Mutton to Lamb

I've a few days off in a row and in my never ending quest to make 10 lbs look like 5, I made some changes to the shop. The first was to move the "off" bench about 150mm to the left and push it against the wall or at least as close as I could get it.

Next I wanted to make the bench useable so a number of things had to find a new home. I'm also thinking about making a portable bench and a traveling tool chest. MsBubba gave marching orders to that effect over morning coffee. I'll use the small QR vice off of the secondary bench for the portable bench.

As I was doing bench maintenance anyway I figured now was as good a time as any to pull the QR vise off and re-install the leg vise. While I was at it I tested the wagon vise and it was frozen, strange how if you do not use something it quits working. After several times of taking the sliding block off and re-installing it with each time the wagon vise working worse, I made a new sliding block. I've not a clue what the difference is, both blocks look the same, but the new sliding block works and the old one doesn't.

Anyway here are a few photos of the "new" old leg vise and the old bench. I left all the shaving and cutoffs on the floor so you would think I've been beavering away in the shop:

The view from the primary bench:

One more from the back side of the primary bench:

Click 'em to big 'em.

BTW, on the end of the primary bench are the parts for the bath cabinet. The rails and stiles for the door are under the Sycamore waiting to be glued up for the door panel and the finished case is hanging off the end of the bench. One other thing I haven't a clue about, for some reason I keep finding other things to work on instead of just glueing the damn thing up and going on down the road.

ken

LN Honing Guide

Ralph of the "Accidental Woodworker" has posted a couple or three times about the LN Honing Guide, guess I will post about it as well. The reason I bought the guide was to help keep my pig sticker mortise chisels square. They, narrow pig stickers, are not the easiest chisel to freehand and at the same time mortise chisels are the only chisel I'm anal about keeping square. A honing guide if it worked could help.

Well I finally got the mortise jaws for the guide, damn....No joy, the pig sticker is too thick to fit in the mortise jaw. From the base of the jaw (top of the fixed part of the guide) to the lip on the mortise jaw is 12mm. My pig stickers (I really like typing and saying "pig sticker", can you tell?) are 15mm to 18mm thick in the area where they need to fit the honing guide.

I thought, well Bubba maybe one of those pretty LN mortise chisels with the hornbeam handle would work so I whip it out, my AmEx that is, and get a couple or three LN mortise chisel sent out here to the desert. They will have to work, LN makes both amiright?

Well yesterday there was excitement in the Old Pueblo, the UPS girl showed up with a box from Maine in hand. I ripped the box open, grabbed the 1/2" chisel and tried to mount it on the honing guide....damn, damn, double damn. It didn't fit.

The LN chisel is closer but still a silly mm too thick. Here is a photo, click it to make it big:

You may be able to see the lip of the jaw to the base is 12mm, the mortise chisel is close to 13mm. Last time I checked 13 is larger than 12, my guess it is the same using imperial measurement or metric.

Of course I may be overlooking something, it has happened before, and if I am I'll have another "never mind" moment.

Ralph mentioned that LN will make custom jigs for the guide. I'll call tomorrow, a jig with 20mm between the base and the lip would be perfect.

Bath Wall Cabinet

One last project to finish the bath. It needs a wall cabinet. As with most of my builds it is slow going. First order is butt scratching along with compulsive measuring, followed by several crude drawings. Then rejection of several of the drawings and finally picking one as a rough guide.

Next is digging through the wood pile hoping to find a board or two that will work, if not then a trip to the wood store. Followed by roughing out the needed parts and a few days sitting so the wood can finish most of its stupid wood tricks. Once all that is done, then on to the fun part of cutting and fitting the joinery.

What brought all of this up was after finishing up the case glue up I mentioned to MsBubba that I had done just that....Glued up the case and it looked as if it had gone together well with all the joints tight and square. Of course her commit wasn't, that's good dear but "It sure takes you a long time to finish a project." The woman knows how to cut to the bone.

The case is some nice Cherry from the wood pile, the door frame will be South American Walnut with a spalted Sycamore panel, I'm not sure what will be used for the back and shelves.

Here are some photos of the build so far:

The pins marked.

Sawing out most of the waste.

Chopping the waste.

Pin board ready for glue up.

