Making Crossgrain "v"

Ralph over at Accidentalwoodworker posted about making a "v" for sawing cross grain. I've found the best way to make the v-cut is to use a long paring chisel and cut cross grain vs. with the grain, Here are some photos of the process:

Next:

Finish:

It makes a much cleaner "v" than doing it with the grain.

ken

Seat Blank

The Honey Locust seat blank is out of the clamps and I marked it off using the seat template I made Saturday. After marking I trimmed the blank close to the line with the bandsaw. Now it is drawknife, spokeshave, and #5 to smooth the edge. I expect I will put a heavy chamfer on the front and side edges, undecided on the back edge, before moving on to drilling and reaming the leg mortises.

The seat edges being trued and smoothed:

I need to go through the wood pile to decide on the leg blanks. Right now I'm thinking either Beech, Red Oak or even White Oak. The Honey Locust in the wood pile's grain is too swirly to make good legs. Once the leg wood is picked then the next decisions are the shape, round, octagon, or tapered and which way, and done with the lathe, plane, drawknife, spokeshave, or some combination of one or more.

All the options are half the fun because there really isn't a correct one. 

BTW, have I ever told you how much I love the portable Moravian bench with the Lake Erie wood screw vise? For as light as it is and portable, it is almost as stable as the main bench. The only time the main bench is better is when sawing crosswise across the bench. Then you can feel the weight difference.

I sure will be glad when the woodstore comes through with my 12/4 Ash so I can make the base for a shop sized Moravian bench. The wood screw is here, the Beech slab is finished. All I need is 30 or so board feet of Ash to finish that sucker off. A couple of weeks max if I can get my hands on the wood.

ken

Chair Stuff

Levi's chair is out of the shop. For what it is I'm happy with it, I think it meets most of my design criteria. One last photo:

Last night I glued up a seat blank using some 8/4 Honey Locust. I've not a clue if it will be a good seat or not but....

Ipad and Messenger are not playing nice with the glue up photo. Whatever, once the seat blank is out of the clamps I'll use this template to size and mark the seat.

While waiting for the seat blank to come out of the clamps it is "shop clean up" time. The tool room is a total mess and will take most of the day. The main shop mostly needs dust and shavings pick up with some organization.

The local Woodcraft should have a parking lot "Boot Sale" soon so I expect a good part of today's clean up will be spent loading boxes for the sale. 

ken

WorkBenches

I've built a few and worked on more.

As I wander around the net I often come across posts of new builders fretting about their build. What kind of bench, what wood, which vise and where to place 'em, and so on. All understandable but also a waste of time for the new builder. Just build something that is strong, cheap and fast to build, then go to work making things. After working on the bench for awhile things about it will drive you to barking at the moon and then it is time to build another. If you are lucky and pay attention to your needs and not to bench building posts and books, after a couple of cycles you will end up with a bench that works.

The posts from new builders are what they are. The posts that bring out my inter curmudgeon are the ones with photos of the new completed bench that has a different type vise on each corner, is wide as an aircraft carrier, has rows of both round and square dog holes, has a sliding deadman on each side and a bench jack standing by, and is finished so slick you can see your face like in a mirror. And even better only took two or three years to complete.  BTW, almost every single "feature" of the bench combined with all the other "features" would have me barking at the moon faster than the first build it "strong, cheap, and fast" bench.

OK rant over, it will soon be time for my afternoon meds.

ken

Levi's Chair

I finished up Levi's chair last night and just put on the first coat of Danish Oil. There was a moment or two thinking about using Milk Paint to finish, maybe the next one.

The next question is how to get the chair to Houston before he is too big to use it.

ken

A Couple of Photos From The PNW

One more photo of the portable workbench in the wild. This one just outside Trinidad CA. I've removed the vise and vise backer board and I'm making an adjustment to the backer board. The vise screw backer board parallel guide mortise (whew that was long) was a perfect fit in the desert of Tucson, on the coast of California not so much. I had to take a couple or three shavings off both sides to get it to function. After the adjustment it was smooth as silk.

This one is Ugly Dude sitting on a log near Cape Lookout OR with Sam the Wonder Dog and Sweet Maggie Dog is digging for rocks in the background. BTW, this may be Sam's last trip. The harness is there so I can help him up the RV's stairs. I wish I had a video of the whole process, sad but at the same time funny and shows just how much heart dogs have.

Click 'em to big 'em.

It was a great month but it is also good to be home. I finished Levi's chair last night and will put some finish on it today. Photos after the first coat of finish.

ken

Back From PNW

We made it back to Tucson midday Sunday. It was a good trip with few problems other than the usual tech problems with cell phone coverage, internet, and Satellite TV (tall trees).   Two small glitches with the motorhome, the outside door handle stopped working at the second fuel stop in Needles CA. and on the way back between Barstow CA. and Needles CA., it was a very gusty and windy day, a gust hit the motorhome from the side and blew off the over door retractable awning. My guess it was 50 to 70 knots strong. It was a good thing no one was following closely or near the motorhome when it hit.  BTW, ain't nothing as fun as a 400 mile day keeping a motorhome between the bar ditches on a gusty/windy day.

The door problem was fixed by getting the ladder out of one of the bins and going through the drivers side window, opening the door from the inside and then removing the latch system. For the rest of the trip we had to use the deadbolt to hold the door shut, no real problem just a PITA.

I didn't have much use of the portable workbench this trip, while it didn't rain a lot there was mist and fog most days. I did set the bench up in the Fort Bragg CA. site for a couple of days and did a little work on a small box (didn't finish it). Anyway here is one of the few photos of this years portable bench in the wild. Notice the whisky glass on the tool chest. It was a very good day.

Because of WX and fire we didn't stick to plan but were pretty loosey goosey and in the process found a new favorite place to go and one not so favorite place. Grants Pass OR while not too bad is not one we are likely to re-visit. Trinidad CA. is great. we stayed there instead of Brookings OR. because of smoke and liked it so much we spent a couple of days there on the return trip down the coast. It is a beautiful place with a great bay for kayaking and even has a nude beach. We didn't go to the beach, no need to cause the locals to need eye bleach.

We made it as far North as Cape Lookout OR. kinda cold and misty the whole time, MsBubba loved the WX and the hiking, the dogs and I spent our time walking the beach, chasing tennis balls, and Maggie finding rocks to throw at my feet. The Cape Lookout area is a beautiful part of the Oregon coast.

If you know anything about RVs you know Quartzsite AZ. Quartzsite is the winter boondocking capital of the world, at least according to Google. I finally got to spend a night in Quartzsite on the way home. It was a little early for all the snowbirds so a place for the night was easy to find, maybe  someday we will show up mid Winter.  

ken 

Reading Unplugged Shop Posts

I’m on the road for the month of September with just an iPad for a computer. For some reason I can’t post replies. Whatever, Jonas’ post on cutting brass had me LMAO, wives are like that.

MsBubba and Maggie playing on the beach near Trinidad CA.

Ken

Blogger isn’t Letting Me Reply On The iPad

Blogger is being a PITA. If I can’t figure it out there will be no replies until we are back in Tucson.

Ken

On The Road

Posting and replies will be spotty for Sept.

ken

Levi's Chair

Progress is slow on the chair with most of my free time being spent on getting the motorhome ready to leave Friday/Saturday for Oregon.

I've turned a couple of sticks for the back to see which I like best. One is pretty thick but with a taper. The other is thin. Of the two I believe the thin one works best. The only question is can the thin one stand up to a growing four year old boy. I expect we will see.

BTW, I could turn the thick stick around and have the thick part of the taper on the bottom, and it is a thought.

I still haven't heard from the woodstore about my workbench Ash. I need to give them a call.

ken

Chair Bottom Finished

Levi's chair base is finished. I'll start the four sticks and top rail this afternoon after work, maybe, if it isn't too hot to work in the shop.

It may be a little high for Levi, if it is it is easy to cut down. I will include instructions on "how". If things do not get too crazy with work, critters, getting the motorhome ready for the Oregon trip and keeping Casa Chaos from falling down I could have the chair finished in a few days. Will not happen but I could.

Chair base, leveling the legs:

ken

One Key Installed One To Go

One key in place, working on second:

Once the second key is glued in I'll clean up the seat and fit, wedge, and glue the legs in place. If I can find a few free moments this week the chair will be finished. Only problem, finding those few free moments matching up with a shop cool enough to work in.

ken

Keys For The Seat Bottom

Because the seat is a glue up I'm keying the two halves, belts and suspenders dontchknow.

Next up after finishing the keys is cleaning up the seat and knocking the legs home. Once the legs are fitted the back slats and comb will finish the chair,

Work is trying to force my retirement or at least it seems that way. I've six days in a row starting Monday with one off followed by ten in a row. As much as I enjoy my work I don't enjoy that much of it in a row. I don't mail it in and after a line (usually three or four days depending on the Regs the crew is training under) I need a couple of days to recover. It ain't been happening.

