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.

Dovetails in the Saw Till carcass .. better .. but

I made more progress on my saw till to day.  It was a glorious day to open the garage door and work.  Moses, the Wonder Dog, curled up in his hole in the yard and kept an eye on me.

First, I scrapped off the glue on my glued up panels.  Final size was ~9".  The wood is alder (poor man's cherry?)

   

Then I cut a a 1/32" rabbet in the tail board to set the pin board in.

Slooooww progress on the saw till

I making this with alder.  I finished milling the boards and gluing section together to get the depth I want.  Now on to clean up, rabbets for the back panel and slots for shelf.

I cheated ..

16" Tenon Saw

Today I received my 16" Bad Axe Tenon Saw.  Its a big saw and when I unwrapped it, I was really glad I didn't order the larger saw because it has a fair amount of weight to it. 

Just so you know, I'm 5' 6" and I don't have small hands.  The saw felt good in my hands but its heavier than any saw I own.  I'm also a very reluctant and very new sawyer.  My table saw still does, and probably always will, scare the begesus out of me.  And I will probably never own a big collection of hand saws.

Deadly dovetails ..

 Mill the board, cut it in half and label pins and tails.

 Cut a shallow rabbet on the inside of the tail board to accept the pin piece later.

Dear Mr. Shannon, I need a tool cabinet

 I obviously need a cabinet for my hand tools.  To the left is my hand plane storage.

And to the right is my chisel rack.

Please, Mr. Shannon, can I have a tool cabinet?
: )

Pacific Northwest Trees

The Pacific NW has (or had) some serious wood.  I've heard stories, and believe it, that the trees were so thick you couldn't walk between them.

Dovetails

Since I've started making furniture and learning about joinery, I've been looking at all the furniture in the house to see how things are put together. Laura has a piece that she brought with her that her family acquired as part of the purchase of their Walpole Island,Ontario cabin. The origin the cabinet is unknown. Here's what I found:

Unevenly spaced dovetails in the drawers.

End Table with Drawer

Plane, not sanded, please

Here's a photo of the drawer I just finished. No sand paper used. I applied the finish to the hand planed surface and .. I .. think it turned out pretty well.

I'll sand in between coats, of course, but only lightly and with 220 grit.

This year's desk project

Finally .. the end table drawers.

Making the slots for the drawer ..

Takin' the router plane out for a spin - Bench Tool Storage

Using the router plane to make bench tool storage.


The final product.

Giddy-up the Saw Bench!

I've been plugging away at my little saw bench, Giddy-Up, and I've declared the project complete.

Hand Tool School items:
1. Saw Bench - Done
2. Bench Hooks - Done
3. Shooting Board - Done

Fun with Scrubby, Jack and John

Well, I have to admit it, I was dreading flattening the new workbench top. But it turned out to be kinda fun. With aid of Scubby (the wooden scrub plane), I was able remove all the high spots from the top. Then Jack (the shorter Jack plane, of course) leveled things out.

Last, the jointer plane made it all flat and pretty. There are still a few scrubby tracks that need to be removed, but I'll get to those later. For now I have a really nice and flat top to start making my drawers and wall cabinet on. Yippee!

The Pilgrimage to Mecca

It was decided that for my birthday, we would pilgrimage north .. to Mecca. This was a long anticipated journey.

As we traveled northward, ice formed on the ocean shoreline.