Working on a Coffee Table

I've been working on a new coffee table. The base is some beech left over from the bench build, I'm not sure of the top but I expect it will be either Walnut or Cherry.

The mortises are chopped, the stretchers are cut to size and tenons sawed. I've fitted one stretcher to the legs, only three more to go. I'm not sure how I will shape the legs but I'm thinking mostly rounding with a curve from the inside to the outside. As of now I expect the top will be semi-floating.

Can you tell I've only a vague concept in mind and designing on the fly. The two goals of the build are bullet proof strong but light in weight and to the eye.

Here's a photo of one of the fitted tenons just because:

The new English style apron is nice. I wish I had added one a long time ago. 

Each bench build over the years has come closer to being the "perfect" bench. This one with the added apron is the best yet. The asymmetrical split top slab is close to optimum size for both the working area and the off area.  Not having a tail, wagon, or twin screw vise frees up the end of the bench and has never been missed. I'm not sure why so many folks bad mouth English metal QR vises. I find they work as well or better than any other vise for most operations and with fewer downsides than other types of vises.  Maybe I'm not as fussy as some. Anyway, the addition of the apron and eliminating the need for a bench jack or deadman has made this bench as close to perfect for me as I expect a bench can be.

Finished

It's finished. My English/Roubo or as I like to call it my "Cross Channel" bench is done.

Now for a couple of cups of coffee while I sit and enjoy looking at it, hell who knows I might even get wild and crazy and even make a shavings or two before the day's over.

Taking a Break

I've had my morning Cardo.  Because of the size of the apron slab I had the wood store give me a true edge with the other rough. The slab was too big to get both edges true with the wood store equipment and I sure as hell didn't want to wrestle it around the table saw or band saw by myself for either edge.
Because of the rough edge I installed the apron with the true edge down and I left the rough edge up with between 1mm to 6mm exposed above the top of the bench. Can you say thank you woodworking gods for the wood stock scrub plane I acquired so many years ago. It was fairly short work with the scrub plane to get it down to needing the #5 with heavy camber and then to the #8 to finish it up. sitting here typing, sweating like a pig, and my body screaming No Mas No Mas, I can say it was "fairly short work" and it was. I just need to do it more often.....the machines will do that to you.

Anyway, the apron is installed all that is left is to drill the dog holes. I've laid out three vertical rows between the legs that will be supplemented by two row of angled holes running from the bottom to the top and I expect I will add a fourth vertical row on the other side of the right leg.

It's Glued

I'd looked at it, thought through the ways of doing the glue-up, figured out how to deal with the cross grain but was going to wait until I had finished work today to make the plunge. I looked at the bench one last time, looked at the clock and thought "what the hell I have time and it will give another 8 hours in the clamps before morning. Just do it". So I did.

I will not know for sure until the clamps come off but best I can tell everything went well, it is square and the glue lines look tight.

Clamps come off first thing in the AM, then Spaz screw the apron to the legs, joint the top, and drill the dog holes. It should keep me out of trouble for most of the day.

Bench Apron

I've been using a bench jack with the new bench. It works OK, about the same as a sliding deadman but still more trouble to fool with than I like.....I'm lazy don'tchknow, it's just the way my momma raised me. At least that's my story.

I've always thought the English bench offered the best combination of no muss no fuss work holding vs. complication. The only thing I do not like about the English bench is the lightness of construction. Anyway I've been thinking that a nice thick, heavy apron on my French bench might be the answer instead of the bench jack but thinking about it and doing it are two different things.

Bottom line it has been on the back burner, just a hummm thought every once in a while until a couple of days ago. The wood store's wood of the month is Walnut, I'm out of Walnut so I went by to look at what they had. I didn't like any of the 8/4 Walnut in their stacks so I looked around to see if there was anything else of interest.

Hidden at the bottom of the 8/4 Beech stack was an 8' almost 400mm wide hunk of timber which would be perfect for an apron. A little over one hundred USDs later I'm tying it down in the back of my truck, still not sure if I'm going to do it but I sure as hell wasn't going to let that board get away.

