Started New Travel Bench

Last year's travel bench replaced my old sharpening bench after the PNW trip. It served well on the trip but it is now in use in the shop and not available for travel.

I made a trip to the woodstore yesterday, they had some 12/4 Poplar in stock at a fair price for the desert so it will be the base wood. I also picked up a small piece of 8/4 Poplar for the short cross stretchers.

I rough cut the 8/4 short stretchers yesterday. The 12/4 stock is marked for rough cutting to size for the legs and long stretchers. The woodstore was short on 8/4 Beech for the slab, it will require a return trip.

A photo of the Poplar, even Poplar is a heavy sucker once it gets 12/4 thick.

Here is last year's bench:

ken

Split

Just as I feared, figured, best guessed, I knew it would but did it anyway, the Cherry top split. I don't know if you can see but the top left and bottom right mortises have split almost full length of the top.

Problem is I didn't have any Poplar or other split resistant wood of the correct size in the wood pile and I did have this Cherry cut off. This was a trial build so what the hell, might as well use the Cherry.

The good news is the legs are fine and all I have to do is make another top out of a wood that does not split as easily as Cherry. The other good news is I learned a bit about chair making which bottom line this is about. Baby steps dontcha know.

ken

Shaping Hard Maple Legs

I'm building a staked low stool with a Cherry seat/top and Hard Maple legs. It is my first go at the form so once finished it may never see the light of day.

The boring and reaming of the seat is pretty straight forward or so I think. Once the legs are set we'll see how straight forward it is. I've finished one leg and I'm using it as a pattern for the others. The third leg is about 80% shaped and I will finish shaping the fourth leg before going back to the lathe to do the tenons on the three without tenons.

BTW, shaping Hard Maple is work. Here are a couple of photos the jig/leg holder and shaping of the third leg in progress.

From the front:

From my viewpoint:

The ECE woodie is perfect for this job, light, not too long, easy on the hands and has good iron.

ken

I Will Not Use FedEx As Long As They Support the NRA

The title says it all. I could not look myself in the mirror in the mornings knowing I was supporting a company that funded a political organization providing tools for mass killers no matter how many good folks are members.

Back to woodworking:

Today I'm making legs for a small vernacular stool and have been reminded how much work there is to shaping Maple. Add in I seldom turn, my best guess it has been at least several years since the last time I did a couple of chisel handles, these leg tenons should be fun.

Here is a photo of the leg shaping jig and the mess left from shaping one leg:

A photo of the shaped leg in the lathe so I can form the tenon:

This is a project that may never see the light of day but whatever it should be fun.

ken




 

Home Depot Sucks Pond Water

Not what I wanted to say about Home Depot but.....

As last posted Casa Chaos is without hot water, it still is.

Like a good homeowner and consumer I made the trip to Home Depot with AmEx in hand, talked to the nice guy working the plumbing aisle and after giving the checkout machine a little over $700USD I came home with a big box. On the outside of the big box in big letters was call this number before noon and get the hot water heater installed the same day. Because the box followed me home on Sunday I had to wait to call first thing Monday, which I did before 0800. They gave me, IIRC, a 1400 to 1700 install window. I wouldn't be posting about Home Depot sucks pond water if they made that window.

Slightly after 1700 I call the 800 number about the no show and this is where the sucks pond water starts. In answer to where and when the installer was going to show and why no one had called to inform me was this from what must be the slowest on his feet CS rep in the world, "The installer had to be re-routed". Me, "why has no one called?". CR rep "we were just starting to call". Yep I'm sure that's the case and BTW I won't cum in your mouth either. After a little back and forth the CS rep offered up that "the earliest they could reschedule was Wed. afternoon". I had kept my cool to that point.

While I was on the phone with Lowe's the CS rep called back to say they could fit the install in today between 0800 and 1200.

BTW, all this great service for the privilege of forking over $900USD to these clowns.

I still haven't decided what I will do, stay with HD or start all over with Lowe's. A call to Lowe's this morning will decide.

There I feel better, the meds are starting to kick in and I'm past the going postal stage.....maybe.

ken   

I've the day off from my day job and have finished the kitchen cart project. I'm also waiting for a LV package of love to continue the new project. All this comes down to a lot of iron sharpening and some cleaning of the shop. Most of the sharpening time has been spent on my Marple chisels, someday I may get all of 'em sharp.

A little back story, I've a major jones for pre 1933 marple chisels and gouges and especially for the ones with Boxwood Carver handles. I do have one pre 1933 chisel with a London pattern handle and I expect I will add more when found. I just made a photo for the insurance file so I thought I would share. BTW, I've looked at a bunch bunch of frogs to find these.

From left to right are the gouges, then the pre-1933 chisels followed by the lone London pattern (pre 1933) and then the six post 1933 chisels.

