Crossing the Rubicon - measure, shape, smooth & assemble

   We have smoothed a pre-assembled wooded box. And have decided that is not enough, now we wish to begin with a couple of boards and make out own thing. There may well be saw dust in  your blood after all.

  When you decide to make your simple project, costly and over blown measuring technology is not necessary. A ruler, metre stick or length of string will do the job for a while. I sharp pencil is useful. If you must buy something, I like a folding wooden ruler as a starting place. They are solid, low cost and no tech.

  The next step can be intimidating and/or confusing. Shaping wood can be done with dozens of different tools, similar tasks can be completed with many different tools that require different skill sets. You know the old saying 'there is more than one way to saw a board'. At this point, the beginner in a small space with a limited budget needs to basically drill holes and cut the boards to size. Nearly all wood working can be done with very basic hand tools. If you search the internet you can see excellent wood working done by people is distant countries.  However, you need to be aware they often have skills that they've developed over many years, and they are spending hours on each aspect of the task.

  I know local wood workers that do lovely work, all by hand and for them the process is where the satisfaction lay, so they're happy to spend all winter making a jewelry box. I use a mixed shop because I enjoy the process but also enjoy sharing the finished project. If you read my blog you will also see that I try to match the quality and refinement of the project to its intended use. Out door flower boxes are not a carefully crafted as jewelry boxes. Storage boxes in the basement are less refined than things featured in our living room. 

  So, this is an easy 'made from scratch' project:

 Practically speaking you buy a length of dowel or use bamboo skewers  from a craft store or a big box supplier. The square wood my be free pallet wood from behind a neighbourhood store. (with enough time and tools you can make your own dowels, if you are a purest, I guess)

  To begin your wood working journey you need to drill 8 holes and make a few cuts followed by sanding and finishing.  This stand was the prototype and so it sits on my desk, roughly sanded and unfinished. Don't fear painting wood. Not all wood grain is worth showing off.

  To drill.  A couple of generations ago you could buy a reasonably priced egg beater type hand drill

egg beater drill

  Now, this type of drill when cheap is not worth buying. There are quality drills available but...they are for serious hand tool workers, are a life time tool and cost lots of money.

  The alternative is a corded electric drill. I suggest buying one from a name brand company and a 3/8 variable speed/reversing corded drill will do most of what you want and need for a long time.  Buying a drill with a cord also means that you do not need to decide what battery system to join. I'm on my fourth battery system since beginning wood working seriously 25 year ago. A beginner, small time DIY person will do fine with a corded drill, which will last their whole life and can be had for reasonable money. Also it will be  cheaper than any brand name cordless drill.

  Once you get your drill you find that there are tonnes of specialized accessories for grinding, sanding, pumping what ever.  I used my drill with a disk sander accessory for ages before buying a dedicated sander. Again, on the internet there are many how-to videos showing tips and tricks for using your hand drill. 

Now, we've bought our drill and a small set of drill bits. The square wood needs to be cut to size, how to do that best.  For straight cuts a back saw with a mitre box is not a bad place to start.

  There are plenty of good basic hand saws for less than $50.00. These saws only cut straight lines. ( and are worth owning if you  are going to continue to play with wood) This project has no curves but the next one may be more stylish and cry out for flowing curves. I think a corded jig saw is a good place to start. A jig saw can make adequate straight cuts with care and especially can make curves and shapes. Also jig saws have many different types of blades available  designed to cut wood, metal and plastic.  While not being the very best saw for all jobs it is easily the most versatile.

  Again a jig saw with a cord will not become obsolete and will last many years and projects.

  Once everything is cut, drilled and sanded it is assembled with white glue.  Most projects do not require high tech water proof rapid setting costly glue.

  At this point  you have around $200.00 including taxes invested in your new hobby and gifts for everyone one you shopping list.   Little kids like cut out toys, (lots of curves). 

You are on your way to a rewarding and cost effective hobby. 

  What tools you need next has everything to do with what direction you want to go with your wood working projects.

 cheers ianw 

  

 

A stress reliving project.

  I have a good friend that loves antique shopping.  He is a collector of local memorabilia,  t.v. stuff and many other things.  One day I went 'antiquing' with him.  Mostly to look at old tools and drink coffee.  I talked myself into buying a firewood saw.

