Spring Has Sprung and Passed On To Summer

I can't let Bob and Ralph have the last word on Spring, Ours hung around for a week or so and now we are into early Summer. The good part of Summer with hot days, cool nights and RHs in the single digits.

From watching The English Woodworker's videos I picked up a new tool. He sharpens a chisel with a 80 degree or so bevel turning it into a scraper chisel. All I can say is I wish I had know about doing that years ago.

I'm making a panel lid for the peanut's toy box and I can't express how much easier it is to fine tune the tenons to fit using the scraper chisel. I saw to fit and usually get pretty close but most of the time small adjustments are needed on some or all the tenons. Just like a scraper on a panel the scraper chisel takes off fine shavings leaving a great surface. Not that anyone will see them.

This will be a short post, Sam the Wonder Dog has decided I'm his pull toy this morning and when 110 lbs of dog pulls on your sleeve it's hard to ignore.  

Working on Toy Box Lid

I had a couple of hours in the shop today. Some of the time was spent playing with different stones and different types of cutters. Only a sick puppy would do such a thing for fun....What can I say.

The results are always the same, oil stones and a strop will sharpen simple high carbon steel as well as any other system. It might not be as shiny and may even be a little slower time on the stones but when you add in the time prepping water stones it is a no brainer. I will not mention the water stone mess. The only system that give oil stones a run are the Spyderco stones.

In between sharpening I worked on the peanut's toy box lid. Rough dimensioning the center panel and the stiles and rails along with plowing the grove to hold the center panel.

Progress will be slow this coming week, no days off until after the 1st.

ken

Have I told you lately

How much I dislike thick irons in planes? I have a LN #51 Shooting plane. It is a very good shooting plane and I was fortunate enough to have a O1 cutter in it. The other good thing about it is it doesn't need sharpening often and it needs a straight edge. If it did need sharpening more than every once in awhile I think I would pay someone to take it away. I can't imagine what it would be like keeping a A2 cutter sharp for the #51.

What brought this rant on was of course needing to sharpen the 51's iron last night. Even with a CBN wheel on the Tormek setting the primary bevel took forever. Damn there can be a lot of steel to remove. I had waited too long and didn't grind pass the wear bevel, so removing the burr didn't happen, I had to either go back and grind some more on the primary bevel or work some on the back. I decided to work the back then go back to the stones to redo the secondary bevel. Once that was done the burr came off with just a "pull" on the finish stone.

What should have been a 5 minute or less job, ended up taking most of an hour.

Now for the crazy guy yelling at you:

LV and Hock irons are "thick" as well but still much thinner than LN irons. The LN planes are a marvel of workmanship but I find I use them less and less just because of the thick irons. They are hard to shape and sharpen. LV and Hock iron can be used in LN planes but to do so requires modifying the adjustment prong and even though they are thinner they are still "thick" and harder to shape and sharpen. I would love to love the LV planes, I have one of the old style and one of the new style and they are both very nice planes but....there is that damn but....I have never mastered the iron adjustment, it just doesn't work for me, I have to remove my hand from the tote to adjust depth making it hard to do on the fly.

What I would like is a lite Bailey plane made to LN or LV standards with a modern but thin O1 cutter. I would pay the note to tote and I expect others would as well. Hell I'd be happy with just someone making good thin O1 replacement irons for Stanley planes. The best I've found are from Tools from Japan but they are not available in all sizes.

OK the meds are starting to work, I'll go back to the shop and shut up for now.

ken

New Shooting Board

The FedEx guy (not as good looking as the UPS girl) dropped off my new Evenfall Studios shooting board. While I haven't used it yet it looks to be first class. Rob was running a little behind on delivery because of illness in his family. Being the stand up guy that he is he upgraded my shooting board for no additional cost.

I haven't put it to use but here is a photo of the EvenFall next to my old shop made one:

Things change. I started this box to hold the charcoal grill for transport in the motorhome. And as usual I got a little carried away with the design and I've overbuild for intended use. As I looked at it I realized it was the perfect size to fit at the end of a twin bed and also close to the right height for a 3 to 5 year old boy to sit on.  Hummm....The grandpeanut will soon be 3 and he needs a toy box or at least gramps thinks he does. Anyway here it is with the lid, clean up, and paint left to go.

