get those rare moments of shop time during some of the hottest days of the year so far?  But, who am I to complain.  It wasn’t too hot in the garage, just a bit warm, so I got some more dovetailing done.  I managed not to screw up three more corners, and even got something that is starting to resemble a box together!

Well, at least four sides of a box.  I had to trim a few pins again, and split one tail a little because because I didn’t trim enough.  Man, the compression of pine can really fool you.  In a comment on my last post, Jay suggested Poplar.  After today, I think he might be on to something, so I might head on down to big box Home Depot and get some.

I made lots and lots of little mistakes, trying to saw off a pin, forgetting that I should use a coping saw when cutting out the pins, don’t force it too much, mark your waste, and actually LOOK for the X’s.  I am starting to remember to look for the cabinet maker marks to keep alignment, so that’s progress.  And, really, I am a fair amount pleased with the dovetails. Yeah they are ugly, and stand far to proud (better marking with the gauge next time), but it actually came together.

It is gluing up now, and tonight I hope to actually be able to nail a bottom to it to make it a real box.  I might even scrounge up some hinges and put a lid on it.  I’ve been wanting something to put my carving tools it.  Right now I have some small palm carving tools that I use for wood block carving.  I’ve been storing them in a plastic tub.  This would be so much better I think.

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A friend of mine from work recently lost his stepfather after a long ordeal. The family decided on what to get rid of, and one was a box of old tools that my co-worker offered to me at whatever I felt like paying.

Based on pictures he sent I offered up $140, and they took it. All in all, after seeing what I got it was a fair price. I had some of these, but not some of the others.

The smoothing plane was a non-starter missing the iron (but not the chipbreaker oddly enough), and cracked along the side where the wedge pushes out. I was hoping for this since I don’t have a real good wood smoother yet. But maybe I can use it as a pattern (and beef up the wall where it broke).

The ECE Jack plane is a winner though, and in good shape. The rabbet, block, jack are all Stanely and in good shape. The transitional plane is interesting, and I’ll see what it’s got going on. The braces look to be ok, and the miter box is nice and solid. They threw in an old boat slick for free, and I’m considering giving it a try as a turning tool on my spring pole lathe.

All in all, I am going to treat the tools with respect because they came from a friends family. And it gives me options for when I work on my planing, because I can tune them different ways. They were happy to have them go to someone who might use them, so I’m intended to do just that.

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The Essential Woodworker.

This highly recommended book has been finally reprinted by Lost Art Press who also brought us the Joiner and Cabinet Maker book I so enjoyed and have been raving about.

I pre-ordered it and got a PDF copy of the book for free for pre-ordering.  Go do it!  This book has been hard to find for reasonable prices, and now it’s available in a high quality reprint.

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My mother is in town, and that means I can sneak down to the shop when my son is asleep.  Today I got a rare second day in a row in the shop, and I really wanted to MAKE something.  I’ve bought a lot of tools, and even tuned and cleaned/sharpened a few.  Today I was set to actually make something, and I did.

Meet the Thundergod.

Thundergod side

I am going to be needing to cut some mortises sometime soon, and I didn’t have a good heavy hammer.  I had my Apple wood hammer I made on the lathe, but it’s a bit lightweight for chopping mortise holes.  The Thundergod gets his name from the shape of the handle which makes it somewhat Comic book Thor styled.  The head is 2 3/4″ Maple wood, and the handle is a bit of Oregon Myrtle I had laying around.  The Myrtle had some issues with checking and a big knot hole so I turned it bit more fancy than I was intending on a whim, and get rid of some flaws.

To make it I used mostly hand tools.  I even tried to use power tools, and that was a mistake.  I cut the head on the band saw and it went all kinds of funny directions.  I tried to fix it on the belt sander, but it was too much for it and blew a fuse.  I ended up using a block plane on the end grain to fix the band saw screw up, but I gotta tell you that thick of maple is hard to work with any tool.

To cut the handle I tried ripping it with a hand saw, but the only rip saw I have is dull.  So I took a deep breath and sharpened it with a saw vise and files from the old toolbox.  I worked surprisingly well, and it cuts quick now.  Except my technique or sharpening is off, since the cut kept drift away from the line.  I ended up just splitting it out after the saw cut drifted too far.  Which of course ripped out a big knot hole.

