Bustin’ the Dovetail Myth

Adam Savage gets intimate with dovetails!

A catalogue unlike any other

How would you like some of the finest hand tools on the planet?  Get yourself a copy of the latest catalogue from Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, mark up the most interesting pages, and subtly leave it lying around the house (all the while lamenting about how hard it is to find good Xmas presents)!

The latest cattle dog is out from Lie-Nielsen, and it is a beauty.  You can download a copy here. (5MB PDF) Alternately, you can order a printed copy here.

Lie Nielsen Cattle Dog

Unlike most other catalogues about the place, the Lie Nielsen is not just a list of the tools that are available, but is very instructional at the same time, going into the details of the tools, and often how they are used, how they are useful, how they are made and so on.  It sounds just like any other, but it takes the concept beyond the sales pitch, into much more interesting areas.
If nothing else, this is toolporn at its finest. Just try not to drool on the keyboard!

Stu’s Shed is moving!

Sorry about the delay in posts in the last couple of days, but I’ve been a bit distracted.

Just to add to workloads, early in the new year we are relocating (confirmed today), and Stu’s Shed will be relocating at the same time.  Just what I need: more work!  What this will mean for the physical shed is a bit unknown – at the moment the new property has a 3mx3m, and I just don’t see downsizing from 41m² to 9m² is a viable option!  So the 36m² double garage will have to do until a new shed can be built.

There will be some good out of all this I’m sure.  I will be aiming for the new shed to be closer to 60m², and with greater head height than current.  A lot of the ideas over the years can be built in – better dust extraction concepts, better layouts (in general, and also for filming), better storage.

One thing I am trying to ignore at the moment though – just how do you move such a significant amount of machinery?!!

Enter, the Router Table

Taking the first components off to the next stage of the process involves the router table, and the rail & stile plus raised panel bits.

Cutting the interior profile

After some test cuts, the router table was set up to run the rails and stiles through the first router bit.  I use MagSwitch featherboards to hold the timber against the router table fence. They are so easy to position, and hold fast to the cast iron top of my router table.  Make you think it fortunate my router table is cast iron, but it came about in the reverse order.  I made the router table out of cast iron so that I could use MagSwitches on it.

Woodpeckers Coping Sled

After changing to the complementary router bit, it was time to cut the end grain of the rails.  If you ever wonder how to remember which is which, think about rails being horizontal.  They certainly are for trains! The stile is the other one.

The Woodpeckers Coping Sled is awesome for this task.  It holds the rails perfectly, and perpendicular to the direction of travel.  If I had taken more care, I would have used a sacrificial backing.  Probably should have – hardwood tears out a bit too easily. I’ll make sure I do when cutting the doors for the sink unit.

I just checked – the coping sled is still available from Professional Woodworkers Supplies.  They now have a mini one as well, but given the full sized one is on special, I’d still go with that one (the one pictured above).  There is so much more with this one, it is worth the difference.

Sanding the panels

After removing the panels being glued up in the Frontline clamps, I used the Festool belt sander to do a final flattening (including removing any glue squeezeout).  The large sander weights 7kg, and when coupled with the sled means you can hold the handle, and, well, hang on – letting the tool do all the work.  The work is clamped up using brass dogs on the vice, and dogs in holes in the table.

Panel bit

Once sanded (not the final sand – more a sizing sand than a finishing one), it was back to the router table, this time with a raised panel bit.  I don’t have a raised panel bit with a cutter for the back yet, so have to adjust it manually. This is not the final pass, but an intermediate one to check fit.  Best to do the crossgrain first, then the longgrain.

Panel bit

This is a monster bit – pretty much at the limit that a router can (or rather should) drive.  The run at the slowest speed still gets a decent tip speed.

Test fit

A quick test fit showed I was close, but still needs another pass to get it there.  Looking good though.  Will look even better when I do the 3D routing into each panel!  Once that routing is done (next session), then I can glue the panels up.

Thicknessing undersized stock

One thing I have been surprised with so far, is the lack of waste.  I’d always try to use timber to maximise yield, but there is always waste.  So far I’d not have enough offcuts to fill a 10L bucket – the yield is exceptional.

