The Hook

In pop music, the "hook" refers to the part of a song that is most memorable or catchy. It's the part you wait for—the particular bit that's supported by the other elements in the melody, but that stands out as the best part. You might not even like some portions in the song, but you hang in there just to hear the hook.

In woodworking, the hook for me is in the details. Using handtools—where I'm refining a joint with chisels, carving, doing inlay, chamfering an edge with a block plane—is always the highlight.

The tasks leading up to and following that point can be fun, so-so, or even disagreeable. Non-woodworkers might find it odd to hear a woodworker admit that there are fundamentals of the craft that, in some cases, are most egregious.

Glue-ups for example. I dread them. Countless hours spent building a piece can be wasted with one mishap.

And finishing. Don't get me started. ew.

Bandsawing—fun. Sharpening—pleasant. Using a hewing axe—brilliant.

But there might be more than one hook. For me, it's the pre-woodworking part—the decisions made in size, dimension, design, joinery, developing a cut list, and order of construction.

I've been working on a design for a Swiss army knife of a shaving horse that can be used for shaping, carving, and hewing. It will have several attachments and can be broken down for transport. The brainstorming has been a blast.

But before I can get to the fun parts of construction, I have to mill a bunch of boards, and not one of them is square. Truing crooked, warped, and cupped boards is far from being a hook in my book. Alas, we take the great with the not-so-great. It's all part of the arrangement.

What Were the Redneck's Last Words?

"Hey, watch this!"
(As told to me by a West Virginian with a thick southern accent.)

You know when you're about to do something that you think might not be such a good idea and it turns out you were right?

That seems to be the way many workshop accidents happen. Too often we hear people say "I knew better than to do that" after they have a mishap at the table saw or band saw or other piece of equipment. Cuts, even severe ones, can happen with handtools as well as power tools. In fact the only times I've been hurt in the shop in all my 18 years of woodworking have been while using chisels and a screwdriver.

Until yesterday.

That's when I was planning to photograph the set-up for the "Merry Christmas" post. The layout was on the floor of my shop and I had to be far enough above it to shoot the entire image. That meant either going out to the garage to get the ladder or standing on a shop stool. Unfortunately, I chose the latter instead of the ladder.

At least I was smart enough to slide a tippy 5-board bench next to the stool to use as a step. So with camera in hand, I started my ascent. As one foot was planted on the low bench and one on the shop stool, I realized the stool needed to be moved further away from its current location in order to be centrally located above the Merry Christmas message. Rather than step down and reposition the stool, I decided to slide it with one foot while I balanced my other foot on the low bench.

Well, here's pretty much what happened:

The 5-board bench was crushed, but you can see in the video how happy I was that my camera was not. My only regret is that someone wasn't there to film the debacle. Such hilarity should always be shared with others.*

*Of course I'm only poking fun at myself. Everyone knows that safety's no joke.

Merry Christmas!

And a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Carved Stone Holder: Finished

What I thought was going to be the most difficult part about this project—cutting the cavities inside the box so the lid and base would fit snugly around the stone and line up with one another—turned out to be very easy.

I left the two pieces of cocobolo oversized in length and a little in width and used a trick that Bess Naylor showed me when building a frame and panel, where the stiles are intentionally left long and trimmed after glue-up: strike a center mark on the two stiles, align and clamp them together, and measure outwards from the center mark (rather than measuring from the ends) to make your layout lines.

Once the recesses were cut for a snug fit, I sandwiched the stone between the boards and trimmed them to length at the miter saw. The stone kept the two pieces aligned while I planed and sanded the ends and sides.

Clamping sandpaper to my table saw and sliding the box across it was a fast way to square the lid and base, and flatten the inside surfaces of the box.

After sanding to 400 grit, I wiped one of the boards off on my jeans and discovered a curious thing—it polished the wood. So I tried a piece of leather to see what would happen. It polished it even more, to a buffed sheen. The leather also gently rounded the sharp edges of the box. If you've worked with cocobolo, you know how sharp those edges can be.

There is no finish on the box itself, only the carved portion (with spray poly). I thought that finish might adversely affect the stone, plus cocobolo is an oily, dense wood and is naturally beautiful.

After spending so many hours on this little project, I can only imagine the the original was made by someone who really appreciated his oilstone. Not surprising, considering the close relationship woodworkers had with their tools in past centuries.

Nice to know that some things never change.

Sash Saw and Saw Vise

Would you believe I'm still sifting through material I gleaned from the Woodworking in America conference in Valley Forge in October?

As I've said, the marketplace was one of the best attractions at the show because you could talk directly with tool makers and take their tools for a test drive. This is really the best way to find out if you and a tool can play nicely together. It's one thing to read a review, but it doesn't compare to actually trying the tool first hand.

Joel Moskowitz, from Tools for Working Wood, showed me his new sash saw (which should be available soon) and saw vise.

So, what makes these tools special? According to Joel, nobody else makes a saw vise these days. He said, "Lots of people tried the vise out during the show and, except for Adam Cherubini who didn't like that really shallow dovetail saws don't fit (they don't fit on Disston D3's either or most other saw vises—you just stick out the last inch and file away), we got pretty much raves from everyone."

I talked with a show-goer who said what he liked best about the vise was that it supported the blade along its entire length, even in the middle. There was no chatter when he filed the teeth.

Regarding the sash saw, Joel believes it will be the lightest one on the market, which he says will make it easier to sense square and saw for long periods of time. Also, the handle is very elegant—the lamb's tongue "just licks the blade."

The saw is filed rip with a little fleam. Joel remarked that many people at the show were amazed that it cut both rip and crosscut "pretty darn well and fast."

I tried out Joel's sash saw and was impressed that it did indeed cut just as well on the rip as it did the crosscut.

Although I did not order either one of these tools, I did buy a bunch of other products from him. That's the other thing about trying tools in person—it makes it hard to walk away empty handed.

Progress Shots

I finished the carved portion of the sharpening stone box and sprayed it with 5 coats of satin polyurethane to protect it from getting dirty while I fitted it to the lid of the box.

The two pieces of cocobolo that will become the lid and the bottom half of the box were intentionally cut too long. That way, I could clamp them to bench while I chiseled out the waste for the carving and the sharpening stone.

I used my new Czech Edge marking knife to scribe the outside edges of the carved piece to the cocobolo. The scribed line, as you might guess, was very difficult to see on the dark wood, so I traced the line with a white pencil. The white stayed on either side of the line—since the wood was so hard—and the line remained dark.

It worked fairly well, but a more effective way would have been to use a technique that was taught to me by David Finck: Prior to scribing your lines, paint the area with water-based white paint. Once it's dry, mark your lines, and they'll show up very clearly.

I used a small [electric] router to remove most of the waste from the cavity and then cleaned up the edges with a chisel. With one swipe of my hand across the workpiece to brush away the chips, I remembered that cocobolo is splintery. Ouch. Using a shop brush to shush away chips is much easier on your hands.

The carving will sit a little proud of the lid once I glue it in place. I checked the fit first by pushing it a little way into the recess—though not all the way, so I could still remove it.

I'll rout and chisel the inside of the lid and bottom to make room for the sharpening stone and put finish on the cocobolo before gluing the carving in place.

I'm pretty sure that only another woodworker could understand why someone would spend so much time making a box for a sharpening stone. Perhaps this should be added to the list of tips for wives of woodworkers.

Table Saw Book Winner

Justin Tyson won the Complete Illustrated Guide to Table Saws. Congratulations!

I added it to the original post, but I think that Justin hasn't seen it,

since I haven't heard from him.

Justin, if you'd like to send me your address, I'll be happy to mail the book to you. :o)

Please email me at: goodwoodworkshop@comcast.net.

Tiny Scrapers

Scrapers, sharpening, and scratch stock changed my life as a woodworker.

Scrapers get you out of sticky situations with difficult grain and allow you to smooth curved or otherwise non-flat surfaces; learning to sharpen is (in my opinion) the single most important skill in woodworking; and making scratch stock opens up a new world of creativity.

So when I ran into trouble trying to flatten the background on a small relief carving, all three came to the rescue.

With the help of some brainstorming friends, I decided to reshape two dental tools into mini scrapers.

I used a dremel tool to grind the ends. Then I filed a flat on the cutting edge the same way that I sharpen scratch stock: square to each surface and with no burr. This creates two very sharp

micro edges where two surfaces meet.

Then I honed the top, back, and edge of each tool on my 8,000 grit waterstone.

They may look like tiny garden hoes, but they work great at smoothing out a once-rough surface, both with and against the grain. Tiny peels of shavings, not sawdust, come off the edges.

Check Out This Kid

I know I'm not alone in my enthusiasm for young woodworkers. We all want to see young people take up the hobby or trade. To keep it going for future generations. To experience the same love of working with their hands that we do.

I found this kid on youtube recently. His name is Alex and he's been making and selling pens for the past year to help pay for his college tuition.

Alex plans to go to med school, he shoots and edits his own woodworking videos, and he uses some heavy-duty machinery in his dad's shop. Alex is only 12 years old, but he's quite the entrepreneur. His business is called Pens For College.

Since he's just a kid, some might think he's pushing the "Awwww" factor in his marketing angle. Like the time I was walking my dogs around the block and some neighborhood kids were selling lemonade. One of them, a tiny four-year-old, said (and I quote) "Hey, ya got any money?" I didn't, but I took the dogs home and walked back to their lemonade stand with my 50 cents and drank out of their communal cup. To my horror, they didn't have disposable cups, just two plastic ones that were being used over and over. Yeah, ask me if I'm trying to erase that thought from my memory.

Anyhow, check out Alex's video. He may be 12, he may be cute, but he definitely knows what he's doing in the workshop.

A Little Help From My Friends

Have you ever wondered what the big deal is about Twitter—what's it good for? Permit me to offer this example.

I'm working on a little relief carving and even though I have tiny chisels and gouges, I'm having trouble getting the background flat and smooth. There are instances where I must carve against the grain, and that's producing some rough results.

Enter Twitter.

I pitched this question this morning: Carving peeps, is there a way to flatten or sand a relief carving's background that has very small areas? Any tricks? I can't get a chisel in there.

Less than an hour later I had five viable suggestions.

What does this mean?

1. Twitter is an awesome networking tool.

2. Woodworkers are clever folks.

3. A lot of my friends goof off at work (and so do I!).

So, what was their advice?

1. File a finish nail and use it as a scraper.

2. Wrap sandpaper around the end of a small dowel.

3. Use rifflers, specifically Grobet brand.

4. Use a dremel tool to grind a bevel on a small allen wrench for use in a mini router plane.

5. Try netsuke carving tools.

Those answers jumpstarted my own brain activity and I came up with two ideas: grinding a dental tool to use as a scraper; and use adhesive-backed sandpaper on the bottom of a fine artist's paint spatula, which can be trimmed to any shape and made as small as necessary with metal cutters.

Feel free to offer your advice with this carving dilemma.

And with that, I'm off to the shop!

The Joiner and Cabinet Maker

When I pre-ordered The Joiner and Cabinet Maker from Joel Moskowitz, I figured I'd be getting a quaint little story about a young woodworking apprentice in 19th c. England.

What I got was a history book, a novel, and three projects all rolled into one captivating tome.

Joel provides fascinating details about woodworking trades in rural and urban England; and how they compared, from high end shops to garret masters (those who built and sold one piece at a time and worked from a room in their dwelling).

Also covered are workshop practices, including purchasing materials and tools; expectations and responsibilities of apprentices and journeymen; wages; and details about the hierarchy and differences between the specialized trades within the realm of woodworking.

The novel itself, first published in 1839, was part of a series of almost 100 books that provided an overview of various trades to help young people choose a vocation.

The Joiner and Cabinet Maker follows young Thomas from the start of his apprenticeship, as he learns about shop behavior and duties, including keeping the glue pot warm and the fire going; sharpening his tools; choosing lumber and laying out a project; and building three projects of increasing difficulty.

We learn about the interactions and pecking order between the master, journeymen, and apprentice, and what it means to be a conscientious craftsman.

The footnotes alone are worth the price of admission. Joel offers loads of information about tools, techniques, and woodworking trades in 19th c. England.

Following the novel, Chris Schwarz walks us through the 3 projects using only hand tools. He clearly explains how to build a packing box, a school box, and a dovetailed chest of drawers.

We learn the differences between wrought head, fine finish, and rosehead nails, and cut headless brads and sprigs; how to fit locks; woodworking techniques; and how to put an 8 year old girl to work without attracting the attention of the Department of Labor, Child Labor Laws Division.

The book concludes with notes on bound and cased books, how they were made, and how they were used in the 19th century.

The Joiner and Cabinet Maker not only shows you what it would be like to work in an English cabinet maker's shop in 1839, it may very well encourage you to unplug your own shop.

Thanks and Giving

Two benevolent woodworkers recently sent me some fancy wood to play with. Thanks guys!

One woodworker is Ethan Sincox and the other wishes to remain anonymous.

The woods include spalted walnut, pearwood, satinwood (which smells exactly like coconut oil and pineapple—according to Ethan—and indeed it does!), rosewood, and bog oak.

One kindness begets another, so I'm giving away a table saw book, written by Paul Anthony, which was given to those of us who attended the Fine Woodworking Finishing Showdown.

Anyone can enter to win this book, even if you are from Siberia, Tasmania, or Nepal. Don't let your location stop you. If you win, I will gladly mail it to you.

To enter the drawing, just write your name in the comments section. 48 hours from the time this is posted, I'll ask my partner to pick a random number from the total number of entries. The corresponding number in the list of entrants wins the book.

I'm not having any more question-related giveaways—you guys are too clever!

------------------------------------

I printed off 49 individual numbers and my partner pulled one out of a bowl. And the winner is

Number 5: Justin Tyson!!

Justin, please email me your name and address and I'll mail the book to you asap: goodwoodworkshop@comcast.net

Carved Stone Holder

I was crushing pretty badly on the carved oilstone holder I photographed at the Brown International Tool Auction and Dealer Show (at right), so I decided to make one.

I'm using my other current crush—Swiss Pear—for the carved section of the lid, and bacote for the box itself.

First, I carved a practice piece with pine and found that the carving doesn't need to be very deep—in fact, too deep doesn't look good—to achieve a 3-dimensional appearance.

I also discovered that it's best to sneak up on the final outline of each tool, otherwise you might chip out a section by mistake.

I used gouges that matched the curves and chisels for the straight lines to define the shapes of the tools.

Once I removed the waste from the background—only 3/32" deep—I cleaned up the cuts around each tool to create their precise shape.

Some edges of the tools were dinged up in the process, but they were to be beveled in final form, so no big deal.

Only three little tools are finished and some rough areas in the background need to be smoothed, but I can see why someone would want to carve the lid on an oilstone holder: It's fun!

VC's Top Ten Tips for Wives of Woodworkers

1. Sitting in the shop and staring at a pile of lumber counts as woodworking.

2. When your spouse says, "Don't buy that armoire—I can build one for you," just smile and say "Great!" Then go back to the store in a month and buy it. Because he's either forgotten all about it or has been feeling guilty for not having started the project, and you will be letting him off the hook.

3. Sometimes your husband will buy wood just because it's pretty and he has no idea what he plans to do with it.

4. Expect a Sammy Sadface when you hand him a Honey-Do list.

5. Yes, he does need 5 routers. And 6 marking gauges.

6. Heaping mounds of partially- or un-read woodworking magazines are a fact of life.

7. Never ever EVER remove anything from the shop unless under close supervision. No, not even a screwdriver.

8. It takes exactly 3 weeks to make a small trinket box.

9. Plan a shopping trip, go for a walk, meet friends for coffee—just get somewhere safe—if he's getting ready to glue up a project.

10. What might look like a junky old tool at a flea market is really a monumental find and source of joy for him. Harness that happiness. Now's a good time to ask him to take you to dinner.

A Visit to Fine Woodworking

Last week, Fine Woodworking presented a live stream competition between Asa Christiana (armed with a random orbit sander and sanding block) and Michael Pekovich (equipped with a #4 LN hand plane and block plane) to see which method prepares a finished surface the fastest.

I was invited to twitter and blog about the event, and even though I had to take a day off work (tragic), I decided to go.

I was welcomed with warm greetings, introductions to all the FWW staff, an opportunity to peruse the workshop, and a tour of the cubicle farm. Do most cubicle farms have a nice stash of wood in each person's work space?

Both Asa and Michael were given parts for a small cherry side table that had been milled with a jointer, planer and table saw. Complete with burn marks.

About 24 other woodworkers and I watched and asked questions while the men prepared finished surfaces.

Part of Michael's time included sharpening his plane blades on 1000, 4000, and 8000 grit waterstones. He used two jigs as bench stops (photos 1 and 2)—an offcut from a leg was used to support the angled part of the legs as he planed them—and took time to resharpen his blades before final passes.

Asa started with 100 grit sandpaper and worked his way up to 220 with the orbital sander. He doubled up the legs so he could use the power sander without rounding over the edges, and on small parts, he used a sanding block. A jig with a hacksaw blade (photo 3) handily sliced the sandpaper to the correct width.

Michael chamfered all the edges, even the bottoms of the table legs, with a block plane. Asa knocked off the corners with a sanding block.

One thing seemed obvious: it's easier to plane away burn marks than it is to sand them away, especially on end grain. However, Asa said that if you have difficult grain that doesn't plane well, sandpaper wins. Even Michael uses sandpaper (and scrapers) on areas that tear out no matter how sharp your plane iron.

Both men prefer not to put a final finished surface on the non-show sides of a piece, like underneath the table top; they like to see tool marks.

After the competition, they each put a coat of oil on the table tops and the audience voted on the best looking board. The planed surface (at left) won hands down, although not with a unanimous vote. The sanded surface did not have the same sheen as the planed surface and also appeared darker. However, both men said that if a surface is sanded to 600 grit, you cannot tell the difference between a sanded and handplaned surface.

They also agreed that sanding to 600 grit has a burnishing affect that acts as a blotch inhibitor on woods, like cherry, which can appear patchy when an oil finish is applied.

In this particular case—regarding the type of wood and project—a handplane won in speed and appearance. But the bottom line is that both handplanes and sandpaper serve a purpose in our shops.

Kick Back With a Good PDF

Have fun perusing this huge library of downloadable woodworking books (some very old) online.

Fine Woodworking: Finishing Smackdown

Fine Woodworking hosted an event with Asa Christiana and Michael Peckovich going sander to handplane to see which tool creates a finished surface the fastest. Anatole Burkin emceed the event and two dozen woodworkers from the local community were invited to watch. This video shows some highlights, plus a few of the beautiful pieces of furniture on display at the Taunton Press building, where Fine Woodworking is located.

So who won the event? Let's just say a collective galoot sigh of happiness was heard round the world.

*The video above is one that I made for fun. It just shows some images and footage to give you an idea of what the event looked like and a sense of the friendliness. To see the actual live streaming, please visit the Fine Woodworking site.

Duct Tape of the Magnet World

Rare earth magnet, is there no end to your usefulness?







This walnut mailbox with bloodwood flag has seen better days. But considering it's weathered the elements (though under a covered porch) for the last 9 years, it's not too shabby.

When I built it, I was going for a mission style—simple and sturdy—something nice to greet the mailman. And I came up with all kinds of elaborate ways to attach a flag that would tell him when we had outgoing mail.

Then it occurred to me that rare earth magnets might function as a pivoting mechanism. It worked, and still works perfectly. In fact it has just as strong a pull as ever.

The wooden flag cracked, the mailbox cracked. But the magnet is a real crackerjack.

There's Only One Norm

Nice try, Daisy, but no one can replace Norm Abram.
It's going to take more than a flannel shirt, dungarees, and fake beard to fill his workboots.

Chris Schwarz has declared today "International Dress Like Norm Day." And all across the world, woodworkers are honoring the man who, for 21 years, brought woodworking into our homes, nail guns into our hearts, and triggered an economic tsunami of demand for flannel.

Here's to you, Norm.

Thank you for teaching me how to use power tools.

---------------------

....and by the way, Daisy, you forgot your safety glasses.

Epic Norm-imitation FAIL!

Ladies' Day at Hearne Hardwoods

This past Saturday, four of us from the Harrisburg Women's Woodworking Club visited Hearne Hardwoods in Oxford, PA.

The new showroom that's currently under construction will be spectacular when complete. Let's put it this way—they're using ebony pegs for the mortise and tenon timber framing. I think that says it all.

The current showroom houses samples of exotic and domestic lumber, including some jaw-dropping flitches leaning against the wall.

Two amiable labs who like to pretend your legs are a bridge under which they should travel halfway and then stop, and a fluffy puffball masquerading as a cat greet you upon entry.

The people are friendly and helpful and let you wander throughout the warehouse at your leisure.



The women were choosing lumber for jewellry boxes they plan to build at our next meeting and I was looking for wood for handplanes and whatever else caught my eye.

We came away with Curly Cherry, European Plum, Bocote, and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

WTO Tip: Implements of Torture

If you missed the Wood Talk Online show last night, check out episode #61 on Marc Spagnuolo's site or Matt Vanderlist's site. They discussed interesting, useful, and funny information that they found on the internet, fielded questions, and invited me back to offer another woodworking tip, which can be heard at the end of the show. Thanks guys!

Eye Candy

The Brown International Tool Auction and Dealer Show was held yesterday and today in Harrisburg, PA, and did not disappoint.

Despite the enormous selection of tempting goodies, I only bought a little caliper and a marking gauge that I had never seen before (photos at right). The dealer, Dan Ludwig, told me it was made by a company called Fulton from Washington, D.C., and was patented in 1888.

It has three marking knives, two of which can be advanced and retracted by unscrewing the knob and sliding the two halves of the body apart. The third knife is friction fit and can be adjusted by pushing or tapping on the iron. I bought it because it was cool and I'd like to make one.

DuCo Tools, from the Netherlands, had several 18th c. carved planes—one built in 1718—the styles of which I had only before seen in books.

Tony Murland had some fine pieces, as well: a carved Dutch plane from 1776 and a carved oilstone holder (both pictured last). The low relief carving of tools on the box's lid was especially eyecatching and has been added to my to-build list.

I also ran into some familiar faces: Lee Richmond, from The Best Things; Shannon Rogers, the Renaissance Woodworker; Jim Leamy, maker of gorgeous plow planes; Tom Graham, from Midwest Tool Collectors Association; and a number of other friends.

What a great way to spend a rainy day!

FWW: Hand vs. Power Tool Showdown

Mark your calendars for November 12 at 1:30 p.m. EST, when two Fine Woodworking staff members go sander to handplane to see who can prepare a finish-ready surface the fastest.

Asa Christiana vs. Michael Pekovich
Sand vs. Steel
Innovation vs. Tradition
Electricity vs. Wheaties

Watch it live on Fine Woodworking's site! Check Facebook and Twitter for my up-to-the-minute coverage! Cheer on your favorite technique!
Be there or be a 4-sided, equilateral, geometric shape!

Click here for more info on this historic event.

Medallion Toolworks

I had the opportunity to meet Ed Paik (pictured far right in the photo), owner of Medallion Toolworks, at the WIA conference earlier this month. Ed makes premium western style handsaws that are custom fit to the individual's needs. I picked up one of his saws, and for the first time found a saw that fit perfectly in my hand. Most saw handles feel too thin to me, but Ed's saw had a thicker handle that felt more comfortable than any saw I have ever held.

I asked Ed what makes his saws stand out from the competition--what things make his saws special. Here is his response.

"My personal thought is I really don't consider other sawmakers as competitors. I see all of us as complimentary to each other and representative of the skill and experience level of the woodworker that makes a saw purchase. Personally, I would try to steer a novice or someone just entering the woodworking community away from a premium custom saw. I would recommend that they try as many of the production saws out there because it is very possible they do not yet know what features they require and like in a saw. After investing in a custom saw is not the time to find out what your needs and preferences are.

A Lee Valley dovetail saw is a great example of a production made saw that performs very well and offers great value. If you find out after extended use it is not what you require then one would be in a better position to go to a custom maker with those thoughts and specifications without having invested a lot of money.

I like to think my saws are made for those that are familiar with other saws, have a certain level of skill and experience with woodworking and know what they would like a saw to do in their shop. Through discussion and working together, I try my best to realize those ideas in a custom saw that performs well in their shop. Every saw I ship is made specifically for that woodworker with as much hand work as possible. Technical specifics like the totes, the pitch, rake and fleam, canted sawplate are all features that are variable for that individual's needs. Aesthetic features like the style of tote and the wood choices to make it with also vary according to their preferences. I also unconditionally guarantee the work and will do everything I can to make sure they are happy with the order."

—Ed Paik, Medallion Toolworks