Scenes from Colonial Williamsburg

There are three things in life that are impossible to do: sneeze with your eyes open, slam a revolving door shut, and take a bad photo at Colonial Williamsburg.

Everywhere you look are lovely 18th-century vignettes of reproduction buildings, and men and women in full period regalia.

Thanks to the vision of Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and the generosity of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a ghost of a town with deep roots in our nation's history was brought back to life for our edification and entertainment.

Here, you can tour restored buildings that are filled with reproduction furniture and other essentials made by tradesmen who are currently working in Colonial Williamsburg, visit shops that sell the same wares, take carriage rides, eat in taverns, and learn about the people who lived in what was the capitol of Virginia 250 years ago.

During that time, white or gray hair was all the rage, and the wigmaker was cranking out animal-hair pompadours as quickly as possible.

Wigs were so highly prized, they were put into wills and passed from one generation to the next. Small wonder, since some of the best would cost you anywhere from several days' pay to a full year of your salary.

No money for a wig? No problem. Just sneak up behind some young lady with bountiful tresses, snip off a handful using whatever cutting device you have, and run away like a.....like a guy who just stole some lady's hair. It happened.

And so did a lot of other things. Like cabinetmaking, coopering, gunsmithing, silversmithing, basket making, brick making, and weaving.

The town was abundant with busy hands while laws were being made that would fashion a new nation. And the same things are being reenacted here today through employees, actors, and volunteers.

To visit Colonial Williamsburg is to step back into 1765. Except with public restrooms and indoor plumbing. Huzzah.

Apprentice Day

I'd lay odds that most of us have a desire to share our woodworking knowledge with others and would welcome the opportunity to spark an interest in a young person.

With that in mind, I asked our friends if they'd like to bring their son, Eli, to my shop so that he and I could build something. They took me up on the offer and brought their three kids—Eli (five), Jillian (two), and Joel (5 months)—for an introduction to woodworking on Sunday.

I spent all day Saturday cutting the pieces, dadoes, grooves, and rabbets, for what would become Eli's first tool box. I also drilled a bunch of various-sized holes in some boards and chopped up a pile of pegs for Jillian's amusement. Joel, I figured I'd set up to work at the lathe. (joking)

It suddenly hit me, as I was designing the toolbox and working on the cut list, that being the one to introduce woodworking to a child was a huge responsibility. And I don't mean the safety factor.

Eli's first experience with woodworking could possibly make or break the enthusiasm for a potential newbie woodworker. What if the project wasn't fun and Eli ended up hating woodworking all because of me? Oh man. Pressure was on.

Well, you can see from the photos that both Eli and Jillian were captivated by woodworking. Both kids immediately snatched up the wooden mallets and started banging pegs into place. And Joel? He didn't cry or fuss and genuinely seemed interested in the unfamiliar noises.

One heartstopping moment came as Eli and I were deeply focused on building the toolbox. The adults were chatting, Joel was observing, and Jillian? Unbeknownst to any of us, Jillian had snuck behind me, entranced by the bright green "start" button on my table saw. The temptation was too great. She pushed it. And the rest of us took a collective leap out of our skins.

Fortunately, I had lowered all the blades and blade guards in the shop, so no one was in any danger. Despite this, Joel was the only one who was fully prepared for that little scare. He was the only one wearing a diaper.

Bow Lathe and Fancy Footwork

Here is a captivating video of a woodturner in Marrakech who uses a bow lathe—a tool that's been around since the ancient Egyptians—a chisel, and his foot (!) to turn some intricate pieces.



Here is the youtube link.

Stopped Dadoes and Drawer Runners

A better title for these sawbuck table progress posts would have been: Why The Pennsylvania Germans Were Smarter Than I.

That's because they chose a straight-grained, soft wood for their original sawbuck table instead of curly cherry, a wood that's prone to tear and splinter; and they nailed the entire drawer together, instead of dovetailing angled corners and cutting angled grooves for the drawer bottom.

Despite this, it's been a fun learning experience and I've done things I've never tried before. What better way to expand your skills?

I decided to cut stopped dadoes in the drawer supports even though there are through dadoes on the original. This poses a problem if you plan to cut them with a plow plane, because the skate requires clearance in front of the cutter. Not a big deal, though, if you cut the last few inches with a mortising chisel before reaching for your plow plane.

Since the drawer sides are angled, but the drawer supports are not, the runners needed to be angled on one side and square on the other. I drew the shape on both ends of the runners, connected the marks along the length, and checked them frequently for accuracy while I planed them to shape.

I made the pegs from cherry by rounding bandsawn sticks with a block plane. There are other ways to make dowels, but this one is my favorite. Even though the runners are glued to the drawer sides, I chose to reinforce the joint with wooden pegs, since the drawer is so heavy. The runners on the original sawbuck were nailed in place.

So now there's only one thing left to make before final sanding and finishing.

You know how, at dinner, some people will eat the yucky stuff, like lima beans, first, and save the best stuff, like prime rib, for last?

I was always an "eat-the-good-stuff-first-and-hope-no one-sees-me-feed-the-gross-stuff-to-the-dog" kind of person.

In woodworking terms, that means I've saved making the drawer pull for last. That's right—I need to turn a lima bean. Yuck.

