The Blokeblog

'Shop Flaw...

2011-10-21T20:06:00.011+01:00

The big day finally arrived last Friday, and to mark the occasion, SWIMBO snapped this little pic and put it on my Facebook page so now the complete world and his wife knows that I've finally got there. It's a strange and surreal sort of experience as at the moment it feels like I'm on a weeks leave before we go away for a bit of late summer sun in the Red Sea, so it'll probably hit me when we get back...I won't have to get up at 6.30 when it's pitch black (...is there anything worse?) have some breakfast, make my sarnis and walk down the road to meet my mate Kirk for the ride to work.

Nope...it's all very bizarre at the moment, but I dare say I'll get used to it!

The main activity in the 'shop though, has been to strengthen the existing floor. When I built it a few years ago, I had an extreme attack of parsimoniousness (good word that!) and decided that one central sleeper wall would suffice.

Big mistake...huge time!

I made the joists a measly 3"x 2" and as a consequence the floor had a somewhat better bounce than a circus trampoline...as anyone who's been in it will testify! Now that I'm about to install much heavier equipment, I've rued the day that I made that decision.

The third pic shows the first part of one of the new sleeper walls being laid, with cross noggins to additionally support the joists. I used 50mm thick paving slabs to lay the timber on and I swear that they're just about the heaviest and most awkward bloody things that I've ever had the misfortune to manhandle.

The final pic shows the new floor going down, which I made out of 18mm ply which was then covered with some hardboard.

Finally, I had a fantastic day yesterday at Axminster, courtesy of Ian Styles who gave me a personal guided tour of their facility, including an in depth look at the way the firm operates. I didn't know that if an order is placed on-line (during the day) their system is so good that 13 minutes later, the goods are being loaded onto the back of a lorry...now that's some sort of efficiency!

Needless to say, a very considerable order was placed on the day, which, if you you care to peruse future blogs, will be elaborated on in much greater detail.

But enough of this nonsense...I'm on me hols tomorrow!

The Return...

2011-10-12T16:15:00.000+01:00

You'll no doubt be pleased (or otherwise, as the case may be) that the long sabbatical has come to an end. In around 48 hours I'll be retiring, finishing my employment for good, which is, I hasten to add, a slightly sureal and very strange experience.

Expect then, dear peruser of this Blog, that normal service will indeed resume, with an account of 'shop activity over the summer (not least of which is the acquisition of a LN 51)...very early next week!

Sabbatical

2011-07-28T11:20:00.001+01:00

Those of you who dip into these meanderings from time to time will have noticed that I haven't made an entry for quite a while. This is because I've decided to take a long delayed sabbatical though fear not...normal service will be resumed in October when I finish work.

Cunning conversion...

2011-05-30T13:00:00.007+01:00

The last technical article has been written for F&C, which was supposed to be a two page piece on ramped shooting boards. Two pages in the mag though, isn't a whole lot of space to describe how to make one, so having one of my frequent latteraly thinking brain waves, I decided to modify my existing one. The advantage of the ramped shoot is that more of the blade is in contact with the timeber, whereas in the ordinary version, it's only one small section that's in constant use.

The first pic shows my old, battered, tatty and coffee stained shoot... a bit worn but still accurate.

The simplest thing to do to modify the shoot was to saw off the plane runway and re-attach a new one, at an angle of round about 10deg or less. The bench hook end has been chiseled away to the right angle and then it's been fixed in place with a hefty couterbored screw...

...and the addition of a couple of wedges on the under side to level the whole thing up was the final little bit to do. The runway has been extended by around 60mm so that wider boards can be shot in without the No9 falling off the end of the shoot.

It's not happened yet, but with my track record, it's going to happen one day!

Illumination

2011-05-28T21:28:00.005+01:00

Workshop activities have slowed down somewhat of late, due in no small way to the horticultural activities taking place in the garden, but amongst all the frantic activity, I've managed to get the next project under way...a tall Japanese floor standing lamp

As usual there were elements of the design that were a trifle perplexing, not least of which were the four the side panels. These have to be made from shoji paper (a translucent material) which tears quite easily...so how then to remove a panel easily so that the offending torn section could be replaced? I'm not sure how it's done in proper lamps, but I've decided to use rare earth magnets with four to each panel. The pic shows some of the rails, with a section cross-hatched, one piece of which will form a quarter of a panel. The rebate sits on the outside of the carcase and the frames then fit into the rebates...the holes that can be seen are for the rare earth magnets, as it's much easier to mark out and drill before the timber's been machined away.

Sounds complicated?...not really. The whole piece is fairly simple with straight forward m/t joinery and the only curvy bits in it (and I like curvy bits) will be in the handle. There are though, one or two interesting features of this little project that will be further elaborated on as I make it...so watch this space!

The second pic shows two of the four stiles with the mortises cut as I always do them...with a router. These have been left with round ends from the router bit and have yet to be squared out, an enjoyable half hour with small chisels. You can also just see the pencil marks for the long sections of the rebates which will eventually hold the shoji paper frames.

More to come, provided I can find time 'twixt shredding a mountain of branches, digging out tree roots out and interminable trips to the dump.

C'est la guerre...or similar.

The Geat White Hunter...

2011-05-14T17:31:00.007+01:00

The jungle that was the bottom of the garden is slowly being cleared and the hole where I'm now standing will eventually be part of a rather tasty 8x6' greenhouse.

After a hard slog in the hot sun, I've finally bagged my prize...this stump which is all that remains of a 25' high juniper tree.
Many weapons were brought into action on the day...spades assorted, an axe and one of two mattocks, but as this a woody blog, it might be of interest to discuss the edge on one of blades.

So just what is the most effective angle to hack through the tree roots? For many years I've favoured a triple bevel on some plane irons...23deg primary grind, 30deg honed bevel and a micro-bevel at 33deg so I thought that this sort of regime would be just the very ticket for my mattock, with the extra heft of the tool enabling me to take really nice, dainty chippings.

The mallet, made from a fencing post and an old cricket stump is a much treasured tool liberated at the end of my teaching career, and is so finely tuned with such a delicate balance that the Blue Spruce offering pales into the merest insignificance.

And what of the saw? A progressive rip tooth cut with just a smidgen of fleam or perhaps not quite so an aggressive cross-cut, with maybe just a tad more set? Or maybe I should have gone for the Japanese option and opted for a pull cut blade?

Who knows...my own opinion is that this entry is one big bit of fleam and if you've taken any of even half-seriously you're in desperate need for a glass or four of the good stuff tonight.

I know I will!

Hellena Handcart

2011-05-08T08:08:00.004+01:00

Having had a little break from woody activities in the 'shop (as I usually do once a piece has been finished) the material for the next job has been prepared...a floor standing Japanese lamp which has one or two features that might pose some interesting problems.

Such as how do I bend 6mm acrylic into a 90deg bend? I think I know to do it, but it's going to be an interesting exercise none the less. Material for this one is again in the last remnants of my original consignment of air dried English Oak which has lasted very well as a quick count-up in my head last night revealed that no less than five projects will have been made from it...good job I've got some more then!

This morning I've got a break from gardening duties as I'm taking the pics for my next technical piece in F&C which is honing using the Kell III guide. It's bound to set the cat amongst the wotsit's because when wasn't sharpening and honing a contentious issue amongst woodies? The truth be told...

...I ain't bovvered!

More astute readers might have noticed that the frequency of these dubious meanderings has slightly tailed off recently. The reason is that during quiet spells at work (which is most of the time) I used to get a Blog entry done during the week. However, such is the appalling IT system that we have to use, it won't really support the Blokeblog any more...the spellchecker (essential for me as you might have guessed) doesn't work, I can't upload pics and entries simply appear as one giant paragraph and have to be edtied when I get home, so all in all, it's intensely bloody annoying.

Clearly, the word is going to Hell in a handcart...tsk.

Things must be getting bad.

TP on FB

2011-05-02T16:00:00.005+01:00

SWIMBO and I had just had a very pleasant weekend staying at my brothers...nothing very unusual there, plenty of brothers do exactly that. We watched the royal wedding in the morning and then around twoish or so, set of for Norwell, near Newark, which I estimated to take us around 4 hours or so, taking into account a stopover for a brew.

My brother Rog has been on his own for years (though it's fair to say that there have been one or two ladies around at certain times) and I thought that this was pretty much the 'status quo' and likely to remain so for a long time to come.

However, things don't always work out quite how you expect and can sometimes take a very unexpected twist...not for the worst, but very much for the better in this case.

You see, the very nice lady in the second pic is called Theresa Paradise, or at least that's her maiden name and was when Roger last went out with her...

...in 1971 and even I, being an absolute bloody genius at sums, can work out that it's forty years ago!

Oh deary, deary me, the wonders of t'interweb and Facebook in particular!

Sometimes, even for a grumpy old sod like me, life can turn up some very pleasant surprises...

The RI Box

2011-04-25T10:05:00.007+01:00

Another one of my boxes has been finally done n'dusted. Not too many hideous mistakes along the way, just one or two interesting things as previously noted. The first pic shows the box completed in it's entirety.

The original plan was to go very much down the Inghamish route and fit some simple square brass feet that extended 3mm beyond the edge. However, it didn't look quite right and my fears were confirmed when friends from UKWorkshop told me that the feet had to go! So they have done, this morning and have been replaced with small squares of green baize to cover the screw holes.

The next pic shows the handle in place on the front of the box and as promised, that little chip is nowhere in sight.

The third photo in the series shows the box in the open position, with the hinges complete with their brass screws...note that the slots are all in line!

The final pic in the sequence shows the box open, with the lining in Birds Eye Maple, kindly donated to the cause by my good pal Tony Cox from Weymouth. There was just enough to make the four sides and enough in addition for the veneer on the base...

...as well as for an additional short length as I cut the first piece too bloody small.

So you thought my unerring reputation for making monumental cock-ups was had been finally defeated?..think again!

Of knobs and knockers

2011-04-23T11:53:00.003+01:00

This little project is almost coming to completion now and has gone reasonably well. There have been one or two interesting things that have occurred, the first one being that the elm is much softer than the ebony. This hasn't really caused a problem but it has produced the phenomenon whereby the it's very difficult to sand it to a dead flat surface...the elm has been 'sculpted' slightly below the surface of the ebony. This hasn't caused any real problems as the veneer is 2mm thick...had it been any thinner I reckon I might have had a problem.

I've been applying the final coats of hard-wax oi l over the last couple of days and finishing it off with my favourite Alna Teak Wax...a lovely soft paste specially made for teak (and alas no longer available as it hasn't been made for the last thirty years) I slapped a couple of coats of wax on the top, started to buff it off and saw that there were some huge scratches in the top that had miraculously appeared...clearly either my finishing technique was beyond redemption or my sanding was way below par. I suspect the latter, so the top's been scraped and re-finished this morning with the first coat of oil drying at the moment.

Handles and knobs always cause me a lot of angst, but for this box I decided to keep to the original Inghamish theme of a simple turned cylinder with a small slither of oak set into a shallow groove. If you look carefully you'll see a tiny chip out of the right hand side of the knob, which is intensely annoying. The plus side is that once the handle's been glued in place, that little chip can never be seen.

With any luck and provided I haven't screwed up the top (again!) this project ought to be done n'dusted on the 'morrow...

We shall see.

Knighthood for Crawford...

2011-04-16T16:18:00.007+01:00

There's one thing that I detest in any job and I'll put it off for as long as I can. Procrastinate as much as I want (maybe the car needs a wash, or the grass needs a cut or I need to floss my teeth)...but sooner or later, loins have got to be girded and the deed has got to be done.

Fitting hinges, or more specifically, butt hinges.

Normally on a box like this, the hinges would have had to be on and off like a whore's drawers and it could take me the better part of a day to fit them properly, with a subsequent rocketing of stress and blood pressure levels, which I need like a hole in the proverbial. I opted instead a set of the very excellent and beautifully made smartHinge's from Andrew Crawford. What would have taken me an eon to fit, were now done in around an hour and are so easy to install that the mitres on the front corners were no more than .25mm off...easily sanded out in around twenty minutes.

It's critical that the hinges are set dead level. Mine aren't and so have been shimmed to bring them level with the inside surface of the box. Andrew does in fact say this in the blurb but my machining of the recesses wasn't quite accurate enough...as with all these sorts of things it's a learning curve the first time it's done. The only major criticism that I would offer is that no No3 steel screws are supplied to cut the initial thread although plenty of brass screws are included...not much good though, when you need to drive them through ebony! Fortunately, I had several boxes of steel screws that were exactly the right size, so that wasn't an issue.

I've only fitted them here with the steel screws, so that when it's finally assembled they'll be swapped for brass ones of the same size.

If you've got nothing better to do with your time than read this drivel, you'll know that I like parcels, particularly parcels with shiny tools in them.

The other day I received an oddly wrapped package in the post and I couldn't for the life of me work out what it was...I certainly wasn't expecting anything.

However, it slowly dawned on me as the bubble wrap and masking tape were stripped away, that the parcel contained a very acceptable Fibonacci gauge in Cocobolo, made for me by a member of UKWorkshop...I'd completely forgotten that it was in the post, so it was a very pleasant surprise to receive it.

Now that the hinges have been fitted successfully, the next step is to sort out the lining in Birds Eye Maple, after which it'll be the final sanding and polishing.

Yandles 2011

2011-04-12T15:18:00.002+01:00

The other event that occurred at the weekend that I haven't mentioned was the annual outing to Yandles on Saturday. It proved to be a really pleasant day out, a lovely Spring day and definitely 'shirt sleeve' order. My impression was that it was slightly smaller than previous shows as I was looking round for the de Walt stand and realised that it wasn't there!

I did, however, have a good delve into the woodshed, which is always a pleasant way to pass an hour. Being Saturday (and thus the second day) I had the feeling that stocks of timber would be somewhat denuded (analogous to the after effects of a locust swarm) but I was pleasantly surprised to discover a couple of matched boards of Wych Elm, reasonably straight and with some pleasant grain figuring. I was going to get just one, but as a future project later on this year is a bow fronted, wall hung cabinet, I thought it wise to buy the second plank just in order to get the maximum advantage from the available grain.

Looking around the machinery hall, I had a play with the Startrite 352E and it's a very, very impressive bit of kit. I'm fairly convinced that this has moved into pole position ahead of the 16'' Jet, so that if I'm allowed out the the Yandles Autumn show in Sept, I'll be placing an order...even better, it's around £200 less spendy!

All told, a very good day out.

A slip in time...

2011-04-10T17:22:00.004+01:00

I've been messing about today with the next article for F&C...this time it's on drawer slips.
The approach I normally use is shown in the first pic is that of making a router groove which passes through the front tail (thus hiding it in the finished drawer.)

However, this leaves a narrow section (arrowed) that may present a weakness if the drawer is heavily loaded (one of SWIMBO's clothes drawers maybe...dunno) or one which may fail after many years. Drawer slips just add double the bearing area and do away with that thin, weak section.

The first thing is to prepare some oak 12mm thick and then make a 5x5mm groove down the length...it does help if one possesses a 'free and gratis' Veritas plough plane but any method will do as long as you end up with the groove.

Then you'll need to get hold of a very superior brass scratch stock (but an old wooden one will do at a pinch) and make a little bead down the length. Bandsaw off the slip, clean up the rough face and apply to the inside of the drawer...

And in the best traditions of Blue Peter...

...here's one I did earlier. You'll note, I hope, that no sticky backed plastic, loo rolls or other equally ghastly materials were used.