We are driving the motorhome to spend the weekend with the girl child, hubby, and the peanut in Balmorhea, TX the second week in May. I should have it ready to carry with us.

ken

'03 Dodge Truck

It may be time to sell my '03 Dodge Ram 2500 with the Cummings diesel. There is nothing wrong with the truck other than normal wear from 14 years of being a hard working truck. The reason I'm thinking of selling is with the motorhome I'm no longer pulling RV's and while the truck is set up to be a toad it really isn't needed and MsBubba's RAV4 would make a better toad. That's cold logic. But sometimes life isn't just about facts and reason.

Back in '03 my corporate flying job of the previous 20 years had gone south and I was flying LearJets for an Air Ambulance company and bemoaning my fate. That is until one morning I awoke to the realization I was having fun for the first time in ages and at the same time doing good. That the folks in the back, patients, family or medical crew had an appreciation for what the flight crew up front was doing.   

I was no longer worrying about finding a Wall Street Journal in Liberal KS before an early morning flight, or being sure the F.O. had picked up fresh milk for the coffee and not creamer or half and half. And of course the worse offense was if the FBO sent a "Limo" instead of a "Towncar" to meet the aircraft on landing. Working your way through, around, and over a line of Thunderstorms that stretched from Houston to Chicago and getting them to their meeting on time without sloshing or spilling their coffee with the fresh milk all over their Wall Street Journal was just expected but never forget the fresh milk. 

Enough of that, on to the story of the '03 Dodge Ram. I had dropped by the airport office to talk to Travis about the next day's flight, he mentioned that a new flight nurse would be working the back with him and Arturo would be my F.O.. A small digression, at the time I had been single for some time, working with The Houston Center for Photography and on its board of directors, and I had a few friends "with benefits" along with my flying job. In other words having a really good life in a wonderful city to be single in.

While Travis was talking in walked the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was in the B&C flight uniform of black pants and a red pullover with the Air Ambulance logo, topping it all was this wild mop of curly blonde hair. Travis introduced us and said Pat would be flying with us tomorrow. On the next day's flight there wasn't much time to visit but we, Pat and I, did get a few moments to talk. We had a few more flights together, on each I could see how wonderfully kind and caring Pat was with the family and patient. It went along this way for a month or so. Most of the flights for B&C Aviation were out and backs with only an occasional RON (remain overnight). The average flight would have a little time for the crew to visit while waiting for the ambulance to deliver the patient and family but not a lot. 

We had a flight to Reno to pick up a patient for delivery to Florida, he was going home to die. Because of duty time limits we had to position the Lear in Reno the night before and get our required "Rest" before flying from Reno to Florida. The crew was the same as the first flight Pat and I did together, Travis in back with Pat and Arturo up front with me.  In Reno we had a normal “crew dinner” afterwards Pat and I walked around the hotel and casino getting to know each other. Our good night at her room’s door was a little awkward.

Once back in Houston we talked a couple of times and finally made a date for dinner. At the time I had a Chevy Work Truck, a great truck but a little noisy. Driving to dinner and home I couldn’t understand a word Pat said, the noise from the truck, my years of sitting between airplane engines, Pat’s soft voice and Scottish accent made understanding what she said impossible.  What to do, what to do…..My usual answer, throw money at the problem. The next day I went truck shopping and came home with the Dodge.

A long way around to why I’m having a hard time selling the Dodge, it has been too much of our life together. It moved us from Houston to McMinnville and to Tucson. It has pulled our pull behinds and 5^th wheels all over the West. It will be like losing a good and faithful friend. Without the Dodge there may have never been a MsBubba.

 

  

Thoughts On The Shop and Sharpening

Small changes to the shop can make big differences in functionality. One of the greatest has been lowering the secondary bench and moving it off the wall into a central location in front of the main work bench. Several other changes have helped as well, the major one was moving the Moxon vise off what is now my planing and assembly bench to the back side of the main bench. All the changes effectively give much more room to work and things are set up for minimum monkey motion.

Here is a photo of the current set up:

Click it to big it.

That is a new pine box on the assembly bench, this has been the first use of pine in ages. I had forgotten how pleasant it is to work. 

