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.