I turned handle on the lathe (powered, but I’m not giving that up totally, it’s too much fun.)  I had to cut in a lot near the top to turn away most of the hole left from tearing out the knot.  I turned a fancy end for fun, and made it fit my hand.  The top shoulder led to a 1″ shaft for the hammer head.

Thundergod Top

I was going to drill out the top on my drill press, but again my 1″ fornster bit is kaput. So I pulled out the auger bits I got in a roll at an antique store ages ago, and tried the 1″ bits. The first one was so dull it did nothing (note to self, must learn to sharpen these bits) but the second one cut quick. Well sort of quick, this is nearly 3″ maple. But I made my way through it, fairly straght and only sweating a bit. (I lie. I sweated a lot.) A little glue, a walnut wedge, and some walnut oil finish, and voila!

Hiro holding the Thundergod.

My son seems to approve.

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It’s been a little tough to find shop time lately, but today I got a little bit of time and I took full advantage.

I’ve started work on a saw bench out of some reclaimed Yellow Pine, and I’ve got the top and legs cut out.  More on that later, I was making good progress but started second guessing my design.  I was going to just bodge it together, and not try for mortised legs or anything.  I’m not confident with my skills enough to try and angled mortise quite yet.  But now I’m redesigning the bench a bit, and we’ll see.  For sure I’m going to use it for more than just sawing and will be using my brand new holdfasts as well, so that will be part of the design.

In other news I did some reclaimed lumber shopping at Second Use today.  I got a box of Koa wood, and a couple pieces of surprise Paduak wood.  Check out the picture, the color is insane!  These are bound for pen blanks, so there will be some in the store soon I hope.

Paduak wood for Pens

I also got a chance to play with a previously purchased tool, an old Stanley #48 tongue and groove plane.  I bought it ways back, but I never got a chance to break it in.  I took some scrap pine, and just checked the blades (looked sharp) and tried it out.  It cut in right away, and worked fine just as is.  It’s a simple, no-nonsense plane, just does it’s job with now muss for fuss.  The tongue and groove fit great, and it’s user with little or no adjusting.

Stanley #48

Very nice.

That was all I got, but it was refreshing.  The old Disston 8 point crosscut saw made for easy work, but I still broke a sweat.  Gotta get some more shop time more often.  But then we had to go to Soccer game, go Sounders!

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I was going to make some crack about Vice or Vise, but I think it’s come off a bit flat.  Instead, I’ll just post a pic of my new score and babble on a bit about my workbench plans.  (and struggles.)

I found this at a fun store to visit, Second Use,  where I like to check for recycled materials to use in my woodworking.  Kind of my thing, which should be interesting as I move into more furniture type things.  I did see a bunch of Poplar that might be good for a project I’m considering.  Any way, I saw the vise pictured to the right on the site, and went down to take a look.  It is a bit rusty on the surface, but it’s still usable, and it’s massive!  It cost me $45 at that size, and condition for a quick release vise I think that’s about fair.  A little elbow grease, a wire brush and some WD-40 should be good.

As for the bench this goes on, it’s a bit of a struggle right now.  I’m having lots of problems figuring out what I want out of a bench, at what I can afford to pay.  I want it solid, a thick top, a good height for hand tool wood working, and able to hold work well in lots of ways.   I’ve been reading Chris Scwarz’s book on Workbenches, and it’s full of good ideas.  Too many good ideas.  It’s somewhat maddening because I want to narrow it down, not expand the list.

Workbenches, From Design & Theory to Construction & Use By Christopher Schwarz

I’m actually coming close to a final idea, only just recently, from the book mentioned above.  The “roubo” which is oft mentioned on the internet, in the woodworking forums, etc.  However, it’s got a lot of what I want, plus it’s compatible with what I a

lready have.  I have a base pretty much built already in another bench that came with the house.  It’s got solid 4×4′s for legs, and is a good layout size, it’s too high but some sawing will fix that.  It really just needs a good top, and some hardware.

Which brings us back to the vise.   See what I did there?

I heartily recommend the book, and the author for reading.  They have a good blog and magazine for us woodworkers.

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I made a quick hammer on the lathe tonight, out of some applewood I had lying around.  It spent some time outside, so it’s got lots of checks and cracks, but it’s still pretty solid hardwood.  And what I was making was intended to be used for hammering chisels, so it could be less than perfect.

