Pictures of the Process, Part 2

So, at this point I have the boards of the top in shape to glue up. It's time to finish figuring out the wagon vise.

The first thing to do is to finally commit and drill the hole in my vise chop to accept the bench dog. It was a scary thing to do because this little simple piece of wood had caused so much trouble as I figured out how to do it.



Ta da!



Now came the part of drilling the hole in the end block. The vise screw has a collar through which the screw threads and I wanted to inset it into the block of wood at the end of the bench. This involves boring a hole 1 1/4" in diameter into hard maple end grain. I tried every boring tool I have including t-augers and all kinds of bits, but everything is made for face grain boring.



Based on a suggestion from the Porch I tried drilling a series of holes with a normal twist bit and cutting them out.





Maybe my bits aren't the right kind or I needed a chain drill or something, because that was REALLY hard work. And in the end, when I tried cutting out in between the holes I discovered how little straight grain was actually in the block. It tore out past the line something horrible.

So, in the end, I created a new block and this time I cut out the semi-circle on each piece first, using a variety of chisels, sawing down to the line, and my one measly gouge, until it was acceptable. I glued up the block and went to bed.

The next morning it all fit well and so I drilled the holes for the two small bolts that will hold the collar onto the block. I'm using bolts instead of screws because I want the collar to have strength not just for pushing but also for pulling in case I want to use the vise to pull something apart.



On the back of the block, I counter sunk some flat holes for the fender washers and nuts with one of my beloved center bits. The hole is a little raggedy since I was trying to using a center bit around an existing hole so there really wasn't much for the center spike of the bit to grab onto. But it worked well.




And here it all is clamped up and working quite well!!







It helped a huge amount to wax the insides of the groove with an old candle. That helped the action immensely.

You can see that I have almost five inches of vise opening to work with. Not huge, but sufficient for my purposes. I'll just have to make sure and place the corresponding dog holes at appropriate distances apart.




Altogether the opening is 8-inches long. I had the rough measurements based on what I could measure ahead of time, but I cut the groove a little long, and left boards 2 and 3 a little long to account for the reality of the situation. This allowed me to adjust to the reality of the vise once I got it installed to get the maximum opening I could.




Next up, I cut the groove for the sliding deadman.

AAAndrew

Pictures of the Process, Part 1

I took a whole bunch of pictures so I'll break it up a bit.

First, we'll start at the end. I finally got the top glued up.



As you can see, I left the ends of boards 5-14 long on both ends. After I leave this overnight, I will trim this off along a line I drew with my very old, hand-made carpenter's square. (Believe me, it's straight, it's just the camera lens that makes it look all wanky)




But how did I get here? Let's take a look.

I marked out the grooves for the wagon vise chop to ride in. I then hacked them out with the massive Butcher chisel I mentioned in previous posts. Because the groove needs to be one-inch wide, I used a 1/2" chisel and made two passes down the groove.




You can see that I wasn't caring too much about the edges, but it does leave the bottom pretty smooth for such a major hack. I only need to go down the groove two times, one for each side. The chisel cuts deep enough, about 1/2" the first pass that I don't need to come back along the same route.



I got a chance to have this fun several times too many because of not following the Daily Lessons I posted earlier today. In this picture you get a glimpse of my Persuader. I weighed the mallet and the chisel after hacking around with them so much. The mallet weighs 2 lbs. 6 oz. (1100 grams), and the chisel weighs 14 oz. My hands and arms and back got quite a workout the last couple of days.

After finally getting the grooves right, I double checked my full set of lumber for the top. As you can see, they're all different lengths.



So, I cut everything that wasn't the first four boards down to around 65 inches. That gives a margin of around 2-3 inches on either side since the final length should be 60 inches. To do this, I used by great old Disston D8 and a crappy , plastic Stanley miter box.




Oh, look. After I laid out the boards and got them cut I realized I had laid-out the groove wrong, AGAIN and had to cut it AGAIN.







One of the two techniques I used was the V in the middle technique. The other was to start at one side and work my way all the way down to the other end. Neither seemed faster, but the first pass was always much slower than the second pass. And when you did the second pass, the chisel always wanted to wander off into the existing empty space to the side. This meant that I always had to trim up the side of the second pass.



Next set of images I'll show how I eventually solved the problem of the vise end block where the collar for the vise screw needed to be inset. And I'll show how I cut the groove for the deadman to slide in, how I screwed up yet AGAIN, and had to cut the groove AGAIN in the process of making a whole new front board. And then we'll see the actual glue-up process.

Yipee!

AAAndrew

Lesson for the day, and the first boards get their glue

For some, Measure twice, cut once is enough. Not me. I obviously have special needs when it comes to woodworking. I have my own saying. It doesn't fit on a t-shirt quite so well, but is more accurate for my own personal "way of working" (read "failings").

1. Plan your layout
2. Mark your layout in pencil on the board
3. Check your layout
4. Double check your layout against adjoining pieces to make sure it makes sense
5. Mark your layout more clearly (marking knife, mortise gauge and/or heavier pencil line, whatever your preferred means)
6. Check your layout one last time
7. Make your cuts

Don't ask me how I've come up with this. It's not a pretty tale.

But I have managed to solve the problems from last night by creating a new end block by cutting the semi-circle on each half-block first, then glueing them together. That kept me up until after midnight last night.

This morning I affixed the collar for the vise screw into the end block with small bolts. I drilled shallow holes with a center bit to fit the small washer and nut so the bolt is below the surface of the end block.

With the whole vise setup worked out I went on to cut the groove under the first board in which the sliding deadman will slide.

After a petite detour (see lesson above) and another chance to show off my mortise chisel work, I finally got everything ready and fettled before lunch.

I had lunch, and then I went up and actually glued some boards together!!! I glued up boards 1-4 which have the most fiddly bits with the wagon vise, and the gap for the planing stop. Phew! That's a relief!

I'm now going next door where my neighbor is having a St. Paddy's day open house party. I will try and resist drinking much as I want to get back in an hour or so and finish glueing up the rest. That should not be terribly difficult, just a matter of juggling glue and fast working.

Later, after all of the top is glued up, I'll take a break and post the pictures I've taken so far.

AAAndrew

Back in the shop again!

I'm back in the shop again, determined to finish my workbench. My family is out of town and I have the whole house to myself, thus the extended shop time.

Last night I got the lumber for the top mostly ready for glue-up. One question I've had for myself is how to deal with the length of the boards making up the top. I've discovered, the hard way, that cutting them all to final length before glue up is a mistake, because no matter how careful you are in glue up, they never quite line up perfectly. I'm sure this is due to a failing in me, but I'm going to try it a different way this time.

I left each board past the first four boards about 5" too long. The front boards all have some kind of piecing together going on, either from the wagon vise or the plane stop, or both. These I'm going to have to take extra special care in gluing up anyway. I figure (at least now it sounds like a good idea) that once I get these four boards put together, and I glue the rest together roughly equally overhanging on both ends, I will use the front boards as a guide for my sawing the back 10 boards to length.

I'm sure it won't be as easy as it describes, and I may end up with a slanted end, but all I can do is the best that I can.

When I was cutting the boards last night I had fun using my Disston D8 in a plastic crap Stanley miter box. I put a sacrificial board underneath and just cut away. I first started trying to use my new (c. 1870's) Moulson Bros. back saw, but it was way too slow cutting through a 7/4 board of hard maple. The Disston did it like a dream.

This morning I cut the groove for the wagon vise into my board #4. I used my 1/2" Butcher pig-sticker chisel and my "Persuader" mallet. (at least that's my name for it) Just for fun I weighed my mallet because I really began to feel the weight of it after pounding for half-an-hour. It's 2 lbs 6 oz, with the vast majority of the weight in the head, as it should be. It's fantastic!

So, after being so successful with that one, I went to cut the groove in the #1 board. That's when I realized that I had cut the groove incorrectly in the board. You see, the chop that will slide in the groove is not symmetrical on the top and bottom of the tab that slides in the groove. There's more below the groove than above it to help make sure the vise is able to direct the most amount of force in the right place on the chop.

At first I thought I could switch #1 and #4 boards and turn 4 upside down and make it 1. Whoops, this is where my cutting boards to length before I absolutely had to screwed me. #4 is 54 inches long because of the gap for the planing stop. #1 is 60 inches and is the front board. Since my board stretcher doesn't work, I couldn't make a 54-inch board work for a 60-inch space. And the one spare board I had turns out to be twisted enough to enter a dance contest. So, it was off to the lumber store. I made a quick call to the Hardwood Store of North Carolina (good people) who agreed to whip up a couple (I won't be without a good spare this time) pieces of s4s hard maple to my dimensions. I drove out there and was able to pick up the wood right before they closed and get home.

So, after dinner, it was cutting another groove, getting it fettled and working (this time I used an old candle to wax up the groove and that helped immensely). Next was to drill the hole for the dog in the chop. I got that done with the hole being only a little crooked. Good enough. The last thing I need to do before glue up is drill a hole in the end grain of the end block that will hold the collar for the wagon vise screw. It has to be a 1.25" hole 2.75" deep through hard maple end grain. We'll see if I can figure this out, or I'll have to re-make the end block by cutting the hole first, and then glueing up the block afterwards.