Even these thin panels that were ripped off the 19-20mm thick boards.  They will be perfect for the back of the units.  I wanted to run them through the thicknesser, but it just doesn’t go thin enough.  To solve that problem, I clamped on a sled.  The boards would not feed initially, but with a quick rubdown with Sibergleit, the boards fed through smoothly and easily.  I wouldn’t do this with any timber, or to go too thin, but it will get you out of trouble.
So a good session.  Progress seems slow, but this is always the slow part of any project.  Once the items are cut, and some preliminary joinery done, it usually flies together.

 

Some good news and bad news.  The good news is that I am documenting sessions on video.  Bad news is I am not planning on releasing the video until the project is complete!

Kitchen Commencement

It has begun!  Unlike projects for myself, I am well-motivated to finish those I am making for others, especially where it comes to Xmas presents!

90×30 Hardwood Timber

This is what I am starting with, and with a few taps with a hammer they come apart easily.  These were assembled well before nail guns were commonplace, so 40mm thin nails were used, and the cross braces are easily encouraged loose.  After running some boards through, they are pretty straight , especially over the lengths I am using.  They are all around 1800 long.

Dressed and sized

After dressing and sizing, the boards come up beautifully.  These have been resawn to 18mm thick.  Then ripped to the width required for the rail & stile joinery.

Glueup

Another set were resawn to 10mm for the infill panels.  I am making these thin, as I don’t want a heavy look to the raised panels, and to minimise the amount of weight in the final unit.  They are going to be heavy enough as it is.

Frontline Clamp

Once again, the Frontline clamps are proving their weight in gold.  As they clamp up, they squeeze the boards flat, then clamp them together.  I could do with another set for larger glueups!

Clamped up

After all the planing, thicknessing, ripping and crosscutting, the first items have been produced, ready to make their way over to the router table.

Components

There will be a lot more produced before this project is completed!

33 Days to Xmas!

Whaaaat?!

Where did the year go?  I had all sorts of plans for construction, for projects and things I planned to start (and finish)!

So it is time to get a wiggle on.  The main thing I need to get done is to finally make a toy kitchen for my daughter.  A bit overdue, but if I can spend a bit of time on it, I should be able to make up for it in features and quality.

I have a great supply of timber – a whole pile of 90×30 hardwood, that is very straight and clean, and about 40 years old.  So that is awesome.

I also have had the experience of building a few toy kitchens now – this will be #4.  So I will be drawing on previous designs and ideas, as well as incorporating new, additional concepts.  One being incorporating some tambour doors using the Amana Tool set.  Another being using the Jumbo Gifkins dovetail for some decent sized kitchen units.

I just hope there is enough time to get done what I want to have done!

Transcending the language barrier

Woodworking is a universal language.  You only have to look at a website published in another language, see some of the illustrations to understand that they are talking about the same concepts, the same issues, the same solutions and the same tools the world over.

I came across Coisas de um desocupado today (roughly translated (by Google) as “Things of the Unoccupied”, with a byline “Keeping myself busy with woodworking”), who writes entries of a decent length, and speaks of his recent woodworking journey, including topics all who are getting into woodworking will find familiar.  With the power of the internet these days, just because the website is written in Portuguese is no barrier.  Visiting this link translates the site into English (or whatever your preferred language (with a slowly growing range of supported languages)) – it may not translate the whole length of the site, but it will give you a good taste.

I also know there is a autogenerating Japanese version of Stu’s Shed, and as the primary Stu’s Shed site is regularly visited from about 170 countries, many must therefore be translating my scratchings into their preferred dialect.

The power of the internet to build the global village, and we as the village carpenter (and/or the village idiot 😉 )

Scratchin’ out a living

When you are used to using power tools and machines for your woodworking, it is easy to forget that sometimes a handtool is the best tool for the job.

They are quieter (much, much quieter), safer (although any sharp thing can cut), and often can get into places denied to power tools.   They also can have a different method for removing material. Where both can slice, only a handtool can scrape.  (Now I’m sure someone will tell me I’m wrong…..)

