Woodworking Blogs at LumberJocks.com

My Hand Tool Journey #1: The Journey Begins

Kent Shepherd — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:20:15 GMT

stefang offered a challenge the other day for us to create a blog on hand tool use. That was good timing, because it’s been on my mind for some time now. This will be a series in several parts—I don’t yet know how many. If you are lucky, I will have the sense to know when to quit. If not—Well, I suppose you may stop reading and go do something worthwhile—Like work in your shop. I hope you stick around.

As I’ve stated before, I grew up working in my Dad’s shutter shop in the mid 60’s. No, I’m really not that old, I just started very, very early. My first experience with hand tools wasn’t all that great. While Dad had a lot of great qualities, the use of hand tools was not one of them. When we went to install shutters, we often used a block plane. It was a Stanely, and probably could have been a good tool, if sharpened and set up right.——It wasn’t! The good news is, we used all pine at that time for our shutters, so it wasn’t too difficult. Dad would occasionally take out the iron and sharpen it on a course stone on the bench grinder. Wow, I cringe now thinking of that!!!! We also used a chisel for some pretty rough work—same sharpening technique. That was pretty much the extent of my use of hand tools of any kind.

Now, fast forward about 34 years or so. I started getting the Bridge City Toolworks catalog. I loved just looking at all the cool stuff, so it was just a matter of time before I took the plunge and began to buy layout tools. At one time I bought what I believe they called “The Works” , which was all the layout tools they had made, up until that time. You have to understand, the constuction business here actually used to pay pretty well—not so much anymore. A few years later, Bridge City came out with their block plane. Of course I was already hooked because of the fantastic tools I already owned, so it wasn’t difficult for me to justify the cost of this plane. I was not dissapointed. Wow, doesn’t begin to describe this plane. Thus, my hand tool journey began with a bang, and hasn’t stopped since. Slowed down some—Like most of you the economy is killing me too.

Yes, I’ve already read tons of comments in the past on the “ridiculouly high” price for any tool of this quality, but it’s usually coming from those who have never used them. At 20 years old, I had no clue what a well tuned plane was like, and I sure didn’t know the difference in quality between brands.This blog is based on my personal experience using them. Not all my hand tools are high-dollar tools. My point of this blog is to explain my own journey into the world of hand tools. To do this, I will share my own tool collection with all of you, and how I use them in my work. Yes, I do use them—all the time. Hand tools have become a very valuable part of my woodworking, and my use, as well as my passion continues to grow as my skills improve.

To begin with, I want to share my collection with you. Then, in the sessions to follow, I will attempt to share how these tools benefit my work.

Here they are—Well, most of them anyway——Enjoy!

I do hope you come back for the other sessions. Maybe you can pick up something here, just like I do reading your blogs.

Mother of Pearl Inlay #1: FAQs and Step One

Autumn — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:17:44 GMT

HOW TO CUT AND INLAY MOTHER OF PEARL
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Frequently asked questions:

1) Where do you buy your mother of pearl?

I buy my MOP from Andy DePaule at http://www.luthiersupply.com/index.html.
Other suppliers are out there, but I like Andy and the product he provides.

2) What size MOP do you buy?

I buy the thickest available and always the same thickness. I am human, and I make mistakes. When using whisper-thin MOP, it is too easy to sand through my best-laid plans. In addition, inlaying pearl of different thicknesses can change the intended appearance. Pearl, as nature designs it, is layered, and it can change appearance when sanded from one level down to the next.

3) What do you cut pearl with?

For artistic designs, I cut pearl with a jeweler’s saw and jeweler’s saw blades. The saw and blades can be purchased at Stewart MacDonald:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Inlay,_pearl/Tools_and_supplies_for:_Inlay,_pearl_cutting/Pearl_Cutting_Saw.html

If you want to buy blades by the gross instead of by the dozen, I recommend PJTSS (http://www.pjtss.com/sawbladesjewelerssawblade.aspx).

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For straight cuts, such as making border pieces, I use a fine-toothed metal cutting blade on the bandsaw.

To make angles for miters, I use the disc on my belt sander. A glass grinder would be a great tool to have around, too, but I don’t have one.

Someone could use a scroll saw by building up a wood and pearl “sandwich,” but the pearl has a tendency to flake. The tried and true method of cutting intricate designs in pearl is with the jeweler’s saw.

I WILL DEMONSTRATE ALL OF THESE METHODS AS WE WALK THROUGH THE STEPS OF THIS TUTORIAL.

4) Is mother of pearl toxic?

In it’s own right, MOP is not toxic, but the dust can cause respiratory problems. MOP dust resembles glass dust, and when inhaled, it lodges in the lung lining, much like asbestos. The human body has no way of dealing with glass in the lungs. Always wear a dust mask when cutting or grinding MOP. Before I take off my mask after cutting, I spray the air with a mist of water to knock down rogue particles.

5) How do you route out a recess for MOP inlay?

