I'm moving my blog

The new location will be http://sheworkswood.blogspot.com/.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Take that! You neighborhood backyard burglars!

There have been a lot of burglaries in the the neighborhood, so last night we added a motion light in the back yard.

Psst .. check out the new shed location (the box is for the new outlets for the shed).

Someone's going to have fun building that!  And a shed in the back yard means more room in the shop .. yee haa!

A Woodworking Journey

I keep my eye on Craigslist for less expensive wood left over from projects. So far, I've had some pretty good luck and last week some one was selling 12 to 13" wide mahogany so we journeyed over to Bremerton to pick it up this morning.  We  decided to make a day of it since getting to Bremerton requires an hour ride on the ferry.

The Office

Kenewa Jack/Fore Plane

After cleaning the rust off, I cambered the blade and will hone it .

What the heck is a saw til and dovetails anyway??

This was a fun little project.  And yes, I made a little cabinet to hold my saws.  This was also a practice project so I could learn how to cut dovetails for my next project .. the "flippin' potty cabinet!"

Geology and Woodworking

For my college 6 weeks field course I had to purchase a  geologist's hand lens to be able to classify rocks.  I remember that it was an expensive purchase for my starving student budget, but I went ahead and purchased a good one.  It's a 10x lens.

Saw Till Glue up

I cut the sides of my saw till to look like .. well, a saw.  At least that's what it looked like to me.  I cut this using the band saw and then used my new Veritas® Low-Angle Spokeshave. Umm .. I've used a spokeshave before and I found it to be a difficult endeavor.  I love my new spokeshave.  Wow! , it was so easy to use and left a beautiful surface.  I'm hooked!

A sneek peek ..

At the back board to my saw till.

Click on the picture to see it better.

Dovetail anywhere

Even you can cut dovetails .. literally anywhere with the new Pocket Dovetailer from Veritas!!

Greenlee Butt Chisels and .. I cheated again ..

I made the dados for the shelf in my saw till cabinet this evening.  This gave me a chance to put my Greelee Butt Chisels to work and, man, they did a nice job.  

I could have easily sliced the whole 1/4" deep dado out with the 3/4" chisel, it cut so nicely.

 

Yeah! I get to be a guinea pig!

I got this email from Marc this morning - "Just a quick note to let you know that your names were selected for the second Bessey product test. Welcome to our new testers!

This is definitely a good one to get in on since we are testing clamps this time. And you know what they say about clamps! Each tester will receive multiple clamps, which are yours to keep after the testing is done.

Danette from Bessey will contact the entire group later this month and the clamps will likely go out toward the end of April."

I'm a big, big fan of Bessey clamps, so I can't wait!

Party shavings and a rabbet

Finished all the dovetail (except for the drawer).  Now onto the back rabbet and shelf dado.

I used my skewed rabbet plane and made a rabbet (a slot) for the back boards to go into.  I had some left over tongue and groove fir that I will use as the back boards to the case (see picture).

Fun, fun, fun!

Party shavings and a rabbet plane!

Chisel pull out

When I'm chiseling, sometimes the wood breaks out (looking like a pulled tooth) instead of coming out cleaning.

Here's the dovetails I've been cutting.  I'm at the last section to remove and the piece pulls out.  This leaves a nasty gap that under cuts the shoulder.

Must sharpen chisel ..

Saw Till

Even better dovetails

 

And a carcass is starting to take shape.

Training Wheels and why I love Veritas and Woodworking Guilds

Both allow me to be a better woodworker that I should be given the amount of time I've put in or talent I have.  First, the Veritas training wheels.  Bevel up planes and saw guides to name a few.  Here's the saw guide.