Scraping has its benefits.  It avoids tearout, as the blade is not parting material ahead of the blade – lifting and cutting.  Think of all the adverts on TV about shavers, where the blade lifts and cuts the hair.  If you are lifting timber, there is a chance more will lift than you intended, and tear out.  Scraping has the blade at a different angle of attack, with the cutting edge trailing behind, rather than leading the way.

Scraping is used in a number of hand tools.  For planing a surface with torturous grain (burls and the like), you can get planes with the blade set vertically for a scraping cut.  You can use scrapers (a piece of steel with a fine burr to perform the actual cut) as an alternative (and superior to) sandpaper.  And you can use a scratch stock as an alternative to a router.

It is a very simple tool – a piece of spring steel with the required profile cut into it.  And a holder.

You can make your own, or check out this one from Hock Tools (Ron Hock being very well known for the quality of his plane blades).

Hock Scratch Stock

This is available from Professional Woodworkers Supplies in Australia, who sell items from the Hock Tools’ range.  The body is made from a laminate of bamboo, which has good water resistance, and shape stability.  Instructions for using the scraper can be found here.

Where noone would consider manufacturing their own router bit, this comes with a second piece of tool steel so you have plenty of opportunity to create just the profile you want.

I came across an interesting concept while looking at these scratch stocks (and especially the supplied profile).  It used to be quite common for this profile to be used on the leading edge of a kitchen bench….underneath.  The purpose was as a drip arrestor.  Any liquid spilling and running over the edge would gather at the bottom of the curve of the profile and drip off, rather than continuing on its journey into one of the drawers (often the cutlery!)  Simple idea – pity it seems to be forgotten by modern kitchen manufacturers.

A very simple concept, a very simple tool, the ability to make your own profiles, and the ability to deliver that profile just where you need it, right out of reach of powered tools.

Woodturning for Learners

When you want to learn about woodturning, nothing beats getting to see how the experts do it.  Those in Victoria have an added advantage, a professional woodturner who regularly opens the doors of his workshop to show individuals, and groups the secrets of turning.  For those who don’t know, I am speaking of Robbo, who’s company is Cobb & Co Woodturning.

And when you see the size of his large lathe, well, this guy turns tree trunks!  I also have a fine goblet that stands 3″ high that he turned during one demo, so tree trunks isn’t his only stock!

Robbo was telling me once, that when he is in full swing with the tree trunks, he has a couple of guys with shovels and wheelbarrows (and a truck out back) just trying to keep up with the wood shavings he’s making!

But it is one thing to say Robbo can spin a tree trunk on his lathe, and another thing to actually see it.  So here it is:

Now what Robbo has done is produce a series of 4 videos for learners (and I definitely need to watch them all!)  They are available on his YouTube channel, Ozwoodturner1

And finally, one of Robbo’s pet hates – the danger of using a spindle roughing gouge on bowls

Negatives

As you may well know, I am a fan of Kallenshaan Woods and their laser-cut pens.  I have a few different ones at work, and at any given time I can be found with one, or other on the go, depending on what mood I am in.

Woodworker pen, flame pen, etc.

But have you ever thought how they produce the inlay bits? And what happens to the leftovers?

The inlays are cut out of blanks made of the inlay material, and they cut as many as possible out of the one piece of timber.  What is left is full of holes of the same shape as the item removed – a negative image.  These blanks are sold through www.exoticblanks.com, and provide a whole heap of opportunities.  Filled with resin, crushed rock, put in labels and cover with resin.  There are all sorts of options, limited by your imagination.

Pen inlay leftovers

The Roving Reporter has been playing with some already – you can have a lot of fun with these!

Roving Reporter’s result

Felt sure I had more photos than that, but perhaps my memory is playing tricks, and the other pens I have seen were in person.

Something a bit different if you like that sort of thing.  I certainly think it provides the opportunity for some great, novel pens!

Related articles

• Kallenshaan Pen Kits (stusshed.com)
• Tommy Gun Pen (stusshed.com)
• Keeping your writing sharp (stusshed.com)
• Laser Cut Inlay Kits for Pen Turners (stusshed.com)