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Link of the week

Link of the week

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Time Warp Tools’ wooden bench dogs

RUFF!  Bench dogs are some of the handiest things you can have for your workbench. These babies set into dog holes in your bench allowing you to clamp work down securely using either the dog in your bench vise, wedges or other holding contrivances.

Many of these bench dogs are metal. And, should you plane past the edge of your work and your plane iron hits the metal dog, well, get ready to do some serious sharpening. And, if you really crank down on the pressure to hold the work down, metal dogs are more likely to mar the face of the board they bear against.  That’s why wooden dogs are preferred… and that’s where the folks at Time Warp Tools can help.

These babies are made of kiln-dried, quartersawn ash which is both plenty strong to immobilize the workpiece and soft enough to avoid causing any dents.  Just as importantly, cutting edges aren’t affected in the least when they accidentally hit the dog.  A sprung ball catch allows the dogs to hold their vertical position.

Now, if you need a plane to go with that snazzy new set of bench dogs, why not check out their hand made wooden planes?

Tools

A mystery inside a riddle…

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Pull up a chair and chat with a couple of woodworkers about – I dunno – table saws.  They’ll go on for hours yapping your ears off about horsepower, riving knives, accessories, dust collection, blade selection… the works.  How about routers? Holy smokes, where to even begin with routers?  Hand planes? You betcha – bevel up or down, Japanese or western, the best way to set the chip breaker…

How about this? Ever see woodworkers debate passionately about these?  Can you find lots of detailed books in the library about the care and feeding of them?  Probably not. An Internet search will leave you scratching your head, too.  There’ s not a lot out there.  That’s a shame, because the Stanley No. 80 cabinet scraper (and the ones made to look and work like it) is a handy tool to have around the shop for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, your search for information may be shrouded in mystery… Heck, it took me years to figure out how to use mine!

Let’s talk for a minute about scraping. Hand scrapers, cabinet scrapers and scraper planes really don’t scrape, as it were. They work like extremely high-bevel plane irons, taking very fine shavings from the piece you are working on. What they create is known as a type III chip. This chip formation dealio was laid out shortly after World War II by a guy named Dr. Normal Franz to study the effects of cutting in industrial manufacturing . Scraping is a great way to get your project to an ultra-smooth surface – especially on highly figured wood. In fact, I like to break my scrapers out after I sand if I am looking to get the best possible finish for a project.

Many woodworkers love their card scrapers, but they can be a challenge to hold in the proper position at the proper angle for a long time.  The blade heats up, the edges can dig into your hands and your thumbs will be aching like nobody’s business.  Scraper planes are cool, but wow, some of them have big time price tags.


Then there are the cabinet scrapers.  These things are ubiquitous. You can find them at nearly every flea market, garage sale and online auction site. Why are they so plentiful?  Because they have always been – and still are – so darned handy!  These babies resemble large spokeshaves in many ways – a cast iron body with a pair of handles, a way to secure the scraper blade and a thumb screw to flex the blade to help it protrude from the bottom.

The challenge is that their blades aren’t like regular card scrapers. Those hand-held versions have square edges on all four sides and have a particular way of being prepared. The No. 80 is a different kind of animal. It’s scraper has two ends that have a 45 degree bevel on them. These bevels can both be sharpened and honed, and still need a burr turned on them to be effective.

For years, I have tried to get the one I bought online to work. Sometimes, I had moderate success. Other times, well, let’s just not go there.


One thing I have discovered recently is that my Tormek does a pretty decent job getting the blade into shape.  I can use the tool platform on the guide bars, then adjust it so the blade kisses the stone at 45 degrees. By carefully moving the blade side to side, I quickly have a well ground bevel to begin my work with.  I will then flip the blade over so the flat side is down, and I’ll give it a quick pass on the strop side.

But, wait, aren’t I trying to create a burr to do the cutting?  I sure am, but I want to control how the burr turns myself.  The quick honing gets rid of the wire edge, giving me a nice, flat surface to start with. I also give the bevel a quick roll on the strop as well. Hey, sharp is sharp!

From there, it’s a simple matter to clamp the blade in my vise and, using a screwdriver as a burnisher, roll the burr about ten degrees toward the flat back of the blade.  When you insert the blade, do it from the base up. This protects the burr you have worked so hard to create. With the blade in place, set it on a flat surface and make sure the blade is contacting that surface as well. Tighten the screws that hold the blade in place, and then every so gently turn the thumb screw until it contacts the blade.  This is your fine adjustment.. the more you tighten it, the more the blade will protrude from the bottom, taking a heavier cut.

You can push or pull the scraper, depending on how comfortable you are with it. Just keep the thumbscrew on the back side of the scraper as you work and you’ll be golden. When you are making very thin shavings, you are in the butter zone. When the blade starts to make dust, it’s time to sharpen and turn a new burr.

Once you get this baby figured out, you’ll wonder why you have gone so long without having one in the first place!  Just think of the conversations you’ll have with your woodworking friends.

Patrick Leach of Superior Tool Works has a brief introduction to the No. 80 on his site.

Replacement blades for these classic tools can be found at Hock Tools, Lee Valley Tools and many other sites.

One of the best tutorials I have seen for this tool can be found at the Lee Valley Tools site.

 

Shop Talk

A lighthearted interview

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I’m a pretty laid-back kinda woodworker. I like to yuk it up as well. And, I’m usually the guy who does the interviewing of other woodworkers.

But, when Chris Landy at the Lighthearted Woodworker asked me to weigh in on some questions, hey, I was game! Chris has started a new feature on his blog called 12 Lighthearted Questions … where he sends over a dozen funny, irreverent and just darned unusual questions to other woodworkers to gain some insight into their lives, woodworking practices and other ‘things’.

What made this easier for me was that I wasn’t the first victim – err – I mean volunteer (yeah, that’s it) for this column.  Kari Hultman of the Village Carpenter got the Lighthearted treatment a few weeks ago, and I had absolutely no idea she waited in line two and a half hours to get Norm Abrams’ autograph! Her? A hand tool woodworker to the core?  🙂

What about me? When you read my interview, you might be surprised to see what gets me out of the shop, what tool I could never give away (because it’s just so darned bad) and just why my oldest son Dominic may have to see a therapist later in life.

Thanks, Chris. That was a lot of fun! I’m looking forward to finding out more about some other woodworkers… so I’ll have leverage on them when we meet up at the next woodworking event.

 

Quick Polls

Quick Poll

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Sorry that today’s poll may be a little boring … but I do have a question about a tool that’s found frequently in woodworking shops.

While they may have started as essential machinist’s tools, drill presses have become a workshop staple. Hey, if you need a hole bored straight into a piece of wood, there’s no more accurate way to get the job done. Drill presses also have scores of other uses. Want to bore holes on an angle into a piece of wood? Set the table angle and bore away. Chuck a sanding sleeve in there and you have a spindle sander. You can get a mortising attachment to make it a multi-tasker.

But, then there are the drill presses that sit for a long time collecting dust. I know someone who has no fewer than six drill presses, because other woodworkers give him theirs when they discover they don’t get any use.

Today’s question – just how essential are drill presses in a woodworking shop?  Critical pieces of machinery, or a total waste of time?

 

Link of the week

Link of the week

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Joe Woodworker’s guide to using veneer tape

Veneering can open your woodworking to exciting new possibilities. Imagine a wildly swirling walnut burl door panel on your next cabinet project?  How about a gracefully veneered mantle clock featuring crotch grain? If you can imagine it, you can do it.

While it’s great to be able to cover your project with one complete sheet of veneer, sometimes, you will need to join two sheets to cover a large project. Or, maybe you want to cut your veneer sheets into smaller pieces and combine them into a fancy book matched or star burst pattern. If you need to do this, your secret weapon is veneer tape.

This tape activates with moisture (kind of like a postage stamp) and helps to hold the sheets of veneer together until it can be adhered to a substrate.  As the tape dries, it shrinks ever so slightly, ensuring that seam is as tight as possible.  Joe Goreleski share these tips – and many others – on this information-packed page.  Definitely a good read for up and coming veneer users.

Reviews

Dovetails with a Leigh R9 jig

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Ahhh, dovetails. How can you go wrong with such a classic joint?

Oh, wait, never mind… My efforts to hand cut them have met with disaster, ridicule and – at last count – no fewer than 14 petition drives to get me to quit woodworking entirely.

So, when I need that tried-and-true joint in my work, I turn to the router and a jig. As I had written Monday, I’m a project kind of woodworker… not a process guy. I do pay close attention to how I woodwork, but I’m not about to take weeks during a project to hand-cut dovetails when I can blast ’em out on a jig.

For years, my go-to jig has been my Keller Journeyman. I love the heck out of it – and have abused the heck out of it as well. I’ve lifted the router out of the cut too many times, tearing up the phenolic body terribly.

My Kehoe jig is awesome, giving me great dovetail splines. Sometimes, though, they do look a little out of place on a more traditional piece, so I need another option.

That’s when David Venditto of Infinity Cutting Tools asked me if I wanted to try the new Leigh R9 jig. Always game for a challenge, I took him up on the offer. And, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed.

The jig comes flat packed with everything you need to get it working, except for the wood needed to create a beam for the jig to ride on. Accuracy when building this beam is critical. My beam has a piece of construction 2 x 6 southern yellow pine backing and an MDF two-part face. The bottom part is a permanent fixture to the piece, while the top part of the fence is a sacrificial fence for the router bit to ride into, preventing tear out.

The hardware with the kit is top-notch. It even comes with a pair of clamps you can use to secure your workpiece in place as you rout. The plate that guides the router is made of a heavy-duty aluminum etched with the necessary markings on top. It took a little time studying the manual to get an idea of what everything was used for, but, once I read up on it, things when smoothly.

Instead of a router bearing, the jig uses an eccentric guide bushing that allows you to really fine-tune the fit of your pins and tails. Those adjustments are in the order of thousandths of an inch… critical measurements when it comes to cutting this tightly-fitting joints.

Not only does the jig allow you to cut dovetails, it also comes completely equipped to cut box joints as well. All of the proper bits are included. Very handy stuff.

The manual is really where this baby shines. Leigh has spent a lot of time carefully laying out a well-written, fully-illustrated guide that will show you step-by-step how to assemble and cut with the jig. Believe me, if an ‘accuracy challenged’ guy like me can work with it, anyone can!

While I have always shied away from very expensive dovetailing jigs (some of Leigh’s offerings can really stretch the woodworking budget a lot farther than it can go), the R9 is a solid offering from Leigh that is available at a reasonable price point. And, given the cost of quality dovetail saws and chisels these days, you might just find it more economical to cut your dovetails this way instead of the old school method.

 

Shop Talk

Which pro do you know?

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Make no bones about it… woodworkers love woodworking. A simple bookshelf. A dining table that a family would gather around. A complex chair with challenging joinery.

Just as every shop is different and every project is different, what motivates every woodworker is unique. Yes, there are as many stories about how woodworkers got their starts as there are woodworkers. And there are all different kinds of woodworkers. Cabinetmakers. Turners. Chair builders. Luthiers. The works.

Ultimately, though, you can break woodworkers into two broad groups. Those who enjoy the product of woodworking, and those who enjoy the process.

I think the vast majority of woodworkers start off as product woodworkers.  The first move into woodworking is usually to satisfy a need for a piece of furniture. I wanted to build a blanket chest for my wife. I’ve spoken with woodworkers who started off with a side table. A picture frame. Something to make their spouse happy. A special gift for a child.

You’ll typically find product woodworkers using non-traditional ways of making joints. Dominos. Biscuits. Dowels. Router-jig cut dovetails. Believe me, there’s nothing wrong at all with this type of woodworking. This does not mean that we want to build cheaply or anything less than brutishly strong. It’s just that we see the steps involved in the process as milestones to pass on the journey toward completion.

Heck, I know I’m still a project-based woodworker, and I’m totally cool with that. For me, the big charge comes from moving that project into place at the end of the build and listening to the sounds of delight from the recipients.

Process based woodworkers, on the other hand, find that the journey is the most enjoyable part of woodworking.  You can find process woodworkers reveling in the thought of enjoying the challenge of traditional methods. Want to make a board four-square?  Hand planes are the way to go.  Hand cut dovetails?  Even on utility cabinetry?  If it was good enough for the masters, it’s good enough for them. Mortises by the dozen cut with hyper-sharp mortising chisels?  You bet.

Process woodworkers tend to fall into the rhythm of the most mundane tasks. Hone a plane iron to razor sharpness? While it’s not the most enjoyable task in the shop, they’ll tackle it willingly. Build a hand-rubbed finish on a completed piece?  You betcha.

That doesn’t mean that process woodworkers are exclusively hand tool woodworkers.  Sam Maloof was definitely a process woodworker who was one with his bandsaw. You can add Michael Fortune to that list as well.

Process woodworkers tend to evolve into their role. I don’t normally run into woodworkers who started out saying, “Gosh, darnit, I always wanted to cut three dozen dovetails by hand.” But, once they see the amount of skill required to do accomplish feats such as these, the time put in working like this is seen as a wise investment.

Oh, and at the end, they get a beautiful piece of furniture.

Why make this observation? I dunno…  But, I am sure I’m gonna get a few comments on this one!