came together

hurray! i found my camera so i can post again...
here is a picture of the completed plane.
it makes great shavings.

come together

the beginnings of a smoothing plane in cocobolo.
i cant even begin to describe the wonderful aroma of this tropical hardwood. if i wasn't already toeing the line of wierdness i'd keep a piece in my pocket just to sniff every now and then.

gone fishin

sorry i've been spending my shop time catching fish.

toy box

dovetailed mahogany sides.
sliding redwood top.
redwood bottom.
paste wax finish.

leaving my mark

two brothers, one dream.


this is the trademark stamper i machined today. brass, stainless steel, and some little letters that i found from an old machine we were throwing out at work.

hall of shame

this little tragedy will forever be in the hall of shame as my very first dovetailed box. i read a lot, practiced a little, and even watched a couple of "boring" (as whitney calls them) dvds on the subject. i thought i was ready to give it a shot but it looks like i'm back to the practice stock for hand sawing 102. my first and biggest mistake: not marking out the waste. i know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal but i cut on the wrong side of the line more than once and yes in this business a 64th or 32nd of an inch makes a world of difference. you can see from the picture the lack of X's on the part that will eventually be removed. not super important on this tail piece but on the pin board splitting the line makes the whole joint work.


you can see the giant gap on the top most dovetail. thats about a saw kerf away from the mark. funny how a little X on the scrap side to remind me where to cut can be such a big deal.


believe it or not this is the "pretty" side of the box. the other side is way worse and you won't see a picture online any time soon. maybe in a few years after i've made a little progress i'll post a now and then shot so we can see how far i've come. but i guess you have to start somewhere and that somewhere in my dovetailing career is at the very bottom.

groovy

this is my new (got it a long time ago but this is the first time i used it) plow plane. its really neat. it's sole purpose in life is to make little groves like the one here in this piece of wood. it works remarkably well. i'm building a little box that needed a couple of groves for the sliding lid so it finally got to get some use. i love using a tool for the first time.

saws and chisels

no, this isn't a collection! each one has its own special use. if i ever get around to using them that is. most days i just look at them. aren't they so pretty?

done!

i'm finally finished. and i'm sick of finish. in my opinion i ruined a perfectly good project with the finish build. since its a reproduction arts and crafts piece i opted to use a traditional arts and crafts finish... layer 1: "special walnut" stain, layer 2: medium walnut danish oil- should have stopped at this point. but no, layer 3: amber shellac. layer 4: paste wax. result: the natural beauty of this exceptionally figured wood was suffocated in too many layers of finish. it still looks very nice and the grain still has pop but not as much as i know it could. all in all i'm pleased with the way this turned out. after cutting into the plank and seeing how warped the wood was i didn't think it would be useable at all. this will always be a special project to me because its really my first piece of "furniture."

first look...

i know this is a horrible picture but here is the mirror frame. its still going to get a few coats of finish so the color will change, hopefully for the better.

round hole square peg

yes, its possible to fit a square peg into a round hole.


see! the mirror has pegged mortise and tenon joints, drawbored of course. don't worry truhe, i'll explain: a mortise and tenon joint is a classical rail/stile joint. ok, this is harder than i thought. a rail is the horizontal member of the frame in a frame and panel construction... blast. a frame and panel is... listen. from now on if you don't understand what i'm talking about just look at the picture and say, "oh, thats nice" and fake it. basically, what i'm trying to say is this thing is bombproof.

mirror mirror on the wall

i'm making a mirror for whitney. she has to stand on the toilet just to be able to see all of herself at once. i guess thats kind of important to girls... a full length body mirror i mean, not standing on the toilet. i'm excited because i'm using the first piece of wood i ever bought to make it. i found it in a stack of quite ordinary red oak but this plank was something special. i often would take it off the shelf and look at it wondering what it might be someday. i've imagined it as a cabinet door, a drawer front and just about everything else. i was nervous to start cutting into it but finally i gave in. i'm not going to be afraid anymore to ruin a perfectly good piece of wood. maybe now i'll actually get some work done.



here are the parts for the mirror cut out roughly and ready to begin work. the board had quite a bit of twist in it so i had to spend a couple days bending the stiles into a useable condition.

mortise and tenon joint to old fashioned way

sawing the tenon

chopping the mortise

trimming the tenon to fit the mortise

it's hammer time

brass+red oak+a small sliver of cocobolo= my new hammer. i spent the day friday turning some scrap into a plane adjusting hammer. i've been wanting to build one of these for a while now but just haven't got a round to it. we have a bunch of bar ends at work just sitting there and i thought they'd make nice hammer heads. having a lathe and mill is really cool. now i'll have to come up with more projects that involve small bits of metal. the curly red oak for the handle was very unpleasant to work with. i tried carving but it just tore out, same with the spoakshave. i ended up chucking it in the lathe and using a rasp and some sandpaper... not very fun but it got the job done and i love the look of figured wood. i did have fun rounding the top of the handle where the wedge pokes through. it has a ton of facets from my carving knife and gives the piece a hand crafted feel. i finished it with a light oil, we'll see how it holds up but i didn't want to hide any of the woods natural beauty. i'm looking forward to the brass aging over the years. maybe i'll put a premature patina on it for kicks. i love how sensitive the small head is. it really helps me get a feeling for my blade and wedge adjustments.

trial and error

i love wooden hand planes! this is the second one i've made. i'm surprised at just how finicky they can be. maybe thats what i like about them. they force me into conversation. its not just go go go. with them its stop and listen. listen to the plane, listen to the wood. you really have to pay attention and learn how to interpret the problems you encounter along the way. i remember being so frustrated when i first tried this plane. it just wasn't working as i knew it should and i almost gave up. almost, but not quite. i still have some fine tuning to do but now its producing beautiful shavings. i can't imagine working wood without wooden planes.