Woodworking 101--Tools and Tips

[turbowoodworker]

Frankenstein?

 

[rrich1]

Frankenstein?

Looks like it. Looks like someone took a #5 and tried to make it a jointer.

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[Teenager with old tools]

Looks like it. Looks like someone took a #5 and tried to make it a jointer.

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Goin to look at it Thursday. Looks like it was done decently from the pics looks as though the wood was added without modifying the plane itself. Might get it just for the stanley or may get it and leave the wood on it if it seems good. Guy wants ten bucks

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[ez-duzit]

...Looks like it was done decently...

Uh...no.

 

[jimreed2160]

Ain--Your paddles look interesting. Can't wait to see the results.

rrich--Making progress.

Teen--I have never seen a mod like that but it seems to have been well done. Heck, I would throw $10 at it just to see it make shavings.

 

[Teenager with old tools]

Used water based paint that we thinned out a lot with water so the grain still shows through. Needs to clean up the stars some and then next is a coat of epoxy over it and then the legs. Thinking of just using tree stumps as legs.

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[drivesitfar]

TEEN: you've got a very creative eye and talent. WELL DONE!

i'm sure whichever legs you pick it will look ok and if not change them when you have time or a better option.

the plane you are looking at for $10 is probably worth that easily for just a parts plane, but it does look like maybe a couple planes were put together to make one.

ALL: I'm heading to pick up some new mailboxes and i decided to sell my bigger security box and get the same ones i'm buying the neighbors cause we really don't get that much mail anymore.

i know this isn't WW but framing up for a few sidewalk pours is sort of working with wood isn't it. more like the WOOD BUTCHERING i'm used to doing.

hoping to make a new address sign out of the leftover 8x8's and 2x8's from the mailbox stand so stay tuned.

cheers

 

[R_einan]

Yost Tools Heavy Duty Parallel Clamp, Steel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07171C69L/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Amazon deal of the day on parallel clamps, new offering from Yost. Appear to be similar to the Ehoma clamps from Woodcraft or the Lee Vally offerings. I have a coffee table project I'm almost ready to start and could use some more, so I ordered a pair of the 31". Missed the 40"; those went fast.

 

[ez-duzit]

Today only @ Zoro. 20% off $200. 25% off $400.

https://www.zoro.com/coupons-promo-codes

 

[R_einan]

Deck is completed, now hopefully I get get 36 hrs without rain to treat it...

 

[rrich1]

Got about an hour of shop time today. Last night I rounded over all the edges of the legs and rails. I also finished finish sanding them today. I also made the support strips for the accessory rails. These help support some of the load from any of the made accessories you want to add to the table. I glued in the small rail strips before work and will glue in the longer ones after work and also sand the plywood base. Then it will be glue up time.

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[Notgrownup]

Deck is completed, now hopefully I get get 36 hrs without rain to treat it...

Got some firewood out of it....

 

[jimreed2160]

Drives--Nice looking walk. Looks like you are pouring a wheelbarrow at a time. Good way to break up the project.

R--A man can never have too many clamps. Nice deck, BTW.

rrich--An hour here with an hour there adds up over time. You are making good progress.

 

[drivesitfar]

Jim: i'm doing this myself and each of these sections of sidewalk are 4x4 foot and take about 10-12 80 pound bags of cement. yep just add water, mix and pour one wheelbarrow at a time. yep slow and steady and I probably could have had piles of gravel and cement delivered to save some funds, but having the bags in the shed at the ready to mix and pour has worked out for the last 30 years and hard to teach an old dog new tricks. i just pick up 5 or 10 80 pound bags of cement every time i drive by Lowes or HD so i have a few ready to go. i also had a few sitting outside under a tarp for a few years when i was working on other things and even though they felt like a brick a few hammer swings and they were good cement ready to add water and use.

ALL: i was planning on getting all 4 locking mailboxes to match the one the one neighbor just bought and found out at both Lowes and HD that the ones they advertised online are not stocked in their stores. we have an Amazon account with free shipping so we were going to order 3 more until i found out the mailbox i bought a few years ago from a client that is a bit bigger costs $480 and these new ones are $100. instead of trying to sell my old bigger and better box i'm just going to have keep it and let it sit on the cedar mailbox stand like PAPA BEAR i guess now cause i own it and my bride approves.

cheers and a have a great day.

 

[jimreed2160]

Teen--I love your flag project.

Drives--Nothing wrong with having a blinged out mailbox.

 

[jimreed2160]

New project

As I continue to procrastinate on the desk glue up, I am finding other things to do that do not require a workbench. Today's project was wooden faces for the hammer that I just rehandled. I know I have posted about this before, but here it goes again in case some of our new crowd has not gotten through all of the archives.

I started with a six inch hickory glue up. It was pretty simple. I glued two faces and let the glue sit for a few minutes to soak in. Then I glued the third face and clamped it up. Two days later and it is ready for turning.

I measured the size roughly with calipers.

And started to turn it down. This rough turning is dangerous and requires concentration because if you get too aggressive, the chisel may stick and flip.

My dad once flipped a carbide chisel into the ceiling. He was afraid of lathe work. But he was cheap and had flimsy chisels. Knowing his experience, I use BIG chisels and caution.

Pretty soon, I had a cylinder but it was too large. I picked a spot at random and used the parting tool to make a depth mark.

Then I turned the cylinder to that mark on both ends.

I used a pencil to mark the pieces to length and then used a skew chisel to make a chamfer.

I removed the tool rest and sanded the turning.

And now it is time to cut them apart. I use my bandsaw. But the bandsaw can be a dangerous tool for cutting small round pieces. You see, the blade can grab and spin the work. When that happens, all heck breaks loose and you lose yet another pair of good pants. If you choose this method, be sure you have a way of securing your work.

And then there were four.

I could not find a wrench large enough for the nut so I clamped the nut in my vise and turned the hammer.

So here is the money shot.

I picked up the Chicago hammer head for about ten bucks. The HD mattock handle was about $14. I dunked the hammer pieces into Evaporust overnight and brushed them down with BLO. Then I attached the head and cut down the handle. There is another head that needs the larger end so the replacement handle will actually be a toofer. The last step was to turn some hickory faces.

Now that I have these hammers around the shop I am finding many uses for them. One is to use these wood faced hammers to set the lathe endstock. I was using a ball pien but metal to metal is not good and will deform the endstock over time. These hammers are also good for knocking apart furniture without leaving marks. I have wooden mallets but the hammers are smaller and pack more punch.

 

[rrich1]

Jim: nice work.

Got the lower pieces of the table all sanded and was able to get the long rails and legs together before work. Depending I might try and finish the glue up after work. We'll see.

I also tried to get some more done on my wife's birthday box. Not coming out like I wanted. But salvageable. 1. I mess up on the depth of the first set of pins so the box will be a little shorter than originally planned. 2. I somehow moved the tails on the second set of dovetails causing a gap. Pic included. No pic of #1.

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[Teenager with old tools]

New project

As I continue to procrastinate on the desk glue up, I am finding other things to do that do not require a workbench. Today's project was wooden faces for the hammer that I just rehandled. I know I have posted about this before, but here it goes again in case some of our new crowd has not gotten through all of the archives.

I started with a six inch hickory glue up. It was pretty simple. I glued two faces and let the glue sit for a few minutes to soak in. Then I glued the third face and clamped it up. Two days later and it is ready for turning.

I measured the size roughly with calipers.

And started to turn it down. This rough turning is dangerous and requires concentration because if you get too aggressive, the chisel may stick and flip.

My dad once flipped a carbide chisel into the ceiling. He was afraid of lathe work. But he was cheap and had flimsy chisels. Knowing his experience, I use BIG chisels and caution.

Pretty soon, I had a cylinder but it was too large. I picked a spot at random and used the parting tool to make a depth mark.

Then I turned the cylinder to that mark on both ends.

I used a pencil to mark the pieces to length and then used a skew chisel to make a chamfer.

I removed the tool rest and sanded the turning.

And now it is time to cut them apart. I use my bandsaw. But the bandsaw can be a dangerous tool for cutting small round pieces. You see, the blade can grab and spin the work. When that happens, all heck breaks loose and you lose yet another pair of good pants. If you choose this method, be sure you have a way of securing your work.

And then there were four.

I could not find a wrench large enough for the nut so I clamped the nut in my vise and turned the hammer.

So here is the money shot.

I picked up the Chicago hammer head for about ten bucks. The HD mattock handle was about $14. I dunked the hammer pieces into Evaporust overnight and brushed them down with BLO. Then I attached the head and cut down the handle. There is another head that needs the larger end so the replacement handle will actually be a toofer. The last step was to turn some hickory faces.

Now that I have these hammers around the shop I am finding many uses for them. One is to use these wood faced hammers to set the lathe endstock. I was using a ball pien but metal to metal is not good and will deform the endstock over time. These hammers are also good for knocking apart furniture without leaving marks. I have wooden mallets but the hammers are smaller and pack more punch.

Adding to the part about the turning chisels. Roughing gouge is much beefier and better for roughing than a spindle gouge. And when turning the inside of a bowl only use tools made for it. Not just any tool. Tools for the inside are beefier for a reason. I watched someone try to use a skew inside a bowl. Broke two inches off the skew sending it into his hand and could have used stitches afterward. Here is a pic of a roughing gouge a spindle gouge and a bowl gouge.
On another note after a decent amount of cussing to myself many readjustment of the blade and screwed up scrap wood I got that stanley no50 set up right to cut.the issue was the blade would get offset left or right causing the sides to jam in the wood. Once I got it so the blade stuck out slightly past left and right rails it was good. Then I got the depth of the blade right and it was better

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[jimreed2160]

teen--Good tips on turning. Glad to see you got your #50 making shavings. Some planes seem to need a little more fiddling than others.

 

[Teenager with old tools]

teen--Good tips on turning. Glad to see you got your #50 making shavings. Some planes seem to need a little more fiddling than others.

I'm still not quite happy with the shavings though. Some is technique I can get a good strip then a bunch of dust the next pass. Only sharpened to 320 grit stone but it was shaving sharp. I might go up to 1000 if I have time. It chatters slightly along the wood so I've got to fiddle a little more with it. Another turning tip. Pay attention to the grain when gluing up to turn. Want the grain to go from yardstick to tailstock not perpendicular to them or turning will be a pain and you will have lots of problems and end up using a rasp in the end to get rid of the problems.

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[jimreed2160]

Teen--Combination planes like the #50 can be tricky to set blade depth because there is no reference. By contrast, block planes and bench planes have a small mouth with many points of reference. But combos have only a skate. In the picture you show an upside down bead blade in the plane. It is common to sharpen both ends of early combo blades but results can be mixed. The blades are iffy to start with and the non business end is usually not as hard as the profile end. That means it is easy to sharpen but not so easy to keep sharp. Your symptoms of cutting and then pulling dust indicate blade issues like dullness.

Here is how I use my combo planes.

Blade--I start with a good blade--usually one that I made. Vintage combo plane are often rusty so be sure you clean the length of the blade so it seats well. The #50 is a lightweight that works best with 3/8 and smaller blades. So start with a smaller blade like a 1/4. Make sure it is sharp enough to cut paper or shave arm hair.

Blade depth setting--Remove the fence and use the plane bottom on soft construction lumber. Make sure the blade is square to the skate. Set the blade to take off a whisper thin shaving. It should be full width but THIN. Adjust the blade depth until you get a full width and thin shaving.

In use--Replace the fence. Set it properly and set the depth stop. If you are right handed, plane from right to left. Start your stroke a few inches away from the right hand side. Make sure the plane body is supported. Move it further back with each stroke until it bites the right end. Keep planning with full strokes until the depth stop makes the plane stop cutting.

Good luck with your plane.

 

[R_einan]

Picked up some material yesterday, getting prepared to start a coffee table build for my cousin, kind of a house warming/Christmas present. The last image is similar to what I'm going for, not going to do the thin strips between the curly maple though, and intend to finish it with a ruby or garnet shellac to bring out the reds in both then have a friend spray it with nitro lacquer. Haven't purchased the leg material yet, planning to get 8/4 walnut cut square and tapered with maple aprons.

 

[rrich1]

R_einam: those curls!

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[drivesitfar]

R: the rains are a coming your way and cold too so best of luck on the deck staining.

RR: your BDay box dovetails look ok to me. good luck

Jim: always love your tutorials and thanks for sharing. did you learn on your own to hold small pieces of wood in a big wood clamp while passing them thru your bandsaw or did somebody teach you. nice tip and i bet it saves a lot of fingers.

ALL: i'm putting on the mailboxes today if the rain holds up or supposed to be decent weather this weekend. next project is the address made out of the cedar scraps from the mailbox so stay tuned.

cheers

 

[rrich1]

Early bday present to myself! Veritas apron plane with pmv11 blade. Only had time to unbox it.

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[R_einan]

This pic is for you Jim, thought you'd love this. Probably not going to make it into the coffee table because I refuse to cut through it. Too nice of a feature to cut apart. I'll have to come up with a project I can use it for.

 

[R_einan]

Started dimensioning the maple, loosely cut to length with some room for squaring cuts after they are ripped down to width. This is the layout I'm planning on at this point. Still have some more ripping to do before they are final width of ~5"

 

[ez-duzit]

R--I'd place the white wood against other light wood or along an edge, rather than against dark wood.

 

[R_einan]

R--I'd place the white wood against other light wood or along an edge, rather than against dark wood.

If they were numbered 1, 2, 3, left to right, you think I should rearrange them 3, 2, 1? Just FYI, those are only ripped down to 6.25, I still have a little over an inch to take off each board.

 

[ez-duzit]

Just don't place high contrasts together. Instead try to grade them so the joints are not intentionally pronounced. In other words so they look natural, not contrived.

 

[rrich1]

Got the rest of the base glued up. Clamped a straight edge to the top and will chisel out the waste on the corners so I can start on the panels on Monday assuming I get the waste out.

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[jimreed2160]

Drives--Wood screws really come in handy. The summer I worked at Rockler, we had a few Pen-a-thons and used woodscrews to hold pen blanks for drilling. I adopted that tip after a close call at the bandsaw. The woodscrews are squared off and ride the base well and their extra mass really helps.

rrich--We need a review on that plane.

R--That is one delicious walnut board. And you know that walnut is my favorite. Thanks for posting it--I am drooling. Gotta go with w/EZ on placement. I like lots of figure and contrast in large panels but one of my goals is to make the glue lines as invisible as possible. That means joining where the woods match up. This method generally leaves the lighter wood on the edges.

 

[R_einan]

Thanks for the insight gents, I was striving to alternate the crown to minimize the cupping, however, I may be able to avoid that issue all together as I had already planned on breadboard ends. I'll rearrange them a little and see what I can come up with.

 

[jimreed2160]

R--Good luck with your panel glue up. These things always require a little plane work on the surface to take down the high spots.

My ww this weekend is dedicated to the desk glue up with a goal of having it in clamps before Sunday evening. So far I have assessed it and worked out a decent starting plan. I have also scraped off most of the dead glue.

I thought a few biscuits might help on the end piece so I got out my trusty Ryobi biscuit machine. It is old and I think discontinued but I like it because of its size. Small is best for this project. In fact, the fence needs to be removed.

The cabinet slots went OK.

But I need some reference marks. For this I used painter's tape and eyeballed a sharpie line for the midpoint.

But without the fence, the biscuit cutter does not have a reference line. I eyeballed another sharpie line on the tool and then used the surface of the bench as the depth reference.

The next task was to work out a clamping plan. It took over an hour to stage the clamps. I barely have enough long ones for this job. A man cannot have too many clamps.

So my next session will be to smear around glue in every nook and cranny that I can find and then clamp the beejeebers out of this thing, making sure that it is square. It is not a task that I eagerly anticipate.

 

[R_einan]

Sounds like you need a second pair of hands for that job Jim...

 

[rrich1]

I got The base all glued together last night after work. This morning I chiseled out the corners of the rabbets where the plywood top panels will be placed. I will start on those on Monday.

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[drivesitfar]

RR: that is one beautiful table you are building.

Jim: yep a good time for a helper and plenty of clamps. best of luck. what's your GO TO GLUE? i think you mentioned it, but i used to like just Elmers which never really failed me and Gorilla glue seems to make every kind of glue now.

R: as suggested the wood grains and colors are cool if put together a certain way, but I say if it's your table and you are building it do so as you like it.

All: i'm building a wood crate to hold a vise inside a cardboard box to ship a vise to a member so not really woodworking, but i am putting some wood together today. here's one i built for another member a couple months ago and if any of you have a better way to build one either post pictures or a youtube link or PM or email me pictures cause i'm sure there are many many ways to do this. so far i haven't had a vise show up at a member's house damaged and i've shipped some pretty big ones and some on pallets.

cheers

 

[Teenager with old tools]

Walnut and paduk. Pins are copper tube with brass rod. That spacer is brass sandwiched between copper. Light coat of epoxy for finish. It's a blade I ground from a file last year and left alone until now, this is my woodworking prime t of the past two days.

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[jimreed2160]

Drives--I have used many glues for wood in the past 60 years. I started with Elmers but soon graduated to a powdered glue that I mixed with water. It got hard to find and I took up with Titebond. Now I use TB III on everything. It is consistent and does not let me down. Sometimes I do destructive testing on edge cutoffs from glueups. If I did a good job, the wood always gives away before the glue. I keep it inside because it seems to dislike temp extremes.

Teen--What a great job! I like.

 

[drivesitfar]

Jim: yep Titebond III it is the next time i buy some. just curious i found a maybe never opened gallon jug of Elmers on my shelf and i bought it from a hardware store that is out of business now and has been for maybe 25 years now. still good for a test and i'll see if it still works for some NON SPECIAL glue ups. or maybe i should just clear off the shelf of some OLD STUFF and just stock up with the GOOD STUFF?

TEEN: agreed it's a nice looking knife. is that the first one you've made?