I route freehand using both a laminate trimmer and a dremel with a special routing base. I use bits no larger than 1/8” and as small as 1/32”. I never set the speed higher than the lowest setting, ensuring that I maintain control throughout the cut.

The dremel base and smaller bits can be purchased at Stewart Mac Donald:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Inlay,_pearl/Tools_and_supplies_for:_Inlay,_pearl_cutting/Precision_Router_Bases/Precision_Router_Base.html

I WILL INCLUDE PHOTOGRAPHS OF ROUTING LATER IN THE TUTORIAL.

6) Where do you get your patterns?

I am not an artist. I rely upon free Art Nouveau and stained glass patterns available on the Internet. Over a short period, I amassed a folder full. Dover books also carries design books of many styles. Sometimes a simple diamond shape is all that is needed to dress up a box.

I usually enlarge and crop a certain section of a border or picture I like, take it down and have an enlargement made, trace it, tweak it, trace it again, tweak it again. Eventually, I end up with a working design.

Most of the MOP inlay designs on the Internet are for guitars, so it takes a little thought to make them applicable to the size and structure of a box or a piece of furniture.

Just search Google for “inlay patterns.”

STEP ONE: Knowing how to select pieces of MOP for a project

Assuming you have ordered a sample pack of MOP from Luthier’s Supply (or some other vender), we will look at a piece under a good light. There is a right and a wrong way to orient each piece, depending on the effect you want to achieve. I often keep a small bowl of water handy because wetted pieces show the pearl’s chatoyancy (changeable luster) better.

Here is an example of how the chatoyancy of pearl changes, simply by turning the piece 180 degrees:

Remember that pearl can take on a different appearance depending upon the angle at which a person views it. Orienting it properly will make a noticeable difference in your finished product.
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If you are going to make a long line, the best effect is gained by cutting the pearl across the flow of the lines. That is how I laid out and cut the pieces for the border on the following box:

I wanted flashy swirls on the curved parts of the medallion piece, so I oriented the cuts over curved parts of the paua (the blue-green shell):

I have seen inlays where a shadow on a piece of white MOP is used as the shadow under a woman’s cheek. The secret is in studying each piece before laying on the pattern for cutting.

In step two, we’ll start applying a pattern to MOP in order to cut out the pieces.

Daily Update #1: November 12, 2009

Chris Davis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:10:49 GMT

This is a new feature that I’ll be starting. It is recorded video update on what will be going on in the shop.

Or watch Live:
Free live streaming by Ustream

WoodWriting Haiku Thursday's --by RusticWoodArt #61: WoodWorks

frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:35:38 GMT

WoodWorks

….wood-fire-ash-smoke-black,
can your depths be understood,
patiently i act….
—-by flp

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank

RusticWoodArt
rusticwoodman@gmail.com

Two of my other woodworking blogs:
http://frank.wordpress.com/
….and….
http://rusticwoodart.tumblr.com/

—-
”....work smart, work safe, and live, to work the wood....”

Loft Bed (OP College Style) #2: Got Wood?..

VeganThug — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:10:31 GMT

Got Wood?

yeah, i got wood (and no it’s not because i’m glad to see your teenage daughters). i drove to kona (the other side of the island) to pick up the hem-fir. i had to go to lowes because home depot didn’t have any untreated, construction grade 2×6’s. i now have a workbench, so here’s a couple pics of my unimpressive, yet functional workbench and another one of most of the project wood:

the day after i bought it, i noticed some holes in the wood that look like they’re from insects. i’m assuming that the wood is not infested and the bugs that may have created the holes were evicted during the kiln drying process:

i’ve hand sawn a few boards and such, but mostly i’ve been practicing techniques and tuning equipment. my first step was to practice drilling holes for my bolts and screws. i realized quickly, that this was not going to be as simple as i had planned. using the advice of a lowe’s employee, i tried to select the lighter boards, which he claimed had a lower moisture content, which means less warping and shifting after the bed is put together. these lighter boards seemed to be more misshapen than the heavier boards. i decided to assume that the extra warping is not so bad because that means that these boards have sewn their warping oats and when i take them home with me they’ll be more likely to commit to the other boards without straying. getting to the point about drilling into this wood, it cracks and splinters very easily and i’m guessing that the lower moisture content encourages this. as you can see here, screwing w/o pilot holes is not an option:

brad point bits splinter; even the countersink bit splinters unacceptably. i’m sure that once the finish is on, no one will notice, but once i do something, i try to do it right. when looking for drill bits, the same guy at lowes redirected me to the forstner bit. i saw that it was plenty expensive, so i was weary that he might be trying to gouge me ( i didn’t read about that specific bit on wikipedia before i went to the store). i looked at the bit and observed that it was designed to cut the edges first, which is how a brad point is supposed to work, so i made a decision and bought it. when i came home, sure enough, i looked it up and it’s described as a cleaner bit than the brad points. allegedly the exit hole is clean too, but the forstner bit i bought couldn’t exit without splitting even when another piece of wood was clamped under it. the washer should cover up what the planing doesn’t remove. i could drill half way, then flip over the board and connect the hole from the other side, but that’s twice as much drilling; it doesn’t seem worth it.

i find it interesting that the western wood products association says, “Hem-Fir is additionally preferred by many builders because of its: resistance to splitting in nailing and screwing; ability to hold nails and screws securely; ease of sawing without splintering;..” i find it difficult to imagine a wood that is less resistant to splitting and splintering.

after going to home depot, then calling a couple other stores, i ordered a 5/16” forstner bit to use as a countersink for my #8 and #9 deck screws. i also ordered a 1/8” brad point from rockler.com. i’m curious if this bit, which other customers claim to be very sharp, will make a cleaner hole than the home depot bits.

all that time and effort to simply drill a clean hole. while practicing with the drill, i put a couple holes in the scrap wood i practiced finishing. here’s the results:

i was very disappointed to witness my $90/gal finish chipping like plastic. it took a couple days to put it together, but i later realized that the finish i have is a slightly more environmentally friendly polyurethane. it’s absolutely nothing new or unique. it seems to be regular water based polyurethane without the flammable thinner in it. i pride myself on my misanthropic cynicism, so i am not at all amused with myself for naively falling for their corporate propaganda. the voices in my head won’t let me hear the end of it for quite some time.

i’ve practiced some planing too, but it’s bed time so nighty-night.

Can't find aluminum or plastic biscuits at an affordable price.

Pete_Jud — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:20:04 GMT

I need 500-1000 of the size 0 self locking biscuits for a project ether in plastic or aluminum and can’t seem to find them on the net. I thought I was pretty internet smart, but can’t seem to find them anywhere. If anyone uses these, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Don K's Mobile Table Saw Stand Sketchup Model

Brad_Nailor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:15:31 GMT

I have been threatening to buy a new table saw for a few months now and as all the planets seem to be aligned I am finally going to take the plunge…before i end up spending the money on Christmas! I am going to get a Grizzly G0690. I came to this decision thanks to allot of great input from the people on this site in particular Don K. He owns this saw along with a few other Grizzly pieces and doesn’t hesitate to sing the praises of this saw. After the Shop Fox rolling base he purchased basically collapsed, he designed and built this stand for his saw. He was kind enough to share the details with me, and you can see it in the pictures of his shop. Of course being the Sketch-A-Holic I am I had to do a model of the stand complete with renders and exploded views. Click the link below each image to see it full size..

Here is the stand, raw SU output.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/fella77/tsstand_1.jpg

The exploded view…

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/fella77/tsstand3.jpg

Here is the dimensioned view…

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/fella77/tsstand5.jpg

And a rendered image

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/fella77/20091109151744_12m56s.jpg

I like his design allot, the way the saw sits in a pocket to keep it from being too high off the floor. Don says that with the casters unlocked, the saw moves with a one handed shove…try that with a typical rolling base. I am going to put this together this weekend so as soon as my saw gets here I can put it in the stand before the cast iron goes on!

New Toy #3: Here Are Some Pictures

alaskan79 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:31:16 GMT

Well I remembered the camera today so here are some pictures.

This is the mill

Here is a picture of the logs that I had this morning

This is a picture of the lumber that I have cut so far. I need to sticker it yet. The front pile with the slab on top is my Cherry, Their is 30 boards plus the slab. The other tall pile is the Poplar with some Hard maple along side of it.

Woodworking Bench #4: A Perfectly Flat Top

DocK16 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:12:34 GMT

Moving along with the woodworking bench. The previous blog showed the final glue up of the laminated top. even planing the sections before gluing didn’t lead to a perfectly flat top. So that leads to the 64 million dollar question, how do we get it flat. Since I don’t have 40 inch wide planer or sander I guess we’ll have to look at other options. One method is to cross plane it with a fore plane or jointer plane (a very long bench plane). As I don’t have a bench plane larger than a #5 bench plane, I decided this might be an opportunity for a new tool. Lie-Neilson fore plane $425. Since this iis more than I’ve spent on the whole project so far I decided to pass. I’m not that good with a hand plane anyway. So I turned to the guys a Fine Woodworking.com. The answer was to make a sled for a router with a flat bottom bit. Succesive passes over the top of the table knocks off the hight spots.. Picture below shows the jig, just to the left of the jig you can see the marks from the router passes about every inch. To the left of that is the marks are gone after light sanding with and orbital sander.

You can see how the router slides bach and forth in the jig staying at a level setting while the entire jig moves left to right on rails clamped to the assembly table top and sides of the bench top.

The result is a perfectly flat top side to side and front to back.

Next week I hope to attach the top and the front and tail vises. Thanks for looking

It's finished!

captkerk — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:43:48 GMT

It’s all done! Up and installed. I put on three coats of tung oil with 0000 steel wool in between each coat. The top got a fourth coat. Then a coat of finishing paste wax, with the top getting two more coats.

Check it out!