Just quarter sawn English Oak.

Expectations

2011-04-06T14:56:00.005+01:00

At long last, we seemed to have turned the corner regarding the weather...it'a a glorious Spring day with temperatures nodding into the early 70's. With that in mind, I'm starting to have some ponderations about the coming weekend and being early April...it's got to be the Yandles spring show!

I've been making a list of things I need to do on the day. No doubt there'll be some delving into the woodshed (I'll be looking for elm in particular and anything else that looks half-decent) as well as knobbling the De Walt rep as I want to have a really good look at the 622 router, which is in pole position at the moment to replace my aging Bosch.

I'll also be looking at the current range of machinery available...usually Record, SIP and Charnwood amongst others, as later on this year all of the equipment in my 'shop is going to be replaced.

I also want to speak to a pal about his Thein dust extractor unit that he's currently using in his 'shop. For some time I've been looking to add something like this as an addition to the Camvac 386, thus enlarging the collection capacity. For a moderate outlay (mainly the cost of a steel dustbin) I should be able to have a very useful addition to the extraction system in the 'shop. All told, it promises to be a very good day out (as usual) provided of course, those sneakily fickle weather gods smile on us!

Separation

2011-04-03T21:15:00.009+01:00

No matter how many times I've done this, I always get a bit nervous...sawing the thing in half! I know that a properly set up bandsaw with a nice sharp blade will do the job in a second, but I'm always left with the nagging doubt of... 'what if the blade drifts?' which is why, I suppose, I've always sawn boxes in half with a hand saw.

Having read Andrew Crawford's illuminating article in the latest issue of British Woodworking, I decided to take a leaf out of his book and use a sheet of 18mm mdf with a couple of strips of 150g paper stuck down to level the joining surfaces. The surprising thing (to me anyway) is that the technique is surprisingly accurate. Subtle changes in hand pressure enable different areas to be sanded, so that it's quite easy to obtain a pair of matching surfaces that are dead true.

Once the two faces have been sanded, it's then just a case of applying the last pieces of ebony to build up the thickness of the centre section and once that's been done, it'll be back on the sanding board to bring the combined thickness back to 12mm.

Reading Andrew's piece in the magazine has started to get the grey matter moving again. The time is fast approaching to the point where I'll need to sort out a fairly large order to Axminster and I'm definitely of the opinion that this little item might be included.

We shall see...

Progress at last.

2011-03-29T10:16:00.010+01:00

At last, the Inghamish box seems to be coming together. Yesterday, I managed to fit all the top pieces of ebony to the lid and managed to shoot in the mitres with some accuracy. There pic shows the box after I went over it with the first provisional sanding using 180g Abranet...I found that sanding with ordinary papers were clogging the grain too much.

There's a little bit of tear out in the top corner closest to the camera, but my feeling is that with further sanding using finer grits, this ought to disappear eventually.

The second pic shows the underside. I made this from a couple of bits of bookmatched veneer, with the balancer on the inside being rock maple. Fitting it to the curved rebate was an interesting little exercise in itself. The end grain corner posts will eventually be hidden by the feet and for this I intend to keep it simple and use four pieces of 25mm square brass, screwed in place.

The next job will be to separate the lid from the box and then fit more ebony to bring the total thickness of the centre section up to 12mm...it'll also cover the end grain again of the corner posts.

The small item that's started to impinge on the grey matter though, is the handle and I don't really know how I'm going to do that. I dare say though, it'll get sorted...somehow.

Quartet, the deux

2011-03-27T13:13:00.004+01:00

The last of the Japanese chisels have now been done and as predicted, they did take a bit longer than the dovetail chisels. The big 36mm chisel had a fairly large 'bump' just behind the cutting edge which took several hours using the 100micron 3M films to remove...it's not all out yet, but close enough for all practical purposes. As the backs are polished through the normal honing process, they'll get progressively better. The hoops were set using the excellent instructions on the 'Tools for Working Wood' site where that a hammer is recommended to compress the fibres, except I didn't use one...I used a metalwork vice instead. Much quicker and a lot more accurate!

Amongst all the excitement of hours of chisel back flattening over the last couple of weeks, I've not forgotten the Inghamish box. This pic shows that the lid has been glued in place and the rebate cut round the outside...a fairly tricky time with the router, but which went according to plan. The first section of the inlay has been glued in place, with the corners having been mitred. The next three edges are then repeated, after which it'll be time to saw the lid off.

Fun times indeed!

Quartet

2011-03-22T14:46:00.003Z

The weekend's activities centred around preparing the new chisels, dealing firstly with the dovetail chisels. Every Japanese chisel is unique, so it took a little while to work out how to fit each one into the Kell III honing guide as the wedges that I'd made for other chisels weren't suitable.

The reason for this is that the apex of these dovetail chisels is a sharp ridge (think of them as having an almost triangular cross-section) so that when the wedge is pushed tight against it, I found that the rosewood was splitting (one just has to have upmarket material for the wedges, doncha know) The way I found to circumvent the problem was to glue on a very thin layer of multiply to the underside of wedge where it touches the chisel...problem solved!

Fixing the English Walnut to the ends of the handles went without a hitch as well, so now I've got a really good set of dovetail chisels.

Now for Mr F's Oire-Nomis, which are probably going to take a little longer...

Safe

2011-03-19T16:46:00.007Z

Having just obtained some more rather expensive Japanese chisels, I've just spent today making a bespoke rack for them. If the pic is clicked on you'll see that each one has it's own separate little compartment, using some 6mm ply as a divider, though they've yet to be prepared for use.

You'll also note that the rack has been mounted fairly low down, just above the bench well, making it easy to extract the right chisel when it's needed. Previous versions of this type of rack that I've made have been open (with no clear plastic cover.)

So...you reach into the tool well to get something, grab hold and lift...

...and your hand goes straight across the blade of a razor sharp chisel! Believe it or not, I've caused considerable leakage on more than one occasion in just this way.

On a similar note, I'm always astounded when I see pics on t'interweb of chisels and other nasty, sharp tools racked out so that the slightest lapse when reaching for one means that there's a fair to middling chance of impalement...

...and perhaps the worst example of all is when chisels are racked out edge upwards, which I've seen more than once!

Smart

2011-03-16T15:45:00.000Z

Getting in from work last night, I found a couple of boxes stacked on the dining room table, one from Axminster and the other from Matt at Workshop Heaven. Both contained the chisels I'd ordered at the weekend, in addition to a selection of 3M films, including some 60micron sheets that Matt had stuffed in the box...free and gratis! This coming weekend will no doubt see me preparing these chisels, so the 100 and 60 micron films are going to come in for some sustained use.

However....I'm expecting one more parcel.

I've made several small boxes over the last couple of years, and without a shadow of a doubt, the worst part is the hinging, a process guaranteed to increase both stress and blood pressure levels, both of which I need like a hole in the proverbial. I'd been dreading this part of the job and had resigned myself to using Brusso hinges, which althouth excellent quality, are fiddly and just plain bloody awkward to fit.

In a very timely fashion though, Andrew Crawford has brought out his smartHinge, which by all accounts are dead easy to fit, needing only an 8mm bit fitted into a router table and will be well worth the exorbitant price if they can save my BP rocketing up! With any luck, fingers crossed, there'll be a third parcel on the doormat when I get in tonight.

Spanked

2011-03-14T11:23:00.002Z

The very recent and terrible disaster in Japan over the last couple of days has caused me a bit of a dilemma. I've gradually been collecting a series of Japanese dovetail chisels and fully intended, in the next few months to also get a few of the in-between sizes of Mr F's most excellent Oire-Nomis' from Workshop Heaven.

However, the situation in Japan might mean that the supply of tools to the UK may suffer some disruption, probably for a considerable time to come, so that once stock held by Axminster and the like has gone, there may not be any replacements for a quite a while.

In conversation over coffee, SWIMBO asked me yesterday if there were any chisels that I needed (bearing in mind the situation) and being of sound disposition, I felt it possibly a little churlish to refuse the offer.

...so her credit card got a bit spanked!

I now have a further seven chisels coming in the post...and I do like parcels!

Scary...

2011-03-13T16:17:00.007Z

I was approaching this part of the Inghamish box with a small amount of trepidation (and that's stating the case lightly)

What you may well ask?.. setting in the top!

Normally, this is fairly straightforward...make the rebate and shute in the top taking some care in the process.

Here though, the top has been fitted into the rebate dry (so that it's a tight fit) and then the grooves for the inlay have been routed in situ, using the sides of the box as a reference for the router fence.

This, believe it or not, was a fairly brown trouser exercise as the slightest slip up with the router would have mangled the burr elm. I had to do it this way (ie, not taking the lid out and machining separately) as I needed to get the inlaid grooves parallel with the sides of the box and not the sides of the plywood top, if you follow. However, as you can see from the first pic, it all went to plan without a hitch...more's the wonder!

The rebate round the outside is going to be filled with an ebony banding mitred at the corners, not least because otherwise the end grain of the four corner posts is going to show on the finished box.

All that remained to do was to extract the top, flip it over and route the grooves in the underside to match up with the sides...simple enough and not quite so critical.

The base has also been routed in and that also went smoothly, so the whole thing is coming together quite well.

Drastic measures...

2011-03-09T07:02:00.003Z

Having spent much time pondering over the merits of various dovetail chisels, I finally opted for the Umeki-Nomi's from Axminster. These are decent Japanese chisels, hardened to around RC66 (so pretty hard) with a nice White Oak handle and finely ground down the long sides, but...

...the hoops make them almost useless for hand work (at least for me) The reason is twofold, firsly when used in the horizontal mode for any length, I'm left with a nasty red weal in the centre of my palm. Secondly, if used verticaly, the sharp edge of the hoop gets trapped on the inner part of my thumb near the crease and is generally intensely uncomfortable.

So I decided to do something about it...I cut the hoop off!

This seems a bit drastic but it's not really as I dowled on a length of 30mm English Walnut. A little shaping with the LN Block (and it's new o1 Quangsheng blade, of which more later) and sandpaper has now provided me with a slightly overlong handle (which ought to give a little more control) and a rather natty two tone handle.

The blade has been honed to a single bevel of 25deg so there's no way it's ever going to be tapped with a maul or even a Japanese hammer.

So... not too shabby, n'est pas?

Slippage

2011-03-05T13:58:00.010Z

Whilst goofing around the other day on t'interweb, I came across an interesting little snippet on the GMC site, which entailed cutting 'slip joints.' I've never heard of these before, but they are large, skinny bridle joints, suitable for the back panel of a cabinet, for example. This types of joint was much beloved by the late JK and he used them in all or most of the stuff he made.

I've cut these types of joints before by hand and although not difficult, they do take a measure of concentration to get just right, and often need to be adjusted for a decent fit with a shoulder plane or the judicious use of a wide chisel.

I copy/pasted the information from the site for a 10 point instruction doc:

1. You will need to make a pair of thin shims, the same thickness as the kerf, cut by the bandsaw blade. In my case the thickness was 1.2mm and I cut out a piece of mounting card for the shims. Do not worry too much about measuring this accurately, when you make a trial slip joint you may find you need a slightly thinner or thicker shim to make the finished result tighter or looser.

2. The peg in a slip joint does the same job as the tenon in a mortise and tenon joint and a pair of thick shims (6mm) are used to set the thickness and position of the peg. I recommend making the peg one third of the thickness of the wood. For this, each of the thick shims must be one third of the wood's thickness. I used 6mm MDF to match the 18mm oak.

3. Unlike hand cut joints which rely on accurate marking, slip joints are largely self-aligning once everything is set up. The only mark required is the depth of the joint which you gauge by laying the end of one piece of wood on the edge of the other, then run a pencil line against It.

4. The band saw fence is clamped and positioned with one thin shim plus the wood thickness away from the blade. I use a home made fence for this kind of work because It is more rigid.

5. Place one thick shim against the fence to position the wood for sawing the outside of the peg. Feed the wood slowly into the blade as far as the pencil marked depth

6. Place two thick shims plus two thin shims against the fence to position the wood for sawing the inside of the peg.

7. Place one thick shim plus one thin shim against the fence to position the wood for sawing outside of the socket.

8. Place two thick shims plus one thin shim against the fence to position the wood for sawing the inside of the socket.

9. You now have four slots or kerfs, carefully spaced so the inside of one pair matches the position of the outside of the other pair.

10. The two halves of the join tare now ready to slip together. Ideally, this will be a firm fit with even contact all over the peg and socket sides. If the fit is too tight, the joint will be forced apart. The solution is to Increase the thickness of the thin shims. If It is too loose, these shims need to be made thinner. Brush glue inside the socket, that way any surplus will be pushed Into the joint as you close It. rather than getting scraped on the outside.

I've been playing around with this technique today and found that with a little experimentation, a perfect bridle joint could be cut on the bandsaw in about 2 minutes, taking about a minute or so to get the correct thin shims made up. In my particular case, it happened to be a couple of pieces of picture framing card which were just about perfect.

Rock and a hard place.

2011-03-01T20:33:00.013Z

I made the small panel last weekend and whilst easy enough, in theory, practise was a little different. I started by using the plough plane to form a rebate all the way round. This was to leave a flat that was 6mm thick (to slot into the frame groove) and around 8mm wide.

I then made four grooves to establish the raised section of the panel, leaving the section in the middle to be removed with the Veritas rebate plane. Some cunning measurement enabled me make the beveled shoulder just a fraction wider than the plane blade. An added bonus was that the adjustment screws on the side of the plane allow the blade to be shunted over a fraction so that it's dead flush with the sides, so that the chances of a 'dig in' are reduced to almost zero.

Once it was done, I made a dedicated sanding block to finaly smooth the bevel though very little work was needed...to all intent and purposes, the finish was left straight from the edge.

The finished panel is shown in the last pic and it turned out quite well, but it took a lot of concentrated effort to make all the bevel mitres line up. What was especially hard was to make the seemless transitition between the bevel and flat...very hard to do without taking off the odd slither of material where it shouldn't be taken!

Not something I want to do again in a hurry, but if a small 'one-off' panel is needed and a router cutter is just too big for the job, you're really 'twixt a rock and a hard place...this is the only way to do it!

Panel dilemma?

2011-02-25T12:03:00.008Z

The following couple of pics have been sneakily lifted from a fellow collaborators site and show part of the process in making a 'raised and fielded panel', which by a remarkable coincidence, is the next technical piece that I need to do for F&C.

The perpetrator in question is using a dedicated plane for the job...something that I won't have, but as you can see from the second pic...

...the edge of the panel is 'wedged' shaped. In other words, the bevel of the panel is flat, which I suppose is the traditional way that they've always been made.

However, this leaves me with somewhat of a dilemma.

When this wedged shaped panel is fitted into the corresponding square sectioned groove in the frame two things will happen.

First and foremost, if the panel expands (in the width) the wedge will tighten against the upper surface of the groove. Second and foremost, if it shrinks (in the width) a gap is going to develop 'twixt the upper surface and the frame groove and the result will be...

... a rattle! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!

A little of delving around the Axminster site showed a panel raising cutter with a flat profile where the panel fits into the frame, so allowing it to expand and contract easily. From the perspective of making a better, rattle free panel this is clearly the best way of making the it.

My problem is, I've got to replicate this by hand...

...I think?