  Why? it looked experienced and I thought I may one day restore it.  The blade was rusty and cleaning the blade was as far as I got on the restore. (2 ish years ago) In the process of shop reorganization I found a nice place to hang and ignore it.  

  We built a raised garden bed in the back yard recently and I tried to use this saw to cut the rough lumber we used. The forward arm split when I tightened the blade. I decided  to actually  restore the saw, rather then throw it out.  As you can see I replaced the split limb with a piece of Osage Orange, hard wood, but nice to work with power tools. It didn't go smoothly, there was more rust and figuring out how to clamp the blade for sharpening was a bit off putting but......

  Once I replaced the broken bit the only thing left was to sharpen the blade.

  To sharpen the blade I cut a slot in a 2 x 4 and clamped it to my bench.  Once it was securely clamped to the bench I used a small file to more or less copy the angle filed previously.  I was not hoping for or expecting perfection but....once sharpened the saw cut much better than it had, before the arm cracked.

  Then....I totally lost my mind and rummaged in my drawers, no one was looking and found.

Saw set by Stanley.

 This tool was a gift a few while ago and I didn't really expect to use it.  I took and carefully set the teeth on the firewood saw and WOW, does it tear its way through dry fire wood now.  Probably the kerf is wider that is absolutely necessary but for the first time, I love the results.

  It has been an emotionally tough few weeks and at a couple of points this job didn't reduce stress but at least it redirected it.  Having a wonderful spouse, super grandchildren  and a nice workshop makes life's journeys  easier to face.

cheers, ianw

Sharing Two Videos

  I bumped into a You Tube site recently and thought that I would share a couple of the videos with you today.  I have taken a couple of days off from the shop again.  My back doesn't let me work actively for very many days in a row.  Last week I was building a fairly large and awkward storage unit and so needed a couple of days with no lifting or twisting.

  The first video shows a Japanese style saw I've not heard of before in use.

Anahiki Nakogiri Timber Saw 

  That looks like a very good one person saw for heavy work. 

  The second video is making small saw horses.

Small Japanese Saw Horses 

  When I first started wood working I had a few tools and worked in my parent's car port or patio. My next project is going to be too heavy to carry up stairs so I am going to be working in our garage.  The circle of saw dust goes around and around.  It is wonderful to have a shop, and tonnes of tools, it isn't absolutely necessary if you have desire and a flexible back.

  

cheers, ianw

My Brutes

  In my shop I have several tools that are 'brutes', these are tools that do the ugly work that needs to be done.  I don't abuse these tools, but I do use them hard.

Heavy dudes, for heavy work - left to right

a- Heavy bladed knives with shop made handles.  These knives get used for scraping, staple prying, and cutting any sort of none wood.

b- Linemen's plyers. Great for cutting heavier wire, pulling nails/staples and twisting stuff.

c- Plywood saw, Japanese style.  I am on my second blade with this saw. When in doubt this is the saw I use.  It cuts wood, plywood. bone and all sorts of plastic hose and pipe.  I once cut a blue recycling box apart with this saw.

d- The rasp.  I made the handle for this rasp.  This tool never gets used on decent wood, it cuts like a demented chain saw.

e- Super Screw Driver.  This tools has opened more paint cans, pried more stuff apart and with stood more torque than I would have imagined.  I really don't remember when or where I got but would miss it terribly if I lost it.

f- Glue Knife.  I do not have much luck with silicone glue brushes, give me a heavy duty pallet knife every time.  Eventually these knives get thin from having the build up glue ground off and they break.  This is my second one so I think they last me 15 or so years, good value.

                                                        

and on top

g- Japanese Shop Scissors - These scissor will cut leather, paper, tin, duct tape, rags, you name it and they were cheap.  When they get lose I hit the hinge with a hammer and start all over again. I love knives, but sometime scissors are just better.

h- Pry Bar  I have torn apart skids and bricks with this bar.  This tool and a hammer make me the new anti-hero "Distructo Man"

  There are times when grace and subtly are not what is needed.  At those times of brute force you also need the right tool.  Using the correct tool, always makes the job safer, easier and quicker. 

Yesterday was Labour Day-A Related Rant-Revised

  So I didn't work.  I went to my Grand daughter's fifth birthday party and ate cake.