Tomorrow I let you know what I figure out and I'll include the pictures I took today.

AAAndrew

Woodwright School First Class - Pictures

I finally uploaded the pictures from the first class at Roy's. I didn't take too many because I was too busy enjoying myself and doing the work.

1. Each bench was stocked with a selection of new and old tools. This was my bench before we began work.

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2. A few pictures of the toys just laying around the shop








3. Roy's sharpening station (after the pedal-powered grind wheel)



4. The class began with paperwork and choosing our benches



5. A pre-class orientation



6. An introduction to dovetailed joinery by looking at a 200-year-old tool chest





Kind of hard to see in the photo, but the maker seemed to enjoy violating just about all of the conventional wisdom we have about dovetails. He's got half-tails on top and bottom, the pins are far too steep and the pins and tails are on the wrong boards for a tool chest. (pins on front and back, tails on sides) Yet, here it still is, a couple of centuries later.



7. We cut our own through and half-blind dovetails. I began working with this tiny Sorby dovetail saw. It was interesting to use until it popped out of its handle. I ended up using the tenon saw. I like the bigger saws anyway.



8. Bill Anderson showing us how it's done. Cutting grooves in the drawer parts with a #45. Notice his very nice tool tote in the background. Bill teaches classes himself in the area.



9. As a lead-up to motise and tenon joinery, Roy had us pull out some timbers that were stacked along the side of the room. Here he is remembering how they all go together.



We got a chance to take a turn on a wonderfully boring machine. It was much easier than I thought it was going to be.



When we put the timbers together Roy showed how without pegs or anything beyond the cut joints, the corner timber was quite sturdy and solid. The timbers ended up being two pieces of sill, a corner post and two supports.



10. We got an all-too-short demo of sash making. Here are some of the toys on Roy's mini-Roubo.



11. The class ended with a wonderful look at two very old tool chests in the English tradition. Roy told the story of the two workmen who owned these tools. One of whom had bought the tools of the other. Great stories, great tools, a great time.







AAAndrew

The Woodwright School - First Class

I had my class yesterday at Roy Underhill's The Woodwright School. This was the second session of the first class taught at his new school, and it covered dovetails and mortise and tenon. Saying that lays out the bare facts, but doesn't come close to describing what actually happened, or all what was taught during the day.

It was a chilly, rainy day in Pittsboro when we all arrived, and it kept raining all day long. Everyone was there by 8:30 when the class wasn't scheduled until 9:00. We filled out our paperwork, inspected the classroom for safety hazards (the most hazardous thing there was my own incompetance), and chose a bench.

Each bench had a compliment of tools, some new, some old, some very old. Down the middle of the room sat Roy's little Roubo-style bench with the splayed legs in back, a treadle-powered scroll saw, his spring-pole lathe, and his "new" 1891 treadle-powered table saw, which Roy explained was the outer limits of the technology we would be using in the school.

There were ten of us of varying degrees of skill. At the bench in front of me was Bill Andersen who himself teaches classes locally, and who had the coolest tool tote and nicest tools (at one point pulling out four 3/8" pigsticker mortise chisels for use of others in the class). In front of him was Peter Ross, formerly the Master of the Shop at Colonial Williamsburg's Anderson Forge for 21 years, and a friend of Roy's. (he also lives locally and was a really nice guy) It was the first time he had tried woodworking. The ten-person class was rounded out by other enthusiastic students from as far away as Tennessee. Overall, a great group.

Roy and his wife welcomed us, provided coffee and doughnuts and we began the class.

The class itself was a mixture of straight-ahead woodworking instruction, history and examination of actual pieces: some Roy had made for his show (and wonderfully recognizable by fans), some were of more historical interest. We got a chance to closely examine a wonderful old tool chest probably from around North Carolina dating to approximately late 18th, early 19th century. We examined the construction, what choices were made, the tools used to make them, what worked, and how it possibly has lasted so long while violating almost all of the rules we thought we knew. (we also got a chance to see two other chests full of tools which would have made anyone here drool as least as much as I did)

At various times Roy interspersed into the class other topics like getting a chance to examine, and watch him demonstrate, the Barnes treadle-powered table saw, or we pulled a set of squared timbers with pre-cut joinery out from the corner and he showed us how they all fit together to form a corner of a timber-framed house and how solid they were without any pegging or anything except the joinery.