I use my Japanese chisels for most chopping operations and the Marples for most other bench work. I know everyone is different, YMMV and all that other rot but I've yet to find a modern chisel with the steel, balance, and feel of the early Marple chisels. The only ones that come close are those made by Ashley Iles and Sorby.

Casa Chaos is without hot water until sometime after 1400 today. yesterday morning I ran out of hot water during my shower, damn I hate it when that happens. After finishing a lukewarm shower I got down on hands and knees to see what was wrong with the water heater. Yeah right, anything other than lighting the pilot light is out of my wheelhouse. I couldn't get the pilot light to light definitely out of my wheelhouse. Now what do I do. After much butt scratching I looked at the data plate to discover the heater was 15 years old. That simplified things, off to Home Depot with AmEx in hand. Seven hundred USD later I returned home with a gas water heater in my truck bed. It is still not installed, should happen this afternoon with an exchange of another nine hundred USD. The joys of homeownership. 

ken

Shop Floor After A Project

Now that the the kitchen cart is finished it is clean up time. I'd already cleaned the floor after preparing the stock, this is just from the joinery. Still it gets pretty deep.

I swept most of it up, cleaned off the bench tops and put away the tools along with enjoying  my evening whisky. I'm ready to start the next project.

BTW, have I ever mentioned that life is good?

ken

She Has Left The Building

Finished and in Place:

Closer:

I'm glad it is done.

ken

The Fat Lady Enters Stage Left

The cart is close to a done deal. I have to install the drawer pull and maybe add two or so more coats of oil finish. Then after I do a little rubbing on it, that suckers is out of the shop.

The cart's legs are White Oak, aprons, shelves, stretchers, and drawer box are Cherry, the bottom of the drawer is Honey Locust, and the pull is Sepele.

It has been a good build with only mostly minor mistakes and screw ups, most of which only I or another woodworker will see.

Next up are a couple of vernacular chairs and I'll start on a new portable Moravian workbench for this fall's PNW trip.

ken

More Kitchen Cart

This past weekend was a good shop weekend with few interruptions and little need for running the streets. It is amazing how much can be done with several hours of uninterrupted shop time.

The cart is close to finished. All that is left is finishing and installing the drawer. The drawer box is made and awaiting glue once the bottom is finished. The drawer also needs a front and handle/pull of some kind.

My first thought was a Baltic Birch plywood bottom for the drawer but after thinking about the span I decided to go with a solid wood bottom. I found a Honey Locus board that was almost perfect size in the wood pile. Simple cut it in half, glue the two parts together, run a rabbet around it, maybe relieve the thickness a little and I have a bottom. The only problem with the plan is one end of the Honey Locus board had a curve, little wind but it was a little spaghetti like. I'll pull it out of the clamps in a sec and see if it is useable.

The bottom board in clamps with the drawer box:

The other question is what to use for the drawer front. I've a couple of candidates. One is a matching Cherry board and the other is some of the last of my South American Walnut. I expect I'll go safe and use the Cherry but with oil the South American Walnut turns a rich very dark brown. A really pretty wood with a oil finish.

The cart with the first coat of Danish Oil and the two drawer front candidates:

I just pulled the bottom out of the clamps, it has a slight wind but there should be good thickness left after clean up. I believe it is a go.

ken

 

Kitchen Cart Out of Clamps

I just removed the clamps from the kitchen cart, like Ralph will note, it didn't talk to me as they came off. With the exception of one joint, one of the lower (shelf) stretchers, every joint is tight. The lower stretcher joint isn't bad, just not as tight as the others. Stuff happens, I may or may not try to hide it.

One more photo of the unfinished cart:

I had planned on taking some photos of the joints before glue up but no joy. MsBubba was helping and she has a short attention span with all things shop and once the glue up started there was no time for photos.

Ralph and I think Andy asked for some construction detail.

In the above photo you can see some of the joints, click 'em to big 'em. The three aprons have double tenons with a shoulder and a web between the tenons. The front top stretcher is dovetailed and the bottom one has double stub tenons. The bottom stretchers have a single tenon and are grooved to hold the bottom shelf slats. The slats have a tongue to fit the groove and are not glued in.

The mortises were chopped with the trusty 1/2" pig sticker. The tenons were split out and cleaned up with the router plane. Stock prep was by hand with only the reference/show faces finished. In other words pretty conventional construction and also quick and dirty.

I've drawer stock rough sized and a big hunk of Hard Maple for the top still in the truck bed. Once MsBubba is awake I'll prep and make the butcher board top out of the Maple. If I can keep the day off running of the streets under control this sucker should be finished before the weekend is over.

ken.

Lumpy and The Kitchen Cart Glue Up

If your shop doesn't have a "lumpy" get one.

MsBubba helped with the kitchen cart glue up, with out MsBubba and lumpy I would have been in deep do-do.

