Oak Furniture | The British Tradition – Victor Chinnery – 9781851490134 – Antique Collectors Club US

Looks like one of the most sought after books on English Oak Furniture is going to finally get a second printing.  This book is the GO TO source for this stuff, and it’s really hard to find used.  We’re talking hundreds usually for this book.

A reprint is on it’s way according to the publisher’s site, which is fantastic news for us recreating these old styles or just studying them for new ideas.

Looks like it’s coming out some time in March.  Just in time for my birthday…

** edited ** Peter let me know that they apparently have a regular printing schedule as soon as they run out, they print more.  So, it remains to be seen whether it’s a full on second edition, or more of the same book printed again.  Either way, I’ll be happy because I’m going to get a copy.

Badger

While I was at the Hand Plane Essentials class in Port Townsend we worked in some local Alder wood supplied for the class by the instructors.  We were each given a rough sawn plank to work to a finished board through a series of planing techniques.  We then took our plank home proudly to show our spouses what we had spent all that money on.    I also grabbed a couple scraps for testing on carving since it felt like it might  be a decent carving wood.

My plank will be come the sides of a toolbox tote I am building, but I did spend a little holiday time testing out the carving tools on the Alder.

Things I learned about Alder wood:

• You need sharp tools (duh).
• It chips out fairly easily.
• It carves really easily.

Test Carving in Alder wood

I discovered pretty quickly that my larger V tool was a little dull.  You can see how it crushed the wood fibers, rather than cutting.  I pulled out my quite sharp smaller V tool for a similar test and it cut nicely and cleanly.  I then did a little gouge work (lower edge) and some low relief work with punched background like I am hoping to do on my toolbox.

I think the test results were encouraging enough to proceed with the carving, although I’m a little nervous about the V tool work.  I’m considering a layout that is heavy on the low relief method, and keeping it simple.  We’ll see.

Right now I have the sides smoothed, rabbeted on the bottom edge, and sized perfectly.  I have a scrap of hardware store 1/2″ thick Oak that will work as the bottom, and I’m probably going to use some Oak for the ends.  For the handle I’m thinking of using a little bit of Walnut.  Most everything will be carved just so I can get more practice in a variety of woods, and to decorate my toolbox marking it uniquely as mine.

More to come including some thoughts on how to sharpen a V tool.

Badger

My Oilstone Sharpening Setup...

Last weekend at the Hand Plane Essentials class that I took from Port Townsend School of Woodworking, we covered sharpening extensively.  they devoted half of the second day to the subject.  Unfortunately for me they focused on waterstone sharpening to the exclusion of all other methods, except some on the topic of “sand paper on glass”.  This was fine though, because Jim’s system of waterstone sharpening was fast and efficient.  I was impressed, but I had previously decided to go Oilstone, and had purchased a number of stones already.

I really didn’t want to switch gears mid stream…

Plus, on the advice of Mr. Schwarz I am going to commit to the Oilstones for a while, and see if I can make it work.  If you skip around from system to system you’re essentially wasting time and money.  I had purchased a set of India stones Coarse, Medium and Fine.  I used some of my bonus money to purchase a high quality stone from Tools for Working Wood.    They just recently started offering a 3″ wide Hard Translucent Arkansas stone in a 1/2″ size at a reason able price.  I got the stone in the mail today, and it is a fantastic stone!  I was blown away by the quality of this stone.  I quickly ran down to the shop (with my three year old in tow, since we were hanging out today) to try it out.  I set up the kid with a hammer and some nails and set him loose on some scrap lumber.

I took a Stanley #3 plane I had picked up recently, and gave it a quick whirl using the same techniques that I’d learned at Port Townsend last weekend.  With in a very short amount of time, I had a sharp blade and was taking shavings of decent quality.  I wasn’t really trying for wispy thin shavings or anything, I just wanted to put a decent edge on it for testing out the new stones.  I am very stoked to have finally gotten a sharpening system that I think will show results as I build my skills.  My attempts on previous stones that I’d picked up were depressing, but now I know it has to do with the quality of the stones I was using.  I’d gotten them at a tool show, with no idea of what I was buying.  They’ll be good for knife sharpening I’m sure, but not for plane blades.  They are too thin (2″ wide stones) for plane blades anyway.