The sharpening bench is off the left end of the main bench, convenient to both benches. Speaking of sharpening, Ralph over at "The Accidental Woodworker" has been exploring some sharpening issues and I have been  kibitzing from the sidelines. That of course has me thinking about sharpening, it doesn't take much because I'm one of those weird ducks that enjoys the process and sharpens to relax and for enjoyment. It takes all kinds, what can I say. 

First I think what got Ralph started was watching the sharpening series The English Woodworker is publishing. If you have any interest in having sharp tools the videos are some of the best I've seen. That could be because Richard validates all the things I've learned and/or suspected over many years and lots of money spent on stones and gear. 

For what is worth here are my thoughts: If you are physically able, freehand sharpening is easier, quicker and better than using a jig. If you must use a jig a grinder to set the primary bevel is a near necessity and then the jig can set the secondary bevel. All of this is unnecessary work for an edge that is not as strong nor as flexible in use as free handing and requires frequent returns to the grinder. 

Free hand is so quick and easy my irons are never dull, a short step to the sharpening bench a couple or three strokes on the stones and/or the strop and I'm back to work. There is never a backlog of irons that need sharpening.

Any stone that removes metal can give a sharp edge but the quality of that sharp edge depends greatly on the scratch pattern....how deep and how random. Shine doesn't mean shit, you can have an iron that will blind you with shine and it can't cut warm butter.

Natural stones, Arkansas oil or Japanese water will give superior scratch patterns, random and with rounded walls while man made and diamond stones leave steep walls and ordered scratch patterns. 

A strop will strengthen the edge as well as leave a polish.

I currently use a two stone system for day to day sharpening. A course (med. India or Washita) and a fine Arkansas (Translucent or Hard Black) along with a leather strop. It doesn't happen often but if I want the best edge possible I will go to the Japanese natural water stones.  

And last for now: There is no need to test an edge, if it feels sharp and looks sharp it is sharp. All testing does is begin the dulling of the iron that you worked to sharpen.  

As always with anything wood, YMMV.

See y'all on down the road,

ken  

 

Maggie's Rock

MsBubba, Sam the Wonder Dog, Sweet Maggie Dog and I spent the weekend on Tucson's Beach aka Rocky Point, MX.  As always a great way to get away, Good WX, clear sea, and I even allowed myself a couple of beers with some tacos.

Best of all Maggie found her "rock". Maggie will try to fetch anything that is thrown including rocks. MsBubba was walking along the shore with Maggie and occasionally chunking a rock into the sea. Maggie would chase it, dig at it when found, and then they would repeat the game. This went on for several iterations until on one of them Maggie found her "rock" while digging in the sea for the thrown rock. She dove underwater picked up her "rock" and carried it to MsBubba's feet to be thrown.  After playing this game for awhile MsBubba distracted Maggie and they went on walking along the water's edge leaving Maggie's "rock" under water. When returning, as they approached the area where MsBubba left the rock, Maggie dove underwater and retrieved her "rock" dropping it at MsBubba's feet.

Only one thing to do, bring the rock back to the motorhome and keep it. The rock is now back in Tucson with us, I weighed it this AM and it weighs in at a healthy 10 lbs.

A photo of Maggie and her rock:

More on Shop Changes

I worked on the new bench for several months until I found the perfect slab of Beech for a apron. Here is a photo of the newly added apron turning my bench into what I like to call "my cross Chanel" bench or English/French bench. It works so well when I turned the older bench into a planning bench I added an apron to it as well.

The shop stayed reasonably stable after building the current work bench until I decided to turn the second bench into a planning bench and moved it off the wall to a central location. Here is a photo of the current arrangement. 

Looking South with current bench in foreground and planning bench in background. South of the planning bench arranged close to the door are the machines with the exception of the jointer to the right of the bench and a small lathe in the "tool room" aka Fibber McGee's closet. 

BTW, a sure sign you are too old to live is when folks no longer understand your cultural references. The other day one of the crews I was working with did a near perfect 45 degree bank steep turn, never losing or gaining a foot of altitude. In the old days before "glass" as a sign of respect and acknowledgement of the pilot's skill you would ask the co-pilot to tap the altimeter to see if it was stuck or broken.  I let it slip out and both pilots looked at me like I had two heads, as if to say "what is this old coot talking about, why would we do that".

