Tru Oil

Finished the little box today along with taking care of MsOK and shop maintenance. The box was 'because", mostly because I hadn't cut a set of dove tails in awhile.

I picked up a small bottle of Tru Oil several weeks ago and because this box is a "What scraps can I find to saw some dovetails and maybe if there are enough put a lid on a box" box. I tried the Tru Oil, it's OK. I expect if I used several coats with rubbing out after each coat set it would look very nice. As this is a because box one coat is about it and with just one coat Tru Oil is nothing to get excited about.

I did some tool maintenance along with the shop maintenance, got careless with the 4 1/2's iron and took a slice off the end of my left thumb right after it was sharpened. Nice thing about sharp iron, you do not know you're cut until you see the blood flowing. I still had the glue pot hot. A little hot hide glue and a paper towel stopped the flow fairly quickly.

Grinding Station

I set up a new Grinding station today. Picked up a CBN wheel the other day, Amazon delivered a Tormek grinder jig, I added a couple of hunks of ply and I have a new faster way to grind the bevel. Is it better than the T-7, we will see but one thing is for sure....It's faster.

The Tormek BGM-100 kit is worth the money, it has everything you need except the ply:

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Making a Small Box This AM

I hadn't cut a dovetail in a couple of weeks, can't let that happen too often for too long. I think it was Ralph that said if it has been some time between now and the last time you did a procedure you had better do a couple of practice joints before doing one for keeps.

Anyway if you pick your woods, in this case Maple and Spanish Cedar, you can hide a lot of rust. I've some Walnut already trued that will make the top and bottom. Still, bottom line it's going to be a "second" and will end up in the gift pile.

The box in progress:

I'll start rough dimensioning the bath vanity this afternoon, that and shop maintenance should take care of today. One of the shop maintenance items will be setting up the new CBN wheel with a Tormek tool rest/chisel-plane iron jig.

I like the Tormek for the precision and cool cutting but it is, as is well known, slow. The CBN wheel works reasonably cool and is much faster. While I keep the Shaptons available I'm always trying to get away from water.  BTW, I still love me some oil stones but they are slow, will not work well with all my chisels, and need a strop to finish.

The CBN wheel and Spyderco stone, which will cut any tool iron, will allow me to eliminate water for 90/95% of my sharpening and requires no more stone maintenance than oil stones.

That's the plan.

Number 5 Sized Planes

Continuing to document my tools. Photographed on the new coffee table with Sam the Wonder Dog guarding them in his usual alert fashion.

From left to right: A shop made Beech Krenov style with a Veritas single tapered iron, a LN with a PM-V11 iron, a type 11 Stanley with a heavy cambered OEM iron, another type 11 Stanley with Stanley iron, a type 9 Stanley with OEM iron, a Woodriver with PM-V11 iron, and a Tsunesaburo 70mm with a Swedish Sandvik carbon steel iron.  

The Dirty Fat Girl is For Sale

There is a time for all things in life. A time to do and a time to stop. It is time to stop riding motorcycles. I've been on the cusp for a little over a year, it has been such a big part of my life I didn't know how I would take just walking away so I've put off the finial decision. This last week I was helped to that decision by a client who needed "The Conversation". Telling someone they are too old and no longer have the skills to fly is one of the hardest things we do....It's hard for the client, it's hard for the instructor. I have never wanted to impose the duty on anyone. I walked away from flying seven years ago, a job that let this dumb West Texas farm boy see more of the world and do things that most never see or do. It was a good life. My riding has also been a good life, I've done things I've always wanted to do e.g. riding coast to cost in less than 50 hours, going to Sturges with good friends, and other long rides through day and night in all weather and conditions from 13 degrees at night to 118 degrees mid afternoon through Death Valley. It has been great but it is now time to hang up my Motoport and Shoei for the last time.

As the title of this post says, The Dirty Fat Girl is for sale. She is a '08 Goldwing with less than 90,000 miles, built for Rallies and long distance riding in all weather. Some of the major mods are: Mega Monte Traxxon suspension, Phillps 4G HID running lights, three Garmin GPS, radar detector with laser shifter and screamer, trailer hitch, Windbender with farkel shelf and rake kit, new heated seat, Centramatic wheel balancers, reading light, TPMS. to name a few of the useful mods. There will also be lots of accessories for sale including three Motoport Kelvar riding suits, a couple of Fox Creek leather jackets, and many boots, helmets, heated undergear and other stuff.

The price for The Dirty Fat Girl is fair for both the seller and the buyer and is firm at $12000 USD.

From the front:

Number 4 Sized Planes

Damn there is a herd of those suckers.

From left to right:LN #4 with LV PM-V11 iron, LN 41/2 with Veritas O-1iron, Type 9 Stanley with Hock O-1, Veritas Smoother with PM-V11, shop made Beech stock with Veritas tapered single iron, a type 13 Stanley with Hock O-1, a Record #4 with Hock O-1, The Record #4 was the first "good' plane I acquired back in the mid 70's, then a type 13 Stanley's with a PM-V11 iron, and last a early (could be a type 9) Stanley Frankenplane with a small adjustment knob and Woodriver iron.

Insanity

It, insanity, happens when I have more than two days off in a row with nothing but shop time planned. For some reason I think if I just stir it around some more I can fit ten pounds of poop into that metaphorical five pound bag. I keep trying but the results are mostly the same.

I did a total re-arrange of the machine area of the shop today. Bottom line there is too much stuff in not enough space and no amount of moving it around will change that fact by much but today's changes did give the machine area or at least the area between the machines and the bench area a more open feel. That's about all I can hope for.

Here's a bad photo looking into the shop.

Along the east wall, to the right side of the table saw, is a walk way and wood storage. the good news most of the machine work is with the jointer and planer and they have more space for working than they had with the old arrangement.

I've been thinking about this change for several months and while not a big improvement I think it will make for an easier work flow.

Planes #3 Sized

Over on the Sawmill Creek forum is a thread to show your working planes. I've posted most of these images there. While posting I started thinking about having a record of my wood working tools for insurance purposes and where would be a good place to store that record. This blog drew the short straw.

I'll try to keep the boredom level as low as possible but over the next several weeks there will be posts with photographs of my tools starting with my #3 sized working planes.

From left to right: A shop made Krenov style smoother with a Hock O1 iron, a type 13 Stanley with a Hock O1 iron, a V3 Woodriver with a Vertias O1 iron, a post war Stanley with a Hock O1 iron, another Krenov style smoother also with Hock O1 iron, and last a Philly Coffin Smoother with a O1 single iron. Of this group I use the first Krenov and the Woodriver more than the others. The Philly smoother is new and still getting over the shock of moving from the UK to the desert. Once it stops doing stupid wood tricks I expect it will be one of the go to smoothers.

BTW, they are setting on the back side of a Walnut coffee table top that was still being flattened. The front side was almost finished, I used a LN #8 on it and the #8 kicked my butt, I got smart on the back side and dug out the woody, so much better. I do love me some wood stock planes.


After getting most of the high spots down with the woody I used a type 9 Stanley #8 with a Hock O1 iron and chip breaker to finish the job. The LN planes are beautiful and work superbly but damn they are heavy and on something like this slab of table top the weight will turn old arms and backs to jello.  Once the table top was flattened and smoothed the Krenov woody pictured above left was used to relive the bottom edge to give a lighter look to the coffee table. I've no better plane for that type of job because of its light weight and the plane's shape allows using both hands and working in either direction.

Coffee Table Finished

The coffee table is finished. Well almost, I still have to attach the top which I will do tomorrow. I've had enough fun for today, my back is yelling No Mas No Mas followed by Cerveza Por Favor.  I think I'm going to listen.

Walnut Glue Up

I did the coffee table top glue up yesterday after work. Pulled it out of the clamps this AM and have started the clean up. I was pulled away before I could wipe down the "runners" and of course paying the price today. I have to learn to say "wait a minute".

Even with the PITA glue clean up it shouldn't take too long to finish the top and make the mortise buttons. I expect a couple or three coats of Tried and True with Bee's Wax for the finish and I can walk away from it and on to the next.

Coffee Table Base

The coffee table base is pegged and waiting a little top rail clean up and the top. Sorry Ralph, no photos of the draw boring as there wasn't much to photograph. A bath vanity is next on the list of honeydos, I'll try to remember and document each step of the draw boring process. BTW, on the long stretchers I used the draw bore pins to get everything tight and alined, it was easier than using long clamps. For the short stretchers clamps were easier.

It's in the den just to get it out of the way, back out to the shop later to finish cleanup and finishing before adding the top.

Coffee Table Short Rows

The coffee table base has been dry fitted, the draw bore holes drilled, and I've started chopping the twelve button mortises in the stretchers. Once the button mortises are finished the stretchers and the legs need final shaping and smoothing before pegging that sucker together.

I've some very nice 6/4 Walnut for the top and maybe a couple of days off this weekend to finish the top.  The coffee table could be doing coffee table duties by sometime next week.

I've SWMBO entertainment duties the following weekend before starting the next couple of projects; a bath vanity for my bathroom and a tall side board for the dining room. So many project, so little time.

Of course so little time could be because of the shop "black hole effect", as one of MsOK's friends put it "everything goes it but nothing comes out".

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.