My Oilstone Sharpening/Honing Method

1x India Medium Stone

1x Hard Translucent Arkansas Stone

3 in 1 machine oil

The system I learned at the class was really simple.

1. Establish a bevel at 25 degrees

2. Hone a micro bevel at 30 degrees

It really was that simple.  The #3 blade was dished in the middle, and it was pretty dull.  In the class we used a grinder and the Lee Valley tool rest (which I have on order) to establish the bevel.  On one of my blades we put an 8″ radius for a fore plane blade, but the other was straight across.  At home I used the medium India stone to re-work the bevel.  The coarseness of the India stone worked pretty well, and I went at it free hand for my first test run.  I laid the blade down so the existing bevel was flat, and rocked back and forth keeping the bevel flat against the stone.  Soon enough, probably 10-20 strokes the bevel was pretty good, although I think I need to spend a little more time on this blade.  I wiped the oil from the stone, and moved to the Hard Translucent Arkansas stone.  Adding oil to the stone, I found the bevel, and lifted my hands up an inch or so, and began to rock back and forth again for about 10 strokes.  I got a decent micro bevel in that short time, and I hit the burr on the back side with the back flat on the stone, raised by a thin metal ruler (the ruler trick).

Since this was just a test, I popped it into the plane, and ran a few passes over a board advancing the blade a little at a time.  Right away I got some good shavings coming off the wood. Next time I go down, I’ll spend a little time setting the plane up, and sharpening some more to practice, but I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I got a decent edge from these two stones.  I have some green stropping compound to add to a leather piece I am going to glue to a board for the final polish step.

One thing I want to put into practice was something that I was discussing with Tim Lawson at the class in PT.  He talked about honing (strop, or high grit stone) just before and right after you work with a blade will make it so that you will have to sharpen very infrequently because the blade never really gets dull.  I’m not sure how that will work in practice, but it makes great sense for my carving tools.  I want to set up a sharpening station in my shop, so I can just take the lids off the stones, hone, and go back to work.

I’m not one of those guys who will be obsessing over sharpening, I just want to work the wood with sharp tools, and I think this system (with my new stone) will be just what I need.

Ding!  Level up!  (Gratuitous video game reference!)

Badger

I just registered for the class linked above, which I heard about at the Hand Plane Essentials class I took this weekend from Jim Tolpin.  It was a great class, and I am really looking forward to this design class.

“Design and Construction Strategies for Hand Tool Woodworkers

This class is based on the research that Jim Tolpin is doing for his forthcoming book with George Walker on the design and layout techniques used in the 17-18^th centuries.

These traditional techniques use basic (and simple) geometric techniques to create designs for well proportioned furniture. The notion of well proportioned is ingrained in the human eye and is rooted in the different elements of the piece of furniture having whole number proportions (like 1:3 or 3:5). 

These proportioned dimensions are easy to create using a sector and dividers. A sector is a simple tool made of two sticks hinged together (you’ll make one in class).

You can, in fact, create a whole design with out needing to reduce the dimensions to feet and inches (or millimetres)! This can be liberating for the hand tool woodworker – it can help you escape the tyranny of the machine or getting overwhelmed trying to use a drawing program on your computer.

Jim also looks at how your design and layout of joinery should be slaved to your tools. Making simple decisions during this stage can greatly simplify the process of dimensioning the stock and cutting the joinery.“

We were discussing this on Sunday as the class was winding down, about the difference between the engineer perspective and the artisan perspective.  I made a comment that I really liked.  “Measuring is so imprecise!“   It really is, when you are talking about woodworking, you spend a lot of time get a measurement dead one, and the saw drifts a tiny bit, and you’re short.  That is if, you’re cutting all the pieces in one go.  If you cut one piece, and then fit it to the next, and then base the next off that, etc. you will be guaranteed to have it fitting right.  This is how the artisans who built all the furniture we love to emulate, and are inspired by.  At best they had a two fold rule, no digital calipers, or table saws.  I am super excited about this class and the book that follows the research they did coming out at Lost Art Press.

Badger

I got a little bonus at work, and I wanted to drop some on a new plane from LN. Now I can’t decide which #4 version to get…

I have the Low Angle Jack from them already, and a #4 Stanley Type 19 that I’ve tuned up a little.

Any advice? I love the look of the Brass body #4… but if I can only get one plane…

Help?

Learning to Hammer right

It’s been a really brutal month at work, and I haven’t had ANY time to get into the garage.  However, the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us, and I finally have a little time off.  While at the local Harbor Freight store picking up some extra dividers, and a set of number stamps I saw a Kids Tool kit for like $15 and had to have it.  The only really useful thing in the kit was a small hammer, but the hat goggles, and suspenders were fun for him to play with.

This lead me to something I’d been thinking about for a while, how to do teach my kiddo how to work the wood, and when to start.  I’ve decided to start now, even though he’s not even four yet.  I’m going to start by teaching him a tool at a time, like a true apprentice.  The first project will be a small tool tote in Pine for him.  I’ll do the cutting and stuff, but he is going to do the nailing part.  And he’ll get a hammer to put into it.  After that we can work on sawing, and other tasks.

Badger

Happy Halloween!

This evening I spent some time with my son on a carving project.  He’s three years old, and is just starting to get excited about Halloween, and understand some of the traditions we typically do.  This year I found this great goofy looking pumpkin that was all lopsided, and I found the perfect face to put on it.  He is a big fan of Cat in the Hat, so I carved it for him using my chip carving knife, which turns out a is a great tool for carving lines into pumpkins.  And how I stretch the definition of woodworking post…  See I used a woodworking tool, it’s carving right?!

Flash on, with the Chip Carving knife in the foreground.

He drew the other one, and I carved it for him following his lines, and he had to help take the guts of the pumpkin out.  He was quite excited, and we had a good time.  Happy Halloween everyone!

Badger

Image from Boys Own Workshop

Discussion about this book is making the rounds of the blogs right now, and I wanted to call it out as well.  I read this on my Kindle while on vacation and it was a great read, that I learned some fun stuff about hand tool woodworking, and more to the point I learned some things about how to approach the craft as well.  I highly recommend reading this book, and if I had any idea how to do it I would reprint this book in a nice bound format to put on my shelf next to my Lost Art books.

“Rules for Work

It was late on Saturday afternoon when the boys completed the work of procuring and laying in their stock and their tools; and several days elapsed after this before John had an opportunity to commence his work. Ebenezer advised him, if he really wished to learn to do anything with tools, to consider it work, and not play; and not to undertake any operations until he had ample time for them, and then to proceed step by step, in the most deliberate and cautious manner. He must never act in a hurry, he said, in order to finish something at a particular time, or attempt to work with a tool that was dull or out of order, or to use a poor or unsuitable piece of wood because he had no proper piece at hand. Such management as that, Ebenezer said, only led to disappointment, worrying, vexation, and failure. “  — Boy’s Own Workshop by Jacob Abbot

I am interpreting this as the following Rules for Work:

1. Work Deliberately.  I tend to rush when I get close to the end of a project.  And usually screw things up by doing something stupid.  Now I am taking the time to think through each step, and find the simplest solution, not the first thing that comes to mind.

2. Use the right tool for the job.  Sometimes when I rush, I’ll grab whatever is handy and try to force it work the way I want, and sometimes this ends badly.

3. Work with Sharp Tools. I sometimes want to get right to work, but I’m making myself stop and make sure my tools are ready to go before I start.  Even if this means that is all I get to that night in the shop.

4. Work in discrete chunks.  I am trying to work in stages, and only tackle a project that I can finish in the time I have.  This way I feel successful at the end of each section, and I start each session with a starting point and an end point.

I’m still working on these rules, and feeling out how it works in the shop, but I feel good about this so far.  Work Deliberately seems to be encompass a lot of the idea.  My first project with these rules in mind went much better than previous ones.  The end result just simple felt better, and I felt like I actually knew what I was doing.  It’s a good feeling.