Chocolate

2011-02-23T10:06:00.001Z

My new shiny toy arrived the other evening, nicley packed with giant sized bubble wrap so as soon as I saw that, I knew where it had come from...Axminster. After tea, I went out into the 'shop and spent a couple of pleasant hours playing around with it.

Having had some very dubious Veritas products in the past, I can honestly say that the Plough Plane is a winner...very well made and does exactly what it says on the tin. I get the feeling that Rob Lee and his gremlins beaver away producing new and innovative hand tools, which is commendable, but sometimes they go badly off the rails. The little scraper plane is a really pleasant and quite sexy tool to use...until that is, you come to sharpen and hone the blade. The oh-so-clever, smart arse design of this little tool means that the blade is tiny, miniscule thing...the result is that it's well nigh impossible to hold in any sort of honing jig to get the required 45deg.

It's about as much use as a chocolate bloody tea pot!

Although it pains me deeply to compare it to the equally and truly appalling Eurovision Song Contest...nil points!

Conspiracy

2011-02-21T10:37:00.004Z

Someone once said that the 'best laid plans' (verse 7) etc etc and it's no exageration to say that mine did over the last few days...I didn't even get a Blog entry done over the weekend! Lots of small, non-woody events conspired over the last few days (and I even had Thurs and Friday off) to keep me out of the 'shop, but I did manage to veneer the base for this little box ( burr elm and birds eye maple) The inside of the box was also cleaned up and given a couple of coats of Hard Wax Oil, so the next job will be to glue the four main pieces together.

I also honed new O1 steel blades for my Veritas LA jack and BU smoother. The difference is subtle but noticable...a perceptable improvement in the quality of the edge that I can obtain with the result of better performance of the planes.

I've ordered the first of the Axminster umeki-nomi Japanese dovetial chisels and I'm expecting that in the post anytime soon. I'm also being sent a new shiny toy, free and gratis, to play around with so I can do the next technical article for F&C.

Occaisionally, life is very hard, but I struggle through... Here's hoping, fingers crossed, that they don't want it back...

Contact

2011-02-15T20:14:00.003Z

At last there seems to be a little progress on this project. To date, I wouldn't say it's been particulaly onerous, more a question of just gluing bits of wood together to slowly build up the pattern. The biggest problem to date has been some 'tear out' on the ebony, but some judicious sanding ought to remove it.

I thought that I'd need to use some loose ply tongues to give added strength, but as the core material is 9mm ply and the total thickness is around 14mm I found out that it wasn't really neccessary, so a straight butt glued joint with TBIII sufficed. Had the box been made much larger with 6mm mdf as the core material (as in the original) then some sort of jointing would definitely have been needed, but in my smaller version, I think, hope and pray that I've got away with it...

The first pic shows the little rebate cut at each corner. This is to make the corner posts equal, but it also has the added advantage of locating the sides into the ends...

...so that when all four sides are brought together to make contact it starts to look more like a box. The next job is to clean and polish the inside of the lid and then glue it together.

On a different note, the Ashley Isles dovetail chisels have now been sold and will be replaced with something a little more Oriental. Having had one or two Ice Bear tools from Axminster in the past, they seem to be very good...time will tell.

Whist nattering about matters 'Oriental' I've made email contact with a fellow woodworker in Japan so that over the course of the next year or so a lot of my tool related and general queries about our forthcoming trip in May '12 ought to be resolved. Promising indeed...

The wood split!

2011-02-13T18:55:00.004Z

Not a lot done thus far on the Inghamish box this weekend except that all the pieces of ebony have now been glued in place, so that when all four sides are offered up together it does begin to look like a box rather than a collection of oddly shaped squares of timber.

One thing of note did happen though. Each of the corner posts needs to be square in section but the overall thickness of the material is 14mm and the inlay is 13mm, so a small 1mm rebate needed to be machined on the long sides. This also has an unexpected bonus as it will enable the sides to locate more accurately when I eventually cramp them together...with a bit of luck there won't be any slippage when the cramps are applied.

I digress. The set up for the rebate went well and the first three corners were rebated successfully. However unknown to me, the ebony on the last corner piece had a hairline crack in it which I hadn't spotted and under during the machining process, the crack opened significantly...

The fourth corner is being glued back together at the moment...

Relegation

2011-02-09T10:53:00.000Z

A small and relatively heavy parcel awaited my inspection when I got in from work last night. With a little eager anticipation but trying to be fairly cool about it at the same time (a somewhat difficult balancing act) I ripped off the wrapping to find nestled within a couple of O1 carbon steel plane blades.

These form the first part of an ongoing process to replace most of my A2 blades, where feasable. The two blades in question are going into my LV BU smoother together with the BU jack planes and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were lapped on the back so that the dreaded 'back flattening' of yore will be somewhat relegated...

I ordered these two initially with an ground angle of 25deg and intend to hone them at 30deg, which will give and effective pitch (the angle that the wood sees) of 42deg (12deg being the bed angle on each plane)

I only need to order another for the LV try plane which will then mean that all my Veritas blades are O1 steel, so the original A2 offerings supplied with the planes will be kept for those nasty, abrasive timbers like teak that I'm prone to use occaisionaly.

So far, the plan is going well, but the hitch that I can see at the moment is that there's no O1 blade currently available for the LN block...bugger!

Coming together...slowly

2011-02-06T17:27:00.003Z

A little more's been done this weekend on the box. As you can see, it's a fairly slow and methodical process to assemble each piece of the sides in turn as only bit of ebony can be stuck on, then cleaned off...so it does take a time. The pic shows the first of the long sides with the lid section glued to the box.

The narrow 8mm strip in the middle will eventually be sawn through, to make the lid and base. Once it's been planed and fitted, I plan to glue some 3mm ebony back on top to make up the thickness to 12mm, but the four pieces on each half will be mitred so no end grain is going to be seen. Also, the same with the lid.

Sounds complicated?...don't worry, it is! Plenty of time for cock ups then...

Hinging is one of those things that I dread, especially when making something as fiddly as a small box. Help is at hand though as Andrew Crawford has recently introduced some new SmartHinges which although a bit stretchy on the pockets, look to do the job rather well.

Even better, they're claimed to be very easy to fit, which has to be a bonus.

Bevelled sides...or lack of?

2011-02-03T09:45:00.001Z

I've fianlly done it. For some time I've had that niggling feeling...(you know the sort of thing, an annoying itch at the back of your brain that you can't scratch) about the Ashley Isles dovetail chisels that I bought from Workshop Heaven last year. At the time I was after a set of decent Japanese d/t chisels but unfortunately couldn't find anything suitable.

So the decision's been made...they're going. There's nothing wrong with them, they take a decent edge and are reasonably pleasant to use but after much 'humming' and 'hahing' with a good measure of 'shall I, shan't I?' I've decided to put them up for sale but the problem now is...

...what to replace them with?

There are three options at the moment, one of which is a set of the umeki-nomi Japanese chisels from Axminster, which are currently in pole position. I've seen and used them some time ago and they're nicely ground along the sides. The thing that's putting me off at the moment is the steel hoop on the ends. For hand use (no tapping) these are a positive menace and past experience has left my hands with nasty red weals in my palm.

However, I may have a cunning plan should they ever materialise in my 'shop.

The second option is a set of O1 carbon steel LN chisels. I had the A2 variants some time ago which were excellent...apart from being made from A2 steel! The final consideration is a set of the shinogi-nomi's from Rutlands but these really are a bit of an unknown quantity and a very big leap of faith...

The Devil you know or a step into the unknown?

Bevelling and the road to Hell...

2011-01-30T20:23:00.019Z

After a couple of good days in the 'shop, reasonable progress has been made on the Robert Inghamish style box.

Firstly, I wanted to be able to inlay the ebony into the grooves and planing the sides parallel is a bit fraught...take one shaving too much and you've got a sloppy fit. However, tape a little piece of card to the shute to cant over the inlay and the edge now becomes bevelled, so that all I needed to do was to fit it half way into the groove for a perfect fit. Simply remove, apply a little TBIII and squish between a couple of decent G-cramps...sorted. How simple is that?

What wasn't quite so simple was cleaning the ebony afterwards...no matter what plane I used (even my LV BU smoother with a very fine mouth), taking shavings across the grain (even with the plane skewed) was giving nasty tear out. I tried the Veritas No 80 scraper with more success but it was a bit unwieldy for small pieces like this. In an ideal world a LN scraper would have been just the tool to do the job...except I didn't have one!

I went to bed last night with a bit of a problem, which required a little deep pondering to solve...

Then I had one of those 'eureka' moments...a back-beveled plane iron! In case your unfamiliar with the concept, I used a back-beveled iron in my little Cuban Mahogany smoother (in the second pic) The single iron is set at 55deg (so it's already quite steep) but by honing another small 25deg bevel on the back of the blade, it now has an effective pitch (the actual cutting angle that the wood sees) of 80deg, which almost makes it into a scraper plane. The result of this brain storm is that I now had an effective tool to smooth the ebony...and it worked a treat.

The LN scraper would be better though...and I really, really need one.

It's a crying shame but you know what they say about the road to Hell...I can see that Plan A has been well and truly trashed.

Indexing

2011-01-29T19:11:00.010Z

With the weather at only around OdegC today I decided last night that I'd be up early (at around 7.30ish) and put a bit of heat on. By around 10 o'clock or thereabouts it had warmed up to a pleasant 5 or 6degC, so wrapping up in thermals, fleeces and a woolly hat I was fairly happy all day working on my latest project.

The first pic shows a process that's going to happen a lot in this job...shooting the pieces to size. The bits in the pic are for the long sides of the lid.

The next shot shows the next jig in action on the router table, which is used to make the grooves to give the appearance that the box is made from several separate components, when in fact they're not...the strip of ebony is simply inlaid into the groove. If you look carefully, you can see that both sides of the lid piece have been done...this is because when the lid on the finished box is opened, you'd expect to see a mirror pattern of the outside...it all adds to the illusion.

Cunning or what?

The final shot shows the small bit of ply that's been nailed (eeeeeeeeek!!...nails in my 'shop) so that it acts as an indexing piece to space off exactly 55mm, which is the size of the burr elm squares on the front. The sides and lid are done in the same way, except that the distance is slightly less at 48mm.

I finished off the day by shooting in all the little bits of 4mm thick ebony and gluing them into the grooves...not as tricky as it sounds.

All will be revealed in the next exciting episode!

Levelling

2011-01-25T18:57:00.008Z

This is the first of the jigs in use, a simple little thing really wherein the plane runs along the inside of the two small rebates. The thickness of the piece being prepared is set to 14mm so it's a fairly foolproof way of getting each piece spot on.

That, of course, is no guarantee that yours truly won't make a complete and utter hash of it, but so far (fingers crossed) the plan has gone to plan.

The next job is to make another jig to divide up the sections of the box into what appears to be squares by inlaying 12mm wide pieces of ebony into the surface.

On a different note, I've just been commissioned by the ed at F&C for a number of technical articles ranging from making a raise panel (by hand) to the ever so slightly contentious subject honing a blade with a sharpening jig.

It looks like it's going to be a fairly busy time in the 'shop...

The Bloke is NOT for turning...

2011-01-21T10:53:00.002Z

The latest edition of F&C dropped onto the mat yesterday and within it's hallowed pages was a five page article on the Media Unit that I submitted to the editor back in August, the payment for which (when it gets here) ought to provide for a fairly major purchase of something for the 'shop.

But what, exactly?

Some time ago, being whiter than the driven snow, I decided that I wouldn't spend any more on tools (after all, how many planes do you need?) but the little QS rebating block is so nice and I really, really do actually need it... the plan was to purcahase more timber, but the racks are fairly full now although little bit more elm from Yandles in the Spring wouldn't come amiss.

Like the Iron Lady of ill repute, I'm going to do a 'U' turn. I've decided this year to start to buy some of the larger items of equipment that I'd earmarked when I retire, so the first thing that's going to get ordered from Axminster is a decent Jet pillar drill, which ought to be here sometime in February.

On a different though connected note, I'm off to see Michael Huntley tomorrow to talk all things to do with Japan and Japanese tools...ought to be an interesting afternoon.

Katana and chopsticks...

2011-01-19T15:20:00.000Z

Regular perusers hereabouts will have no doubt noticed a gradual and moderately increasing interest in woodworking techinques and tools connected with t'Orient, in particular, Japan. I have to inform the assembled multitude that the 'Bloke' has really excelled himself now as we've booked an extended holiday to Japan in May 2012 to co-incide with my official retirement a year hence.

What's really exciting (apart from all the other stuff in the trip) is that I'll have an opportunity to meet one of the last remaining professional swordsmiths still working in Japan...and even more so, I should be able to take part in the forging process for a full sized, head-lopping Samurai katana, an experience that ought to be truly memorable.

Now then...hands up at the back if you know how to use chopsticks!

A jig or two, the second...

2011-01-16T17:36:00.005Z

Having 'sliced and diced', this afternoon saw the veneers and birch ply go into the AirPress for several hours, so that all the individual pieces (apart from the base) have now been made. Each is around 16mm thick, so once one side has been skimmed...

...they can go into the first jig, which is cunningly designed to plane each piece down to 14mm. The plane sole runs along the inside of the rebate and won't plane off any more beyond 14mm... clever or what?

The final jig that I finished this afternoon is the panel cramping jig, which looks complicated but it's not really. It's not quite finished yet as it's got to be assembled with the correct sized coach bolts as well as the 6mm thrust bolts.

All will be revealed though, in due course...

Rebates and shiny tools...

2011-01-12T14:31:00.000Z

Some progress has been made on the picture frames I've been making...nothing of pants wetting excitement really, except that after much deliberation I've finally realised how to make the rebates acurate and dead square on the router table. Doing each piece in turn is fraught with difficulty as the section of the timber is so small with the result that I've never found the rebate completely square. However, make a groove down the middle of a wider piece of wood and then splitting it down the centre on the bandsaw will then produce two pieces of the frame each with a dead accurate rebate...how simple is that? A little bit of planing with the LA jack on the sawn surface the frame sections are done.

The cost of this little job though, has just about paid for a rather tasty Quangsheng rebating block plane from Workshop Heaven which I'm expecting in the post today...and who doesn't like parcels with shiny tools inside!

The other event of interest is that the ed at F&C gave me a ring t'other day and has asked me to produce a series of three page technical articles for the magazine (jigs, fixtures and fittings, techniques etc) over the course of the next few months. The exact content has yet to be decided...looks interesting though.

Sliced and diced

2011-01-09T08:23:00.002Z

The latest project is now well under way...the small Robert Inghamish box in burr elm and African ebony. Yesterday I sliced and diced up the material which can be seen in the pic. The main carcass material is in 9mm birch ply with 3mm veneers over the top (which will eventually be planed down to around 2mm) The two strips of mahogany are the balancing veneers for the inside of the box and as I intend to fit a lining of maple, this is not going to be seen. I was surprised though, at just how easy it was to slice up the burr...the bookmatched pair on the right will be for the underside of the base and the two big pieces at the top are for the lid. The technique here is going to be slightly different to the main construction in that the lid panel will be veneered both sides and then the ebony will be routed into it in series of parallel grooves...should be interesting to do.

In the mean time, I had a couple of warrants to re-frame for my boss (Maj Nev Smikle) at work. He'd had them done years ago in cheap and nasty commercial frames which were appalling...one of the warrants didn't even fit into the rebates and both were held in place by strips of sellotape.

