Woodworking 101--Tools and Tips

[jimreed2160]

rrich--That is a very clever project. I really like the DC shroud for the saw.

 

[rrich1]

Jim: thanks

Handles are on. They still need to be sanded and poly out on. I ended up not putting the last coat of poly on the drawers yet. I'll do it when I do the handles. I ended up going through the front of the handles. The pull out work surface was right on the line with base from the back side. This way they all match and match the sliding doors.

I need to start thinking of my storage. I still have the inside of the door completely empty. Not sure if I am going to do shelves or more drawers. I haven't used my hvlp yet and might see if it will fit in there. With the door it should help to keep from it getting dirty.

I need drill bit storage help. Right now they are just thrown in there and that just isn't going to g to cut it. Half of my forstner bits don't have a case and none of my Brad point bits do either. My countersink bits package is irritating so that also needs to go.


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[ez-duzit]

I keep all my fractional (up to 1/2") number, letter and brad point drills in indexes. Larger size twist drills (up to about 2") and multi spur bits are in shallow drawers in tool chests. Forstner bit sets are in their own wooden chests. Taper drills and counterbores/countersinks are in small plastic cases.

 

[cheechi]

did you intend for that lip to hold the quick clamps or did it just happen that way? I like it.

Far as drill bits as I have got new sets I am getting all Huot index boxes for them. They sell empty ones and I have got a few as needed. For fractional sets what I do is get a HF drill set and as they break cycle in the nice ones. Helps also dont have to sharpen them as often.

 

[rrich1]

Ez: thanks. I've been looking for stand up indexes but there seems to be a lack of metric ones out there.

Cheech: I put it in for support and it happened to work out. They will stay there for now. I haven't decided if I will add a bottom and close up the area with doors.

Very happy with the last days progress.

First I got all of the handles finished and installed. I put finish on the stop block system as well. All I need to do is put the tape on. I'm slacking on that because I want to do it right even though I have a way to adjust the stop block.

Tonight I made the router accessories sliding door insert. I think I have room to grow [emoji23]. The extra holes allows me to get more bits but also space them out to make it easier to pull the bits out. They are snig in there. I might round over the holes. Then I will sand and apply poly. I'll glue in the dowels for the collets after it's finished. The longest bit I have is 3 1/2" and it fits with a 1/4" to spare. If I really needed any long I could drill clear through the back. The way it sits it is a front screwed onto the panel that holds the slides.

*Note to self....move up drill press table (with dust collection) in the list of shop projects to be built.* The drill press couldn't reach all of the holes so I used my milescraft drill press to finish the job. Worked great.

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[jimreed2160]

rrich--Nice holder. You discovered one of my gripes with modern machinery--the throat is always just a little too small for the intended project. Bandsaws and drill presses are at the top of that list of tool frustration. And of course, you can add vises and clamps next.

Your Milescraft jig is a great alternative. Must check into that. I punch lots of holes and most of them are a little skewed.

 

[unknownroad]

Thanks for sharing, rrich1... i love seeing purpose-built workspaces with a lot of thought and experience behind them.

 

[cheechi]

you want metric index boxes? I have two I have to check the sizes but they are either unused or lightly used. Send me a PM.

edit: I have a 1-13 by 0.5mm and a 6-10 by 0.1mm, both new.


If you each were buying chisels new today, nothing used, nothing you currently have, what would you be buying?

 

[rlitman]

...If you each were buying chisels new today, nothing used, nothing you currently have, what would you be buying?

I’ve got too many chisels to be buying anything common, but if I were buying, I’d be looking at Narex.

 

[ez-duzit]

I'd get another set of Japanese chisels.

For mortising I really like Lee Valley's

 

[turbowoodworker]

I have the Narex bench chisels made in Czech Republic. Nice middle of the road brand. For mortising, I like the Robert Sorby. They are stout.

 

[CRSINMICH]

rrich: Setting up and organizing a shop is a big project. If you're like me, it'll also be a continuing project. Nice work.

cheechi: I have a set of Marple chisels (pre-Irwin) that I like a lot but for most of my work I use vintage chisels rescued from estate sales and garage sales. I rarely pay more than $3 for them. Greenlee and PEXTO are my favorites. Here's something I've learned from reconditioning and sharpening them. The vintage chisels that have the best reputation all have very flat backs. That's the first step in the initial sharpening process. New or vintage, whatever chisel you decide on, go through the effort to flatten the backs first.