Badger

Quick Stock Removal

I’m thinking of starting a regular feature on this blog called “things I learned in the shop” because it feels like every time I go down there I feel like I learn something new.  Which is part of why I do this stuff, I love to keep pushing and challenging myself.

I had to trim the bottom of my sliding tray drawer for the Saw Bench Box about a half inch.  I thought I could just set my Jack up for a heavy cut, and plane it down quick like. But I soon discovered it was taking way too long.  On a lark I reached for a drawknife that I had purchased ages ago and hung on my wall waiting for an appropriate moment to use it.  I started pulling along the edge of my board that I had marked with my cutting gauge on all sides (this is important) and the wood came off in very thick shavings, I’m talking 1/4″ or more at a time.  It is important to pay attention to the grain (when is it not) because it could easily dive down under my cut line if not careful and grain was not straight.

When I neared my cut line, it actually split along my cut on both sides.  It took only a few moments to pare down the waste, and a few passes with my bevel up Jack plane to lower the high spots.  Speaking of Bevel Up, I was using the drawknife in the mode, instead of bevel down.  It worked really well, and I think I might use this again before reaching for a saw.  Which is ironic because this is a sliding tray for my Saw Box.

Badger

Open, and getting a saw out of the back

One of the key elements of this box that drove me to use the word “Anarchist” as an homage to Chris’s book was this sliding drawer/tool trays.  I was intrigued with how they worked, and how they really added to the tool holding awesomeness of the “Anarchists Tool Chest” that he builds in the book. Part two of the box build tonight was adding one of those tool trays to my saw bench box.

It’s built from Pine with an Oak bottom for durability, and increased wear.  There are two strips of oak nailed to the inside of the box that act as rails for the tray to slide back and forth.  It also introduced me to one of the really nice benefits of using cut nails in your work.  I put the first nail in and it projected a tiny bit through the other side of the wood.  I thought it would clear, but I was wrong.  So I pounded that one back, and used some nippers to cut the rest of the nails a little shorter.  The iron on traditional cut nails is not hardened like most modern day nails, so this is an easy step.  Plus, you’re already pre-drilling the holes for the nails, so the fact that the tip is slightly less pointy (and still square) doesn’t make a bit of difference.

Drawer parts all ready to go and ready to be nailed

The tray itself is simply a box.  I had started out with a simple rabbet on the ends of the sides, but when I mocked it up, it was off a bit in size by being too deep, and too narrow.  So I changed course and set up my Stanley #45 to cut a long rabbet along the bottom of hold the tray bottom. I nailed it together with some cut nails, and trimmed up the edges to fit smoothly in the chest.

One thing that was nice about tonight’s work was how confident I felt about what I was doing.  I’ve been banging around the shop for a while now, but tonight it didn’t feel like I was flounder, I almost felt like I had some of this stuff down.  I have a LOT to learn for sure, but it was nice not to feel so lost every time I picked up a tool.

Box closed in it's usual spot

It’s now in it’s home up against the MDF workbench the came with the house.  I don’t use that bench for much now that I’ve gone all hand tool and stuff, mainly because it’s way to high for proper use of the planes.  It can be shoved under if it’s in the way, but it’s mostly going live there so I can easily get my saws out as needed.  It also makes a comfortable seat to sit on while contemplating my next move, something I’ve tried to do more of as I build my skill set.  Rather than launching into the next step, planning and thinking it out so I can be sure to do it right the first time.

Open, and drawer slid back to get to front part of the bottom of the chest

Plus when my three year old son comes down to hang out with Daddy, he can sit on it while watching.  Which usually last about maybe 60 seconds before he’s up and touching things.

Badger

One thing that was nice about tonight’s work was how confident I felt about what I was doing.  I’ve been banging around the shop for a while now, but tonight it didn’t feel like I was flounder, I almost felt like I had some of this stuff down.  I have a LOT to learn for sure, but it was nice not to feel so lost every time I picked up a tool.I nailed the box together