It will be of no surprise then that I got off to a sound start for the New Year as I had to replace one of the long frame sides...twice! The first was due to a machining error (the last pass through the thicknesser) and the second happened at the bench when I cut the first mitre. Nothing wrong with that, except it was the wrong way round and the wood was 4mm too short by the time I'd cut another mitre. Having glued up both of the new frames yesterday, I'll be routing out the slots for the inserts in the mitres which ought not to take too long.

The cost of this little job has just about covered a new addition (something I've wanted for a long time) to the armoury which ought to be here on the 'morrow...

Extra present...

2011-01-05T11:10:00.003Z

Christmas and the New Year have come and gone, but unfortunately No1 son gave SWIMBO and me an extra gift over the festive season...the mother and father (plus all the siblings) of a cold which more or less completely flattened both of us for about 10 days.

As he said on the 'phone last night, his..."aim is to please"

Yeah, right, as far as I'm concerned he can take this particular 'aim' and shove it somewhere else...

From a workshop point of view, I've done nowt, not a sausage as I've felt totally drained over the last few days, but the postie today has just dropped in a couple of bottles of TBIII which ought to tide me over for a month or two.

The weather's also picked up a bit now and we seem to be back to our normal January pattern of mild, wet days which is infinitely preferable to the mind numbing cold and snow of recent weeks.

All told then, I ought to be back in the 'shop soon, slicing and dicing some nice burr elm veneer...

A jig or two

2010-12-30T15:48:00.004Z

I finally made a start this afternoon on the next project, which is the Robert Inghamish little box. It's going to have just six burr elm panels on the front...three 55mm squares on the box front and three 55x25mm oblongs in the lid above it. Similarly, there will be four on the sides which, if my drawings are correct, will mean that there are six inlaid panels on the lid. The ebony 'twixt the burrs will be 15mm thick, so the overall length of the box is going to be around 220mm or so and the height about 120mm. The lining is as yet undetermined, but will probably be in maple, with possibly a small tray of some sort as well.

I'm trying to keep roughly to the methodology adopted by RI (who incidentally is looking forward to seeing it in F&C) so I've been making one of the jigs used in the construction...a simple little device to allow the burr elm panels to be planed to an exact thickness with the LA jack...14mm in this case as opposed to the original 12mm in the bigger box.

The next one will be a little more complex as it'll be the gluing jig for the ebony strips and burr elm panels. I need to make the jig first as the gluing bit is some way away...

...besides, I haven't got any glue!

Oriental slope

2010-12-27T12:06:00.004Z

The 'Secret Santa' present I made some time ago was well received in Germany and if you recollect, it was posted in Bruges earlier in the month. It was fairly straight forward to make, but made much easier as I had an ECE scrub under the bench and a very tatty book by Charles Haywood from 1951 or thereabouts with plans for all sorts of woodworking tools. The main body is a standard laminated affair in mahogany with the horn doweled in place...that was quite fun to make. The sole is a piece of the 'wood from hell' and is the first time that I've used it for anything in anger...apart from giving lumps of it to friends to play with. Being a kindly soul, it's interesting to watch their reaction when they attempt to plane it! Philly provided the 6mm thick O1 blade and very kindly ground it to a perfect curve.

I received one or two very acceptable presents which will allow me to slide a little further down the Oriental slope of slipperiness, one being an excellent Ryoba saw from Gareth, then a Japanese marking gauge from Megan and finally a pair of books from SWIMBO, one of which is 'Japanese Woodworking Tools' by Toshio Odate.

I'd been after this book for some time and it's already been useful as when I had a look at the marking gauge, I noticed that the blade is deliberately skewed by around 5deg, which I initially thought was a manufacturing defect...not so apparently as it's done deliberately to draw the stem tight against the wood when it's used. If I like the design when I try it out in the 'shop, I'll probably make one or two others. The second book is the final JK tome...I have all the others so this will make a little bit of pleasant reading in the New Year.

Interconnection

2010-12-24T10:51:00.002Z

It’s often surprised me that we take so much for granted these days. We give hardly a thought to the vast array of technical gizmos and gadgets which we’re constantly bombarded with…you only need to look at the weird and wacky gift ideas at IWOOT to see the sort of thing I mean.

Without doubt though, over the last twenty years or so it’s the area of communications that have infiltrated the very essence of our everyday existence. How many times have you seen someone with a ‘phone transfixed to their ear and wondered what they’d have done not so many years ago? There simply weren’t any in everyday use, so we just had to get by.

Similarly, t’internet was just getting going in the early 90’s and there were even programmes on the telly to explain the workings devious of the ‘information super-highway’…whatever that was. Here we are though, some twenty years on, complete with Facebook, Twitter and Utube so it’s no exaggeration to say that it now more or less completely dominates our lives. Want to do some complicated research and book a once in a lifetime holiday or a few last minute Christmas bits from Tesco’s?..sit down at the keyboard, log on and start surfing, it’s as simple as that.

The last decade though in particular, has seen an explosion in the amount of on-line Bloggers, myself included. It’s only t’internet, this vast interconnection of computers, which allows access to read them by almost anyone, from near enough anywhere on the face of this small globe.

Wherever you are and of whatever faith or denomination, from the warm comfort of my desk in this bitter, freezing cold weather, I wish you and yours peace and prosperity in this season of goodwill to all men.

Merry Christmas - Rob

What's in your cupboard?.. part deux

2010-12-20T11:07:00.005Z

The ongoing freezing weather, (it's difficult to call it a 'cold snap' now) has all but shut down practical woody activities in the 'shop. I have heating out there (a 1.5Kw oil-filled rad) and it's well insulated but even so, after a couple of hours the temperature has barely risen to a level where some work could be done...not forgetting it was around -8degC last night. Although it's possible to wrap up warm with multiple layers and a thick jacket (together with woolly hat) it's difficult, if not impossible to do work when your hands are like two frozen blocks of ice. I generally reckon that around 10degC is the minimum for comfortable, wrapped up working, but to get to that level would take a long time with my little radiator.

The other issue is, of course, trying to glue something. I'd long ago realized that my existing pot of TBIII in the 'shop would have been rendered useless by now, but I'd wondered about the big gallon container of the stuff that I'd bought to do some veneering. By design, I kept the container indoors in the utility room on a shelf over the central heating radiator (which is on pretty much all day now, but not at night) so the other day I gingerly took off the top, peered inside and gave it a swirl round. Fortunately, I'd used up most of the glue over the last year so there was only about 25mm left in the bottom.

What was left though, had completely separated, so once the winter is over, it looks like they'll be another order to Axminster in the pipeline. I think the next lot is going to be kept in the airing cupboard...

What's in your cupboard?

2010-12-17T19:36:00.012Z

As an aside from matters woody, I spent a very pleasant and moderately alcoholic day (unlimited amounts of free champagne is not to be sneezed at) in Southhampton University attending Megan's graduation ceremony for her MA degree in Osteoarcheology, which for the likes you and me is the 'excavation, analysis and reporting of human remains'

So the next time you have any skellingtons in your cupboard, you know who to call!

Sleepless in Salisbury

2010-12-12T17:40:00.004Z

There's no doubt in my mind...Robert Ingham is worthy of really pointy wizard's hat.

Why you may ask?..and a perfectly reasonable question.

The answer is that I've been puzzling all over the weekend on exactly how he's put together his elm and bog oak jewellery box which on the face of it, seems to be fairly straight forward...just some odd squares of burr elm and strips of oak joined together in lattice arrangement to form a box.

Simple?...think again!

The method of construction for this sort of box is given in a past issue of F&C, but Robert, being extremely cunning as we know he is, has only given the very sketchiest outline of how to go about making it and almost every waking moment of this last weekend has been spent trying to puzzle out how he's done it. Detailed analysis of the text and and pics in the article give some clues but most of it has had to be worked out...it's a bit like an irritating bloody itch inside my head that I can't scratch.

Fortunately, I think...only think mind, that I've got it cracked, but it's taken me a long time.

Although my version won't be nearly so grand as RI's it's going to be a bit of a challenge and will require a lot more detailed thought and drawings before I can start work.

Let's hope it won't end up as more bandsaw fodder...fingers crossed.

RM rules...

2010-12-10T06:15:00.003Z

Having spent a couple days looking round the ancient city of Brugge in Belgium, I decided that it might be a suitable opportunity to post my Secret Santa present as it happens to be around 250 miles closer to it's destination than the UK.

Logic would dictate therefore, that it ought to have been a bit less heavy on the wallet, but SWIMBO and I walked away from the post office with a slightly numb feeling (and it wasn't the cold)...nearly £20 to post it across a border into the next country.

We found Brugge to be a wonderful place but just about the biggest tourist trap we'd ever encountered...if a shop isn't selling chocolate, it'll be lace.

The chocs I can cope with, but somehow, not the frilly stuff...

A great couple of days, just don't go there to post your Christmas cards.

Sagitta

2010-12-03T14:59:00.001Z

Having decided that making a JKish style of cabinet with a coopered door is a 'good thing' I consulted the 'worthies' on UKWorkshop with a view to solving the problem of the cooperage angle.

It transpires that the sagitta (or amount of 'bendiness' accross the chord of an arc) can be calculated quite easily using some data in the equation, but the thing that I don't know is the radius of the arc. Happily however, there's a second equation immediatly underneath on the same page showing how to calcualte it, so with a combination of the two I ought to be able to sort out my little problem.

One other solution was provided by Richard Jones when he said... 'that you are dealing with a circle, so the calculations should be relatively straightforward. The profile of the door looking down from the top is an arc, and joining the outer edges of the door to the centre of the circle forms a segment. All you need to do is find out how many degrees the two radius lines form where they meet at the circle centre and you are on the way. If this angle is, for example, 20º then the complementary angle is 340º giving 360º when added together, the total number of degrees in a circle. You want 5 coopered pieces in your 20º arc. Therefore 360º/20 = 18, ie, you can fit 18 segments with 20º arcs into the 360º that form a circle. Next calculate 18 (segments) X 5 (coopered parts) = 90 coopered parts, effectively 90 segments. Then calculate 360º/90 = 4º, the angle each of those 90 segment forms at the circle centre. Next using triangles, the sum of all three inside corners of a triangle add up to 180º. You are dealing with an isosceles triangle so calculate 180º - 4º = 176º. Then 176º/2 = 88º, the angle formed between the outside face of each coopered part and the two bevelled edges. Set your rip saw bevel angle to this, or the complementary 2º depending on your saws protractor, or whatever your own calculations indicate going from your actual plans/drawings.'

Richard's solution still means that the radius of the circle needs to be found, which is easy given the formula above.

What's even easier is that once you've found the angle at the centre of the circle, simply divide it by the number of joints in the door (in this case 4) and then divide that number by 2 (as two pieces of wood will make one joint)

Simple always works for me...

Don't have nightmares!

2010-11-29T14:43:00.000Z

As I mentioned in the last entry, I've got a couple of projects lined up for the New Year (provided the weather improves slightly) so I got a thick jacket(plus woolly hat) on over the weekend and nipped out to the 'shop just to see what material I had.

First and foremost, RI's box shown isn't walnut but elm...and I've got loads of that, plus enough African Ebony for the darker bits. I can even laminate two layers of 6mm marine ply to make a core which ought to be more than thick enough with 2mm veneers each side, so that project looks like it's a runner.

Second and foremost, the brown ash is really good with some nice figuring to the boards, but on reading JK's book ('The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking' ...or is it the other one, dunno) the curved doors on his cabinets are coopered, not planed from one thicker lump. This of course makes it easier as I now need to source a decent bit of timber around 25mm or so thick and around 300mm wide. However, the thing that's started to give me nightmares is trying to work out the angle to make each piece as my ability with sums (as you probably know well by now if you dip into this missive regularly) is truely lamentable...

On a slightly different note, one of the items I've got on my Christmas desirable list is a Japanese marking guage, with a cutting blade rather than a western style pin. I fancy that the longer stock length may make them easier to use so together with the blade they ought to be more accurate.

Possible toolmaking project as well?...maybe, the cogs 'up top' have started to turn though!

Decisions, decisions...

2010-11-26T11:58:00.007Z

The recent cold snap that we're encountering at the moment has put things on hold for a short while but I'm already starting to have thoughts on the next project or two and trying to work out the sort of thing(s) that I want to make.

To start with I've a hankering to make another box of some sort. A couple of years ago I got hold of Robert Ingham's little book "Cutting Edge Cabinet Making" wherein there's an illustration at the back of one of his 'boxes' made from bog oak and burr walnut. The piece is absolutely stunning (even though his work takes some getting used to) and I've always wanted to use those techniques to make something similar...not nearly so grand but it should be acceptable. I spoke with him at some length earlier in the year at Rycotewood and he was quite happy for me to make something based on his constructional principals.

Another option is a wall hung cabinet of some sort. I got hold of a small parcel of timber recently from local makers where there were a few bits of brown ash thrown in which might form the basis of a small cabinet. I'd like to make it with a bow front planed from the solid (very JKish)...trouble is I haven't got anything suitable so I'm thinking of trying to find a slab of thickish stuff for the door.

Steamed pear or maple perhaps? Decisions, descisions...I can feel a visit to the wood shed at Yandle's coming on...

...but not in this freezing weather!

Ikea flat pack?

2010-11-21T22:11:00.011Z

Having had a few days off recently, it was too good an opportunity to miss to get this wall unit finished. It all went together without a hitch really, which is surprising considering some of the mistakes that I'm capable of.

This shot shows the underside of the lower shelf and just visible is one of the steel 6mm steel pins holding the shelf in place.

There's an overall shot here of the one end of the shelves. The wedges for the tusk tenons are in ebony (as are the end caps on the shelves) and each on was shot in seperately and then numbered so that it fitted each mortise. The reason that was done was so that there was the same amount of material showing above and below on each mortise on all six tenons...that's after a couple of little taps on each one with a small mallet. Nothing would have annoyed me more than to have unequal amounts above and below on the tenons.

This final shot shows one of the joints in detail with the ebony end cap on the end of the shelf.

Overall I'm fairly happy with this project as it turned out quite well without too many undue mistakes. It's been deliberately made to pack flat using the tusk tenons in the back rails...just don't expect to see it anytime soon at Ikea!

Progress

2010-11-18T11:28:00.012Z

Progress has been fairly swift with this little project and I'm almost at the point where I can start to apply some finish to the frames. This first pic shows one of the shelves that's already been veneered and is having the lipping glued both sides.
In the meantime, another shelf is being cleaned up with the LV jack prior to the lipping being applied. The great thing about using bandsawn veneers (which in this case were around 2 to 3mm thick) is that once they're down, the material can be treated as 'solid' so you can (within reason) plane merrily away making sawdust unitil the right thickness is achieved...2mm here.

Once the lipping had been flushed down again with the LV jack (...what a really great plane that is) I set up the router to cut the small slots for the 6mm steel pins which will eventually hold the shelves in position.

This pic shows the three shelves that have been part completed. The ebony end caps have been glued on (no biscuits...just straight onto the ply) and you can see how I've filled the halving cut-outs with some oddments of softwood. This makes it much easier to shape the lipping to the profile and also means that the sanding block doesn't catch on the opening. The ebony has been roughly shaped to the profile but there's still some work to do to get the final shape.

The final pic shows the component parts of the two frames cleaned up and sanded (just a wipe over with some worn 240g) after planing with my LV BU smoother (another great plane) with a super sharp blade and tiny mouth. The ends of the tusk tenons have been given a small chamfer with the LN block just for little piece of detailing (I was a bit puzzled how to finish them but decided for the simple option...always best!)

