End of November, wrap up.

   So I finished my version of the Eldris knife.  I really like the handle, it is very smooth and comfortable with a wax finish. The blade is 85% fully sharpened and will shortly be razor sharp.  It turns out that I am glad that I didn't spend money on the real thing.  This is sort of a knife solution looking for a problem to solve.  It will sit on a shelf  with lots of other knives but at this time I can not see a special use for it.

  I have a project coming up that will require a bunch of dowels.  I have plenty of 3/8 dowel rod in my shop.  If you buy dowels for assembly they are usually fluted, the flutes give the glue someplace to go when you are setting the dowels.  

  I made my own 3/8 dowel fluting jig.  I drive the dowel through the hole, the points of the screws cut into the dowel and 

  end up cutting fluting for the glue.

   This little fellow has hung around awaiting the cast for his arm for at least two seasons. While waiting for glue to dry the other day  I finally remembered to make the repair. I can't remember were this flower pot ornament came from, but that is not reason enough to just throw it away.  This is the sort of cute thing that Grand children love.  And cute little things remind me of my cute little grand children.

   My wife was trying to make a Christmas video for our church yesterday.  I went into the shop and made a cell phone holder using a 1/4-20 nut and some wood scraps. It is nice having a shop and tools.  This holder is one of those things that may get used once a year.  I saved the cost of a shopping trip and the purchase. When the phone size changes this holder will not be discarded with the hundreds of tonnes of other quick, easy, cheap imported plastic junk. It can be  easily modified to fit the next  phone or used to light the BBQ either way, bonus.

 This is the big job on my bench now.  Our wheel barrow needs some serious restoration. The wooden parts are weathered to death.  I am gluing some hardwood boards together to make the handles. (that is were the dowels are going to be used). I suspect all the nuts and bolts will have to be cut off and replaced and the barrel needs to be sanded and painted. (maybe even patched in a couple of places.)

  Why restore this thing?  It has given years of service and is not anything special. Why not spend $100.00 and get a new and probably better wheel barrow?  Mostly I fix things because I can.  Also I really condemn our throw-away culture. We have the money to replace this but I have the time to repair it and it will probably last us the rest of our gardening lives once repaired. I would rather not add this to the local landfill site. 

cheers ianw

T-Square Jig

Dowel Jig T-Square:

  Dowel Jig T-Square Plans

  This is an excellent jig that doesn't take a tonne of time to build and makes your auto-centering dowel jig much more useful.  It moves it from the edge of your lumber to the face and so makes shelving alignment easier.  This T-Square will also make it easier for you to use your dowel jig as a drill guide when your project will not fit on your drill press. Double bonus points!
 

Black Jack Self Centering Dowel jig

  How often do you see something like this T-Square Jig and say to yourself, why didn't I think of that?  It is a great idea, and when I get back from holiday I am going to make one.  Books, workshops and the internet save us from having to re-invent the wheel when someone out there already has done it for us. 

p.s. look in tomorrow, I have one more quick and easy jig for you before I take my week off.

Dowels put to work

   The face frame gateway is sitting at the bottom of our basement stairs.  This gate is designed to keep Kieran downstairs when he really wants to come up stairs and hang out with us. If you are a parent/grandparent you know the routine at nap time.  They fuss and cuss and as soon as you leave the room they fall asleep.  The gateway is there to keep him from climbing the stairs and not being about to open the door at the top.  We are concerned that he would then start to push and pull at the door and maybe....bump...bump....bump and then everyone would feel bad.


  I used the JessEm dowel jig to make the face frame.  Ordinarily I would have used Pocket Holes but in this case the project did not have a hidden side so the holes would have needed plugs.  It was one of those few occasions that dowels or mortise and tenon were just the thing.  


  The JessEm jig worked perfectly.  All the holes were in exact alignment and and the was easy to set up.  I have gone on record as saying dowels are mostly about alignment, in this case that is especially true.  The gateway is longer then my longest Bessey Clamps and so I had to improvise a clamping station on my work table.  Since the dowels kept things lined up all I had to do was clamp one side to the table and push the other side in tight before clamping it to the table as well.  The adhesive quality of modern glues means that all it needed was a firm hand and 24 hours to cure, I'm sure the glue joint is as strong as the wood.


   The frame is elm, because I have a bunch of it laying around and finished with orange shellac.  I have found that the orange shellac goes very nicely with the natural colour of the elm.  


   The white section of the gateway is door skin.  It paints easily and weights nothing.  This way the gate serves its purpose and is easy to lift in and out of place with one hand.  It remains to be seem how long it fools the little guy because it is light enough that he could move it if he wanted to.


   FootNote:  The date time stamp is not right.  I don't know why that is on the photos and clearly it has not been updated since the batteries went in.

JessEm Doweling System

  I was loaned this doweling jig last week.  I did not buy it, neither was I given it, nor have I been paid or rewarded to write positive comments about the JessEm jig.  If your have read this blog before you will find that I only write about products and tools about which I can sincerely say positive things.


  Let me preface this with a couple of baseline statements regarding dowels and my working method.


1. Generally I am not inclined to use dowels, I am very happy with pocket holes. I make every effort at the design stage to enable pocket holes and to keep them from obvious view.  If I can't hide pocket holes I will plug them to reduce visibility.  


2. My view is that dowels are more of an alignment aid then a way to significantly strengthen a joint, my view.


3. When a pocket hole doesn't meet my need I usually count on glue and clamps and nothing else.


4. I have flirted with Biscuits and Mortise and Tenon in the past.  Neither one called to me with overwhelming power.


5. Having said all that... occasionally a project needs a totally hidden joinery system or help with holding an alignment while clamped.


  The hidden system that I have turned to over time is doweling. It is the one with the deepest roots. I made a cutting board in Gr.7 shop class and doweled it together (moderately successfully as I remember) and so that is the method upon which I fall back.
  
   I own three doweling systems, one of which is quite famous and costly. (not Dowel Max)  As they are un-named you can surmise that they did not make me happy. One was cheap, and you get cheap when you buy cheap.  One was very limited in its application, it does one thing well but only one thing, and in only one orientation on the boards.   And one has a long learning curve and requires fairly steady use to keep the skill level up.  


  With the JessEm I was successful the first time I used it, unlike all of the other jigs. The instructions are mostly intuitive and straight forward, unlike my super doweling jig that is collecting dust. It also appears that the jig will do all the things I need. The JessEm jig covers all the bases but you will need to keep thinking as the tasks becomes more complex.


  Note, as the given tasks increase in complexity I believe it is fair to expect the user of the tool to have developed their skills and understanding too.  I do not trust anyone selling a tool that claims it removes the need for operator skill as some jigs do, no tool is "idiot operator certified". 


  When I took the jig out of the box it was sturdy with a minimum of  parts.  Other than the body and sleeve of the jig most everything else is in one of your tool boxes should all the pieces not get returned to the box at the end of a job.  My jig came set up for 3/8 dowels, with the drill bit, stops, sleeve etc.  There is also an add-on 1/4 set up.


  My feeling is that a Jig should enable me to get on with the project easily and with a minimum of fuss and bother. This is the  doweling jig that I know I can comfortably  turn to it once a year and use it successfully without having to make test pieces and practice to relearn the special tricks.  In fact I can see using dowels more often because of ease of use of the JessEm Doweling jig .  The JessEm doweling system meets my requirements completely.