Case glued up.  BTW, click 'em to big' em.

I had planned on a inset door with knife hinges but I screwed up one of the rebates and had to remove about 15mm of width so I'm going with an overlay door, hinges to be decided later. 

Stanley #5

I'm starting to work through my tools. The first plane is a (I believe) type 13 Stanley #5. It is in good shape with a Stanley iron and chip breaker. The iron has Stanley Rule & Level Co New Britain Conn U.S.A. imprinted. The tote has a repaired crack near the horn, knob is in good shape but is of a different wood or finish. The body is free of cracks and pitting. It should make a very good user plane.

The reserve price will be $75 USD plus $15 USD for shipping.

Click the photos to make 'em big. If interested you can contact me by email kmhatch@earthlink.net 

Canceled the Shoulder Repair

The title says it all. As the week progressed the shoulder hurt less and less and by Wednesday I had near full range of motion. My Mama didn't raise a fool (well except concerning money, tools, and women), I canceled the surgery and will start PT after Labor Day.

Starting soon will be a weeding out of extra tools. The photo below is of some of my #3 size planes and it is one of the smaller groupings. I expect I will keep the LN #3 (not shown), the PhillyPlane, and the Stanley type 9 and sell the rest.

The #4 sized are a larger group. Of those I expect to keep two LN's, two Stanley's one a type 9, and the LV.

The #5 group is smaller than the #4's but still too many but I can make some excuses for keeping several. Of this group I expect the Stanley type 9 and maybe one other Stanley along with the LN will make the cut.

Bottom line, it a week or so I will post a "buy it now" listing a couple of days before listing on eBay. My guess is I will start with the #3's and work up to the #8's over several weeks. All the planes are good users, most with Hock or LV O-1 irons and chip breakers. With one or two exceptions all the Stanley's are type 13 or earlier. 

 

This and That

First, I've a brisket in the pit. I've had to work at temp control today but I has kept me out of trouble so what the hey. Normally once the pit reaches temp you can almost walk away, just add a log every once in awhile and around 8 hours later it's BBQ. Today wind and ambient temp has been all over the place so my pit has as well.

Thursday I go in to have my right shoulder repaired. My guess is I hurt it skiing forty odd years ago, wouldn't want to rush into things don'tchknow. Anyway woodworking will be put on hold for a few weeks.

I figure the time can be spent putting spare tools on eBay. I'll post on here a couple of days before they are posted on eBay in case anyone wants one of 'em. Most will be motorcycle related but there are a good number of woodworking tools as well.

One thing that will be sold is the Dirty Fat Girl. We had a lot of fun together, been coast to coast on her in less than 50 hours, 1500 miles in less than 24 hours, Sturgis for the 69th bike week, Jackson Hole for a Billy's hamburger and more trips to Texas and Oregon than I can count. She has been a great bike but her time has passed.

See you guys on down the road.

ken

Changes to the Grinding Station

This time of the year can limit shop time. Working the morning shift, usually a 0530 show and home by 1400 can really put a kink in your productivity. With Monsoon still in full swing the swamp cooler makes afternoons in the shop less comfortable than without. It is a small price to pay for conditions the rest of the year but little gets done when the day job runs through the best of the the shop time.

Damn Bubba cut to the chase.....As I've posted before I've round heels when it comes to ways of sharpening. Basically I've decided there is no one correct way to do the job just some ways work better with one type of tool and iron than than others. Lately I've been trying CBN grinding wheels on the tools I grind. They, CBN wheels, grind supper fast and stay cool but I'm not sure if it isn't too much of a good thing.  Bottom line while driving the Princess around the PNW I thought of some changes to make to the grinding station. Once home and back to work, projects this small are about all that can be done for another month or so.

All that is a long way around to posting a photo of the changes I made to the shop's grinding station a couple of days ago. I removed the Tormek rest, mounted both the 80 and the 120 CBN wheels and installed a couple of adjustable tool rests. Does it work any better? Maybe....I'm not 100% convinced the CBN wheels are better and may replace the 80 grit wheel with a Norton.

Home Again

Made it back to Tucson yesterday afternoon. Three weeks on the CA-OR coast, missed my shop. The best part of any trip is the trip, the stuff that happens between is OK and necessary to having the trip. Or at least that is what SWMBO tells me. I don't do adult supervision very well either, it's good to be back in the shop.

As always the PNW coast is beautiful, the WX perfect with temps in the low 60's to high 70's. The critters had a blast swimming in the rivers and ocean while fetching balls.

For the drive home I made a couple of bad decisions and broke two rules of driving in CA. First rule: don't drive through LA if there is another route. Second: the same applies to San Fransisco.  My normal route to get to the PNW is get on CA 58 to Bakersfield then either I-5 or US 99 north and cut to the coast after Sacramento. That was the route going up, cutting to the coast on CA 20, BTW a good drive. CA 20 is slow going because of the curves but still enjoyable. We made the trip to Ft. Bragg in about 21 hours total road time. Not too bad pulling a 5th wheel (55 mph in CA) and traveling with two big dogs and the boss. Coming home was not quite as fast. CA 20 was shut because of a fire which caused some problems getting to I-5. All routes to I-5 and Sacramento required a good bit of back tracking. Because of timing I thought breaking the rules of travel in CA could be done with minimum consequences. Wrong Bubba, they both bit me on the ass big time. Over four hours to get through SFO and over six hours to get through LA. We spent over an hour setting dead still on I-5 in LA because of a fuel spill, once moving they dumped us off onto a surface road with no directions to get back on any freeway. GPS can be a life saver, Guy Clark's "LA Freeway" was playing in my head, without I might still be in LA. After many turns  and miles on surface roads we ended up on I-210 to join I-10 east of LA. Bottom line we spent over 18 hours to get out of LA and another eight to finish the trip.

On The Road Again

Other than "making music with my friends" describes how I feel. Damn I love the road, some of my favorites are ones others find boring. There is a differene between "looking" and "seeing", when you see there are no boring roads, my favorite are ones where you can see the future for an hour or more,

First stop was a CA rest area with a truck packed parking lot, after a couple of hours rest and a few miles it was north on I-5 followed by Hwy 20 to Fort Bragg and the first RV park. The park is an unexpected jewel, across the road is a great beach. What was expected to be a one night stay has been extended.to " who knows".

I did bring a small " kit" along, three diamond stones, a strop, and a chisel roll with older chisels that need some TLC. I worked on a couple of chisels yesterday, pretty nice with Sam the Wonder Dog and  Sweet Maggie Dog at my feet, cool air but warm sun and a beautiful setting. Add in a couple of martinis and life doesn't get much better.

We may move on north after a couple more days or may not.

A Dog's Breakfast

No theme today, just random thoughts:

The day job has been crazy, nine days to a dozen between days off with many days doubled. Poor pitiful me, all those hours setting in a dark box pushing buttons to torment the crew in the cockpit. It's pretty easy work but it is still putting on the monkey suit and being somewhere other than the shop.

All that was a lead into: I start an extended PTO starting Friday the 24th. That of course is the kinda good news, the kinda bad is I will be out of the shop until the 10th of August. The really bad is TBMRITS (the best motorcycle road in the States), I-10, is closed because of bridge washouts near the CA-AZ border.  Of course I was planning on using the alternate roads that now have I-10 bypass traffic as my route bypassing LA and on into Northern CA and Oregon. Stuff happens, on to plan B whatever it will be.

Anyway this year we will be traveling with a 5th wheel and no motorcycle, I'll miss my annual drive the princess to Oregon with the Wing in tow. After princess delivery a quick ride back to Tucson and then a month or so later a return motorcycle ride to somewhere in Oregon to pick her up and drive back home. I've been doing it for years but its time has passed.

More stuff to keep me out of the shop. I've a rotator cuff tear, been there for awhile and no clue how it happened, that will be repaired on the 27th of August. Who know how long that will take before I can work in the shop. The blog may get a lot of attention.

Finally something about working wood: I've had a little time to use the new Lie-Nielsen sharpening jig. It's pretty good. good enough that it may change my work flow if the attachments work as well as the basic jig. I expect I will continue to freehand the quick touchup hone while working but I can see at the end of the day, before putting the chisel or plane back in the rack, using the jig to re-establish the bevel.

