There are some times I could spend every waking minute of every day in the shop. Then, there’s this little thing called life that gets in the way.
Family illnesses. Work assignments. Raising kids. Or, simply burnout…
So, this week, let us know how long your longest hiatus from woodworking was. Now, of course, I am referring to time away from the shop AFTER you started woodworking… so, if you started woodworking at age 30, I don’t want to know about those first 30 years, OK?
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Whether decorative or functional, wooden spoons are a great thing to have around the kitchen.
This site, run by the Spoon Lady, shows the step by step process from stock selection to choosing the right tools to create a beautiful piece of work. It’s a great way to use those choice pieces of stock for functional tools or to present a gifts.
Hey, everyone, Iggy the Shop Monkey here, and I want to finally give you some useful information on this blog. Sure, it took two and a half years to get to this point, but, hey, there’s a first time for everything…
I have no idea what Tom is up to these days. He’s having trouble gluing up panels and then he starts monkeying around with some red, sparkly new fangled instrument. Is this guy committed to woodworking or isn’t he? Shesh, no wonder his glue ups look like the stuff I throw at people who bother me…
OK, here’s how any primate worth his fur glues up a panel without any issues. Tom, pay attention, please….
First thing first – the big guy did plane up some pieces of wood for another glue up. He got one side pretty good, but the other one was terrible. I mean, what was he thinking? So, I got on his silly little table saw and ripped the other edge nice and straight. At least he left the table saw tuned up. Good human.
Next, I took out my secret weapon. Clamping cauls. I had made these babies up a while ago and bring them out when I need a good glue up. Why don’t I share them with Tom? He’d probably think I was playing Jenga.
I clamped the cauls above and below the panel after I smeared glue on the edges. Then, here’s the key point that Tom just keeps forgetting. All of those fancy clamps he has – well he needs to use them. He keeps them hanging on his special clamp rack just collecting dust and bragging about them… but, he really needs to put them to use and clamp the silly panel together while the glue dries. With the clamps spread too far apart, the goof is enjoying his slip and grip clamping technique. My way… it’s gonna be a nice, flat panel when all is said and done…
Oh, nice way to show up for the shop session, Tom. Yes, tailless wonder, I glued the panels together for the special project you are building… now, be a good shop assistant and get me some bananas before you go and fool around with that bass guitar.
I can’t believe I share 99% of my DNA with this guy…
This past weekend, I took a new step forward in my hobbies.
What was it? A new set of chisels? A new table saw? Instruction on a new technique?
Nah, but it is wood related.
I picked up a bass guitar.
Now, why would I take good money and spend it on something not woodworking related? Call it a dream. Call it a lark. Call it a mid-life crisis. Whatever…
Let me tell you right now that I have never picked up an instrument before in my life. Never. Nada. I dabbled with the thought of playing the trumpet back in grade school as part of the band, but never went for it.
I figured the bass over the guitar for a few reasons. First, there are fewer strings. That’s gotta be a good thing. The bass is considered a more ‘laid back’ instrument. I hear there are fewer bassists than guitarists, so if I ever want to play in a band, I might be a hotter commodity. And, after hearing the digitally-remastered Beatles albums released last year, the bass grooves laid down by Paul McCartney really got me jamming.
So, this past Friday night, I got the money, I got the nerve and I took my youngest son with me to pick this up – a Fender Affinity Series Squier Precision bass. The body is made out of some kind of wood painted a deep, metallic red with a white plastic pick guard. The neck is made out of some light wood with a darker wood fret board and a strip of darker wood down the back of the neck. This provides a guide for my thumb to rest on while I play the notes.
The whole thing came as a kit. Guitar, amplifier, tuner, cables.. the works. I unpacked the stuff from the box, assembled it per the instructions and proceeded to make nothing but noise.
Yes, that’s what most people who pick up any instrument do the first time they touch it. After an hour or so, my wife told me to kill the amp and give it a rest. Man, that was rough. I put the bass down in disgust. I was NEVER going to learn how to do this.
That’s when it hit me. Eleven years ago, I didn’t know the first thing about woodworking. Nada. Zip. Zilch. People told me I was nuts. Too expensive. I would never learn how to do it. I would save time, money and frustration by just buying the furniture and calling it quits.
I’m so glad I didn’t. Today, I can do it. Practice, determination and time in the shop have made me a least a little more comfortable when it comes to woodworking. That’s what I want to do with the bass… get better.
Now, for all you folks gathering at my garage door looking for the big woodworking tool sell-off or donation, you are outta luck. I’m not planning on giving up my woodworking. However, on those late nights when it’s just too hot to work in the shop, I’ll be putting some time in on the bass.
At least until my wife tells me to turn the volume down on the amp.
P.S. – Anyone know a good technique for learning the bass? 🙂
There are few things that every woodworker has in common. A love of wood. A need to build…
And – given enough time – we all shuffle off this mortal coil.
Of course, while the woodworker may pass on, their tools continue to live on. This week, have you ever purchased a tool from a deceased woodworker through classified ads, garage sales or more formal estate sales, or is the thought of using someone else’s tools just a little too creepy for you?
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In my last article, I mentioned that I may have to use clamping cauls to get flat panel glue ups.
Of course, I never mentioned what they were, how they were made or the right way to use them. Fortunately, there are plenty of places where you can go to get information. A very good one at New Woodworker, run by Tom Hintz. gives you the step-by-step directions on selecting the wood, making the cauls and using them to get flat glue ups.
For a small investment in wood and common hardware, you can improve the quality of your glue ups. Definitely worth a look.
No doubt you have heard about star athletes who, after tremendous success, suddenly have issues doing some of the more basic tasks. The golfer who suddenly can’t putt straight. The basketball player whose free throw percentage drops through the floor. The baseball pitcher who has trouble finding the strike zone.
When something like that happens, the athlete’s livelihood and career are instantly threatened. And, given the severity of the downturn, these athletes will try just about anything to get their performance back to the top. Some will try different equipment. Some will start carrying a good luck charm.
And, others will seek the help of a sports psychiatrist to get their mojo back.
Maybe I need to see one who can help me with my panel glue ups.
I’m not sure what’s happening lately, but my past two projects that required edge-to-edge panel glue ups have not been very successful. The cradle I donated to charity was the first sign I was having issues. The project I am currently working on is the latest head scratcher.
My method is pretty simple. I flatten the face of the boards I’m working on with a jack plane, whacking off the high spots until the board sits on the bench top with no issues. I then run that face down through the thickness planer to get the boards to an even thickness.
For edge jointing, I’ve been using a Veritas bevel up jointer plane – the same one I’ve been using since 2005. I sight down the board, level the high spots, continue until I get a continuous shaving and check the side-to-side for square. 90 degrees spot on.
It’s when I glue that things get sideways. I glue the edge, get everything set on my clamps then tighten them down. One edge might rise up. I put a handscrew on that. Another edge pops up. A few mallet taps to get it down. I’m happy with the left side, but then the right is messed up. Back and forth until I think it’s OK, and then – CRAP! – not another stepped glue up!
I know I have to improve my technique. My guess is that I am putting too much pressure on the clamps, or maybe not tightening them in the right order. Or, maybe the clamps aren’t 100% square to the board edge when I tighten them down? Not sure.
I know the glue makes the boards slippery, so any quirks in the clamping process will totally mess me up in the finished product.
Until I can get this hitch out of my technique, I’m going to start relying on two ‘insurance policies’ to give me an advantage.
First, I’m gonna bust out the biscuit jointer. No, I know it’s not going to add any strength to the joint, but they will certainly help with alignment. The other is to cut some 2 x 4’s down to make cauls. If I can pinch the entire glue-up under the cauls, I’m certain it couldn’t hurt.
How am I fixing the stepped glue up I have now? Well, I after further review, it wasn’t quite as bad as I had thought. Maybe 1/16″ of a step. To remedy, I clamped the panel on my bench and started planing. I got my bevel up jointer and planed across the grain from side to side.
I know what you are thinking. “DANGER, TOM! You’ll tear your boards up doing that!” That’s what I thought, too. However, with a freshly-honed iron, a coat of wax on the plane’s sole and a light setting, I could hear the long plane slicing down the high spots as I went back and forth over the board. Eventually, I started getting full-width shavings. Snick. Snick. Snick. That side is flat. I flipped the panel over and did it on the back. Beauty!
The shavings I am getting kind of look like – well – shavings you would expect from a jointer plane. Not too thin, but not gouged-out chunks. Just a good set of shavings.
There were some rough tracks, so I leveled most of those out with a smoothing plane. It’s a Stanley No. 4 – terrible for final work on highly-figured wood like this curly maple, but enough to take down the plane tracks. Before I did any tearing-out, I turned to a belt sander to further smooth the surface.
I’ll sand some more to refine the scratch pattern and then do some through dovetails. Finally, I’ll scrape the final piece down before the finish.
But, that’s a long time off. I have a lot of shavings to clean up before then.
Maybe all of that cleaning can serve as a good way to meditate and reflect on the errors of my technique…