Damn that was a tasty rabbit....back to the shop. The jointer is to my right and the sharpening bench is to the left, just off the working end of the primary bench. behind the primary bench is the tool chest and on the wall the open tool cabinet, saw and plane tills, and chisel racks. 

Notice the martini centered on the bench, work was over for the day. You can see through the door part of the tool room.

Next job is to cull the herd, of course I've been saying that for several years and it ain't happening. Anytime one tool leaves it is replaced by three. 

ken 

  

Shop Changes

James  over at The Apartment Woodworker started me thinking....I know dangerous when the few remaining brain cells start churning but it is what it is....about how my shop has changed over the years since settling in Tucson. For too many years everything was storied in a friends barn just south of DFW. Once we settled in Tucson and bought a house, I moved what was left of the earlier shop and added the power tools that did not survive the storage years.

Anyway here is an early photo while I was still using my old small work bench:

Even then it was 10 lbs in a 5 lbs bag. Stuff expands to fill available space. 

Next up was building a larger work bench to replace the one that had lived in storage for all those years. BTW, the old bench became my sharpening bench.

This was at the height of the Roubo craze and I fell for the hype. It made a good bench but over the years most of the Roubo things disappeared and I added an apron and lowered it to make a very good and solid planning bench. 

The tool cabinet, saw till, and chisel storage has changed a little over the years but all the original ones are still in use. 

The first appearance of the tool cabinet with Ugly Dude sawing in the foreground:

First appearance of the old work bench as a sharpening bench:

Starting to build the current bench, legs in glue up on the old/current planning bench and part of the slab on saw benches in the foreground:

Enough for one post, more later.

ken

Knew Concepts Saws vs. TFWW 12" Bow Saw

The Knew Concepts' saws are interesting and maybe a slight improvement over traditional fret and coping saws. Being able to turn the blade in the fret saw without using a pair of "dikes" to twist it is a great improvement but in use I find there is little difference between the two. Both use the same blades, both are slow cutting with a short throw. Breaking blades in either isn't a problem with good technique. Of the two, Knew Concepts fret or traditional fret saws, I will pick up the traditional about as often as the Knew Concepts, usually the one first on the turning saw rack is the one that gets the love.  

I do not have a Knew Concepts coping saw so I can't address if it is an improvement over a Olsen coping saw but with a few mods to the Olsen I can get all the tension needed and the blade will not turn unless I make it. With a coping saw the blades are too thick to fit in my dovetail saw kerf, it limits the saws use for removing waste from dovetails and as with the fret saw the throw is too short for efficient sawing. Whatever, the cost difference between the saws (Olsen $13 USD, Knew Concepts $149 USD) would make it difficult to justify the Knew Concepts for so little potential gain.

The jewel of my turning saws is the TFWW 12" Bow Saw. Its blade is almost as thin as a fret saw blade, it has a 12" throw vs. a 5" throw with either a coping or fret saw. The bow saw makes very quick work of sawing dovetail waste, much faster than either a fret or coping saw. Because of its narrow blade it is almost as easy to turn as a fret saw and much easier than a coping saw. At $169 USD vs. $95 USD for the Knew Concepts coping saw or $149 USD for the Aluminum fret saw the 12" bow saw is a better saw for little more money and is a bargain compared to the Titanium ones.

As always with anything wood....YMMV.

Much thanks to   Ralph over at The Accidental Woodworker for a very nice surprise package in today's delivery. I'm still speechless, once I recover I will post photos. Thanks Ralph, you shouldn't have but I thank you. BTW, the box is beautiful.

ken

Houston, TX

I've some PTO to burn before August, I figure at least one long weekend a month is the best use. This last weekend I used four of 'em. We had planned to go to Mexico, as we were loading the critters MsBubba said "let's go to Houston instead, you have been talking about seeing the Grandpeanut". Worked for me.

It was a good trip, I've always maintained with a large enough fuel tank I could solve the Grand Unification Problem. The motorhome only holds ninety gallons of diesel so the GUP will have to wait but some others were thought through, mostly what I'm going to do once I grow up.

BTW, a motorhome is the only way to travel, only one needed fuel stop from Tucson to Houston but many quick "rest stops" and not once in a public head. Food delivered when needed, coffee on demand, and once night fell pop into a parking area for a couple of drinks, a good dinner, and a night's rest in your own bed. It doesn't get better.

MsBubba walking the Galveston beach:

I'm working with some White Pine building a couple of large boxes, one I expect will end up being a traveling tool box. The other I haven't a clue because I think it will end up a silly little mm too short for its intended use. The older I get the more brain farts I have. This time I didn't allow for the thickness of the pin board. About as dumb as it gets and of course I've never done that before...anyone want to buy a bridge?

I haven't worked a softwood in ages, I must say it is interesting with the difference in feel and ease of working. Maybe some photos later.

Video five of The English Woodworker's sharpening series is up. Even if you think you know everything there is to know about sharpening iron I'll bet you could pick up some new tidbit from Richard's presentation....He is that good.

ken

Texas Land

Back in the day to finance the railroad the U.S. government gave the railroads government land (land taken from the Native Americans) on either side of the railroad right of way to sell as a means of raising money to build the road ways. My Grandparents purchased the family farm from the T&P Railroad around the turn of the Century.  They raised 6 kids sending all to college while farming a West Texas dirt farm. My guess it was tough. My Grandmother also raised me until I was old enough to go off to boarding school in San Antonio. Over the years I lost touch with the family for reasons. BTW, I will get to the chase.

A couple of days ago I received a phone call from an investor who offered me a sum of money to buy my share of the farm that I did not know I owned. Of course he was trying to "steal" it. After a couple of days on the phone trying to pin down ownership, it is looking like I may own 90 acres of West Texas. It gets even stranger: My clients this week were present when I received the call about the farm. One of the client's son is a "Land Man". For those of you not from the oil patch, a Land Man is an employee of drilling/oil companies whose job is to buy mineral rights and drilling permits from land owners.

Bottom line: He, the Land Man, is nailing down ownership and will buy the mineral rights if I still own them. He said there is good activity in the area and the property may have some value. That could be the best of all worlds, mineral rights go for about the same per acre as the land price. If everything works out I will keep the land and lease it to one of the local farmers and sell the mineral rights. Could be a nice unexpected chunk of change in my pocket and a good monthly income to help with retirement.

I'm not headed to the Chevy dealer to order my new diesel truck yet but it will be a nice surprise if it does work out.

On a totally unrelated note. MsBubba called me this morning in a panic, one of her friends said there were many house break-ins happening in our part of town and she is worried we do not have enough insurance to cover my shop and the contents of the house. The only answer is "yes Dear I will call State Farm about the house coverage". In line with the call she wanted an inventory of the shop, as she put it "what it really cost, not what you tell me it cost". The old gal is pretty sharp :-). The good news, we have $250,000 USD house hold goods coverage and a very generous accounting of replacement cost for everything in the shop is only around $60,000 USD and I want to see the thief that can pick up almost 2 tons of pig iron and run with it.  BTW, I've got to go out and buy more tools because MsBubba guessed there were more than $100,000 USD of tools in the shop, I've $40,000 to go because I sure do not want to disappoint the boss.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

Texas Red

For every Texan worth his salt there are two truths: The only "real" BBQ comes from Texas and the best is __________ (fill in the blank) and they personally make the best Chili to be found anywhere.

What started me down this road today was making a pot of Chili this morning. BTW, Chili does not have beans or tomatoes in it, if it does it is bean or tomato soup. A proper bowel of red will have sliced and cubed beef not ground beef and never pork, turkey, or whatever other abomination non Texan and, I have to admit, even some so called Texans call Chili. In addition to beef, a mix of dried chili peppers. I like to use 3/4 Ancho, 1/4 Hatch, and 1/4 Chipotle peppers, a little Cumin and garlic with just enough water to process the peppers for the sauce. Add salt to taste, cook until the meat starts to "tender" stir in a small hand full of Masa de Maiz to thicken and simmer another 5 or 10 minutes. Serve with Saltine crackers, a big slice of onion, and some cheese on the the side. Close to heaven if there is one. Only beans and cornbread or BBQ from Luling City Market (I filled in the blank) come close to being as good.

One more thing to add, buy the toughest, cheapest meat in the market. The good stuff just falls apart and has no flavor. If done correctly the only water you need will come from the chili sauce. The reason for the chili selection is the Ancho are the major flavor, Hatch adds the heat, and the Chipotle peppers bring a wonderful smoky note. You can use nothing but Anchos and your Chili will be very good.

Paid off the mortgage today, Truck will follow in a few months. If anyone other than Trump, even another Republican, was in the White House I would retire....for now it ain't going to happen. Up until Shrub I alway maintained the President really couldn't do too much damage, the checks and balances were such they could constrain even the worst actors. Shrub proved that wrong, Trump scares me.

See you on down the road,

ken    

The English Woodworker

Richard Maguire has started an new video series on sharpening. Richard is a good teacher and is very entertaining to watch. In addition the first two videos validate my way of sharpening :-), so they must be good.

You can find the the videos on Richard's blog.

This and That

As sweet as the Japanese saws cut there is a deal killer to their use, the kerf is too damn narrow. I didn't realize how narrow it is until I tried to saw some dovetails. I've several "turning" saws, bow, coping, and fret, I use to saw out the bulk of waste on both the tail board and the pin board. None will fit in the Japanese saw's kerf.

My deep thought for the day: Why do we spend so little time talking and/or writing about sawing? I know planes are sexy and chisels are macho but saw skill is the base skill of woodworking, if you can saw, everything else falls into place. What the heck, I guess it is more fun to debate oil vs. water or Stanley vs. LN vs. LV.

Speaking of Stanley vs. everything else: I finally got around to changing all my user Stanley planes back to OEM irons and cap irons. Of course the biggest problem is finding usable OEM irons and chip breakers. The OEM irons and chip breakers make for a much nicer plane. The weight difference is very noticeable and the irons are easier to sharpen. It could be my imagination but I also think the OEM cap iron does a better job of chip breaking and ejecting than the aftermarket ones. The only downside to the Stanley cap iron is it does take a little fiddling to get it to work well.

Other things you don't learn in school, Last week I had the motorhome in the shop for some minor work. While there the shop allowed the "house" batteries to run down. That's a long pointless story as well, someone stole my surge protector through the fence of the maintenance shop and left the shore power disconnected which in turn allowed the house batteries to discharge. Anyway on to the original story, we do not have TV in the house, only in the motorhome and there was a program I wanted to watch last night. When I went to watch, the satellite was tits up, all I could get was the set up screen. After a call to tech support and 30 minutes or so of fiddling all returned to normal. I don't know this for sure but I'll bet the satellite box draws a small current to keep the box's memory chip working.

It was over 90F day before yesterday, there may be another cold front or two before Summer but Winter is over. Every Winter I keep threatening to move farther south but I'm just about as far south as you can go without moving back to Texas or to Mexico. Whatever the "sweats" are off and it is shorts and T's for another 9 months.

What is it with people, I have a box of motorcycle gear to get rid of. It is a great mystery box with lots of high end stuff.  My best guess is close to $5000 USD of motorcycle boots, electric heated pants, gloves, and jackets, helmets, motorcycle covers, and so on. Almost any one item, even used, is worth the $200 USD I'm asking for the whole box and I'm very clearly stating that, "I'll sell you anything in the box for $200 but you must take the whole box". I haven't put it on Craig's list yet but have told a few "friends" about it. The response: "I don't want the helmets, could you give me a list of the heated gear" or "I just want the Sidi "On Roads" how much for them".  My answer to both is the box will go to Goodwill first.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

Japanese Saws....Western Saws

Unlike Ralph over at Accidental Woodworker, I'm not much of a woodworking animal. On days I go to the day job about the most I can hope for is an hour or two farting around in the shop sharpening tools, cleaning, or sometimes making practicing/warm up saw cuts or just shavings with the planes. Not much gets done on work days.

The last week has held to standard, I worked with an Initial Crew all week and a few days the week before. BTW what a great flight crew, both young, both sharp with great flying skills and very good SOPs and CRM. The time spent was a joy but as with all Initial training at the end of each day I'm ragged out as will be the flight crew.