Today I had time to wrestle it in place and look at what it would be like.....I'm still not 100% but I expect I'll attach it with Spax screws and see what it is like to live with. If it doesn't work I'll have one big hunk of firewood to burn before winter's over.

Clamped in place:

The only down sides I can think of off hand are it will limit the use of dogs to ones that have a lip and it will restrict easy reaching from the front of the bench for the planes and bench appliances storied under the bench. The dogs are not a real problem because I seldom use dogs, I mostly use holdfasts and battens.

Anyway if I'm about to screw the pooch pipe up.

Doors

I've had so much fun building the new pantry for the kitchen, I'm beside myself.

Between work and WX it took several weeks to finish painting the doors. Once the last coat dried I eyeballed where the 35mm holes should go and drilled 'em. As Charles Pierce says "Will he see the rake"....Whap, damn right in the face.

The bottom holes on the bottom two sets of doors are just one of those thin red ones off for the doors to hang where I want them. After much butt scratching and having serious conversations with myself ranging from "hang the suckers" to "where is the axe" I found some two part epoxy wood filler to fill the holes. I'm waiting on the filler to dry enough to flatten and re-paint. Then re-drill and finally hang those suckers.

The good news the pantry is near the finish, the bad: Once MsOK returns from Texas I know she's going to start ripping out my bathroom tile and the process starts all over, just in a different room.

Waiting for the putty to dry:

Block Plane

I use a Block Plane less than almost any of the other dimensioning and smoothing planes. Except when a low angle is needed, I will usually pick up the #3 or one of the wood stock planes for typical Block Plane uses. BTW, I will stumble around and get to the point.

A couple of years ago the local wood store had a sale on a knuckle cap low angle Block Plane, I really didn't have a need because I already had an under utilized  Stanley LA Block Plane but what the hey....lack of need has never stopped me before. Anyway, it, the LA knuckle cap, Block Plane followed me home. Once home I did a cursory sharpening and gave it a try.....It didn't work worth a crap. I was busy with other things and like I said earlier I had other options for an operation I didn't do often so the new Block Plane got pushed to the back  of the shelf and forgotten. In fact later I picked up a Veritas slew LA Block Plane that became my go to Block Plane.

Yesterday I was getting the final coats of paint on the pantry doors from hell and while waiting for the paint to dry doing tool maintenance. For some reason I noticed the unused knuckle cap Block Plane. I pulled the iron did a good sharpening, put it back together, and it still didn't work worth a crap. It took a heavy cut on one side and no cut on the other. I inspected the bed, checked the iron for square, re-sharpened the iron to make sure, put it back together and still no joy. I slewed the iron as much as possible where you could barely see the iron on the side that cut and the other side was a good mm or almost two extended with the same results. No shaving on the side with the extended blade.

Thinking I might be loosing it I packed it up and went to the wood store. We all stood around scratching our respective butts till one of the younger guys that could still see inspected the bed and could see that it was not level.

We traded bodies, I keep my iron, once home I tried the "new" Block Plane. It is really sweet and may become a primary go to user.

 

Opti

A fellow Tucson woodworker also does volunteer Greyhound rescue work. He has a one year old Black Lab/Greyhound mix that needs to find a home. As Mark puts it, Opti is a sweet energetic puppy and I think cute as can be. Look at the legs on him.

Anyway if interested you can email Mark at "marklauer at gmail dot com" or if you would like more info on Greyhound rescue go to http://www.azgreyhoundrescue.org/

Would you look at those eyes, they can melt your heart:

Here is the one of legs like a basketball player:

I hope he can find a good loving home, I know nothing brings as much joy into your life as a good dog.

Solstice Boxes

I posted last night that I expected I was through with Solstice Box builds for awhile, not so fast Bubba. seems a few have already disappeared and a few have been put to use by MsOK.  These are the ones I found still around:

The red one is MsOK's B-Day gift and she has already said I can't give away the spalted Sycamore box. That only leaves three in stock. As I like to have a half dozen or so around for gifts through the year I guess there's still a need to build a few more.

I've some Beech left over from the work bench build.  MsOK banned the coffee table to the patio a couple of days ago. I've been trying to find a use for the Beech.....Beech meet need. I've had a half formed idea of a floating top table in my head for awhile. I made a couple of drawings this morning and roughed out some dimensions. I'm not sure what wood to use for the top but thinking maybe Cherry would look good with the cream of the Beech base. The big design considerations are I want the table to be bullet proof strong but light in both appearance and weight.

I may not get much done today, lots of housekeeping to do....Insurance company never sent proof of insurance on the new truck to the bank, that's first up as soon as the agent opens. Then the usual first day off of running the streets taking care of everything put off while working plus a couple of additional chores, maybe in the shop by early afternoon.

Finished Today's Box

Finished today's small box. My box inventory is in pretty good shape for now so this may be my last small box for awhile. It has a spalted Sycamore body and base with a South American Walnut top, finished with Tried and True Bee's Wax.

I've a beautiful spalted Maple board leaning against the wall of the shop. I've been looking at it for several weeks now trying to decide what to do with it. I may make a couple of doors tomorrow using the spalted Maple as panels. Then decide later what kind of cabinet or chest to build to hold the doors.

Or I could make MsOK happy and make a couple more frames for her ceramic mosaics. It's nice to have options.

Making Boxes

Cold in Tucson, even a little snow in the valley last night. Well shucks, I guess I can't paint pantry doors today....Darn.

Shop was pretty cold this morning as well, I got it warmed up enough to work in. MsOK had to work today that left the critters and me to entertain ourselves. Let's see, a kinda warm shop with two big smelly dogs at my feet and nothing that had to be done. Damn it's going to be a good day.

I had a short piece of spalted Sycamore just large enough to make a small box and a small box is a good project for a cold day with nothing pressing. I think it was either Kurt Vonnegut or George Carlin that said the purpose of life is to fart around. Whoever said it I managed to live a purpose filled life today. BTW, the box is in the clamps, the base is waiting and the sliding top is also waiting to be fitted. Love projects you can finish in a few hours, with a ton of tea breaks and doggie butt scratching.

The South American Walnut top waiting for the box to come out of the clamps:

I gave some of my scrap wood to another Tucson woodworker a couple of weeks ago. I received an email from him today showing one of his projects using some of the scrap Black Limba to make drawer fronts. He really did some nice work....It was a much better use of the Black Limba than it's intended fire pit destination. What a great way to start the year. 

It's the Little Things

Robert Earl Keen is a Texas singer/song writer, one of his songs has a line "It's the little things that piss me off". That line pretty much applies to many things in life but especially to woodworking.

I've been rebuilding my small box stock over the Solstice break. When you do a few in a row normally each one will get a little better and that has been the case with the box builds. The dovetails get a little cleaner, the top and base fit a little better, even the finish tends to look better with each new box.

Of course there has to be a yes but. Yesterday I started the last of the current set of boxes. I was feeling pretty cocky, The joints had been really nice on the last couple of boxes with good fit right off the saw and needing very little chisel work. I figured as this was the last of a series I would go all out to make it as perfect as I could.....As always wrong Bubba. I did really pay extra attention to the marking, sawing and chiseling and every thing looked near perfect until I went to test the joints.

With dovetails I do not normally do a complete fit, I will just place the tails over the pins to see if I can start the joint. If I can, then I will set the pieces in final relation to each other add glue to the long grain and knock the joints home. The operative word being knock the joint home. With these the first corner fell into place as did all the others. For some reason every joint was loose, well shaped but loose as a goose. The only thing that changed between this box and the ones before was I used a different saw, still a dovetail saw but different.  That shouldn't have made a difference but.....it's the little things....

eBay

I do not often look at eBay postings for several reasons. Most important, I don't need any more tools (yeah, right) nor do I have room to store 'em (true). But every once in awhile I'll have a little morning coffee time and I will take a look. It can be interesting.

Today I put in the search box "used woodworking hand tools buy it now" and on the third page was a listing for a "user grade" Stanley 3C seller typed as a Type 12. From the photos I couldn't see anything that would make me question the Type. The plane had been buffed and cleaned up with some evidence of deeper rust but not much, all in all I would agree the plane would make a nice $40 to $50 USD user plane except for the "C".

The seller had the plane priced at $340 USD and, at least for me, what was even more head slapping was there were 60+ following the listing. The only thing I can think of to cause that many to follow would be just wanting to see if someone would really pay $340 USD for a user grade #3C.

  

It's Been a Nice Run

I'm back to the grind this afternoon, it would have been nice to have extended the days off until after the 1st but that is not to be. Yesterday, because it was the last day off for awhile, I put my big boy panties on early morning and was reasonably productive working through a mild cold and some minor old fart aches and pains. I even took Sam the Wonder Dog and Sweet Maggie Dog for a short ride in the truck to the local Woodcraft for doggie biscuits. Not a bad way to end a few days off.

I finished another small box, my box inventory is now close to normal. I like to have a half dozen or so available to give as gifts and thank you's. As mentioned earlier, the box was made of Spanish Cedar with a South American Walnut base and Sepele top. I had not used either Spanish Cedar or South American Walnut before. The Spanish Cedar with Tried and True is beautiful as is the almost black South American Walnut. Both woods are easy to work the only down side is both are very soft and I expect easily damaged.

I also finished a large Sepele picture frame, 610mm X 410mm inside dimensions, for one of MsOK's ceramic pieces.  Frames for her ceramic work are tough to build because of the weight of the mounted art work. I used splines in the miters to add corner strength, 6mm Baltic Birch ply for the center. The ply is glued into a 13mm rebate with screws on 100mm centers.  I'm not sure what else I can do to hold the weight and of course once the wood starts moving fun could be had by all.

It even warmed up enough to get another coat of paint on the pantry doors from hell. I figure a couple more coats of paint and they will be ready to hang.

Back to setting in a dark box for four hours at a time. What the hell, it beats working and I use to say at least a Sim can't kill you. Cessna Wichita proved that wrong.

Small Projects

It has been cold here in the Old Pueblo, I know cry me a river and 30F to 50F isn't cold to most but damn it's cold. Because it's cold I've been working mostly with the shop closed up, that in turn means for the most part small projects. 

Here is a view of the bench in the middle of of a small box build and a picture frame glue up: 

The box is made of Spanish Cedar and will have a South American Walnut base with a Sepele top and finished with Tried and True. Spanish Cedar is really pretty but is very soft.  I expect this will not be a functional box but will look nice on the shelf.

We did a couple of days in Rocky Point, MX for MsOK's B-Day....As always when in Mexico I consumed way too much food and beer. The hotel and beach were nice and it was good to be out of town, even better to get back home. Love my critters and shop. 

Because we were out of town on the Solstice our annual necked dance around the Solstice Bonfire and burning of bad art/craft from the past year was put off a few days. Not only did I burn a few failed projects I rid the shop of lots of cutoffs. All in all a good Solstice Celebration. 

I've had one green eye and one red, stop/go/stop/go, over the new planes from Lee Valley, I've built one with a 55 degree frog and it's in my cart ready to check out but.....I know for $85 USD I can order a HAF for my LN #4 and that's the hold up. I know me and the question is: Would I take the time to change the frogs back and forth.....I expect the answer is no, that is the reason I have as many bench planes as I have instead of extra irons to change to when a different profile is needed. I might as well push the damn button.

Today is the last day before donning the monkey suit and effectively starting the new year. As I look back on the old year, it wasn't bad, let's hope the new is as good or better.  

Pencil Box From the Front

Here it is Ralph:

One more:

Pencil Box

The off cuts from MsOK's painted candle box were just the right size to make a pencil box. Digging through the small off cut rack behind the work bench I found a nice piece of Cherry that was just large enough for the base and in my newly organized wood rack was a small hunk of Sapele that was just wide enough to make the sliding top. I was off to the races.

The new pencil box, Cherry base, Poplar body, and a Sapele top. Finished with Tried and True. Not too shabby for a bunch of scraps.

Odds and Ends

Del Smith was found dead in his home early in December, he was 82. Del founded and ran Evergreen Aviation until its end last year when it went into Chapter 7. He started with a single helicopter in Oregon and at its peak Evergreen ran a world spanning 747 airline with helicopter and Learjet bases where ever there was a contract. He had contracts with the U.N., the U.S. Department of Defense, CIA, many other NGOs, and other governments. Del defined the term "Crony Capitalist".