We also got a great little intro and description of sash making, including the tools used to make window and door sashes.

It was in these interludes that the real differences between Roy's school and other very good schools of woodworking instruction comes through. Roy's a good teacher, he's had just a little experience explaining woodworking and its related arts for the last 30+ years, but it's his historical perspective, the knowledge he brings of craft and tradition that set his classes apart.

Thinking back on his class, it most reminded me of my graduate school classes in Art History. These were NOT the large, lecture-hall recitations of "Here's a painting of Virgin and Child by BlahBlahBlah, painted in 1672. Notice the fine brushwork...." The graduate-level art history classes that I was reminded of were ones where you meet in the back rooms of the museum and see five different Japanese woodblock prints of the same scene. The professor takes you through, in depth, just what's going on with each picture, including the history of when it was made, the significance of what they were showing in the scene, the technology of the print making including how they modified the blocks based on wear and tear during the printing process (as shown in the different versions, or "states" of the print), etc...

In other words, you're given context, background, explanation and even some well-informed speculation. It's a richer approach to the same information. It's the difference between being told that a house is a common example of a Queen Anne Victorian, and being told that this is a regional example of a Queen Anne Victorian which became popular with certain pattern books that came out of the Northeast at this date, but was modified by local elites in the area by extending the porch for added shade in the heat, and notice the extra roof lines as the attic was changed to allow for greater ventilation. We also see the attention to small ornamentation which became popular and replaced the taste for simple, geometric shapes. How did they turn out that much wooden gingerbread ornaments? Well, small shops sprung up to create nothing but the spindles, ......" You get the idea.

It's obvious that Roy's passionate about the old ways of woodworking, and making sure the hard-won lessons of our predecessors are not lost in a world of MDF jigs, flipping switches, and dust collection systems. He brings us quality woodworking instruction, along with a heaping helping of humor, historical knowledge and truly the spirit of the woodwrights of old.

And, to top it all off, I'm definitely going to cut better dovetails after this class. Wooo Hooo!

AAAndrew

Cross-posted on NC Woodworker http://www.ncwoodworker.net/index.php, and Old Tools.

Played around in the shop last night

I got a rare, mid-week chance to get in the shop. I've been obsessed with this idea of late for a system of tool holders for my walls. Right now I've got my chisels sitting on a shelf in the wall cabinet I got from my brother-in-law. That is way less-than-ideal. My idea, which I was starting to test out last night, is to make a basic frame that will hang on the wall with french cleats. Attached to this frame will be more french cleats in regular rows down the length of the frame. I could then use these cleats to hang various configurations and sizes of tool holders that would sit on one or more of the cleats depending on how long they were. I could create anything from chisel racks to saw holders.

What I'm shooting for is flexibility in design, and the ability to reconfigure when I need to. I got the idea from a couple of places. I remember seeing a store shelving system years ago where they put in a wall of slotted wooden panels. They used metal pegs of varying lengths to hang displays or shelves from. It looked nice and was very flexible. I also saw a photo from a recent issue of Dwell that showed the interior of some woodworking shop and the wall of hand tools used by this person. A friend gave it to me, so I don't know the details of whose shop it was etc. They used a system of furring strips with horizontal tool holders screwed to these strips running vertically down the wall. It looked cool and easy to access the tools, but anytime you'd want to change things you'd be unscrewing and screwing in these horizontal holders.

So, yesterday afternoon I stopped by a local building supply place and picked up some 1x4 southern yellow pine. I found some nice pieces where the grain ran almost straight up and down between the two faces. Nice and stable and not cupped or warped at all.

Last evening was spent cutting to size, and then working to make the M&T joints for the frame. This is 3/4" stuff and so the joint turns into a wide and thin tenon. I was going to cut them as through tenons but I realized my tenon saw is not quite large enough to cut a 3.75" tenon cheek. I need a bigger tenon saw. :-) I ended up making the tenon smaller, not full depth, so I could cut it with my tenon saw.

I also tried cutting this mortise by hand. I still need work on this skill. I can get it to a certain depth, not quite half-way through, and then can't seem to figure out how to get more depth. Perhaps I get impatient, but most likely I just need more practice. I think I'm going to have to go with drilling the mortises with my brace and bit like I did when I made all the same-sized mortises for my tv table.

It was fun getting back in the shop, and I felt I needed this little refresher since I'm heading over to Roy's new school for a class this Sunday, and M&T joints in on the curriculum! It's also good to experiment to figure out if this is really the way I want to connect the frames together, or if perhaps a half-lap will be better. I still have some playing around to do. Yipee!