There is a lot to pack into eight days of Simulator time. Many times the pilots will have never flown the aircraft and maybe have never seen this make and model close up. In just over a week of Sim training in addition to a couple of weeks of Ground School we may take a pilot who has never seen the aircraft to their legally sitting in the left front seat with a "green" First Officer and a butt strapped to every seat in back for his/her first takeoff in the real aircraft. Bottom line there is a hell of a lot to master in 32 hours of Simulator time. No matter how good the crew, everybody is drained out by the end.

Damn Bubba that was a long ways around to: The last couple of days I've been playing with some of my saws. With Western saws I have a tendency to drift right if I do not pay attention and have not sawn for awhile. Knowing that I will usually take a couple of practice cuts before doing any sawing where I want a first class cut if I haven't worked for awhile. I also know that I have a couple of saws in the till that will always drift right no matter how much attention or how current I am sawing. With my short attention span this last week I figured I could do a couple of things, sort out the "bad actors" and see if I could tune 'em up so the right drift isn't from the saw and get some practice in as it has been several weeks since I've sawed on a project. BTW I did get the drifting saws straightened out.

While farting around with the Western saws I remembered I had a new Japanese saw that had never been used. I thought "self, this would be a good time to give it a go". I've never really been comfortable using Japanese saws but I keep a couple around for the occasional time they are needed.

That may be changing.

This new "Z" saw cuts very straight, fast, and clean. I'm impressed. At this time I will not say I'm changing to using Japanese saws, I've spent too many years learning to use and maintain Western saws to change but....I expect I will add more and more use of Japanese saws to the mix.

Here is a photo of a mixture of saw kerfs, both Japanese and Western.

 I know....Really exciting. Here is a photo of the back side.

Click 'em to big 'em.

In the photo you can tell which kerf was from a Western saw and which was made by a Japanese saw. All the Western saw kerfs are "fuzzy", the Japanese kerfs are clean.

I've the weekend off, if I can keep out of MsBubba's line of sight I may make something even if it is just a cutting board or small box.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

Pug Mill Table Finished

Title says it all. The table is finished, took longer than expected because of how wet the wood was/is. Anyway I expect it will support the pug mill and I should get a couple of at-a-boys out of it that might last 15 minutes or until I do something dumb, whichever happens first.

The best news is; it is out of the shop and I've cleaned up all the crap that comes with working very wet construction grade DF/mystery wood.

Here it is with the pug mill:

ken

 

Pug Mill Table

MsBubba had a pug mill shipped in a couple of days ago. That sucker is heavy, just under 300 lbs and she wants a table to set in on. As I ran through the options I decided this would be a great chance to prototype a small travel workbench. I wanted something quick to build because I can hear a tapping foot and the "where is my table, the pug mill was delivered yesterday" vibe from 50 feet.

I decided to do a face glue up of the slab and the legs but make everything where no cutting or chopping of joinery is needed. Also because of its intended use I didn't prep any of the 2X4s. The slab cutting and glue up took just under 2 hours. I expect the leg and stretcher cutting and glue up will be about the same.

Bottom line unless there is a major hiccup I should have MsBubba smiling and playing with her new pug mill before the weekend is over.

Here is the slab ready for glue up.

The slab glued up, I'll wait for about 45 minutes before knocking out the leg mortise plugs.

More Chopstick Maker

I cobbled together a chopstick blank jig. The workflow for now is thickness a sheet of wood with the planer followed by cutting out the blanks with the bandsaw. Then plane each blank to size in the blank jig.

It works well and at $3 USD for a pair of blanks vs. free scrap and a little farting around in the shop it is kinda a wash. Need to do a lot of sticks, buy the blanks. Have some nice, right sized scrap, and a little time, make blanks.

Anyway of photo of the blank jig:

MsBubba is a ceramist and I will occasionally throw a pot, she's good, I at best can throw a pot.

As posted before everyone we know has a small box or two and/or several bowls or plates from MsBubba. I've thought for some time we needed to change our stock of gifts and when I saw the Bridge Cities ad for the chopstick maker my thought was sticks and ceramics would be a perfect match. The plans are to make some small rice bowls and sushi plates to give with a pair of chopsticks.