The next thing then, is to start to apply a finish to the frames...

Anti-G

2010-11-14T10:16:00.004Z

That time of year in late December is fast approaching once again and it's time for me to start to compile a moderate list of those desirables that I'd like to see dropped into my stocking by the big man on Christmas Eve. As there's nothing quite so good as a little bribery and corruption, I'm going to leave (as always) a small glugful of something warming by the chimney and a tasty little nibble or two for the reindeer's parked on the roof above...but here's the question.

How does the sleigh balance on the ridge, along it or across?...and what happens if the roof is too short for all the beasties and the sleigh?

This has always been a puzzle to me ever since I was a little lad, because when I go and examine it in the morning, there's never any damage. No loose or dislodged tiles, broken guttering, in fact I've even gone so far as to look on the patio on Christmas morning for some reindeer poo...nothing, nowt, not a sausage.

The other alternative, which is equally plausible, is that the rig is tethered to the chimney and hangs there horizontally in space, just hovering stationary forty feet over the garden and fish pond. Quite frankly, I think it's tosh and I don't buy into that one at all! He'd have to have invented some sort of anti-gravity device, but it would go some way to explaining though, just why there's no damage to the roof and how he'd manage to park about sixty feet's worth of animals and a heavy sleigh full of presents with seemingly, no ill effects. A puzzle to be sure.

But I digress. This year though, I've embraced the full power of t'interweb and have decided to go for an Amazon Wish List. A swift perusal will show that as well as one or two trinkets for the 'shop, I've included a few CD's and a some other items.

Back to the big guy in the red suit though. If the sleigh is tethered forty feet out over the garden, how does he get to the chimney?

Chopper?..that one doesn't cut the mustard either, 'cos that would blow all the roof tiles off and make a hell of racket and besides, I never hear a thing...

Tempting fate

2010-11-11T09:39:00.003Z

At the end of last week I penned the immortal words... 'A bit like going the dentist when you have that slightly irritating niggle in one of your teeth and you just know there's needles, drills and pain waiting for you'... which in hindsight (a wondrous thing) was tempting the old gods just a tad more than is safe.

I now have rampant tooth ache, on a course of antibiotics and am looking forward with the deepest, most joyous anticipation to the first part of a root canal filling on 01 Dec.

Wonderful.

Key of Power

2010-11-09T08:44:00.000Z

Back in the dim and distant past (April last year) I was having a good old delve into a skip at work and managed to rescue a large whiteboard that had been ditched. It's been in constant use in the 'shop as it's proved ideal for making full size drawings of projects, but as the surface is a glossy white, it's proved quite difficult to find something to write on it...

...until now.

I've tried thin felt tip pens (but they smudge very easily) and ordinary 2H pencil, which will write on the surface, but tends to leave quite a light line, which whilst legible, isn't ideal.

At work though, we have a similar situation, where from time to time names need to be written on a shiny board. My boss got fed up with using these new fangled felt tips pens for much the same reason that I found, and being a bit 'old school' reverted to using a black chinagraph pencil.

Now being remarkably quick off the mark, I realised that this would be ideal in the 'shop as well. Needless to say, the 'Key of Power' was obtained and one or two were liberated from the stationary cupboard...

Procrastination

2010-11-05T09:38:00.001Z

Most of the jobs that we do in the 'shop are enjoyable, that's why we do them...it's not as though we have to do anything unpleasant (and it's worth reading this page) each time we go in there. There's one thing though, which I (and I know I'm not alone here) tend to put off... and then put off a bit longer 'til it's unvoidable. A bit like going the dentist when you have that slightly irritating niggle in one of your teeth and you just know there's needles, drills and pain waiting for you.

So what is this thing that I procrastinate over? Simple.

Sharpening the blades in the planer/thicknesser.

It's not as though it's a difficult job either...I just detest doing it as it usually takes me over an hour to sharpen and then re-set the blades into the machine...

...untill the other night when I did it in around 30 minutes.

I use a Tormek jig, and having read the 'book of words' again, both blades were perfectly ground, then it was just a case of inserting them into the machine and setting up the 'carry forward' which is the bit that usually took me so much time. I generally have around 3mm pick up on the blades as they rotate and for some reason best known to itself, I managed to do that bit first time.

The blades normally get pushed too far down against the springs in the block, so then the bolts have to be slackened off which makes the bloody things ping out again with a vengence, so then I need to re-tighten the bolts a fraction and push each end down gently with my finger tips to get the 3mm carry forward at one end...but then the other end pings out at 6mm so I have to push that down which then alters the 3mm on the other end...ad nauseum. And just that's one blade!

You see why I procrastinate?

But not the other night 'cos I cracked it...winner!

'Rule of Thirds'...not!

2010-11-02T20:38:00.005Z

I'm taking things fairly slowly with this one...no real rush as it's fairly simple sort of project. As I usually do, I made some full size plans in front and top elevation, so that it's easy to pick off the dimensions as and when needed.

Knowing that I was going to use 12mm tusk tenons in the rear stiles, and knowing that the rough 'rule of thirds' is eminently desirable I decided to make the rear ones 28mm thick and have the front ones at 20mm thick...which seems sensible.

Now if you're really observant, the pic reveals that in actual fact I made both the front and rear stiles 20mm, with the result that there's very little material each side of the mortise.

Hell's teeth and buggeration!

Why do I do these things?..I have absolutely no idea, not a scoobies!

Fortunately in this case, the situation was easily resolved as I managed to find a couple of bits of oak to replace them, so last night I machined two new pieces at 28mm thick.

What's the betting that I'll machine the mortises in the wrong place? About the same odds as you'd give the Titanic not hitting that lump of ice...

Leakage

2010-10-31T15:06:00.004Z

I've just been doing a little bit of veneer sawing on the bandsaw...nothing too strenuous, around 125mm of English oak with a new 3tpi blade. I only needed six leaves and they came off without a problem.

I then took off the new blade, and replaced it with the slightly older one (for more general work) but when I adjusted it I found it to be slightly catching on the insert plate, so without thinking I put my right hand under the table to try to adjust it.

The only slight problem, of no real significance, is that the blade was still running...

...and the leakage makes a nasty red mess all over the floor.

So what's in your first aid box?..there's precious little in mine!

Two and two?

2010-10-29T08:19:00.004+01:00

A couple of months ago, I was a bit glum, in fact glum was only a moderate indicator of just how truly glum I was. Sums, as you may gather are not my forte (although it has to be admitted I was rather better at them a few years ago) but the recent SDSR (Strategic Defence Services Review) announced by Cameron's new duffgov.com last week has meant that there's going to be drastic cuts in manpower across all three armed services and the MOD in general, where 25,000 posts will have to be shed over the next couple of years.

The upshot of all this drama is that there's going to be a Voluntary Early Release Scheme (VERS) for individuals who would like to get out early (provided the package offered is not financially detrimental) and guess what?..

...that's me!!

The exact wording of the text runs as follows:

"The Defence Board and the Secretary of State have endorsed plans for a Department-wide Voluntary Early Release Scheme (VERS) to be launched in April 2011."

but what they didn't say in this press release was that applicants, if successful, would be released as soon as possible. Now as I've said, I don't do sums very well these days, but even someone of my limited mathematical ability can put two and two together...hopefully the answer ought to four.

Watch this space though...

Timber trawl

2010-10-24T09:22:00.003+01:00

It's good when a plan starts to come together. As part of my recent cunning scheme to restock the depleted timber racks in the 'shop, I decided to take the car out for the day and have a little drive round to various cabinet makers in the area, to try and see what off-cuts of hardwood I could get hold of.

Surprisingly...quite a lot! I ended up with a car load of maple, brown ash and English oak, plus some other assorted bits and pieces, no great sizes, but useful for the sort of work I like doing.

I simply did a bit of Googleisationing for the first six names that came out of a search, armed myself with a copy of F&C, punched the post codes into Janie the SatNav and hit the road. I found one maker though who looked very promising, but unfortunately there was no-one at home when I called, so I left the copy of F&C (containing one of my articles) and a note with some contact details. Hopefully there'll be a 'phone call or email made shortly...

It's also late October, which means that it's Secret Santa time once again on UKWorkshop. Avid readers of these inept ramblings will have realised long ago that for anyone to find out what I'm up to would be a tad more embarrassing than having your latest nuclear sub run aground...

However, all will be revealed in due course...rather like the sub!

Oops!

2010-10-19T20:52:00.011+01:00

The current project in the 'shop is a small shelving unit in oak and oak veneers, with parts of it rounded over (including the shelves) to mirror the Media Unit completed a couple of months ago. The first pic shows a trial joint which is one corner of the framework. The joint is 'bare-faced' and relies on the gluing area for strength, but this is also reinforced with a dowel so it ought to be reasonably strong...not that it's intended to take any great weight.

This shows a wheel gauge being used to mark out the centre of the stile (ready for drilling the 6mm dowel hole) after the 20mm hole has been drilled...

...after which some careful work with the Japanese paring chisels will bring the sides square and parallel.

The small cross-rails are just made fairly simply by marking out and rough shaping to size with a jack plane...

...and then refined with a block plane, after which a curved cork sanding block is used to bring them into an exact profile. All fairly simple stuff with nothing to date that's gone wrong.

However, there's always a little something to upset the applecart!

The ed. at F&C asked me to review a Bosch table saw, so when I got in on Monday evening there were two very large boxes waiting for me to unpack. I dragged them eagerly into the 'shop, lumping and bumping up the steps and started to rip off the tape and delve into the boxes...and who doesn't like delving?...I do!

I hadn't got very far when I spotted a little white sticker on the motor...110v

Sometimes, I'm glad it's not just me...

Bases covered...

2010-10-16T19:57:00.003+01:00

One of the purchases that I bought on holiday last month was a rather good papyrus painting of the 'Eye of Horus ', one of the three lucky charms of ancient Egypt, the other two being the 'scarab beetle' and 'key of life.'

Not being one to chance my luck and walk under ladders, I also bought a beetle and an alabaster key as well, so with my luck, (such as it is) all bases ought to be covered!

I've been knocking up a quick picture frame today from an oddment of American Cherry but I didn't have a spline jig for use on the router table. The way it's used can be seen from the pics, the big triangular bit just slides back and forth dependent on the size of the framing material. The cutter is simply a modified biscuit cutter set high up on the mandrel so it will clear the jig's baseboard.

I was little bit wary tonight in using it as you never actually know if the thing is going to work, but fortunately, the ancient gods were with me and the splines grooves were cut without a hitch,
though with the sheer amount of goofs that I make in the 'shop, more often than not, the old gods are nowhere to be seen...

Popeye

2010-10-14T20:21:00.003+01:00

After a frantic three nights of sawing, this monster lump of oak has been finally reduced to two more manageable lumps though the bigger one is still too heavy to lift, so it had to be 'walked' across the 'shop.

The first couple of cuts removed the sap on each side and last night I did the big one. I went down the middle with the Disston rip...it took me 90 minutes (with breaks) to split the thing in half, but it's all been done now and has been racked away (vertically I might add) in the store.

The effort involved in this sort of work is considerable...my right arm now looks like Popeye's.

Unfortunately though, I forgot to have the mandatory tin of spinach for tea. Had I done so, the cut might have been completed in 9 minutes as opposed to 90!

Deliverance

2010-10-12T08:41:00.013+01:00

Some little time ago I reached a momentous decision...

No more tool buying (except the odd trinket or two perhaps at Christmas)

The reason, if you recollect, was that the once reasonably full stocks of timber were getting somewhat depleted and available fundage needed to be directed to replacing it. Well, my cunning plan started to come towards some sort of fruition last night as a pal from work dropped off a lump of air dried English Oak.

But this is not just any lump of oak, this was a huge chunk of quarter sawn stuff that's over 100mm thick! It's been air drying for the last four or five years so may still be a little damp in the middle. The aim though, over the next few days is to remove the sap with a nice sharp rip saw (that's going to take some time as well) and then cut into into two big pieces by sawing down the middle along the split as at the moment it's just too big to comfortably move around. Somewhere in there though, is the material for a couple of nice cabinets, depending on how I intend to cut it. I think somehow I've justified the cost of getting hold of that new bandsaw...

In conversation with James, he also mentioned that he had some odds n'ends of air dried English Ash which wasn't much good and... ''did I want that as well?'' (for no extra cost!) Thinking that it was going to be only fit for burning ( eg. peices of limb wood in the round full of splits and cracks) I said I would have it anyway...what was there too lose? However, when I saw it in the back of the wagon, it turned out to be much better than I'd anticipated. True, some of the pieces were very crudely hacked on a fairly agricultural saw but all were sound with most of the bits being reasonably straight, a good size, crack free and some were even quarter sawn. They were also a good thickness, being for the most part over 50mm thick.

All I need now is to collect a few more bits and pieces like this and the racks will be topped off...

A straw too far?

2010-10-09T14:56:00.006+01:00

Having collected the new bandsaw blades from the postie this morning and fitted one into the bandsaw, first impressions are that they're very good indeed, extremely sharp with no drifting from the line in use...

I fitted one of the smaller 10mm x 6tpi blades and gave it a bit of test though. Although not strictly designed for deep sawing, it coped admirably, demolishing into numerous small bits the Japanese style cabinet that I'd been attempting to make from a lump of 2 x 4" pine. Every single time that I went near the bloody thing, something went wrong. I don't have the faintest clue why... it ended up as a series of complete, unmitigated disasters which were compounded one on top of the other every time I did something. No matter what I did, it never, ever went to plan.

For example, the other evening, having made both the back panels (...eventually) I glued them in and then managed to drop the whole shooting match, including the cramps, which came off and smashed into the carcase.

Result?.. there were more bloody dings in the back than one of Tiger Wood's golf balls (he knows a thing or two about balls...{ some thought needed here!}]

Then this morning, I thought I'd finish the job and get the whole disaster finished and out the way, so I attempted to sort out the little drawers...

...but all the pine was bowed and bent. A corkscrew would have been moderately straighter.

Enough is enough, this had all the makings of the 'camels back syndrome' ...so the whole issue's gone through the bandsaw.

Good riddance.

Pole position

2010-10-05T09:14:00.003+01:00

Bandsaw blades...not the most riveting of subjects for a blog post to be fair, but an important one none the less. I do an awful lot of work and I mean a lot of work on my little Euro 260 from deep sawing veneers to lopping off the end from an odd piece of timber.

I've always used the blades from Axminster and found them acceptable, particularly as they offer them made in .014" stock, which suits the machine. However I'm going to try a few of the new Tuff blades, formally made by Dragon Saws which are a little thicker, being made from .022" material. By all accounts, they're far better than Axminster blades as the basic steel stock is better quality.

The jury's out on this one at the moment, but we'll see what they're like...

On the subject of bandsaws, the Jet JWBS 16 MKII that had been in pole position for a number of months has been knocked into second place on the grid by something else as friend from UKWorkshop had a close up and personal eyeball on each machine. It was his opinion that the overall build quality of the Startrite was superior to the Jet and even better...it was cheaper and being a parsimonious sort of soul, that suits me!

Goldilocks flawed...

2010-10-01T09:10:00.005+01:00

Things have slowed down somewhat in the 'shop, mainly due to the fact that it's a bit more difficult to get into it in the evening. Having moved my job location to Andover, I now arrive home at 6pm which isn't too bad, but by the time we've had our evening meal, 7 o'clock has come and gone, so there's not really enough time to wind myself up for an evening's work outside.

All is not lost though as I've had some ideas for my next project, which will be a wall hung unit in oak, where the shelves will have the same sort of form as the Media Unit completed in July ie: rounded edges with end caps in ebony. The recent long drive back across the dessert to Luxor got the little grey cells ticking over again, so I had the idea sketched out 'up top' by the time I arrived home...all that remained was to translate that into a full size drawing on my whiteboard, which took some time (as it always does) as the plan (or top view) to get the constructional details ironed out had to be redrawn severial times.

I also had a 'Goldilocks' piece of 18mm marine ply for the shelves...not too long, not too short but just the right length and width to get out three shelves, each one a metre long. By remarkable good fortune, the piece of oak to be sawn up for the veneers is also around a metre, which is a coincidence of megalithic proportions...

Sometimes, forward planning on this monumental scale astounds even me...

There's only only the tiniest, eansiest glitch in the plan.

The ply's warped so I'm clamping in the reverse direction to try and get the bow out. Hopefully I should be able to straighten it out in a few weeks, fingers crossed.

Egypt...the continuation

2010-09-27T10:00:00.023+01:00

Whilst the first bit of our holiday was in some ways very hectic, the second was far more relaxed...a 'chill-out' week! After a long 5 hour transfer across the desert to Hugharda, we eventually arrived at the Hilton Resort (part of a worldwide chain) got ourselves settled in and headed down to the beach. Most of the hotels have a little private beach and this one was no exception...and very pleasant it was too, complete with it's own coral reef.

The main focus of the week's activities was to see the corals and fishes of the Red Sea for which we had a few scheduled boat trips as most of the reefs are a few miles off shore. However, one of the visits was to Sharm El-Nagr, a small bay further down the coast were there were hardly any other tourists and the coral, which was truly spectacular was flourishing just a few metres from the beach. Wading in with snorkel and fins to less than waist heigh t, we were surrounded by fabulously coloured fish who seemed totally oblivious to our presence.

The hotel was fine with just a few niggles like the Non-Smoking area in the lobby...this didn't exist so the foul odour of cigarette smoke was all pervading. As I got myself into Victor mode at the end of the week, a suitable complaint was registered...

The food was adequate but not outstanding (except in the La Casa Italian restaurant where we ate each evening) with the main self-service area being called "Pebbles." At peak times, with everyone clattering noisily about, it reminded me of a Waterloo station buffet in the mid sixties...slightly unfair maybe as the food was probably better!

There was also the full litany of hotel 'entertainment' ranging from the obligatory night club with the hideous, over-amplified, distorted strains of the 'okey coky' and the 'chicken song' blaring out into the night to the highly amusing antics of the local Italian beach gymnastic guru. Needless to say, yours truly indulged in nothing quite so unseemly...

On the last day, I had a quiet wander around the local area with the camera. It's very clear that the recession of the last couple of years has hit quite hard in this part of the world. Much of the area consists of vast hotel complexes lining the shore, interspersed with derelict, half completed buildings that looked much like the aftermath of an Allied air raid...except that these were all 'new builds.'

Note also the huge amounts of rubbish and general detritus that littered the place.

One of the other things that puzzled me was that there appeared to be no infrastructure to the area...just mile upon mile of swanky hotels....

...catering for the tourists, who use resources (particularly water) like it's going out of fashion in very short order. This the very edge of the desert though...go half a mile inland and you may as well be in the middle of the Sahara, so where does all the water and food come from?...beats me.

In all, though a thoroughly enjoyable holiday and one which we hope to repeat...next time though, we'll be taking an underwater camera.

Magic and the Bad, Lazy Boys...the first bit

2010-09-22T15:21:00.106+01:00

Having just started to get over a fantastic holiday in Egypt, I've decided to split the account of the last couple of weeks into two separate posts...just one on all our adventures would be far too much to absorb.

There were two things about the trip which initially worried me, the first was the heat and the second was going down with a dose of the dreaded Pharaoh's revenge, which thankfully didn't happen, mainly due to the judicious use of vast quantities of anti-bacterial hand gel and staying strictly away from the local tap water... we even cleaned our teeth using bottled water.

But then there was the heat. The sun rises inexorably every day into a clear blue sky...stepping off the aircraft in Luxor mid-afternoon was like stumbling straight into a brick kiln. All through the holiday, the temperature was never less than 44 and reached 50degC on the last afternoon around the Temple of Karnak.

We transferred to the delightfully air-conditioned cruise ship (MS Stephanie) without complication and retired to the bar for one or six well earned beers...if you've ever seen the famous clip from 'Ice cold in Alex' you'll have some idea of just how hot it was. We'd opted for the 'all inclusive' deal which meant that local drinks (as well as unlimited amounts of bottled water) were included as part of the package, thus taking away all the angst of the "can we afford another beer dearest?" situation.

The package though, included all local spirits and never being one to be a little shy in trying anything out of a bottle (within reason) I thought I'd give the Egyptian Whiskey a punt one evening. The barman tipped me a good 'glugful' into a glass and I have to say, it looked the right sort of amberish colour, so I had a 'nose' before attempting a sip.

Odd, very strange...I couldn't quite place where I'd smelt that before, so I tried again and still I couldn't place it. On the third attempt I finally stuck gold and without any sort of exaggeration (not that I'm prone to that sort of malarkey) it had the nose of the finest, vintage, cask strength disinfectant...and didn't taste much different either! However, you'll no doubt be pleased to know that as I'm a big believer in 'waste not want not' it eventually went down the hatch, but it was the only one that week.

We were sorted into two groups, one being 'Tuti Fruiti' under the guidance of Wahid, whilst ours was the Magic group under the most excellent leadership of Majred or strangely...Magic. Both our tour guides were highly qualified having to gain MA's from Cairo University before being allowed a license to act as a tour guide. The guides were enthusiastic almost the point of fanaticism when talking about the ancient kings and queens of Egypt...you could almost feel their reverence for their long dead rulers. They vividly brought to life the depictions of the temple hieroglyphics, which incidentally, Magic could read. Whist it's possible to see the sights independently, a really good guide will explain all the detail which otherwise would be so much 'wallpaper'...very ancient wallpaper to be sure, but still wallpaper if you don't know what you're looking at.

Did I mention the relentless, baking heat? All scheduled visits were planned whenever possible to start as early as possible in the morning, so that at least part of trip would be in 'moderate' conditions...a mere 30degC or so. Longer visits ended in the full, glaring, white heat of the noonday sun, one of which was to the Valley of the Kings and then onto the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Queens. Magic recounted that he had a lucky escape from the Luxor massacre which took place at Queen Hatsheput's temple (pic taken here from a hot air balloon) in 1997 as he was due to be in that spot at the same time as the terrorists opened fire, but was delayed in the Valley of the Kings as one of the party had a dose of 'gypo tum. He clearly remembers hearing the staccato bursts of automatic gunfire coming from the adjacent valley and freely admitted that the old gods were looking after him that day.

One of the odder things for someone coming from Europe was the continued presence on every corner of the so called Tourist Police, which seemed to consist of a bunch of lack lustre, scrawny, scruffy individuals, each toting an AK47 over their shoulder...perhaps the events of 1997 had something to do with it, but they certainly didn't inspire confidence.

Part of the trip was to inevitably cope with the street vendors, who seemed to sell an unending assortment of T shirts, spices and 'tack' (souvenirs) There was the most delicious and wonderful assortment that I've ever seen...quite outstanding! Their selling routine was unrelenting, being straight out of the Dell Boy school of charm and salesmanship...

"Hello my friend, where you from, you English? Lovely jubbly! Come in... see my shop, I give you very good price...come inside, we friends..."

The pic shows Alyson accepting a 'gift' of an alabaster pyramid (now residing in the 'smallest room') from one of the better emporiums where we stopped after our visit to the Valley of the Kings. Magic advised that the only way to deal with them (and we had to run the gauntlet at the exit of each temple) was to act like a camel...plod on regardless, head down and make no eye contact. Stop and your a goner...just plod on wearily and say nothing almost to the point of rudeness.

Once the Stephanie had sailed from Luxor, the Nile drifted by at a leisurely 10 knots. It was easy to see from the houses on the shore that little had probably changed since the time of the Pharaoh's...the houses were crudely built from mud brick with a few palm leaves stretched across the top to keep out the fiercest of the sun's rays. It was also very evident that the dunes of the Sahara desert sometimes came with a few metres of the river...to the West there's nothing but sun blistered desert for 3000 miles.

After our visit to the Valley of the Kings, the first temple we visited was at Edfu. As Magic explained, many of the best temples were built during the Late Kingdom period, starting at around 1700BC and Edfu "is one of the best ever" having the most impressive state of preservation. When you stand just outside, the sheer scale of the two pylons is breathtaking with many of the carvings in the stone work as crisp today as when they were first chiseled over two thousand years ago.

Perhaps one of the highlights of the week was the visit to Abu Simbel, located some 150Kms south of Aswan on the banks of the recently made Lake Nasser. Again, the sheer monumental scale of the incised rock sculptures is simply staggering...the journey across the Sahara was a long, bumpy one (we even saw some mirages on the way back) but to stand in front of the images of Ramses II made it all worthwhile. What's equally impressive is that the whole structure was cut up and lifted vertically block by block a total of 65m. The complete thing was then re-assembled on higher ground so as to be clear of the rising waters of the lake.

Magic was at some pains to explain to us some of the the various complexities of the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms and was in no doubt that the "lovely pharaohs" of the New Kingdom were the "best ever." They were of Greek origin, but as they seamlessly assimilated the religion and culture of the Egyptians they brought the civilization to the height of it's power and glory. In contrast, the rulers of the Middle Kingdom, shown buried in these rock tombs, were the "bad, lazy boys" and did nothing to promote trade or to protect the borders of Egypt, generally being thought of as a bunch of nere'do wells.

Another aspect that took the breath away were the granite obelisks, especially the 'Unfinished Obelisk' in the quarry at Aswan. This cracked during the three year process of extracting it from the rock, but it's estimated to have been the largest single piece of granite ever quarried, weighing over 1000 tons. Note I said 'single'...they were all cut and transported at the time as single pieces of rock. In contrast, the technology of the late Victorians was unable to handle the single obelisk that now stands on the bank of the Thames...it had to be cut into four pieces for transportation and final erection...

...and discussing such things, the Temple at Kom Obo offered a fertility treatment to the hierarchy. Careful scrutinization of the cartouche shows that it appeared to work!..didn't I mention that a good guide was invaluable?

One of the more surprising aspects of the week was Alyson's eagerness to give this bad boy a little cuddle. The little chap seemed quite cute, but his brothers in the same enclosure were slightly larger and capable of ripping a finger off for a little midday snack.

Undoubtedly, the highlight for me was the Temple of Karnak, which was just stupendous in it's size and grandeur. Strolling amongst the 134 vast columns of the Hypostile Hall I felt totally overwhelmed...I couldn't point the camera anywhere and capture all the columns. In fact the site occupies 64 acres, with just a couple left of the 40 odd granite obelisks that once stood on the site. The incised carving at the base of one of the obelisks is as crisp today as when it was first executed thousands of years ago.

This about wraps up the first part of this mammoth post...to be continued.

Edjumacation...innit?

2010-09-05T08:02:00.005+01:00

This is going to be the last entry in the Blog for a couple of weeks, so you, dear reader, can revert to something a bit more cultural, learned and high brow. Rather than peruse this nefarious drivel from dawn to dusk, it'll do absolute wonders for your 'edjumacation'...innit!

You see, unlike poor KH a while ago, (I nearly slipped in 'old' there, but that would be skating on the very, very thinnest of ice) my bags are packed and I'm ready for the 'off' at 0300 tomorrow morning, as SWIMBO is whisking me off to warmer climes.

"Where's the fool off to now?" I can hear you muttering.

Yours truly is off on a pleasant boaty jaunt down the Nile in Egypt, hoping to see all the ancient sights around Luxor (the old Egyptian capital of Thebes) including the Valley of the Kings and The Temple of Abu Simbel...that's only the first week though. The second will see me loafing on a beach in the Red Sea with some relaxed swimming and snorkeling.

There's even a remote chance I'll come back slightly more 'edjumacated' than when I left...it's a tough life for the Bloke, but someone's got to do it...

The Best Laid Scheme

2010-09-02T14:50:00.005+01:00

The recent jobs completed in the 'shop, great though they are, have started to deplete my once reasonable stock of cabinet timber. Unlike Mother Hubbard, the cupboard isn't bare yet, but I'm distinctly aware that the rack isn't quite as full as it ought to be. Like most woodies I suspect, I tend to hoard timber, treating it like the most precious miser's gold and tending to only have a clear out when I've got a load of stuff smaller than my fingernail (which really is too small to do anything with.) I've got enough air died elm to make another cabinet and only one board left of the oak that I bought a few years ago, but that's about it...plus of course the assorted odds n'ends that inevitably accumulate in odd drawers and corners of the 'shop.

I've therefore decided that I'm going to adopt a very early New Year resolution. Apart from one or two essentials, the purchase of new and shiny toolage is going to be put on hold 'till I retire so that any available cash will be spent on building up the timber store.

So that's the plan...call it Plan A.

But as all good planners know, there should always be Plan B...and the best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley...

Agribox

2010-08-30T14:58:00.003+01:00

The little oak box didn't turn out too badly after all...you can see from the pic that the 'precision sanding' technique worked very well as the front of the lid sits true and level.

The whole effect is fairly chunky and could have been made just a fraction slimmer...for certain the handle is a bit 'agricultural' and had I made it a little daintier then the overall effect would be a bit 'lighter'. The dovetails also extend by around 3mm which on a small box this size is probably too much...2mm would have been more in keeping. The Japanese paring chisels were great for this as the finish on the dovetails has been left straight from the tool, with just a wipe of worn 240g paper to take off the arris.

What's always intrigued me is that a decent piece of work can be made from a couple of lumps of gash timber in the off-cuts box and amazingly...I've still got enough left over to do another one (but not anytime soon) as I'm up and away on holiday...

Precision papering...simples!

2010-08-28T09:49:00.008+01:00

I had a problem.

As you are well aware by now, I have plenty of them and sometimes they defy my feeble attempts at a 'fix' (thereby blunting the bandsaw blade teeth a little more)

Sometimes though, the 'fix' is such a stroke of pure brilliant, unadulterated genius that it makes my head swim.

First and foremost, the first pic shows the interior of a little oak box wherein the lid sits inside the rebate on the two surfaces (arrowed) However, much to my dismay, those two surfaces were not parallel when the box came out of the cramps, so that when the lid was fitted for the first time, one corner was down by around 3mm (even though the lid was true)...possibly bandsaw fodder before too long!

Second and foremost...how to go about fixing it? I had a deep ponderation for a long while and various nefarious options wafted across the grey goo such as:

...spending a lot of cash on a hideously expensive LN chisel plane, which would probably be be used for this job and then sold. Building a complicated router jig to remove the offending high spots from each corner. Doable, but unnecessarily complicated.

Eventually, after a further eon had passed, I wondered what the simplest way would be, as 'simple' is usually much better than complicated.

The easy way was simply to sand it off!

All I did was to get hold of small bit of 12mm ply and shoot the edges dead square. A piece of 150g paper was stuck to one side (using double sided tape) and 220g to the other. This was then trimmed off level with a Stanley knife. Ten minutes work with my new precision sanding block and all four of the bearing surfaces for the lid were level and parallel...cut the hinge recesses a fraction deeper to suit and Robert's your aunty's sister (or something like that!)