Patching and Shaping

Sometimes it helps to have a friend who gently reminds you about the long-ignored, incomplete projects in your shop to give you the push you need to kick it into high gear.

As I recall, Shannon's words were something like "Hey, how 'bout finally finishing that sawbuck table that's been sitting in your shop for over a year!"

Since then, I've replaned the boards for the drawer so they're square, cut the grooves for the drawer bottom, glued up the drawer, patched all the gaps from having fixed the drawer, shaped the drawer supports, cut the stopped dadoes in the drawer supports, and glued the runners onto the drawer.

More images to follow in another post. Must....keep....moving.

Playnz?

A new tool manufacturer is positioning itself as the plane maker for the next generation.

The company is called Rainbow Playnz® and it's gearing up to take on the big guys.

"We're woodworkers who know how to market to young people. And Gen Y is going to looooove our planes" says spokesperson Dylan Cooper.

He's not the only one who thinks so. At least one big name is investing in the fledgling company. Take a look under the hood of the company's #4 1/2 smoother plane (last photo). Yeah. It's what you think it is.

Rainbow Playnz is counting on the fact that young people love bright colors and connecting with friends. So, why not enjoy both while woodworking? The company is planning to offer a full line of planes in every color of the rainbow.

Think Gen Y'ers will go for it? Brandon Richwine, a 20-year-old from the company's focus group thinks so. "OMG—it totally matches my iPod!" he says.

So, how does Rainbow Playnz manage to colorize metal in so many bright hues?

"We don't—they're plastic," says Cooper. The planes are made from material produced through injection molding. They will always retain their shape, the soles do not require lubrication or rust prevention, and they're lighter weight and can be made much less expensively than metal planes.

What about the phone feature—won't it get damaged in use? According to Cooper, it's recessed into the sole, so it never touches your workpiece.

So, is the woodworking world ready for Rainbow Playnz? Somehow, I can't quite picture the 60-somethings in my woodworking club using pink handplanes.

Wait......I'm getting a visual. :D

Fettling a Wooden Plane

My little coffin smoother has always been good at chamfering an edge.

But try to take a full-width pass on the edge of a board, and the blade would either pull through, resulting in a thick shaving, or be knocked loose completely.

The plane is such a little thing, you'd think it would be able to do its job. But it's the little things within the structure and fittings that prevent it from doing that.

I spent a wee bit of time with the wee plane today and finally got it to take the wispy shavings for which it was made.

If you're tweaking a plane, one thing to check is the flatness of the bed. I used a thin straightedge which revealed a high spot in the middle. A file removed it with ease.

Another thing to check is whether or not the blade is in contact with the bed and the wedge. One way to determine if everything is seated properly is by waving your blade over a candle, so that soot is deposited on both sides. Insert your blade and wedge, remove it, and the soot will show where the contact points are located.

Uniform contact points on all surfaces is the ideal goal. I had good contact along the outer edge of the wedge, but the middle was a little hollow. A file makes quick work of eliminating the sooty spots, so the middle of the wedge also contacts the blade.

The next thing I checked was the flatness of the sole by holding a straightedge and the plane up to a light to find the low spots. The entire sole doesn't need to be flat, but if you're fixing up a wooden plane, you might as well make it so, since it's easy to do.

Slide the blade and wedge into your plane, but retract the blade a bit so it's protected. Tap it in place. Then rub the sole on a sheet of sandpaper that's clamped to a known-flat surface, like a table saw. The scuff marks from the sandpaper will tell you when it's flat.

If your wedge is still not holding your blade in place, try a trick that Jim Leamy taught me. Lay a file on the arms of your wedge and tap it with a mallet. The impression left by the file roughens up the surface, giving the wedge more gripping power.

The last thing I did was use my small mallet to seat the wedge. I had been using finger pressure only, but the mallet gave the wedge just enough of a push to provide the results I was hoping for.

Finally, the plane is finished.....until next season when the wood moves again. heh.

Dealers' Shows

Who has time for woodworking when there are lumberyards to tour and dealers' shows to attend?

The PATINA and Brown International shows are in close succession, which is tough on the wallet, but easy on the eyes. And even if you're not looking for anything in particular, you can usually find something you "need".

New additions to my collection include: a well-maintained "user" moulding plane; a book entitled Carpentry and Woodworking—A Handbook of Tools, Materials, Methods, and Directions (1945); a jeweler's saw; an inexpensive, but workable wooden brace; and four shell bits.

If you attend enough of these shows, you start to make friends and see familiar faces.

Last year, I met Bob Baker, an antique tool restorer, who made a reproduction of the famous Thomas Falconer plane and a reproduction of one of my favorite planes—the Moisset.

Apparently, when they were dishing out bowls of talent, Bob went back for seconds. He's blessed with a heaping helping of it, as evidenced in his Moisset reproduction (shown above), which he made 27 years ago—his first attempt at carving.



At these shows, you'll find a lot of user tools that are just waiting to be adopted and put back to work. But you'll also find some rare and unusual ones.

Jim Bode carries a number of unique tools, some of which you may have seen in fine tool books. Poke around his site and you'll see what I mean. I snapped pictures of an ivory figurine of Japanese carpenters and a fish hammer.

The last group photo shows some pieces that will be auctioned off today.

But I'm sitting this one out and staying home to play with my new old tools instead.