A memo to record:

I have a Chevy truck that is a couple of years old. It had some pending recalls and needed an oil change so I thought: "Bubba why not let the dealer change the oil and take care of the recalls at the same time". Sounded like a plan. The service advisor suggested that the truck was also due for a coolant and transmission fluid change as well. I thought about it for a count or two then what the hell it needs doing and I'm there. The dealer gave me a ride home and I went on with my day while they took care of the truck. I had planned on picking up the truck the next morning but asked the service advisor to call once they finished. Later that afternoon He called, not to tell me the truck was ready but that they had found "water" in the transmission fluid that likely came from a faulty radiator. That was the bad news, the good was I still had a little less than a thousand miles left on the truck's warranty and the transmission and radiator replacement was under warranty. Damn Bubba you dodged a bullet through blind ass luck.

As said before, it is better to be lucky than good.

See you on down the road,

ken  

Chopstick Maker

Awhile ago I ordered a Chopstick Maker from Bridge City Tool Works. The UPS girl dropped it off the other night and I found a couple of minutes free tonight to try it out. It works pretty much as advertised.

When I saw it my thoughts were "what a great gift idea to make hand made chopsticks". Almost everyone I know, and a few I don't, have a small box of one kind or another in addition making a box takes time. I don't mind the time and I have a good number stored around the house but.....

I figured hand made chopsticks would be enough different from boxes plus a little more unique, it was worth a go. Also if it didn't work out then I would get a nice Bridge City apron block plane out of the deal anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it....truth is I'm a sucker for new toys.

On to the story: The first pair I made were from maple blanks and look pretty good for the first go. The kit has enough blanks of different woods to make 10 pair of chopsticks. The question now is: Order more blanks or make the blanks from shop scrap. I'm leaning toward ordering blanks but we will see.

Remember...click it to big it.

The Ebonized box lid finally dried enough to fit:

The same box with the Cherry lid:

I'm not sure which I like better but then it is not my decision.

That is one of the new style ECE Jack planes in the fore ground, it has been in the shop for several months and I figure it should be acclimatized to the desert by now. I put a nice camber on the iron and gave it a go this afternoon. Pretty sweet, it may become my go to Jack, a little smaller than English style Jacks and I really like the horn. As good as a #5 is as a Jack the Stanley is still heavier, the older I get the better small and light becomes.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

MsBubba's Disks

The things we will do for the love of our lives. MsBubba asked the other day "how big a disk can you cut?". My answer was: What kind of disk? What wood? What is it for? What size do you need? I'll bet you know at least one of the answers. "It's for a game for Levi (the grandpeanut) and I don't know".

Bottom line we worked out the size and wood and I cut two dozen 100mm disks out of Baltic Birch ply.

The cutting out wasn't much of a problem but sanding them was kinda a butt scratcher. How to hold a 100mm disk while sanding. Ain't no way to use an RO sander, I tried holding in my palm with a sanding block, ended up with non-skid shelf liner on the bench and a sanding block.

I'm always amazed at the uses for holdfasts. The sanding block is one of those "point of sale" gadgets I'm a sucker for. The good news it is very handy, it holds new or used 5" sanding disks with hook and loop. My guess is it is used for 90% of my hand sanding.

My understanding is the disks will be painted different colors and used in some kind of "matching" game. Whatever, I got my Ataboy for the day.

ken

Marking Gauges

Rob over at Heartwood is doing a very good series on marking gauges. I can't add much other than price doesn't always correlate to functionality.  I've several very beautiful marking gauges that were close to or over $100 USD that are unusable and several very plain and cheap gauges that I use often.

If you haven't, go read Rob's posts, there is a lot good information in the three current posts on marking gauges. About all I have to add are a couple of links to gauges I've found usable and cost effective.

One of the best gauges is a Ryuma screw lock from Tools from Japan that cost around $13 USD. A step up in quality and a little better functionality is also from Tools from Japan, a "Kegaki" double bladed mortise gauge for about $125 USD. The Kegaki is very similar to a Kinshiro gauge which will cost around $320 USD if you can find one for sale. I have both Kagaki and Kinshiro gauges and the biggest difference between them is the Kegaki is machine made where the Kinshiro is truly a work of art.