I forgot to respond to your question a few posts back about the lip on the front of my bench. It is probably more accurate to say that it splits the difference between a lip and an overhang. I don't think I'd make it that large again but I have made use of the extra space for clamping.

 

[jimreed2160]

Chisels
The ones I like best are the ones I made. I also like Stanley #60 **** chisels. But my go to chisels for everyday work are Japanese chisels from Griz. They are easy to sharpen and I touch them up with sandpaper. Good for paring as well as hammering.

 

[jimreed2160]

Handle project

All of the shop organization going on has really sucked the time out of my woodworking. The project that rolled around today was a welcome relief. I have been cleaning and selling Stanley dowel makers lately and the last one in the bin was missing its handle. Not the whole thing, just the wooden part. WooHoo! Smells like the scent of a lathe project is in the air!!!

So I rounded up some 10/4 beech and squared it up. Then I drilled a hole through it for the handle rod and also a larger hole for the capture end of the bolt. I threaded the resulting block onto a pen mandrill and used a few pieces of conduit to hold it in position.

Then I just turned until it looked like a handle. It was neat to use my caliper to measure the ID of the ferrule and turn the caliper around to measure the OD of the shaft.

Turning went quickly and I was reminded how much fun the lathe is. I like my handle better than the original because mine is a little fatter.

 

[jimreed2160]

Handle

After turning and sanding the handle, I was on a roll. I assembled it and peened the rod in place. Then I painted it black like the originals.

After the machine gets cleaned and tuned, it will be released back into the wild with its new handle. There is a similar project over on the lathe table. I found an old school bell that needs a new wooden handle. Since I am on a roll, I need to jump on that one. Two of my daughters are schoolteachers and I am sure one of them needs a bell to call the children in from recess. What? They don't do that anymore? They round up the kids with a texting broadcast notification app? My, how things have changed. I guess next you are going to tell me that they don't teach home ec or shop anymore.

 

[CRSINMICH]

jimr: Nice job on the handles. I'm amazed that you had enough dowel makers that you could catch-and-release. I've never seen one in the wild.

Calipers and dividers are seriously underrated. Very handy tools.

 

[cheechi]

Chisels, continued

Currently I have an English made Stanley set, black & yellow plastic handles, striking caps, I've flattened them and sharpened as I use them, they are 'sharp' out of the box but not by the standards of fine ww use. I also have a set of WF made Craftsman USA made ones. Also plastic handles. Haven't used them or sharpened them yet maybe that will be the weekend project. Generally if I use a hammer with them its a 1 or 1-1/2 lb deadblow. Rather than buying a fancy wood mallet, the lighter deadblows are a bit more my speed.

I missed out on the Aldi chisels last year because they were remodeling the ones near me so they didn't have anything in stock except oreos and bread. I hope they come back again soon.

Of the 'medium (?)' priced chisels, I have been looking at the Narex or Sweethearts for 'standard' style chisels and the Narex mortising set. I've seen (not in person) the Grizzly Japanese set but I don't know if I'm getting that deep into it at least not yet. I really like the style of the Narex Japanese style dovetail chisels, even if I don't use them for that purpose I may pick up that set too.

eh I still haven't decided yet.

 

[rrich1]

Jim: handle looks good.

I worked on the last two doors. In one I got my hammers and speed squares. The second door I started to place my nailers. Not super happy with them but they will work. I'm still undecided on how to make the nail storage.

I also got the tape measure installed. It was dialed in and then I decided to mess with it. [emoji849]. It's fine now.

Today I made a cross for an upcoming gift. Made from walnut. I tried to keep some sap wood in. It's made with a half lap joint and all the top edges are chamfered.

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[ScottsGT]

I lucked out and found two sets of chisels at Aldi. Gave one set to a coworker that is getting into wood working after I put an edge on them. So far I have been very impressed with them. They hold an edge forever, and I could almost shave with them.

 

[Craptain]

I lucked out and found two sets of chisels at Aldi. Gave one set to a coworker that is getting into wood working after I put an edge on them. So far I have been very impressed with them. They hold an edge forever, and I could almost shave with them.

I have heard good reports on the Aldi chisels. But haven't found them in my local stores.

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[hunterguy86]

I bought Narex from lee valley and have been happy with them so far.


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[jimreed2160]

Stanley #77 dowel machine

I have been fixing up some of these machines lately and got down to the bottom of the barrel. This 1/2" cutter has been around for a year of more and I have been unable to budge the screw that holds the knife in place. Tapping, sun treatments, Liquid wrench, torch heat--nothing budged it. UNTIL today. I used a flathead driver bit in one of my newer impact guns and watched this screw SLOWLY back out. After each 1/4 turn, I added more liquid wrench and tried back and forth with a manual screwdriver. It took a full revolution before I could budge it and I finally backed it out with the impact. After cleaning and oiling, it works fine. The impact would probably break small screws on handplanes but it really did the job here.

And here are some more shots of the #77 machine. It works like a giant pencil sharpener. Just make the square stock 1/8 larger and feed it into the machine. Works better if you chamfer the corners to get it started. I think using this machine has given me a right arm that Popeye would be admire.

 

[BMR24]

Jim that dowel machine looks handy, but I’m wondering if the cutter is dull and can be sharpened?

All I picked up this #4 bailey today. It has a corrugated sole which has me wondering if there really is a difference in friction? I remember looking into any pros and cons of corrugations in the past and Paul Sellers made a good point that the corrugations could catch a corner and tear it off when chamfering and doing end grain. He continued to go on to say that this was just a marketing gimmick.
I plan on cleaning this one up and seeing for myself but I’m curious what everyone’s thoughts are.

 

[jimreed2160]

bmr--The cutters do need sharpening from time to time. It is a pretty daunting task for someone who is not into sharpening BUT I can take one from nasty and abused to razor sharp in five to ten minutes. I wrap 400 AO paper around a screwdriver that is the same diameter as the bend and then hone it like a pocket knife. Once the entire bevel side is sharp, I turn it over and work to make the back flat and remove any wire edges.

Most of my user planes are corrugated because I think it looks cool. I agree with Paul that it is mostly marketing hooey but I disagree with his final assessment. I have never had problems with the corrugations. But I hardly ever use a plane straight on. Mostly I skew the blade about 10 degrees and make a slicing cut. Chamfering corners never are parallel to the corrugations. In fact, I have been chamfering the dowel machine stock for over two weeks steady while using a corrugated #4. No issues. I turn the plane over, hold it with my right hand, and drag the corners over the mouth of the plane. The skew angle is whatever is at the intersection of my hands and arms.

 

[jimreed2160]

Chamfering the dowel stock

Turning square stock into round stock requires some serious cutting. I have found that corner chamfering really helps the process.

Stock for the #77 needs to be squared off at about 1/8" larger than the diameter of the resulting dowel. That square stock is fed into a rotating guide with square holes of varying sizes which accommodate the stock. Square stock inside the square guide hole prevents the dowel stock from spinning when cutting force is applied.

As the square stock advances into the cutter, the first cut takes off the corners. The grain characteristics and toughness of the stock and the sharpness of the cutter determine how easy this job is. I have found that chamfering the corners helps with difficult stock and with stock larger than 3/8". The key is to chamfer all corners while taking care that the stock does not rotate inside the guide. Almost any handplane can be used for the chamfering. The one I prefer is the one which is small, sharp and close by. I always tend to gravitate to my #4 because it is lightweight and has a handle. Gripping a block plane is not my favorite thing to do these days.

 

[Bob Heine]

To solve my problem of not having nearly enough clamps, I drove to the Harbor Freight nearest me to buy some of their 36" clamps. The bad news is the HF store was closed (forever). The good news is they opened a new store 4.6 miles closer to me.

Harbor Freight's woodworking section in the store is tiny. They had three 30" steel bar clamps ($6.99) and two 36" aluminum bar clamps ($11.99). I bought all five.

I try to shop with blinders at Harbor Freight. Unfortunately there were some stupid cheap woodworking tools right next to the clamps. They have a flat, curved and round rasp set ($3.99), a 6 wood chisel set ($9.99), a 5 wood carving set ($12.99) and a 3 mini brass plane set ($12.99). On my way to the register I grabbed an air hose whip because all my air tools have whips to keep the weight down (brass quick connect and hose reel donut are heavy).

The only disappointing tools are the wood carving tools -- I feel like $12.99 is overpriced. I didn't expect much from the wood chisels but they are Chrome Vanadium steel and they will sharpen up just fine on the diamond plate. The biggest surprise is the mini plane set. The blades are blue steel and had grinder marks on them. A few minutes with the coarse diamond block and then the fine/very fine diamond plate and they were working pretty well. I will probably only use them to clean up dados.

The bill for everything, including tax came to $96.95.

If I were a real woodworker, I would have purchased a Crown miniature scraper plane for $55 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001V9KOTG/?tag=atomicindus08-20) and the other two mini planes from Lee Valley for $42. Without shipping or tax, that's more than I spent. I try real hard to hate Harbor Freight but my money does talk to me.

 

[ScottsGT]

I had one of those metal clamps break on me when I needed it the most! It was actually the plastic head that broke off. Careful how tight you make them.

 

[jimreed2160]

Bob--Nice score on your HF clamps. Back in the day I had champagne taste and a beer budget but I needed lots of clamps. I bought a minimum of Jorgies and Bessies and then filled up the wall with HF bar clamps of assorted lengths. Fast forward to today when champagne is off my food list and the only beer around is my residual beer belly. I have never wanted for clamps and I am glad that past me made at least one good decision.

 

[jimreed2160]

rrich--My Milescraft drill jig came in today and I managed to assemble it without trouble. Nice part is that I had this PC drill that was declared surplus when HD had a Milwaukee sale. So now the PC drill is permanently affixed to it and the jig is ready for drilling. All I have to do is borrow the battery from my light. I hope this helps me drill more accurate holes. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[BMR24]

Jim thanks for sharing your experience, I can see Paul’s point if one were to use bad form and have excessive follow through on a plane stroke, but not so much during normal planing. He was referring to chamfering the end grain of a board for something like a shaker style raised panel for example

 

[rrich1]

Bob: I could have warned you about the carving set. I remember Brian mcauly from youtube bought them and hated them from the get go.

Jim: that was quick! Hopefully you like it. I've used it a few different times including the wood whisperer gaming table I built last year.

I took a break from the miter station and built a walnut cross as an upcoming thank you gift for my brother and sister in law. We are visiting them in Colorado tomorrow for a week while he is at seminary school. The walnut came from a a large pile I got for free last year. I chamfered the edges and used a half lap joint. I like the way it came out. I cut too much stock from the get go and have enough to make another when we get back. No woodworking progress posts from me for the next week.

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[turbowoodworker]

Gotta love a nice piece of walnut.

 

[jimreed2160]

I think one of the true joys of woodworking is unlocking the beauty of a common looking board.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob: I could have warned you about the carving set. I remember Brian mcauly from youtube bought them and hated them from the get go.

Rrich1, grocery stores put stuff at the checkout counter to help you buy on impulse. it's the reason I need blinders at Harbor Freight -- the store is filled with impulse items.

If I were a serious woodworker, I'd probably buy a 6-piece Robert Sorby starter set. Sadly, I have way too many "that looks like fun" hobbies to spend $235* on a set of tools that may never get used.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-pc-Woodcarving-Set/H0534

* I could save $45 with Amazon (maybe more for a used set on eBay).

 

[cheechi]

Bob

The aluminum clamps are great once you get used to working with them. I have 4 of the longest ones, those are the only clamps that long I own. I don't have much experience with the HF steel bar clamps, but I can tell you the ones you get free with a coupon are not worth the price. That said, their weakness isn't the steel so maybe those will be ok.

I had never considered those mini planes before now. I am interested in how long those chisels hold an edge once you sharpen them though.

 

[jar944]

Picked up a couple new machines for my shop. a shopfox/grizzly 21" bandsaw, a porter cable pocket hole machine (castle tsm-10) and I built a boggs style vacuum platen for running veneer through the planer.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Jar,
You are going to love that PC pocket hole jig. I thought only Norm could afford one of those. Nice find.

 

[jimreed2160]

jar--Nice tools. I love the looks of that bandsaw. It looks just right for resawing.

 

[cheechi]

Jar,
You are going to love that PC pocket hole jig. I thought only Norm could afford one of those. Nice find.

funny that was my first thought too. for the longest time i refused to believe some of those PC tools were really available for sale.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Cheech,
I think I have only seen two "in the wild". I have seen their list price though. I suspect Jar may deserve a "you ****" but I will reserve that since we haven't heard what he paid. Regardless, great tool and will serve him well.

Rick