I had a couple of joints that froze tight and I couldn't get enough clamp pressure on them to pull 'em tight. Lumpy to the rescue, a couple of whacks did the job. This was the first glue up MsBubba has helped with. The look on her face when I first whacked the cart with lumpy was priceless. You could see she thought I'd lost my mind and it was time to call the funny farm.

Anyway here the cart is in clamps. I picked up 17.5 board feet of Hard Maple to make the top tomorrow. a quick drawer, install the wheels and that sucker is done....The fat Lady is warming up back stage.

For The Folks Up In The North Woods :-)

Driving home from work at noon my truck's thermometer read 82F/28C. Not too shabby for the second week in Feb.

I love the desert Southwest even in Aug.

The OF that was going to help with the kitchen cart glue up came down with a bad back yesterday so I'm either going to do it alone or enlist MsBubba. With MsBubba it could be even more fun than with the other OF. I'm not sure I'm brave enough.

ken

Kitchen Cart Ready For Glue Up

I've a couple of really exciting photos for todays post, two views of a pile of sticks waiting for someone to glue 'em together.

The joinery is finished and the kitchen cart is ready for glue up. There are enough parts and the finished cart will be heavy enough I decided to ask a friend over to help in the glue up.

Here are the sticks:

From the other side:

Exciting no?  If you look at the background there's the lath, vac, shave horse, and lumber storage. Big whop.

I really should make a video of the glue up, two deaf, hard headed OF's with bad backs trying to fit together the puzzle before the glue sets. Hilarity should ensue. BTW, my first plan was to use hot hide glue but even though Tucson is warming the open time would be pretty short so I decided to just go with Old Brown glue....that should cut down of the fun factor.

ken 

Planing White Oak

It's magical, the sound and feel of a well set up and sharp iron on wood.

I'm cleaning up the parts of the kitchen cart in preparation for glue up. I'm using one of my favorite planes, a type 9 41/2 with an after market Japanese laminated cutter and a OEM cap iron. It sings on White Oak, it doesn't get much better than the sound and feel of a sharp iron on wood.

The only problem, if it is a problem, one leg between sharpening is about all you can expect. White Oak is pretty tough on the iron. That's the bad news, the good is the Japanese blade is easy and quick to bring back to a perfect singing edge.

ken

Biscuit Joiner and Flat Head Syndrome

If you need to make some quick and dirty sheet good cabinets there isn't a much quicker way than either pocket screws or a biscuit joiner. I've both kinds of cabinets in my shop. I've always felt my shop furniture was there to function, not to show off my skills. And either pocket screws or a biscuit joiner will get you functional cabinets very quickly.

Pocket screws, not the pocket screw system, I use all the time in the shop. They are good self tapping screws. The biscuit joiner is pretty useless and just sits there taking space and collecting dust. At least that was the case before I had my latest bout of flat head syndrome.

A little back story. Up until recently I've always made wood cleats to attach table top to base. They are cheep to make, just a little scrap wood, and I think look good good. Not that anyone other than another woodworker would look at 'em. The only problem with using them is they are a little labor intensive with the making of the cleats and chopping the required mortises. Even that is not a big problem, I'm not a production shop, I build furniture because I enjoy the process but a month or so ago I needed to ship a table with the top off and I was afraid the skill level and knowledge of the receiver might not be up to attaching the top with wood cleats. I remembered "Z" clips do the same thing as the wood cleats and were pretty much a no brainer to install.

I made the required saw kerf with the Table saw and sent the table off with a package of "Z" clips. It must have worked because I received no complaints. The only problem was I wasn't real comfortable with the full length saw kerf down the table's aprons. Now comes the flat head syndrome: Shortly after sending the table off I noticed the biscuit joiner sitting on a high shelf gathering dust and thought "self, why not use the biscuit joiner to make the saw kerf".

Of course I did the usual back patting and fist pumping thinking I was brilliant and had discovered something new. Of course, wrong sawdust breath, as usual I'm the last to know, I've spent most of my life riding in the short bus and this was just one more time.

BTW, a biscuit joiner makes a really quick, easy, and strong way to use "Z" clips for attaching a table top.

ken

Pattern Maker Chisel

I'm making stub tenons/tongues on the bottom shelf slats. It would be worth having a pattern makers chisel for no other use than making a groove for the saws crosscut. Throw in cleaning up the cheeks and shoulders and I don't know how I managed to work so long with out one.

These Sorby's are really sweet, light with a very thin flexible blade and a Boxwood carver handle. The blade is easy to sharpen and holds a good edge. I know I sound like an infomercial and it is easy to spend other people's money but do yourself a favor and get a couple or three from Sorby. I know LV carries them as well as Amazon.