Sometimes, my undoubted genius for fixing cock-ups requires the purchase of a least a gallon of the 'good stuff' just to keep the halo polished...simples!

Convolutedly complex

2010-08-25T08:40:00.009+01:00

No posts hereabouts for a week or so, mainly 'cos I've started back at work after a few months off with a medical condition which is now thankfully under control...as long as I keep on taking the tablets I should be good for a few more years making sawdust!

However, things have not been quiet in the 'shop as I used the last few days before starting work to make a small oak box, mainly using the exposed and rounded dovetails that I had a go at a few days ago. I'm due to shortly get hold of another lump of air dried English oak (of which more later) As I had a couple of smallish pieces left over from the last lot and the vendor was selling it to me for a very reasonable price, it would be good if he and his new partner could have something made from it. It's almost done as I just need to finish off the scribed and mitered lining tonight and then start polishing. As always though, fitting the bloody hinges caused a few headaches and was one of the more irritating parts of the job.

I got hold of a couple of books yesterday as SWIMBO unexpectedly let fly with her credit card and bought me the 'Complete Japanese Joinery' If you have some sort of pre-conceived, misbegotten idea that secret mitred dovetails ought to be rated 10/10 in terms of difficulty, then a swift dip into this little tome will very rapidly change your mind...I've never seen such complex and convoluted ways to join two (or three, of four) bits of wood. Boggling of the mind only comes close...

The other book that arrived yesterday was a hard backed edition (complete with DVD) of 'Made by Hand' from the Unplugged Woodshop I only had a quick peek into it last night, but there are one or three ideas in there that possibly hold some promise for an idea regarding the next major project. In any event, it's a decent enough book (apart from the somewhat casual Americanese style of presentation) to go into the woodwork library.

Blanched

2010-08-18T08:52:00.006+01:00

Having just finished a fairly major project, I'm really at a bit of a 'loose end' regarding another big job, but I've got one or two ideas kicking around for another cabinet of some sort, based loosely on a Japanese theme of some sort using exposed joinery, but how I'm going to do it and what it's going to look like...I've no idea, not a sausage!

I did remember though, that I had a 'foto-copy of an article from FWW about making a right angle corner joint, or 'kane tsugi'. In the square part of the joint (which is locked by a peg) lurks a hidden bridle joint, so although it looks fairly straight forward to make, there's a lot more too it. I thought I'd have a go with an oddment of mahogany, using a piece of ebony for the square peg.

In the article (which I read with a foreboding sense of deja vu), the author, being from far distant lands across the big pond, uses an unguarded table saw blade to cut some of the joint. Whilst I have a high regard for much that happens in American woodworking circles, their cavalier attitude to 'elf n'safety makes me turn pale...indeed many of their 'shop machinery practices have been illegal in Europe for decades.

Marking out and cutting were fairly straight forward, the only tricky bit was making the tenon for the bridle ( a router is the easiest and most accurate way to do that) and some judicious work with paring chisels saw the joint completed. Believe it or not, the little square pin was the hardest part to get 'spot on' as I cut the bevels once it was glued in place. I think a little work on the peg beforehand (using the mitre shooting board) is needed when I do it for real.

I also had a go at a simple through dovetail, with the end of the tail exposed and rounded over. Easy enough, but again some care needed in the cleaning up and just as a little exercise, I'm making a small Krenovianish box in English Oak with this sort of jointing...

Installation

2010-08-13T11:01:00.006+01:00

In case you're wondering what the Media Unit looks like with all the gear installed...herewith a little pic. The two big spaces are now filled with equipment assorted on 6mm smoke glass shelves so that the access holes at the back can no longer be seen. (The glare in the TV screen is generated by the lights, which unfortunately I can't do very much about)

But in addition to that, I also ran up a simple unit to hold DVD's and CD's out of a few odd scabby bits of mdf that were loafing around the 'shop. As I've got acres of teak veneer and plenty of bits to use for the lipping, this little job turned out quite well for an absolutely minimum outlay, which, being a parsimonious sort of soul, I found quite agreeable...

The package...

2010-08-08T08:20:00.005+01:00

I like the postie dropping parcels onto the mat...who doesn't? I was expecting a parcel from Matthew at Workshop Heaven and sure enough, a few days ago, one did indeed drop through the letter box. I knew that it would be a replacement 6mm Ashley Isles dovetail chisel, so I didn't start leaping up and down with uncontrolled excitement like a hyperactive five year old...I thought I'd be a bit 'cool' and just open it in my own good time.

When I sauntered over to pick it up though, it was a bit heavier than it ought to have been, which immediately aroused my curiosity...what was in it to make it weighty?

Inside was a slab of nicely polished timber that I'd given Matthew at the Bash last month and which he'd returned to me, slightly thinner than when I gave it to him.

This though, is no ordinary timber...this is the 'Wood from Hell', stuff that is so interlocked, twisted and just plain bloody cantankerous that it makes even the roughest, cement encrusted scafflolding board appear like a bar of luscious, smooooth plain chocolate...

Being a generous sort of Bloke though, I'd offered to swap Matthew a board or two of this (and it has to be unique, far more desirable than even some Cuban Mahogany [which I also have]) for the merest, triffling trinket...

Nothing, zip, nada...stony ground. To say that I'm moderately disappointed is a bit of an understatement. Still, looking on the bright side, a lump of this stuff would make someone the best Secret Santa present they've ever had!

Dogs dinner

2010-08-08T07:58:00.005+01:00

Gluing a job is a fraught affair at the best of times, sometimes it goes well, sometimes only moderately so and sometimes it's a complete disaster.

This one falls into the middle category as it went together squarely...sort of, but involved the use of so many cramps in odd places to pull it together that in no way could it be construed as a 'successful' job. Part of the problem was that the blocks glued onto the corners were softwood and disintegrated under the cramping pressure, leaving dings and dents all across the corners. No doubt my cabinet maker's iron is going to get some heavy usage later on!

This is in fact a 'fun' (hah!) competition entry on the Wood Haven and is intended to be a wall hung cabinet with four small drawers and two back panels. There will be a larger display space conforming to the Golden Rectangle, so it ought to look reasonable when it's finished.

That's if it gets finished, as it's made from a lump of 4x2" pine, which apart from Balsa wood is probably the most unsuitable timber to attempt secret mitre dovetails as it's just soft, mushy and generally completely inadequate for high quality joinery (or my feeble attempt thereof)

I shall persevere...but don't hold your breath.

Flakey

2010-08-03T08:53:00.003+01:00

Whilst nattering on about chisels and the such like, it might be worth mentioning a little encounter with one of my Ashley Isles chisels. Matthew from Workshop Heaven sent me a whole set of dovetail chisels, bar the 6mm size which was out of stock. This duly turned up a few weeks later and was without further ado honed and placed in the rack along with all the others.
I first picked it to use it a couple of weeks ago just to pare the corners of some ebony on the Media Unit handles, with the result that the edge instantly crumpled.

I didn't think much more about it, but simply re-honed it to grind back past the first mm or so of poor steel, which is often the case with a new blade.
I used it again on Sunday to pare some joints on much softer pine...and exactly the same thing happened, so I started to think I might have a 'duff' one.
I decided to grind back the blade by another mm on the Tormek, in effect turning the chisel into a miniature engineers scraper. I then re-honed it to 25 deg, which is the angle that all the others are honed at.

Then came the test.

Within 20 seconds of paring the same soft pine, the edge resembled a Cadbury's Flake but just to make sure that all the others were good, I repeated the test.

It looks like the 6mm chisel came from a suspect batch, so it's going back...

A bit of a grind

2010-08-01T08:24:00.003+01:00

Having reverted to Japanese chisels a while ago, I'm very happy to use them with a single bevel of 25deg (or 30deg) which I can quite easily maintain with the 3M lapping films from Workshop Heaven. It's just a question of working down through successively finer grades until I finish on the 1 micron paper, which is around 8000g or the .3 micron which is much, much finer...

The thought of trying to re-make the primary bevel on much thicker and wider plane blades makes me turn a little pale and queasy though. Yesterday morning, a quick examination of the blades on four of my planes revealed that a little re-dressing of the primary bevel was required as the secondary was becoming just a tad too wide to take a really keen edge.

When I first set up the 'shop, a 'must have' purchase was a Tormek wet grinder, a really superb piece of kit which is getting a bit tatty now, but none the less, is still good. It's seen so much work over the years that the wheel has now been reduced by a full 10mm in diameter, but yesterday it was still a breeze to re-grind four plane blades in around twenty minutes.

Had I been trying to do the same job on the 3M papers, I still wouldn't have finished the first one...

GWSB '10

2010-07-28T07:59:00.005+01:00

Saturday saw the big event...the Great Wilton Summer Bash '10. I always worry a little bit as to a) whether anyone will turn up and b) will it go as planned?

In the event, it was successful on both counts...in fact a dozen friends turned out for the day, some having driven considerable (by UK standards) distances to attend (two arrived shortly after the pic was taken)

Having just done a lot of veneering recently, I decided to do short demo on making a simple 'lay-up' and the various subtleties of using the AirPress vacuum bag...

Paul Chapman (closest to camera, blue shirt) arrived late (his feeble excuse was the traffic) more than likely the motor was slowed down by the weight of cast iron in the boot, though to be fair, most of them were for PaulM (to his left, check shirt)

Bob Minchin delivered his ingenious 'Boblock' for my intended purchase later on of the Jet 260 planer/thicknesser. In case anyone's wondering, there's an issue with that piece of equipment in that there's no lock to keep the thicknessing table in place and after a short while it starts to wander. He also let me have a couple of lengths of 12mm birch ply to make a new router table fence, similar to Steve Maskery's ( Steve hoicked that down from Nottingham, so many thanks to both Steve and Bob)

Thanks also to Philly (blue T shirt, front) for the LN slide show presentation (but there weren't nearly enough shots of the delightful Robin) and my new LN leather key fob, which as I'm led to believe, is a rather exclusive little item. However, sadly, there were no pics of the 'bar' that he and others strayed into...

Matthew from Workshop Heaven arrived just in time to have a bite to eat after which he went back out to the car and brought in a box of goodies. I was particularly taken with the Carbur burnisher which gave an edge to a card scraper the likes of which I've never experienced. Impressive indeed! Many thanks also for the saw sharpening demo...I now possess a very nicely sharpened panel saw.

Final thanks must also go to Pam for again providing the most excellent and thoroughly yummy puds (a summer fruit pudding that contained a decent 'glug' of something from the drinks cabinet and a triple decker chocolate confection with strawberries and fresh cream)

All in all, an excellent day.

Clampage...

2010-07-23T11:24:00.004+01:00

It's often said, quite rightly that you can never have too many cramps, so when Steve Maskery produced this little clip about making Luthier's Clamps, I thought I'd have a go.

After all it looks easy enough...if you pay attention to Steve's words of wisdom.

Which I didn't, unfortunately.

The first three attempts were a hideous catalogue of errors too numerous to mention but included such outright gems as:

Getting that long saw cut in the wrong place.
Having the movable jaw glued to the stock, instead of sliding on it.
Drilling the 20mm clearance holes in the jaws so they were 10mm out of sync on each jaw (don't ask me how I did that one)
Drilling holes in the wrong place.
Failing to remove glue from bits that slide together.
Fitting a thick centre piece for the fixed jaw, when it should have been a thin bit.

You'll no doubt be surprised and absolutely delighted that after four attempts, I managed to make one that looked half-decent.

The other three are now occupying space in a land-fill somewhere...

The Alan Peters Media Unit

2010-07-20T11:22:00.011+01:00

Despite the many and varied cock-ups which proliferate this piece, it's finally done and dusted and I have to say that the overall result is quite pleasing.
The pics shown here are just the initial 'setting up' ones and taken with flash fotography...hence the icky colour of the drawer sides and wall behind is not a true representation. In addition, all the cables are still showing, which will of course disappear when the audio and TV kit is installed properly. It's also shown without the 6mm smoked glass shelves which were ordered yesterday, so once these are in place everything can get fitted out properly.

The drawer unit turned out well too, despite the slight 'foxes pouch' in cutting one of the mortises for the handles...I just made them all the same! The handles are curved at the front and made from ebony laminates with a chunky feel to them...small and dainty wouldn't have worked here. I resisted the temptation to make them curved in section as well as I think you can have too much of a 'good thing'.

Despite the odd looking colour of the sides, the drawers all slide in with just the touch of a finger in one corner. Construction is conventional...lapped d/t's at the front, through at the rear with the bottoms made from Cedar of Lebanon.

The inspiration for the piece came from these Oriental type of joints shown in Alan's book and apart from some minor problems in marking and cutting, turned out quite well.

The only problem now is that I haven't got an ongoing project. However, I do have the Wilton Woodbloke Summer Bash '10 to get ready for this weekend, when all and sundry will descend for a really good woody day on Saturday.

Out the 'Zone'

2010-07-16T09:21:00.002+01:00

This Zone idea is a tricky one...sometimes you're in and sometimes you're out.

Yesterday was a bit of an 'in' day with some 'outish' overtones as the pic of these small mortises for the handles amply demonstrates.

Sometimes my undoubted genius for making monumental cock ups is only only eclipsed by my capacity to keep making them.

I need to go and find a big rock and crawl under it...

In the 'Zone'

2010-07-15T15:31:00.002+01:00

Making drawers is something I quite like...it's the precision of making several sliding surfaces fit as closely as possible that appeals and like everything else, the more you do, the better you become at it. This time though, I'm following the instructions laid down by Alan Peters in his book, which if followed to the letter, make the whole business relatively pain free and surprisingly simple.

The first drawer I made two days ago went reasonably...the individual sides fitted 'snugly' (as per the instructions) the front and back were again fitted 'tightly' (as per the instructions) The sides were made marginally proud of the pins (as per the instructions) so all that was necessary to make it fit the opening was to plane these down until the ends of the pins were just skimmed by the plane.

So whatever possessed me to plane the top of the sides when I knew full well they fitted perfectly? Like a complete numpty, it's something I always do, every single bloody time which is intensely irritating and ultimately results in a fit that one of these could fit through. The fix though, is simple...just glue another slither on top of the offending surface and re-shoot the drawer.

The second drawer was better than the first as I was getting into the routine of marking out and cutting...it fitted quite well and closed with just a moderate amount of finger pressure for the last 25mm or so. I've just finished gluing the third drawer...I strayed from the path of righteousness though as I used a sash cramp to pull up the joints rather than the recommended hammer and block of wood.

There's something to be said for the 'Zone' as once you're in it, movin n' groovin' and being generally 'cool', things tend to move along nicely without too many mishaps.

The problem here is that I'm more often out than in!

Night and day

2010-07-13T07:34:00.003+01:00

A couple of years ago, I was having a delve in the wood shed at Yandles and spotted a couple of forlorn lumps of quarter sawn European oak lurking in a corner, perfect for drawer sides...or so I thought. These were purchased, along with some elm and slotted into the racks in the 'shop without further ado.

Yesterday, I started to use it...big, biggy mistake!

Although on the face of it, the appearance is very attractive, with a wealth of ray figure, it turns out that it's been so over kilned as to be to be the most foul, 'carroty' and unworkable timber that I've ever had the misfortune to come across...even with a minuscule mouth on the plane and a razor sharp blade, the grain picks up and tears, no matter which way it's planed. In comparison, the air dried oak I'm using for the main project cuts so sweetly, it's like night and day.

After a night of pondering, I've decided to re-rack it out...in the bin! I'm going to use some Honduras Mahogany instead mainly for two reasons, firstly, I've got a lot of it and secondly, AP recommends it anyway.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially if klutz's like wot I am don't read the book first...

Walk in the park...

2010-07-11T08:46:00.004+01:00

The first of the big carcass glue-ups has was done last Thursday, namely to glue on both the ends. I was scratching my head for ages trying to fathom out how I could do this on my own...without dropping one of the ends!

This, in itself, would have been a complete disaster and knowing my luck would have inevitably happened. As it happens, Pete very kindly came over to help, so what would have been a very difficult task for just one became a 'walk in the park' for two. He's also coming over again on Monday to help with the top, for which I'm extremely grateful.

To save some 'open time' with the glue (Titebond III in this case) the biscuits for the top, all 24 of them, have been pre-glued in place. This is something I haven't done before, but it seems to make sense, especially in this hot weather. I also had to borrow another Workmate from a neighbour as standing it this way is the only method I could see to get all eight sash cramps in place to glue on the top.

As all surfaces have been polished prior to gluing, there's very little to do now after the top has been positioned except to make the drawers and handles...so it's cedar of Lebanon planing today which means that the 'shop will have a rather nice pong in it!

Pressing engagement

2010-07-05T10:26:00.004+01:00

Knobs.

When I'm making a project that involves a bit of drawer work, this is the bit that can cause me so much angst it makes my head spin (easily done!) I've had dozens of ideas for the drawer pulls and each time I've rejected them...too small, not the right shape etc etc. Although pulls are one of the smallest parts of piece of work, to my mind they're one of the most important. After all, when someone goes near the project, the chances are that it's the drawer pull they'll home in on and touch first of all. So many times I see a great piece of work which has been spoilt by the inconsiderate use of inappropriate drawer pulls...it's almost as though they've been planted there as an afterthought.

I digress, as usual. Last night, I suddenly remembered that in Alan Peter's book, there's an illustration of one of his pieces with laminated, curved drawer pulls...and slowly the cogs 'up top' started to grind. Having biscuited the ebony end caps on the top, I was left with some thin slivers of ebony, far too good to just consign to the waste box, so I decided yesterday to knock up a mould using 18mm mdf and laminate four of the slivers to form some 8mm thick curved drawer pulls.

The result was that the AirPress was left running all night as the only suitable glue I had was a slow setting epoxy, but in retrieving them this morning it looks like they've pulled down over the mould quite well...not perfectly as the laminates were quite thick and ebony is fairly unbendy stuff, but good enough.

Sums...again!!

2010-07-02T08:02:00.002+01:00

Those of you with nothing better to do with your time than to peruse this inane drivel will have gathered over the course of the last few months, two significant and in this case, connected facts.

First and foremost, it was my intention to retire at 60 next January...eminently a sound, sensible thing to do. Cunning plans had been hatched for the replacement of machinery and a general upgrading of workshop equipment. Sixty five is the usual age for retirement in the UK, but many pension plans 'kick in' at 60 if the individual decides that it's time to pack up work, which is what I wanted to do...

Second and foremost, I was born in Jan '52 and a quick look at my Profile page reveals that I'm in fact 58, so somewhere along the line, what is laughingly called the 'grey matter' (or soggy sponge in this case) had added and extra year. Don't as ask my how though...

Hell's teeth and buggeration!

Outside in

2010-06-30T08:17:00.004+01:00

Things are certainly moving on now with the Media Unit. Much progress has been made over the last couple of weeks, so much so that I'll shortly be starting to clean up the interior faces ready for the first of the big glue-ups for which I think I'm going to have to enlist some help...no matter how I do it, it's unquestionably a two person job.

The first pic shows the backs being fitted, simple enough you might think. However the substrate is 3mm mdf with 3mm veneers each side, going into an 8mm groove. Even a mathematical genius like wot I am can work out that there's a mm of oak to plane off to fit the grooves...but would someone like to explain to me why it had to be the hottest day of the year to do it? The timing could have been a tad better....I think I must have sweated off at least 5lbs!

Once they were fitted, I could then mark out the rectangular holes for the cables (you thought I'd forgotten them!) after which they were then lined with some 'inside out' picture frames...ie the rebates were on the outside rather than the inside of the frame. If you look a little more closely at the pic, you'll be able to see that the panel is being cramped from the far side of the bench. This is because when I built it I installed removable tool wells for just this scenario...cunning or what?

On a completely different note, one of the things I noticed at the YOKB a couple of months ago was an Xtreme Xtension collect in the demonstrator's router. This meant that router cutters could be changed in the merest twinkling of an eye with a 1/4 turn of an allen key from above the table...so no more groping underneath with a spanner. I fitted one of these devices to my table the other day and it does exactly what it says on the tin...fantastic bit of kit.

Fangs a lot, George!

2010-06-24T11:30:00.003+01:00

The draconian Budget announced by the Chancellor the other day, and in particular the rise in the rate of VAT on 04 Jan next year have upset my carefully laid cunning plans. I was due to purchase my new equipment for the 'shop around about April but the tax hike means that for every £1K I spend, I'll have to fork out an additional £25 (if the sums are right...not a strong point, as you may have gathered!) and being a parsimonious sort of soul, I'd rather spend it on shiny tools than give it to George.

The new kit will now have to be purchased before Christmas and then installed in the 'shop, but one slight problem stands in the way...the floor. This is a pretty light weight affair and won't take the additional load of much heavier cast-iron machinery and so will have to be upgraded, which in turn means that to finance it, my existing equipment will have to be sold earlier than anticipated, probably in August sometime.

The upside is that the Alan Peter's Media Unit is really coming along very well, so much so that apart from drawer making, the finishing line is on the horizon. Once it's been finished and installed in the lounge, I'm going to allocate three weeks in September (annual holiday, but we're not going away this year) to do the work (which will also include upgrading the 'leccy)

It looks like SWIMBO's credit card is going to take another serious pasting in October, but fortunately it'll all be paid back when I finish work in January.

The footy...

2010-06-21T09:30:00.006+01:00

The Media Unit is really starting to take shape now, as yesterday I managed to make the central drawer unit sans any significant cock-ups. You can see from the pics that it went together quite well. Each of the dust boards has been shot in so that it's .5mm bigger at the back so in theory, there should be enough clearance to stop the drawers from binding...in theory.

You'll note that I said there were no significant cock-ups....well, there's just the weensiest, teeniest little bit of an untruth there because there was just a tiny one, or more correctly...four

Part of the project involved drilling holes for the shelf supports, so I nonchalantly marked out all the holes, paying attention to the 'handedness' of each of the boards (potential biggy time cock up in the making there) and started without further ado to drill out the holes with a 7.5mm drill...so far so good. Half way through the process I thought I'd better just have a quick count up of the number of inserts I had in my 'baccy storage tin...90.

....so it was with an increasing sense of imminent dread that I started to slowly count the holes I'd drilled.

Twelve in each row, and there were going to be eight rows.

Now you don't need to be a mathematical genius to do the sums and realize that the Bloke has scored yet another monumental 'own goal' and achieved a cock-up of truly epic proportions. Luckily, I'd bought a Veritas plug cutter at Yandles back in April, so with some very careful grain matching I managed to fill the holes so what could have been a disaster worthy of the World Cup final was relegated to an insignificant qualifier.

Oh...and apart from too many bloody holes, I hate the footy as well!

Foresaw

2010-06-17T14:34:00.004+01:00

I had another little parcel yesterday...who doesn't like parcels when they're full of shiny tools? This one was from Matthew at Workshop Heaven and contained four Japanese saws and a set of Ashley Isles dovetail chisels.

In trying out the saws, I cut a small dovetail joint in some thin oak using the rip saw and wasn't disappointed...it went through it like balsa. I've since used the cross cut and Kataba and have been equally impressed.

The chisels are very good as well. I had a brief look at one a while ago, but closer inspection yesterday shows that the side grinding is nigh on perfect, certainly good enough for dovetailing and general bench work. The backs though, weren't quite so good. As they're are hollow ground in their length, Ashley Isles maintain that when the backs are flattened only the front portion near the blade ought to be in contact with the medium (whatever is used...in my case the 3M papers) I found this to be the case in only two of the chisels supplied, the rest required various grades of papers to flatten them. To be fair, they weren't badly out, but not quite as good as I was expecting...they only took about ten minutes each to prepare. They're still not perfect (as my 3M papers are pretty worn at the moment) but the next time I change them, the fresh grits ought to see them brought to the required standard. I've also decided to keep them with a single bevel at 25deg as I have the Mr F's Oire Nomi's to belt with a hammer.

Now if you're really on the ball reading this, you'll have noticed that I said 'four' saws...and I've only tested three, so what was the other one?..

...one of these that I've been meaning to get for a while, but the old 'tuit' thing always got in the way!

Short order...

2010-06-14T08:37:00.004+01:00

That very nice UPS man brought me a parcel on Friday all the way from Berlin, courtesy of Deiter Schmid. I was primarily interested in the dovetail chisels made by Mr Matsumara, but on closer inspection the side grinding along the bevels was simply too coarse so these, reluctantly, had to be returned to Germany.

I'd also ordered though, a couple of the fishtail Bachi Nomi chisels which were excellent...until I got them into the 'shop to prepare them. The larger 18mm chisel didn't just have a 'bump', the whole of the back was bowed like a banana and proved impossible to make flat and level by hand, so I had to resort the side grinding wheel of the Tormek to make it slightly concave. I approached this bit a little nervously...after all the Tormek will remove a lot of steel in short order and once it's gone, there's no putting it back! Happily, this was a lot easier than I'd anticipated and a further ten minutes lapping on the 3M papers saw it perfect.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the little plane I'd also ordered...an ECE scrub with a hornbeam sole. I've always been a bit of a naysayer when it comes to these planes, but I was absolutely staggered to see how timber was chewed off...it's quite possible to reduce a thick board of oak to a pile of chips on the floor in very short order! I intend to use this little plane for the removal of high spots and 'wind' on rough sawn boards before going over the top on the planer-thicknesser.

However, the downside is that it's now pushed the total number of planes I own to twenty...someone's going to accuse me of being a 'collector' soon...

Saw point, reprise...

2010-06-09T09:29:00.004+01:00

There are some occasions when one of those rare 'Eureka' (that's going to hurt!) moments happen and the leaden scales fall away from your eyes to reveal dazzling delights beyond...such an event happened the other day when I was round at Pete's place looking at (amongst a lot of other stuff) his chisels.

During the course of the afternoon, he suggested that I have a go with his Sun Child dozuk i Japanese rip saw. I accepted rather reluctantly because I've tried these things out before years ago and simply couldn't get on with them, the reason being that I was principally holding the thing incorrectly.

What I was doing was to hold the long handle with my wrist over the top of it, so in effect 'cocking' it at around 20 or 30 deg, which after around ten minutes was excruciating! Pete suggested that the way to use it was to tuck the handle inside the forearm, so the wrist is now lying along the right hand side. The grip in that position is not dissimilar to how a Western style saw is held and posed no problems in terms of comfort...so I was already half way hooked!
I was completely smitten though by the way it effortlessly sliced through timber, even as thin as 4mm. A 'hot knife through butter' is only coming marginally close to how that thing went through wood...fantastic!

Now never, ever let it be said that I act on impulse and do all sorts of irrational stuff...

"who me, sir?"..."not I sir!"

...but my pair of faithful LN saws have now been sold and as soon as the necessary has cleared the bank account, I'm going to order a set from Matthew at Workshop Heaven.

'V' joints and Mr M...

2010-06-05T21:10:00.004+01:00

A reasonable amount of work has been done on this project and thus far, barring the small surgical procedure that was done a while ago, it seems to be turning out quite well, apart from some of the veneer joint lines opening up in the hot weather. That's an intense irritation, but one that I can't really do much about. Fortunately, the areas where the joints have opened are in places that won't easily been seen...which is a bit of a blessing.

The main problem is that the two main pieces (the top and bottom) are heavy, so it's a bit cumbersome to keep lumping them up and down onto the bench, but the pics here show the process in chopping out this strange 'V' shaped mortise.

The difficult part was the marking out, but once that had been done, each 'V' could be chopped out and then chiseled back to the knife line with the big Japanese parers which were perfect for this job...the control afforded by the longer handle was excellent.

After having done eight of these little beauties, I'm a lot happier now, at the end of the process, than I was at the beginning, in fact last night I fitted one of the small uprights to the underside of the top...and with little bit of fettling, it went together perfectly.

However, I still can't finish off dovetails as I don't have a set of finer beveled chisels. I'll need them fairly soon as I've a set of drawers to make for this project and I've the small units to finish off for the downstairs loo.

So last night I order some of Mr Matsumara's finest...and a few other bits and pieces as well!

Transference, the sequel

2010-06-03T08:32:00.002+01:00

Some say the 'call of the wild' is one of those monumental moments when we throw off all domestic constraints and retreat to the great outdoors, complete only with a pair of decent boots on your feet and whatever can be carried on your back.

Ha!..fat chance here...it's more like the 'call of the bloody paint pot.' If you haven't guessed, I've been wielding the dreaded brush again over the last couple of days, but this time it's the 'smallest room' in the house, so with any luck, it's not going to take up much time.

However, I've decided to renew all the fittings that go inside...new loo-roll holder, small unit for the loo-paper and a wooden window sill. Interestingly, I've made this from some timber given to me years ago by my old granddad and it's the most amazing stuff to work with that I've ever come across. It looks like a mahogany of some sort, but it's not...the only really distinctive feature is that it smells faintly 'musty' when it's planed . It's the sort of smell you'd expect if you walked into a room that hadn't been occupied for ages...very peculiar.

I digress (as usual) The timber for the first two little projects was an oddment of Brazilian Mahogany that I'd had knocking around, dovetailed where necessary at the corners, so it was a good opportunity to give the Transference Jig it's first serious outing.

I approached the task with a little bit of trepidation...after all, it might not work and have been a waste of effort and time to make, but I'm happy to say that once I'd worked out the best way to use it (by cramping the pin board to the maple as well) it worked extremely well and made what has always been a slightly awkward job (jack plane on it's side, wood on top, pin board in the vice, square up, hold firm with the left hand, strike the lines etc etc) much simpler.

Back to the paint brush for further adventures in the wild...

Transference, part deux...

2010-05-29T22:21:00.005+01:00

You may recollect (if you've been paying attention at the back) that it was my intention to make a Robert Ingham transference jig, to ease marking out the pin board from the tails when cutting dovetails.

I had a drive down to Ringwood Precision Engineers on Friday and got hold of a lump of 50x50x6mm ali angle, which cost the princely sum of a fiver. As it was a wet Bank Holiday Saturday (now there's a strange occurrence) I decided to knock one up.

In the original, RI used mdf for the wood part, but as I didn't have anything quite to esoteric, I used an oddment of maple instead. The aluminium was chopped into 50mm pieces and then the ends were made dead square...easier than I thought using files initially and then w/d papers stuck to some 10mm float glass.

The 'T' slot was cut with a 6mm cutter to begin with and then opened out with a suitable keyhole cutter from Axminster. The sliding 'T' bolts were just made from a bit of old gash 6mm studding and a bit of 10mm stuff.

In use, it works surprisingly well and makes what used to be a rather awkward job much easier...