See you folks on down the road,

ken

Lie-Nielsen Sharpening Jig

Ok, I admit I'm a sucker for any shiny new gizmo that comes down the pike. Lie-Nielsen has updated the old Eclipse sharpening jig and I had to have one.

I expect I will continue to freehand sharpen 90% of the time but I can see once the mortise chisel attachment is available I could use the LN jig for my pig stickers. It should also be useful for keeping the bevels flat on the Japanese chisels.

We will see once the attachments are released, or it could end up in the black hole of unused sharpening jigs....Happened more than once before.

Anyway it, the Lie-Nielsen jig, arrived a couple of days ago and here are a few photos of it with a couple of residents of the black hole of tools and one of the Lie-Nielsen set for use.

From left to right: Eclipse clone, Lie-Nielsen, Eclipse.

Same but wheel side.

With a Japanese paring chisel set for a 25 degree bevel.

Sharpening Bench

Ralph of The Accidental Woodworker blog is building a sharpening bench. I have to say his looks a heck of a lot better than mine. It should, mine is on a work bench that has been around for almost 50 years and has been repurposed many times. But whatever in its current form it works very well.

Because as far as sharpening goes I have round heels. I find there is no "right" way, some needs and tools demand water stones or diamond, others oil stones or ceramic stones. In addition with all things being equal, they never are, I prefer natural stones to man made. 

Going from left to right is a Shapton water pond with glass stone holder, expensive but works very well to both hold the stone and contain the mess. In the middle is some storage and the strop. The strop and the shop made stone holder are held in place by mounted battens (screwed to the bench top). The right end is for my oil, diamond and ceramic stones. All use the shop made stone holder and the battens are placed so the stone holder can be used either vertical or horizontal.

Hanging from the bench on the left is a angle setting jig. the front is used to hang some of the most used strops as is the right end. Above, that you can't see, is a wall cabinet that the paper towel rack is attached to and is used to store misc. sharpening gear.

The bench sits about a meter off the left (working) end of the main work bench. I've been down many sharpening roads, this has been the best so far. If I were to make any changes to the bench it will be to swap ends, put the oil stone area on the left and the water on the right because about 80% of my sharpening is on the oil stones and the left end is nearer to the main work bench.

On The Road

We are in Houston so MsBubba can babysit the new and only grandkid. Me, I'm just here to drive the truck. I'll head back to Tucson Sunday or Monday for nine straight sitting in a black box. Then the last week of July it is back on the road to the PNW.

Long way to; Not a lot of shop time for a couple of months. So many projects so little time.

Ken

Some New Rust

I'm not much of a rust hunter anymore, I figure I'd rather work wood than speng my time re-habing old tools. But sometimes a box of rust calls my name too sweetly to resist.  The local Woodcraft had a box of planes a guy had dropped off, he wanted to sell the lot. I made an offer even though the only one of the bunch I wanted was the type 9 #41/2.

BTW, all the planes except the #91/2 were in very good condition and you could tell from how they were sharpened used by a worker that knew how to sharpen.

I'm on the road with just a iPad and not a clue how to post a photo. Will maybe post one later.

Juneteenth

I've posted before on the importance of this date and how as a nation it should have a place along side the 4th. This year's Juneteenth is a sad day showing just how far we have to go to meet the ideal of who we are.

We had a chance of removing this cancer in the 60's but it was given a home and allowed to thrive. May Nixon's soul burn in Hell. Damn sometimes I wish I believed.

If There Were a Purgatory......

The bottom level would have you installing tile for eternity.

I spent the weekend being MsBubba's gofer and tile cutter as she finished installing the sitting room tile. I had the easy job, at least most of my day was spent upright not on my hands and knees.

The good news is this is the last major project. We brought this house five years ago knowing that while the house was solid it needed major updating but felt it would be worth the effort because of the land the house is on. It is close to both our work places (less than fifteen minutes) very close to downtown yet peaceful and quiet with total privacy and a great view from our back garden of the valley and the Santa Catalina Mountains to the Northeast with the Tucson mountains to the West.


The view to the Northeast:

Not as good a photo but its what I have. The view of the Tucsons to the west:

There have been times over the last few years I've questioned that decision.

Bottom line....every room in the house has had a major redo, the sitting room is the last.....No mas, no mas. Well except maybe I'll have time to spiff up the shop. Everything in the shop with the exception of my work benches was either pocket hole built or repurposed junk cabinets pulled out of the house. It is time to make the Taj Mahshop.

But in the meantime, because I can't sleep, I think I'll go sharpen some iron or maybe make a little box.  Of course Sam the Wonder Dog has other ideas, I think they involve treats or maybe just an ear scratch.

My Part of Vanity Build Is Finished

Title says it all. Done, the fat lady is singing, I've put the kickstand down, whatever, the vanity is installed and finished. MsBubba is going to install a Mexican tile splash guard once she finishes doing the sitting room tile but my part is done.

The base is Cherry, top is Walnut, drawer boxes are Soft Maple with Spalted Sycamore fronts. All finished with BLO based finishes.

On to making a hanging wall cabinet.

See you folks on down the road.

Damn The Plumbing Kicked My Ass

The headline says it all. After two days and I'd guess $200USD the plumbing is finished. BTW, I missed the estimated number of trips to Ace and Home Depot by at least a dozen. In the end I did it the way I wanted to from the get go, using PVC instead of the crap they sell for sink install. PVC is cheaper (less than $20USD for the whole install), easier, and with no slip joints there is zero chance for leaks.

Some day I will learn.

On to making drawer fronts and a small wall cabinet.

Installed

It's done. The bath vanity is out of the shop. There is still a bit of work to finish, I'd guess about three more trips to the woodstore/Home Depot worth of work. It needs the plumbing hooked up, drawer faces made and fitted. I still haven't settled on pulls, do I make 'em or buy some ready mades. MsBubba will install a tile splash guard and I need to make or buy a mirror and build a wall hung cabinet. Whatever it is damn good to get the vanity out of the shop.

Casa Chaos is living up to its name, currently the gas company is digging up and replacing the gas lines to the house. It has been going on for most of two weeks with big ditches in both the front and back and piles of dirt every where.

Before I could finish the bath, MsBubba decides to refinish and paint the hall along with change the dining room to a sitting room. So out goes the carpet and tile and of course the "popcorn" ceiling has to come down (the house was built in the 70's, may the inventor of popcorn ceilings roast in hell, if there is a hell) and the paint buckets come out to play. I feel like I'm living in a war zone.

Here's MsBubba kinda beavering away, I call it "Still Life with DeWalt".

Vanity In The Short Rows

After the disaster of the composite top I dug out some Walnut and glued it up. Out of the clamps it is flat with no wind so clean up shouldn't take long.

I finally broke down and let a Festool track saw of my very own follow me home from the wood store. I'd been borrowing their demo unit for a couple of years every time I needed to cut a table top to size....It was time to step up and do the right thing.

Here is the Walnut slab on my bench with the vanity base in the background:

I don't know if I had mentioned before that I decided on metal runners because it is going into a bathroom. They are ugly as granny panties but they work well no matter what the case does. 

The bath is painted and tiled, the vessel sink is waiting in a box, all that is left is to fit the slab and make a couple of drawer fronts. It will be good to call this one finished.

As posted yesterday I received a new Bad Axe saw in the mail. I had thought my saw collection was complete until Mark came up with this one. It hits all my dovetail "log into PayPal" hot spots, a narrow 12" saw plate, with an aggressive tooth filing, a open tote, and just enough bling to put a smile on my face with every glance.  

Anyway here is its glamor shot:

It saws true and fast. I expect the other dovetail saws will gather a lot of dust.

A quickie, More Tomorrow

It has been a strange week or two. I ended up in the ER last week because of atrial fibrillation. It's not bad but it has caused times of zero energy. Long story somewhat short, pills and more pills, some of 'em inhibit clotting. Which make my normal "If I'm not bleeding I'm not working" even bloodier. I tried to fill my shoes with blood this morning after dropping the bath vanity top on my shins.

BTW, the bath room re-do is almost completed, the vanity top is in glue up, the tile is down, the room is painted and just waiting for me to finish the vanity.  Maybe finished in a couple or three days.

The mail man left a couple of nice things today...A new dovetail saw from Bad Axe and a name stamp from Finest Engraving LLC. I've wanted a name stamp for awhile, they are not easy to find.

Here is a photo of both the stamp and the new saw.

More in a post when I have some time,

ken

Bath Vanity Update

The day job has been taking most of my time so progress on the bath vanity is slow. I looked at using a wood top and tried several finishes but all but the Applebee's bar finish water spotted. It's a shame but it is what it is....ordered an Ebony composite top for the base, it should look OK.

I've made the boxes for the drawers, used Soft Maple.  It has been awhile since my last use of Soft Maple, I forgot how nice it is to work.

Here is the set up for cleaning up the drawer boxes:

And the box cleaned up:

 

First Coat Of Oil ON The Bath Vanity

The Bath Vanity base is complete, just needs finishing. I put the first coat of BLO on this AM and will let it set for a day or two before following with Tried & True.

The drawer boxes and the top are next. I expect in spite of what the boss lady wants I'll take my chances and make the top out of South American Walnut. South American Walnut is a little soft but with an oil finish turns almost Ebony black with a brownish under tone. It should like very nice with the Cherry as the Cherry darkens with age.

Drawer boxes, meh, as I looked for the wood to make 'em last night the hunk I need is buried near the bottom of the middle stack. At least that is the 4/4 stack and not the 8/4 stack. Still my energy and back both said no mas, no mas last night and weren't any happier with the thought of digging for it this morning.

Let's see I need a trip to the wood store for the South American Walnut, since I'm there might as well add a nice 4/4 drawer stock board as well.

Here is the back of the Bath Vanity base:

And the front:

Tenon Buttons

I usually attach the top to the base via mortices and tenon buttons. I expect most have their own way of making the buttons but here is mine....if you think your way is better please do not let me keep doing it the hard way.

I usually use a 3/8 chisel to chop the mortises which means a 9mm tenon is just about right. I like Oak for the buttons because it splits easily and a 19mm thick piece of Oak works well. I'll cut the Oak into 70mm X 30mm strips. that gives me two buttons per strip.

First step is to mark two lines near the center the length of the tenon part, carry one line to the top face and the other to the bottom face.

Then on each side mark a line near the center, none of the lines need be exact:

Saw from each of the face lines stopping at the center line on the side, then supporting one end on something give it a good whack:

repeat as often as necessary for the number of buttons needed plus I always do a few extra:

These are for attaching the top to the bath vanity, I will be needing them soon.

Bath Vanity

The Bath vanity base is in the short rows. I've some mortises to chop, the ones for the bottom shelf slats and for the top's button mortises. Should only take a couple of hours to do the chopping.  I know it's weird, but for some reason I enjoy chopping mortises. Once all the remaining mortises are finished I will shape the legs, clean everything up and then draw bore and glue that sucker together.

I'm still undecided on the top and the drawer fronts. I'm leaning toward a dark top, MsBubba might object if asked, this may be one of those do then beg forgiveness times. I'm guessing I'll go safe and just use Cherry for the drawers.

It's been nice having several days off in a row....stuff gets done.

Mickey's Bench

Around the first of the year a work friend asked if I would help him make a work bench. Sure no problem so off we go to Home Depot for a couple hundred board feet of construction grade DF. We stickered it, and covered it, and let it set as long as he could stand (a couple of weeks) before ripping the 2X12's down to working size. Then I explained it needed to set awhile to finish the major part of its stupid wood tricks after ripping.

After a couple of weeks he couldn't wait and we started truing and sizing the lumber. that's when one of his old heart problems flared up and he ended up in the hospital. Everything was put on hold for several weeks. This pattern repeated itself several times over the next months.

I'll cut to the chase: today we stood the bench up. He still needs to install his vises, drill some dog holes and trim the ends but he has a working bench. What should have been a couple of weeks job once the wood settled down ended up taking four months.

It's as ugly as granny panties with tons of mistakes because I would tell him what needed to be done and maybe show the procedure then leave it to him to do it. But as said many times during the build: "It's a work bench". That's the bad news, the good is: It is strong and solid. It sets on the ground with no rocking, the base is within a couple of mm of being square, the slab has no twist and is flat enough. It will make a hell of a good first work bench, a lot better than my first one.

A photo of Mickey with the completed base: