Shaping the Legs

To shape the legs for the sawbuck table, I first traced the profile onto the leg blanks using the cardboard template. Then I transferred the profile to the other side of the leg. With the profile marked on both sides, you can check back and forth as you're shaping to ensure that the profile is square.









I roughed out the shape on the band saw and then cleaned up the cuts with round files, triangular files, smooth files, a Nicholson #50 rasp, a Lee Valley rounded spokeshave, and sandpaper.

The shaped leg in the last photo is sitting on top of what's left of the cherry that is being used to make this project.

Sawbuck Table: Part I

In my shop, a 9/4 x 12" x 11' piece of curly cherry has been patiently waiting to become a PA German Sawbuck Table, like the one I found at the Landis Valley Museum. I was not able to photograph the original very well because it was behind glass, but the photos still came in handy. From a page in a book, I knew the height, width, and length of the original. And from the front-on shot that I took, I figured out rough dimensions for the various parts with the help of a proportion wheel.

This project involves fun little details, like sliding dovetails, tusk tenons, an angled drawer, lettercarving, turned spindles, and baroque sawbuck legs.

Trying to determine the angle of the legs was a monumental dilemma for a right-brained person who wouldn't know the Pythagorean Theorem from a Pierogie. So, here's what I did—I laid tape on the floor and marked corners of a rectangle that matched the height and width of the table (minus the table top). Then I criss-crossed two pieces of 5" wide cardboard within, but longer than, that rectangle; laid a straight edge from one top corner of the rectangle to the other top corner; and drew a line across the tops of the cardboard. Then I did the same at the bottom of the rectangle. This gave me the angles at which the legs needed to be cut. I eyeballed the baroque shape from the photos, sketched it freehand, and cut the pattern.

After all four legs were cut to length, I had to figure out where to cut the half lap. The cardboard template wasn't reliable enough for marking the critical joint. So, I clamped two legs together, marked the middle, drilled a hole through the top leg and half way through the second leg, pegged them with a dowel, and scissored them apart. Now I had to figure out how far apart to splay them so that the legs would support the table top and also rest squarely on the floor. So I clamped a straight board to my assembly table (representing the table top), slid the legs against it until both ends laid flat against the board, then slid another flat board against the opposite ends of the legs (representing the floor). This showed exactly where to mark the half laps.

There you have it—the right-brained person's guide to figuring out angles.

My New Workbench

No doubt Chris Schwarz will want to include plans for this natural-edged workbench in the updated, revised version of his book, Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use.*

In the interim, here are detailed instructions on how to build one:

1. Keep an eye on the neighbor lady’s tree that’s about to be toppled.
2. After the tree has been felled and sawn, casually walk your dogs by her house to inspect the logs.
3. Just “happen by” as her strapping young son-in-law is chopping up the logs for firewood and inquire about the largest part of the trunk.
4. Be nice, and the strapping young son-in-law just might wheel your new workbench home for you on a dolly.

Why the new workbench? Because I found Robin Wood’s website. Robin is a woodturner and maker of treenware. On his site, he posts video tutorials on how he makes his spoons, while sitting in his living room, and using a tree stump as a work surface. What fun! To start with a log, use an axe to rough out the shape, and finish with carving tools and knives is something I’ve always wanted to try.

I have only made one kitchen utensil, a pasta rake, which works surprisingly well. It’s made of cherry and is finished with olive oil. There is something “right” about using wooden utensils and I can’t wait to use my new workbench to make more. I just need to find another neighbor who is planning to cut down a tree so I can “happen upon” some logs.

*If you have not read Chris’ book and are thinking of building a new or upgrading an existing workbench (or are just looking for a fantastic read), do yourself a favor and purchase a copy. His book is replete with valuable information on building workbenches, choosing lumber, making bench jigs, and the whys and hows that aren’t found in other workbench books.

Safety First!

Marc Spagnuolo, The Wood Whisperer, has named this Woodworkers’ Safety Week.

And with good reason. How many of us still have all 10 digits, don’t continually have to ask people to repeat themselves, and don’t have a woodworking battle scar or two?

I’m guilty of the second one, but that’s due to too many Pat Benatar concerts in high school.

For the female woodworkers who read this blog....you’re already wearing your safety gear so feel free to skip this post and head back to the shop.

Two things are for sure: 1) woodworking is dangerous with both hand and power tools, and 2) guys love to outdo one another with “near-miss” or “how I lost my (fill in missing body part)” stories.

Being safe in the shop doesn’t mean you aren’t cool, aren’t manly, or won’t have riveting stories to share. What it does mean is the following:

VC’s Top Ten Reasons to Practice Safety in the Shop:

10. You can wave good-bye and people won’t think you’re making a rude gesture at them.
9. You can count to 10 without removing your shoes.
8. You won’t have to quit your bowling league. (Of course, there's always duckpin bowling.)
7. You can still type on a keyboard without having to hunt and peck. (Provided you know how to type in the first place. If not, proceed to number 6).
6. You can hear your granddaughter when she says she loves you. (awwww!)
5. You can hear your wife when she says “Honey, you’ve had a hard week. Why not spend some time in your shop?”
4. You won’t have to explain to the emergency room nurses why you have a spear of curly maple protruding from your belly button.
3. You won’t soil your drawers from kick back.
2. You can still dream of becoming a hand model.
and the number one reason to be safe in the shop....

1.You won't have to listen to your wife complain about you not being safe in the shop!

There’s nothing dorky about being safe.

Wear your safety goggles & hearing protection, use push sticks and the safety features that come with your tools, and don’t stick anything in the blade that you don’t want chopped off.

Happy Woodworkers’ Safety Week!

Workshop for Lilliputians

June marks the 4th anniversary of the completion of my new workshop. Prior to that, I worked in a basement shop with concrete floors, 6 foot ceilings, exposed lightbulbs, and exposed knob & tube wiring. Dungeon-like.

Yet it was still my favorite place in the house.

I dreamed for 10 years of having an above-ground shop and when I finally decided to have one built, I spent a full year researching heating systems, insulation, material, lighting....everything.

I even built a to-scale model of the shop, complete with all my equipment, just to make sure that everything would fit and that I would be able to tell my builder where to put the outlets. I determined where to put the 18" bandsaw in relation to the back window, so that long boards could stick outside and rest on the sill while I ran them through the blade. The model also helped my builder work up pricing.

The first design had a second story and a finishing room closed off by a sliding door. After my builder told me how much it would cost, reality set in, and both those luxuries were crossed off the list.

The model itself was built hurriedly—just plywood tacked together with brads—but it helped immeasurably when I was able to tell my builder where to put my 300 pound band saw and 400 pound table saw, as he and his helper carried them out of my basement shop and into the new one. They were able to plop them down exactly where I wanted them. I doubt they would have appreciated some lady telling them to "Move the table saw to this wall. Nah, that's not right—move it to that wall instead. A little to the left, no right."

The next sound I would have heard would have been my contractor and his helper slamming the door shut behind them, leaving a trail of expletives in their wake.

Planning for and designing my shop was an exciting journey, and I ended up with a cute little woodworker's dollhouse in the process.

Hand Tool Conference

Popular Woodworking Magazine is hosting a woodworking conference this November devoted exclusively to hand tools, called Woodworking in America. The list of speakers is an all-star line up of hand tool experts and the 3-day weekend will be filled with 40 short classes, a marketplace for toolmakers to display and sell their wares, and social events with demonstrators and toolmakers.

Registration begins in June, but I wanted to give you a heads-up on what will most certainly be an awesome weekend.....and I hope, an annual event!

Read more about it here.

Scraper Sharpening Showdown

Alan Turner and Mario Rodriguez*, two well-known and talented woodworkers, were the guest speakers at our most recent woodworking club meeting, a combined meeting with another club. Alan started his own woodworking school several years ago, The Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, where both he and Mario are instructors.

Mario demonstrated mitered through-dovetails and Alan demonstrated how to sharpen a scraper. Alan sharpens them a little differently than I do, so I decided to have a showdown between his technique and mine. I used the same scraper, a Sandvik, and sharpened one edge with my technique and the other edge with Alan's.

Here’s my process:

Chuck the scraper in a vise, and using a smooth file, square each edge 90º to the sides. Switching to an 8,000 grit waterstone, hone the edge. Skew the scraper as you hone, so you don't plow a groove in the waterstone. Next, hone 1/2" of the face of both flat sides. Put some oil on a burnisher (some people use the handle of a screwdriver, but I have better luck with a burnisher), hold the scraper in your hand** and, using a fair amount of downward pressure, slide the burnisher 3-5º along both sides of each long edge, 5 or 6 times. The idea is to create a hook on both sides of the edge so you can use both sides to scrape.

Here’s Alan’s process:

First, he oiled the scraper and the burnisher. Then he laid the scraper flat on the workbench near the edge and used the burnisher to draw the metal out along each long edge on both sides of the scraper, creating a “U” shape of metal along each edge. Then he chucked the scraper in a vise and filed the edges to 90º. He added more oil to the scraper and burnisher, then he drew the metal out once more on the workbench. Back to the vise, he burnished each side of each long edge 2-5º.

To use the scraper, flex the blade between your thumbs and hold the scraper at 45º to the work surface. The moment of truth....

They looked the same to me. I was surprised because I thought Alan's would work much better. I still think his is a better sharpening technique that will produce more consistent results. But, take your pick!















*Photos of Alan and Mario courtesy of Robert Aspey.
**It's possible to cut yourself by holding the scraper in your hand while using the burnisher, so to be totally safe, you can secure it in a vise instead.

String Inlay

Lie Nielsen now carries tools to create string inlay* (pictured at right) based on Steve Latta's innovative designs.

I took Steve's inlay class a year ago at Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe, where we made simpler versions of the tools (pictured below).

While I won't show you how to make the tools since they are Steve's original designs, I will tell you that they are simple to use, if you're thinking about taking Steve's class, buying the L-N set, or making your own. I practiced for only about an hour before starting a Chester County line and berry design for a spice box door. It only took about 3-5 hours to do all of the inlay for this panel, although the "berries" aren't finished yet, nor has the surface been finish-sanded. It's far from perfect, but hopefully people won't inspect it too closely once it's done (which may be never, since it's been sitting in this state of incompletion for almost a year....)

The radius cutter pivots on a point while little teeth plow a groove for the inlay. You can see a close-up of the teeth configuration on the L-N website. In Steve's class, we also made a tool that plows a straight line and a thicknessing gauge that ensures the veneer strips are consistent in width. To use the gauge, you pull the veneer strip through a kerf in a block of wood. One side of the kerf is wood. The other side has a little scraper attached to it.

L-N also offers a dvd featuring Steve Latta creating the line and berry technique. I have not seen this video, but I can vouch for Steve's excellent teaching skills.

It's easier than you might think to add decorative string inlay to your projects.

*I do not sell for Lie-Nielsen (or Steve Latta), nor have I used their inlay tools, so I cannot comment on their performance.