BTW, the kitchen cart is coming along. I've two more slats to finish, cut the grooves for the "Z" hooks to hold the top, clean up the show faces and glue the sucker up.

ken

MsBubba's Kitchen Cart

I'm making progress on the kitchen cart. Most of the joinery is done, I just need to make a couple of grooves in the bottom short stretches to hold the shelf slats and make rabbets in the slats to fit the grooves.

The cart is together so I can measure the slats and determine which and where the rest of the joints need tweaking. Make a Hard Maple glue up top, a drawer, clean up all the show faces, and install the casters before the fat lady sings.

With my schedule for the next couple of weeks it may take a couple or three weeks to finish. Still it is good to have the heavy lifting done.

Some photos, the colors are off, I tweaked 'em as much as I could without really going into the Photoshop weeds BTW, BTDT for years and no longer have the energy or need. The legs are White Oak and the stretchers are Cherry.

Front:

Side:

These colors are close but a little yellow:

As always....Click 'em to big 'em,

ken

 

Changes To West Wall

In my never ending quest to pack 10 lbs of stuff into a 5 lb bag I've made a couple of slight changes to the west wall (right side of main bench) of the shop.

I moved the chisel rack down and to the right to make room for a new plane shelf below the upper plane shelf. Not much of a change but for now it makes enough room to hold the new plow planes as well as a few of the overflow (read unused) metal planes that were stored elsewhere. I expect a couple more plows to show up and maybe a fillester or two. In that case the unused metals will go back to the previous hidey hole.

I've been making storage boxes for some of the lesser used chisels, I don't really like that solution because they become out of sight and never used. The problem is finding wall space for either cabinets or racks. 

I guess the real answer is to sell off a ton of tools and stop buying new ones. And yeah, I get a big picture of that. I did sell close to $600USD of chisels, saws, marking gauges, and planes a couple of weeks ago and it didn't make a dent in the storage problem and about the only thing that will stop the buying is retirement, maybe.

When you fall off the wagon the ground is hard.

ken

I Like Old Tools

I just don't like rehabbing "em. My love of old tools as MsBubba would tell you ain't because I'm cheap nor is it because of some hippy dippy notion of connection to the past. It is simply the fact a good tool from the late 19th to early 20th Century will usually work better than its new replacement. That is not always the case but in general it is a good rule.

If you have ever spent any time looking at Russian aircraft you will see many copies of Western aircraft. Usually poorly executed copies, like the designer saw the Western aircraft several years before he/she put pencil to paper but close enough you can recognize the lineage of the design. I think many modern tools suffer from the same fault. The manufacture makes a tool that looks like one of the old ones and usually makes 'em "better" but missed some of the details that make using the tool a pleasure.

It's not that modern tools are poorly made because most are beautiful works of art but, there that damn but, they miss some of the important details. LN planes are a perfect example if compared to a early 20th Century Bailey pattern plane. The Bailey plane was light so you could use it all day with out tiring. The irons were thin, made of good HC steel and had a good balance between edge retention and ease of sharpening on any available stone. The chip breaker is much better for controlling tear-out than any of the modern back irons. The need for a moveable frog while the iron is in place is selling the sizzle instead of the steak. I'm not picking on LN, they make beautiful planes but I believe they missed the mark in making a working tool. Full disclosure, I own most of the LN planes, all sit gathering dust.

Chisel are the same story, come on, a paring chisel made of A2 steel? You have to be kidding. For that matter any chisel made of A2 is less useful than one made of HC steel and hammer forged. For a hammer forged chisel, for the most part, you have to go back to pre-war chisels or .Japanese chisels. I will not go into balance and feel but hold a pre-war Marples chisel and then hold almost any modern chisel and you will understand.

Joinery planes such as plow, fillester, or rabbet are much the same. The old wood stock ones, if you can find or fix, just work better.

OK enough for now....I'm back on my meds.

ken

Plow Planes

I've been posting about my adventures buying wood plow planes off eBay and a little on fixing  and correcting problems with the plows. There is much happiness in Casa Chaos tonight. The postman left the next to last plow from eBay. I have one more to come next week. Most of the plows no matter the cost have needed some work to function as a user plow. In fact cost and appearance have had little to do with the amount of fiddling needed.

Today's arrival was the exception, it cost a couple of pennies and it is a beautiful plow made by Edmond Carter Troy, N.Y.. Not a clue when but I my best guess is near the turn of the Century, and it came with what I expect were the 8 original cutters made by W. Butcher, Sheffield in a tool roll no less. All I did to the plow was put it together and sharpen one of the irons. It worked perfectly. What a joy a good wood plow is to use.

Not the best photo because of the backlight.

From the front.

And the bottom line, how good is the groove.

This one may replace my beloved Sandusky as my goto plow, at first use it is that good.

ken

It's All Ralph's Fault

As I posted several days ago Ralph over at Accidental Woodworker posted about his Record 44 troubles and I mentioned wood stock plows in a comment. Anyway cut to the chase, I've been obsessed with wood plows since. That inter tool collector I defeated several years ago came back in spades.

Right now I have three new plows to go along with the old work horse Sandusky and three more in transit plus two with bids out that I expect will be mine in a couple of days. That is the bad news, the good is all but two cost about the same or less that the shipping to get 'em to Tucson.

Here are a couple of less that $25 USD + postage plow planes. Both are wedge arm, I guess that makes them cheaper but truth is for some uses I like the wedge arm plows more than screw arm plows. Wedge arms are a little easier and quicker to set but are also easier to knock out of adjustment.

The plow on the left will eventually need one of the arm wedges replaced and it came with an iron that is much thinner than my Marple irons. I adjusted the wedge and the skate to work with the thicker Marple irons and it works like a champ.

The plow on the right needed a little more work. Its wedge didn't fit. I'm sure there may be a plow with a wedge less than 5/8" wide but I haven't seen one. This one's wedge couldn't have been over 1/2" wide. Needless to say it would not secure the iron. It's arm wedges were also funky in one of the wedges wasn't wide enough to wedge and it had a stick to help it hold and the other was not the correct shape for an arm wedge. Bottom line to get the plane to work properly I had to make a new cutter wedge and two new arm wedges. All three wedges were made from some Cherry scraps.

Both planes are now good users.

BTW, one of the plows in transit has a full set of original irons and the other has four irons with it. They cost slightly more than postage to get 'em here :-).


I'm still beavering away on the kitchen cart. The major joinery work is finished except for that needed for the bottom shelf and a single drawer. Both will be reasonably easy. The bottom shelf will use shallow double M/T joints and the drawer a dovetail box with a front. Because the cart will be in the kitchen and who knows what kind of crap will be in the drawer I'll use full extension metal slides on it. 

From the side:

Now it is just finding time to finish.

One more thought: These are some of the best fitting large M/T joints I've made. I think some of it is I've slightly changed how I mark and chop mortises. Instead of trying to chop perfect walls I've started marking the mortise slightly wide and chopping in the middle of the marks. Then placing a wide paring chisel into the marks to finish the mortise walls. Works great, thanks to Joel at TFWW for the suggestion.

ken

An OF's Night of Stories

As I posted the other day I'm doing the initial Sim training for an old friend/crew member and his partner. We finished the training yesterday morning and all they have left to do is the Type Ride Flight Test in a couple of days. Last night we had them over for whisky and hamburgers.

Of course after the hamburgers the whisky led to "there I waz" and "can you believe this idiot I used to fly with" stories while we set around a fire on the patio. Some of the stories included flying a dead Muslim and his family to catch a 747 out of KJFK not too long after 9/11 and riding on a 2X6 plank in the back of a Cushman trike, after midnight, through the jungles of  Columbia, with about $10,000 USD cash in my pocket for 5 or 6 miles to clear customs.  Both times Arturo was as jumpy as the cat in a room of rockers. It was a damn good night and even MsBubba enjoyed the stories, mostly because she figured in many of 'em.

As we were saying our good nights, MsBubba said "There were a lot of stories I've never heard before". After all these years that doesn't happen often, most of the time it is an eye roll and "there he goes again".

ken

Kitchen Cart and Other Things

Slow but some progress being made on the kitchen cart. Work gets in the way of life most of the time. This week is interesting, one of my clients was my F.O. for several years back at the turn of the Century. He, Ms.Bubba, and a Paramedic made up the flight crew for most of the fights durning that time. BTW, it was the best job I had in over 40 years of flying. It didn't pay very much and was long hours but the folks in back needed you and appreciated what you were doing. Not once on any of the med evac flights did I hear a complaint about no WSJ on board or no fresh milk (never cream or half and half) for their coffee. You were flying people in need not privileged assholes.  Sorry for the digression, I loved what I did and it allowed a poor, dumb, West Texas farm boy to see the world. There is no way it could have happened without the privileged assholes.

Anyway back to the kitchen cart. Here's a photo of the top socket for one of the long stretchers. The bottom long stretcher will have a couple of small double M/T joints.

Ralph awoke my inter tool geek with his posts on his Record 44 plow plane.  Curses Ralph :-), you are costing me tons of tool money. For awhile now I've given into a Marples chisel jones which isn't too bad because finding the chisels made during the period I want is a slow process and the cost is low. This one is bad, I'm obsessed with wood stock plows and fillisters. Although for the last buy shipping cost more the the wood stock plow plane. Some of the others I don't want to talk about.

Photos of some of the plows to come later,

ken

Kitchen Cart

MsBubba wants a roll around cart for the kitchen, of course the answer is "yes dear: how big?" Turns out she wanted one to hold most of the small kitchen appliances, with a couple of drawers and a work surface top.

A couple of weeks ago, or maybe more like a month because of the Houston trip, I dug through the wood pile and found a 12/4 hunk of White Oak that was long enough to use for the legs and enough 5/4 Cherry for the upper aprons. I think there is another board or two of the Cherry to make the lower stretchers and shelf. If not, I'll find/buy something.

The project was kinda put on hold for Flu recovery after returning from visiting the Grandpeanut and the kids, but for the last couple of weeks I've been beavering away. At least my version of beavering away, on the cart.

All the upper mortises are chopped and the associated tenons  have been made. The Cherry was well behaved and the tenons split out very easily with only one cheek needing sawing. The last couple of days have been spent fitting tenon to mortise and I'm down the the last mortise/tenon fit when I shut the shop last night.

A couple of photos, not that you can see much other than my usual messy bench and shop.

Marking the tenons:

Fitting tenon and mortise:

Still a way to go. The bottom shelf will be open, a couple of drawers that I expect will be mounted with metal drawer slides, and a glued up Maple top. I think I'm out of Maple so a trip to the wood store is coming up.

My plan once the cart is finished is to build another travel bench for use during next Fall's PNW trip as the last travel bench has morphed into a sharpening bench.

ken

Sam The Shop Dog

Sam the Wonder Dog often becomes Sam the Shop Dog when he wants a rawhide bone. He has learned a sure fire method for getting his bone. First is positioning exactly where I need to stand for what ever process is next, be it working on one end or the other of the bench or sharpening iron. Once in position he will lay down taking as much floor space as possible. Then once I step over him he sits up and gives me the "doggie eye" until the bone is produced. Works every time, the damn dog is smarter than I am.

Here he is enjoying this morning's work:

ken

Paring Chisels

If you want/need a new paring chisel there are not too many options. Sorby, Narex, Blue Spruce and Japanese are about it for new, otherwise it's boot sales and eBay for used ones.

I have not tried chisels made by Blue Spruce because Blue Spruce uses A2 steel for their blades. For my use A2 has two problems in a paring chisel. The first, A2 doesn't fit my sharpening methods and the second problem is not as great but still a problem with paring chisels is A2 working best with bevel angles of greater than 30 degrees. Except for the A2 I expect the Blue Spruce paring chisels are very good.  The blade looks to be very thin and there are a number of handle options. Maybe some day I will try and fall in love but not today.

Narex chisels tend to be bargains with none of their paring chisels over $37 USD when I checked Lee Valley's site.  This is personal preference but Narex handles are big and clunky. I just can't get comfortable holding one. Of course YMMV. The other "problem" with Narex paring chisels is the thickness of the blade, I like/want a thin pattern maker's blade for paring use.

If you like Japanese chisels the "push" chisels from many makers can be very good paring chisels. I have a number of Japanese push chisels and use them often.

The paring chisel that tickles all my chisel G spots are from Robert Sorby. Sorby paring chisels have a wonderful long thin blade like a turn of the last Century pattern maker's chisel and is made of a HC steel that is easy to sharpen and holds a good edge. The boxwood handle is both pleasing to the eye and hand and the chisel has near perfect balance. If you can't tell I really like Sorby paring chisels.

A couple of photos of some of the Sorby chisels with some Japanese push chisels:

We have lost or almost lost a couple of chisel types that I find very useful. The first of course is the paring/pattern maker's and the second is firmer chisels in both bench and paring styles. About the only firmer style bench chisel I can find is made by Narex and no one I know of makes a firmer paring chisel. While I'm glad Narex is making a firmer bench chisel they have the same problem all Narex chisels have, a handle only Shaq could love.

BTW, a roll around kitchen cart/work surface is on the bench. Photos when I get just a little farther along in the build.

ken

Woodcraft Parking Lot Tool Exchange

The tool sell/exchange went very well. I was able to sell close to $600USD of my dust collectors including the Stanley 45. I traded a near complete #3 Bedrock for a Stanley #3 and a pig sticker iron for a 5" throw brace for the only extras that followed me home.

I haven't used the brace yet but I sharpened the #3's cutter, found a replacement leaver cap (the one on it was not correct for type and was chrome plated) that while not correct for type was not shiny and put the #3 to work smoothing some Cherry boards I had just finished truing. It worked like a champ and I expect it will be my goto #3.

I would expect most folks that come to a woodworking tool exchange to have some basic knowledge of woodworking tools. Apparently not so sawdust breath, I can't tell you how many time someone would pick up say, a marking gauge, and ask what it was used for. Of course that gave me a chance to romance the marking gauge and even sell a few. Marking knifes and squares sold very well and the chisels did OK. What surprised me was all but one of the back saws sold.

I would not want to make a habit of doing boot sales but I did get rid of a few dust collectors and had a pretty good time talking to folks.

ken

Wood Stock Plow Planes

The Veritas Small Plow Plane is a very good metal plow but like all metal plows the shavings are ejected on to the fence. It's not a big deal but you have to be aware of the shavings. BTW, our local Woodcraft is having a tool exchange in its parking lot tomorrow. In the background of the first photo are the tools I'm taking to sell. On the right side is a Stanley 45 complete with all the cutters and in the original box. I've been toting that thing around for 40 or so years. It is an example of a not very good metal plow and I'm tired of the toting and the space it takes up. Damn that was a tasty rabbet (bad I know) back to the subject. Wood stock plows eject the shavings onto the work so they do not foul the fence. Like I said the difference isn't or at least shouldn't be a big deal...But it is to me.

Another not a big deal difference between metal and wood is the cutters of the wood plow are easier to sharpen for no other reason than they are longer and bigger. A big deal difference is the depth stop. On most wood plows it is positive and long. In other words it works and with out worry of slipping. The fence tends to be longer and deeper as well and it is more comfortable to pressure against the work piece. You might get the idea I really like wood plows vs. metal plows :-).

The Sandusky plane on the left is one I've had for a number of years and it works very well. The Auburn Tool Company plow on the right is new to me. I didn't need it but damn it sure is pretty, near mint with just a couple of chips in the threads. Did I mention that it sure is pretty.

Best I can tell from a couple of test cuts there is little difference functionally. I expect I will keep one set up with a #4 iron and the other with a #5 and 90% of the time use the one with the needed cutter.

A glamor shot:

A box of mint Jennings bits came with the plane shipment yesterday. What can I say other than I'm a sick puppy.

ken

Back to Photos of Planes

Before the Winter Solstice break and my bout with the Flu I was slowly working through photos of some of my user planes. The last photo posted was of the wood stock smoothing planes that are most used. Today's post will be of some of the joinery planes.

While these planes are not used every day, most will be used on every project. Not included in this photo are the wood stock joinery planes. There is a wood stock plane option for each of the planes other than the router and the match planes. The woodies are used about equally to the others but lately the wood plow has been getting a little more love than the Veritas plow.

I found and ordered a beautiful Auburn Tool Co Rosewood and Boxwood plow today, my late Winter Solstice gift from me. I know, I need another plane of any kind like the well known hole but it is a sickness....My name is ken and I'm a toolaholic... But whatever, it sure is pretty.  Photo when it arrives.

ken

Last Week

Last Week was a tough one, I had the Flu but worse than the Flu was the anger and embarrassment. I can and will recover from the Flu. I doubt I will ever recover from the anger and embarrassment.

ken

On The Road

MsBubba and I are in Houston playing Grandma and Grandpa for the Solstice. It’s 20 hours in the motor home which BTW is the only way to do it. Set the autopilot to 65 mph and relax, 20 hours later hugs and hello.

 Bob, blogger is losing my replies, I wrote two brilliant replies to your comment about the Woodies and it lost both. Go figure, anyway replies will have to wait until we are back in AZ.

Hope all have a safe and happy Solstice Celebration.

Ken

Some of The Woodie Daily Users

I left the wood stock Jack and Scrub planes out of this grouping, no reason other than because. I expect in a later post they along with the wood stock Jointer and Fore plane will share the stage.

The coffin smoother on the left is from Steve Voigt. It is a wonderful plane and the most used of this group. Next to it is an older ECE coffin with a double iron, also a very good smoother. Next is a ECE single iron "Gent's" plane which is a great plane if the wood is well behaved. And the last is a newer ECE listed as a Jack plane, as best I can tell the only difference between it and their smoother is the grind of the iron. It works well and is cheap, a real bargain if you are looking for a smoother/jack plane.

The woodies smoothers get about the same utilization as the metal smoothers. There really is no rhyme or reason one is picked up over the other. They all do the job and are are a pleasure to use, pick one.  

More Smoothers

Today's smoothers are the #4 1/2's. Same story, the LN gets little love for no reason other than it weights too damn much.

It is a shame marketing has convinced the tool buying world that heaver and thicker is better. I know broken record and all that rot.

One of the Stanley's has a Ray Iles cutter the other a Japanese HC laminated iron. Both work very well in older Stanley planes. For now I'm using a Hock cap iron with the Ray Iles iron because good Stanley cap irons are hard to find.

Of the smoothing planes these are the least used, although the one with the Japanese iron is a very sweet working Type 9 and it is becoming my goto plane when I want to put a final finish on a board.

ken

 

More Bench Planes

Moving on to the #4 sized bench planes.

Like the photo of the #5 planes the daily users are on the left, the shelf sitters are on the right. There are more factors than weight differences between the users vs. the others in this group although weight is a factor.

The three users all have different makes of cutters, from left to right is a Hock O-1, a Japanese laminated HC, and a PM-v11. Of the three, the one I'm most attached to is the Record #4 in the middle. The Record was one of the first planes I bought from Garrett-Wade back in the late 70's. Fine Woodworking had been out for a couple of years, I can't remember where I found my first copy but it changed my life.

At that time there were no stores in Houston with quality wood working tools and only one small hardwood seller. All my early tools were ordered from the Garrett-Wade catalog, most I still have and some will star in later posts.

Of the ones I do not use often, two because of weight, the other two because of the Norris adjuster and complexity. For some reason Norris adjusters and I do not work together well. I've really tried to love both of the LV smoothers as they are very nice and well made planes but for whatever reason (Norris adjuster) the chemistry isn't there, they always seem to be doing the Cotton-eyed Joe when I just want to do the Texas Two Step. Which is a shame because they are really nice planes, maybe I'll make another run around around the dance floor with 'em soon.

Bench Planes

In yesterday's post I published photos of the primary tool storage in the shop. Today I will post photos of some of the most used bench planes.

Because I have and use machines for stock prep, planes above #5 sized get little love in day to day work. The metal #6, #7, and #8 are mostly dust collectors. When there is a need for a plane longer than a #5 I will usually reach for one of the wood stock fore or joiner planes. The woodies are a pleasure to use because of the feel of wood on wood and their light weight. Light weight is a recurring theme in my chose of planes for use.

Here is a photo of a number of my #5 planes:

The three on the left are the most used ones. the right three get little to no use and mostly set in the plane till or on one of the shelfs away from the main workbench. The reason the left three are the users mostly comes down to the weight of the planes. The LN and the Wood River are very heavy, the third plane is a Stanley Bedrock. The Bailey design is a better plane than the Bedrock (YMMV).

The three users have different shaped cutters, one with a straight edge and only a slight relief of the corners. The other two have cambered irons, one with what I call a "jack plane" camber and the other about half way between the jack camber and straight. I find the mid camber very useful for squaring the edges of boards. If I were culling the herd the six planes could be replaced with just one with three cutters with little loss of utility.

The three #5 Bailey's are type 13 or older and are the most used planes in the shop. One is a type 9 with a low knob and is my personal favorite. I can not think of a project one or all of them has not touched.

The smoothers tomorrow.

ken

Bench Planes

I'm always looking for an excuse to post photos of the shop. Over on the SMC site one of the posters has given the perfect excuse by requesting posts on the "7" daily user planes.

Because I prep most of my stock with machines I will seldom use seven planes on any single project. So my thought was to post an overview of the shop's tool storage followed by photos of some of the planes grouped by usage. Showing the ones I use along with planes in the same group that are not used for whatever reason.

To start here is the tool storage behind the main workbench:

Storage to the left of the main workbench also over the sharpening bench:

Storage on the right side of the main bench:

The tool chest;

While this is not all the tool storage in the shop, there is still the "tool room" aka known as Fibber McGee's closet. it is the majority of the tools I use daily or on any project. BTW, I've been on a quest for several years to cull the herd with little success.

A look at the individual tool to follow in a later post.

ken

Workbench

I've been reading C.S.'s posts on workbench build personalities on Unplugged Shop. It is funny mostly because I can see bits of myself and/or friends in each of the posts. One of the replies to a C.S.'s post mentioned White's new fangled design workbench.

As it is 0300 here in the desert and I do not have anything better to do, other than get ready to go sit in a black box for four hours, I decided to exercise my google foo and find out about this "new fangled" design. Seems White worked for Fine Woodworking and published plans and an article on his workbench design. It also seems at least some folks build benches based on his plans, there was at least one video.

My only question is: Was the article published in the April issue of Fine Woodworking?

Remember the workbench build mantra: Build it quickly, simple, heavy, and cheap, then go to work making furniture.

BTW, I re-hung the leg vise on the sharpening bench last night so I can play with it before building the new/replacement portable bench. After I make a couple of mods to see if I can make the vise smoother in operation it, the vise chop and screw, will come off the sharpening bench to wait for the new portable bench to be built.

Have I ever mentioned I really enjoy making workbenches or at least I must because I've built so many of 'em. I'm out of room in the shop, back garden, and friends to give 'em to....What to do, what to do?

Shave Horse

I've spent the last couple of days building a shave horse. I've wanted one for years and had almost decided on just whipping out the AmEx and doing it the quick and easy way.

But I had a couple of kinda free days and two DF 12' 2X12's left over from painting the house. I figured even with all the mistakes I'd make following plans, have I ever told you how much I hate following someone else's plans, there would be enough DF to make a shave horse.

I wasn't too far off, there is a lot of scrap and firewood but not much of the DF left. Anyway lots of screwups, do overs, and I don't give a damns it is good enough, in the build. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike working to plans? I thought so.

Whatever, it works like a champ but I expect I'll use it for awhile to see what mods it needs and then build another out of nicer wood.

ken