All that is to say even though I'm near the short rows it may take a couple of weeks to finish the chair.

ken

Progress On Levi's Chair

The legs, leg tenons, and seat mortises are done and fitted, kinda of. The left rear leg is a little off, I should be able to go in with the reamer and fix it enough so it isn't too noticeable.

I need to shape the seat, make four spindles and a crest rail to finish. Here are a few photos of the progress so far:

Setting up to ream the seat.

Checking progress.

Seat and legs.

As always click 'em to big 'em,

ken

Chair Leg Blanks Finished

Four leg blanks finished and ready to shape the tenons on the lathe.

Even with the short legs and the woodie, it is a sweatathon this time of year. There were a lot of water breaks getting to this point.

I can't say I'm in the short rows but just four small back spindles and a crest rail to go before fitting it all together.

BTW, the little portable bench is amazing. Solid as a rock, perfect height for planing, and the wood screw leg vise holds better than any vise I've used. It is a joy to work on.

I haven't heard from the woodstore about the Ash for the new bench but Lake Erie Toolworks emailed the wood screw for the vise is on the way. We are only a couple of weeks away from the Oregon trip so even if the Ash shows up next week I don't expect the bench will be finished before the middle of Oct. or latter.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

Ten Pounds In A Five Pound Box

In the never ending quest the move the deck chairs, to fit the ten pounds in a five pound box, I shoved the machines around the shop this morning.

A couple of things set me off. First the band saw and the planer are my most used machines and both had restricted movement areas. So all the sweating and huffing was to clear up the work space around the band saw and the planer. Also I expect to replace the Ricon bandsaw with a 18" Powermatic the next time the Powermatic's go on sale. If that happens, the table saw may go away fixing some of the space problem.

A couple photos of the new arrangement. Dust collection and electrical are not hooked up yet because I want live with the placement for a bit first.

I hate to give the table saw away but it is used very little and it takes needed space. The shame is if it is sold I might be able to take MsBubba out for a good dinner on the sale, maybe.

ken

Shaping The Legs

I'm shaping the leg blanks for Levi's chair before taking them to the lathe to turn the tapered tenons. I've found the best tool for shaping the legs is a ECE Jack plane with a light camber. It is light, easy to hold, and can be set to take good chunks of wood each pass without turning your arms to noodles.

I'm not sure how the chair will look when finished. The seat is near full size but the legs will put seat height at about 250mm vs. 460mm for an adult chair. Whatever, it should be bulletproof. 

ken

   

Tormek SE-77

Simple changes can make big differences. In my love/hate relationship with the T-7 sharpening system most of the hate came from the SE-76 jig. It would not handle thick irons or ones without parallel sides and if anything was out of alinement you just had to live with it. In addition it was (almost) impossible to camber an iron.

The new SE-77 jig addresses almost all of those difficulties. Best of all it makes putting a camber on your cutters very easy. Here is one of my Jack plane's iron fresh off the Tormek.

Most of the time I do not grind but this iron had a couple of deep chips and after few minutes on a 120 grit diamond plate and no real progress it was off to the Tormek. As you can see a nice smooth camber and was quick and easy. Also it gives a very good base for sharpening by hand until I do another deep chip.

For some time I've had one green eye and one red with the Tormek. Stop/Go, sell it or not. The Se-77 changed all that, it would be a hard job to pry it out of my cold dead hands now.

ken

New Welsh Stick Chair for The Grandpeanut

The boy child and his wife just had a new grandpeanut, a girl type named Abby Ray. She's a cute little sucker but I guess all grandparents say the same. Anyway the first grandpeanut isn't much of a peanut anymore. They grow fast.

With two of 'em they need another chair for the table and chair set I made a couple of years ago. I started on it this morning. This one will be a small Welsh stick chair. What I expect will happen is the old chair and table will be passed down to Abby Ray and sometime in the next year I will make a new table and a couple more chairs for Levi that are a little larger than the current ones.

Here are a couple of photos drilling the mortises for the legs.

Down the sight line:

The resultant:

Click 'em to big 'em.

I've really starting to like building vernacular furniture and even better I like looking at and using the builds. As a hand tool wood worker stick chairs, staked tables, and boarded chests just fit my house and my eye.

ken