Evergreen was my last flying job before I went into semi-retirement. The saying at Evergreen was you were fired the day you were hired, you just didn't know what day it was. I expect I was one of the few that walked out on my terms not because Del fired me. The one constant at Evergreen was if Del had been home for more than a couple of days in a row you were headed somewhere the next day and that somewhere was likely 10 to 12 time zones away. The bar stories I have from that time will last the rest of my life, each more unbelievable than the last but all at least 99% true. You just couldn't make shit up that was better than what really happened. Del was one of the last of an era, RIP Del.

The Boss comes home tonight....my day will be spent running the streets, cleaning the house a little so it doesn't look like the critters and I have been on our own for a couple of weeks, maybe a little shop time, and of course getting the things needed to drive to Mexico for the weekend.

For once I'm ready for TMIDOTY, MsOK's B-Day gift came yesterday as did her Winter Solstice gift. Both are in gift sacks with tissue paper stuffing just like i've seen MsOK do it....Hell I'm ready.

Unless someone books at the last minute, I'm through with work for the year. The pantry might be finished by the 1st but I wouldn't bet too much on it.

I wish you'll a good Winter Solstice Celebration and a Happy New Year. See you on down the road.

SPLOMLWMBO Will Fly Home Tomorrow

MsOK comes home tomorrow, then on the 21st. we will drive to Mexico to celebrate TMIDOTY (the most important day of the year), her birthday on the 22nd.

I've made a small painted box to hold her birthday camcorder. I hate paint, I should never be allowed within several miles of a paint brush and/or a pot of paint but a painted box was requested. With an oil finish I can knock one of these boxes out in a couple or three hours and that includes tea breaks. This painted one took three days and because of the paint it would need to be classified as a "second". The good news she will not notice and I followed orders. The red B-Day box is on the right, I had some scrap of the right size left over to make the pencil box on the left. The pencil box is waiting for the glue pot to warm up.

The Winter Solstices step stools are finished.

The pantry doors are still waiting on the last couple of coats of paint (see above). It has been too cold or raining when I've had time to paint....Who knows when they will be finished.

Even with working I've been reasonably productive while MsOK was gone, amazing how much time the old gal requires, she's worth it but with just me and the critters home we get a lot more done.

Moving Wood

I can't keep a lot of wood, shop is too small, but I have some stored. One of the problems with storing wood in a small space is keeping it organized and accessible. Organization and accessibility go hand in hand. Over time as wood is brought into the shop and used every thing becomes haphazard, at least that is the way it works here at Casa Chaos, and finding a piece of wood for a project becomes difficult. In fact so difficult it is quicker and easier to run to the wood store to buy what is needed for the current project when you know full well that somewhere in the pile is the perfect hunk of wood. It has been that way for the last several months.

Of course one of the hindrances to straightening out the wood stores is facing wrestling around 10' long 8/4 hunks of Sepele, Oak, and Beech. My old back can only take so much before it starts whispering No Mas, No Mas and the whisper soon turns into a yell.

There I go building a clock.....Bottom line: I needed a 250mm wide board to make a replacement stool for the one I screwed up during glue up and I knew there was something in the wood pile that would work. After moving most of the wood on the bottom two racks, I of course found several that are perfect. Finding the boards forced me to move so much wood that I might as well straighten out the wood pile as I replace the moved wood back on the racks.

Bottom rack will be for full length 8/4 or larger lumber with some long 8/4 cut offs. Next rack up will hold full length 6/4 and 4/4 boards and the top two racks will be mostly shorter cut offs.

Will it help? Maybe for a few weeks.

MsOK loves bonfires on winter evenings, she now has one hell of a stack of expensive firewood for her fires. When she gets back from Texas maybe I'll get an attaboy.

Wood in bottom rack. Yes I know it should be stickered but.....second rack almost done.

Some of the cut offs to be racked;

The top two racks....What a mess, I expect MsOK's bonfire pile will grow some more: