I Hate Boxes....

I seem to have been making nothing but boxes recently. Firstly there was the Teak Casket that's doing nicely in the UKW Competition, then there was Meg's box in spalted sycamore and I'm just about to finish a small pencil box in the same timber for Gareth as one of his presents. I rang him up and he said he wanted one to go on his desk in the flat, so with all that lot I'm pretty hacked off with doing small, fiddly boxes and am itching to get into something bigger, so next week I'm going to start the Elm Cabinet MkII, which should hopefully be good and more complex than the last one. The timbers' been rough cut and drying out now for a few months now so I can't wait to get going on it. Will definitely need to get a couple of the Veritas 'shaves for the stand as well as some LN mortise chisels for both bits...cabinet and stand. Need to do a full size drawing of the cabinet and stand as I fancy that the stand will have a bit of 'splay' to it...should be very interesting.

Progress on the Big Woodie

The Big Woodie is making steady progress...can't you just tell I used to write millions of reports! I bought the studding for the adjustment mechanism from B&Q the other day and Pete Newton very kindly machined a little off the chip breaker bolt for me as it was a fraction too big for the routed groove in the plane body. Needless to say, it's a perfect fit now, so many thanks Pete. I have to start the brass cap very shortly, which is probably one of the most unpleasant parts of the whole project. Sawing through 8mm thick brass by hand is just plain hard work....shouldn't take too long though and once that's done the mouth adjustment mechanism needs to be made and then it's just the final assembly and finishing.
Then I have to start the write up for F&C on plane making.

It was a snip really....

Someone missed a good plane the other day as I tried to sell my No4 that I'd completely refurbed back in the Spring....which is a great shame as I only wanted£100 for it.... what an absolute snip! Never mind. I think what I'll do is to replace the existing Record blade (not the one in the photo) with a Hock one at some later date and then hone a 20deg back bevel on it to use as Mr C has suggested on very difficult timbers.

Onwards and upwards...

Making Progress

The big woodie has been started and so far it's coming along quite nicely. I've managed to re-saw the greenheart this morning, which wasn't quite such a trial as I thought it might be and then putting it thru' the PT wasn't too bad either, end result is that it's now glued in place so next job on the 'morrow is to bearing cut off the waste down the long sides. I used my new Veritas jointer to plane the underside of the gluing surface...fabulous plane. You can see from the pic that the slot has been machined for the adjustable mouth mechanism and the round hole immediately in front is for the locking bolt that drops down from the top. It's absolutely essential that it's kept dead flat so that the sole is then flat and needs the minimum amount of work later on. I did have some trouble with the size and shape of the tote but managed to sort it out after the third go, which I have to say was a bit of a pain. I based the shape and design for the tote on my Norris A1 as shown in this pic.

Had a bit of good news this morning...I'm going to receive a small payout from and old pension later on, so what with the Competition prize and the monies(s) from F&C publications I ought to be able to get the odd shiny trinket or two for the workshop...most of it tho' is going to have to go on paying the CCards, never mind, should be able to get rid of a fair wedge.

A Grand Day Out

I haven't done an entry for a while, so apologies...must try harder. A fair bit has happened since the last entry really. I had a great day out with Martin, Waka and Philly in Dorchester last Sunday. Martin's garage workshop needs to be seen to be believed....if you think Philly has got some tools you need to redefine the definition of 'collector'. Martin let me have a fabulous lump of greenheart for the bottom of my long woodie that I'm just about to start, works out at 70lbs/cu' which is about as hard as it comes, apart from Lignum. In return, I'm going to refurbish an unusual spokeshave that needs some metalwork done and new handles made...more later. Martin also let me have a rather tatty, non descript infill jack that he bought from a boot fair so that will be my next plane project...I'll do the work on it, then it'll go on the bay and we'll divi up the spoils. This should be quite and interesting one to do as I quite enjoy taking a tool from something that looks like you wouldn't give it any house room and bringing it back to a decent working condition.

F&C are going to publish the Teak Casket in the Christmas edition which will be good. I rang up CE-E the editor the other day and asked him if he wanted another article(s) on plane making, Woodbloke style. Affirmative. Not wishing to steal any of Philly's thunder as I make mine in a significantly different way so that should be good as well...OK then, back out to the 'shop to do a detailed drawing and then I 'spose I'd better get sawing out some timber.

Stuff that's happened...

Amidst all the last minute packing that took a week, SWIMBO has finally taken herself off to windier climes and from the email and phone calls I've had is enjoying herself in the South Atlantic. There are problems with the internet connection tho' so she's emailing me text and photo's and I'm creating her Travel Blog, which seems to be OK. Will be off myself to see her after Christmas, probably in February.
The T5 has been finished and sold to another UKW member and it will be delivered in a few days time. It's turned out quite well but I shan't be doing another one of these things as they take too long, I 'spose a Dremmel would have been very handy to do the 'fiddly' bits but I didn't have one. Still, it's quite pleasing to see how a fairly ropey old plane can be brought back to life and look better, hopefully, than when it was new.
I'm making a box at the mo' in spalted sycamore that a pal gave me...lovely stuff to work with with very pronounced figuring so I think it'll look good when it's done, I'll finish it with shellac and wax to keep the colour as oil would give it a yellow tinge.
Going to Surrey later in the week and will call in to see Paul Chapman and give Scott a bit of stick about his very uncool aviator shades!...should be a very good day. Going as well to see Philly and others in Poole where I hope to obtain some Greenheart for the bottom of a long woodie I will be making soon. It'll be 28" long, with the main body made from some Mahogany but I also want to include an adjustable mouth. The cap iron is going to be 8mm thick brass and it will have a double 5mm iron, 44 mm wide (ground downn from a 50mm woodie) and chipbreaker set at 50 degrees. I'll also be able to buy a Veritas 22" jointer with the money from the sale of the T5, so the plane collection is steadily growing.
I had a very interesting afternoon with Pete on Saturday, the result of which is that I'll be ditching my old leather strop in favour of a 1000g ceramic stone which gave and edge that I didn't think possible...absolutely fantastic, so that will be another order to Axminster shortly.

Switzerland 2007

Having got all the photos sorted out now on the PC I can do a half respectable write up of our trip to Switzerland this year, and what a trip it was! We started out by catching the mid morning ferry to Dunkirque which left us the rest of the afternoon to drive for an overnight stop at the Ibis in Metz and then on to Grindenwald (near Interlaken) for our first camp site, which happened to be at the foot of the Eiger, which is a rather impressive sight when you crawl out of the tent first thing in the morning. I had a very slight problem tho' in opening the 'essential supplies' bought in Dunkirque the day previously, so I had to 'adapt and overcome'.

We stayed for a couple of nights at that site and then moved on to Lucerne and found a rather attractive site on the shore of the lake which was conveniently about a mile from the old city, an easy ride on the bikes. Lucerne is a lovely place, lots to see and plenty of fabulous chocolate shops to explore, however being of sound disposition I left Alyson solely in charge of that activity. By chance one of the attractions that we visited was the Transport Museum which was a stones throw from our site, I spent about four captivating hours in there and I think it's probably the best museum I've ever been in...even the kids had scooters to run around on! We also had a trip to Mount Pilatus which entailed a trip on the steepest cog railway in the world. The little trains negotiate a slope of 1:48 which is truly eye watering...fantastic view of the Alps from the top though. To round off our stay in Lucerne we visited an artillery fortress tunnelled into the mountain side at Vitznow, which was built completely in 14 months in 1939, a fairly outstanding piece of engineering. Switzerland has thousands of such fortresses and this one was decomissioned only in 1998!

Then onto Zermatt for another hike up to the Hornlihut which is about two thirds the way up the Matterhorn, a stimulating and enjoyable day out with marvellous weather and subsequent views of the peak. (The hut can just be seen as a 'pimple' centre of pic on top of the ridge) There is a new museum just opened in Zermatt on the story of the Matterhorn. On the original ascent, four of the team lost their lives just as they were starting down...the museum has a glass case containing the rope that snapped, thought provoking indeed.

Then onto Lukerbad, a small alpine resort with really hot thermal pools which quite made up for the most awful night we had. That particular day we had a bad storm with high winds and the temperature dropped to well below zero at night. Our sleeping arrangements weren't up to the extreme of temperature but we managed to survive by sleeping in just about all our clothes. I think the cooked breakfast the following morning was probably the best meal of the holiday....rosti and baked beans with lots of tea! The blobs on the Landrover bonnet are in fact solid blocks of ice, not water.

We rounded off the trip with a few days camping at Vidy, at Lausanne on the north shore of Lake Geneva, another excellent site. Lots of cycling along the lake accompanied by a day out 'wine tasting' at a couple of local villages....it's a wonder we got back to camp reasonably sober. After that it was the long drive back home via Metz again. A fantastic holiday in all with absolutely wonderful weather, even in the mountains (apart from that night)

One final thing though. We went on an alpine coach that went high up into the mountains and the blast of the triple air horns, once heard is never forgotten.....anyone know how I can fit a set on my pushbike?