Turned out pretty nice, all things considered. (No pun intended really.)  I only finished with a hand rubbed walnut oil coat to bring out the color, nothing more.  I would like to find some non-checked applewood to make a nicer one sometime, it does have some pretty grain.

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Still catching up on my posts after coming back from Vacation.  This post is just a “show off” or “tool gloat” post.

Shown in the picture from the Top Left.

2 different width paring chisels- these are not as common as they used to be, and these look nice.  I learned to use them at the Woodwrights Shop and I wanted a couple for myself.

Mortise Chisel – looks like a buck brothers handle on a different bland blade.  The tip was extremely hollow ground, like on an 8″ grinder wheel, I’ll need to fix that up, but for the price ($12) it was worth trying to fix.

Moving Fillister Plane – This was my big score, and made the drive worth it.  I paid $27, and I should have bought both they had.  I set it up and tried it out this weekend, and it worked great after a quick sharpen.  I love this tool, Roy was right.

Gimlet – I got it for cheap with the Fillister plane, and I’ll try it out later.

Mortising Gauge – I needed one after taking Roy’s Mortise and Tenon class, and this one was $7 (but he took $5) and needs a little TLC, but is in good enough shape to use.

Try Square – I used on like this at Roy’s class, and wanted my own.   I only had flat contractor squares in the shop.

Stanley Spokeshave – I need a good spokeshave for my bowsaw project, and this looks workable.  The two I picked up for cheap at Harbor Freight are worthless (big surprise) and I need one that is built better.

That’s all for now, I got some shop time today, and I’ll post some results later…

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Thursday 3/11/2010 -
Dovetails, Mortise & Tenon with Roy Underhill

Described on the website thusly “After this one-day workshop you’ll have no excuse! You’ll learn to lay out and cut the classic through dovetail, the half-blind dovetail for drawers, as well as the intersecting mortise and tenon joint for chair and table construction. You’ll take home the three joints, as well as the foundation skills for furniture construction. All tools and materials provided.”

The class delivered exactly what it promised.  It was a hands-on all day affair with Roy at the helm.  My class had eight people in it, and I was probably the youngest guy there.  There was one other guy near my age, and rest looked to be retirees looking for something new.  I felt pretty good with the tools, the set up was fantastic where we each had our own bench, tools, and lights.  Roy would start out by showing us all the steps in one go, going over it piece by piece, then would set up loose to do it ourselves.

We did a set of through dovetails before lunch, and mine were fairly tight.  I liked his method of laying everything out, it made a lot of sense.  He starts with a chisel, and bases the rest of the layout off of that starting point. Roy’s method is “tails first” and I think I’m going to go with that, and avoid the whole religious debate about tails or pins first.  Let me see if I can remember all the steps and put them in another post.

We then broke for lunch at the “old timey” soda shop next door, and Roy joined us.  It was really fun to hang out and just discuss random things.  He spent some time talking about his new home that they had recently purchased, it was an old Mill house that he planned to make into a larger version of his school.  He also bought us all a giant banana split to share!

After lunch we were all a little sleepy, but we got some coffee and soldiered on.  Next up was half blind or drawer front type dovetails.  They most build on the things that we learned in the through dovetail side, with some variations.  Mine came out pretty well, and I was feeling pretty comfortable with the tools now.

The next stage was a bit different, and I was pretty out of my element now with Mortise and Tenon joints.  Again he uses a method in which all measurements are based on the width of a the chisel point, and uses very little measuring.  This is a good thing since mortise chisels are very hard to find these days, either costing hundreds of dollars for new or getting lucky with used ones.  There is one affordable set available by Narex, but they use metric measurements rather than inches.  Which is OK with Roy’s method actually, and I might get that set finally.  My mortise and tenon joint came out pretty well, except I blew out the bottom of the drilling and tore my wood (can be fixed with glue), and my saw cuts were a bit imprecise, which is hidden by the joint but still…   Sawing was probably my worst point, and I think I need to figure out how to fix this.  My cuts seem to drift easily, and I have always had a hard time with sawing.  Practice, practice?

All in all I very much enjoyed the experience and Roy was a fantastic teacher and great host.  He was as genuine and warm as he is on his show, which is rare in this world.  He was a passion for this art of hand tool woodworking, and that comes out in his class.  I would love to go back and take other sessions for sure.