  That forgoing statement is only partially true.  Yes I partied and ate cake but, no I worked too.  I didn't build anything in my shop yesterday unless you count the toy I repaired and the glue test I ran, as working ( which is was).  The other two hours were cleaning, organizing, planning and generally putting stuff away where it belongs.  Also work but mostly not credited. Too many people work in offices and talk on the phone as their work, they don't have to clean up, sharpen tools or prepare materials before beginning to work, so they forget about that part of 'work'.  

  At this point I had a multi-paragraph rant about 'work' and 'labour' etc. written this morning. No one wants to read a rant about how people that make and create are undervalued.  Those of us that make and create know that and the other people probably don't read this blog. 

  So I am going to share photos of my latest project with my Grandson. This is why I love to work with wood.  When the batteries are dead,or the plastic has cracked on other toys this thing will be knocking around and inspiring an imagination.

  Kieran holding the submarine that he designed and we made from 2 x 4's recovered from his home renovations.

 The modern conning tower opened to show where this sub stores its drones. The design was K's idea, drones are very fashionable. How it works: He comes up with the ideas and it falls to me to make them happen.

  The sub hinges open totally so that the torpedo tubes can be loaded with elastic bands. There is a firing pin (2 inch nail) that pushes down on the clothes pin from the top.  Everything is a bit rough, 7 years old want results, and this 7 year isn't much interested in sanding.  I am tempted to refine this idea and make a small submarine just for grins.

  I have a video of K planing the edges of the boards, this is a screen shot because I can't figure out how to import my video into my blog. (new software, limited computer expertise, and limited interest too)  Kieran is using my block plane and he used my good saws and drove the screws to hold the hinges with my cordless drill.  At this point he is not tall enough, experienced enough or brave enough to use any power tools beyond the cordless drill.  I hope to get him working on the scroll saw on Christmas holidays. 

  I hope that he will be a builder, a maker and a creator all his life. His sister is getting into the workshop too though it will take a couple more years for her to get big/old enough to really get making.

cheers ianw

Skid Wood

  Re-use is better than re-cycle and wood is an amazingly versatile material that lends its self to re-use. I had my brother bring a couple of random skids home from work a while ago and on Friday I began reclaiming the wood.

 Taking a skid apart is not that easy, or at least this skid wasn't. 

skids waiting for my attention

 My best guess is that the skids are spruce or fir. Some of the boards are dense and heavy and others very light and prone to splintering.

  After hacking and slashing, from one skid I got this much wood. 

and ended up with this much useless firewood  for my efforts.

fire wood in a box waiting to go to my friend's fire pit.

 I think that I've ended up with enough wood to make a couple of garden boxes,which is better than nothing. These particular skids held no hidden treasures in their wood.  I will make a couple of boxes that'll  hide away in the garden amongst the roses. Actually the rough and rustic wood will fit into the garden as well or better than carefully sanded lovely wood.

 My suggestion for dealing with skid/pallet/reclaimed wood is to have a serious pry bar and a hand saw that you don't mind treating rough. This wood is so rough that I don't plan to do much sanding and am going to just stain the wood dark or leave it totally raw depending where the boxes go.

 Re-used material has its place, but it is a specific and small place in my workshop.

cheers,ianw

Bench Hooks - various sizes and shapes

The bench hook is one of those things that you need if you are planning to do hand woodworking. The hook holds the wood and tool shapes it.

  These bench hooks are modelled on ones I saw Roy Underhill making on this YouTube video.

   I made the hooks a year or so ago and have used them regularly. They are useful for longer boards but a bit awkward for smaller stuff.

  To work on toys and craft projects I made another type of bench hook. It is small and part of my made and use mini bench top.

  I use this small saw and bench for trimming mouldings, making toys and carvings. I also clamp things to this bench/holder for sanding and filing.

  The other day I was looking at Japanese woodworking videos and had an "aha" moment.  The Japanese wood worker uses pull stoke saws and a bench hook designed for that purpose. Their saws cut on the pull stroke and so the stop block is on the front edge not the far edge of their bench hook. If you Google bench hook you will only get push saw style hooks.  I guess you would have to Google Bench Hook, in Japanese to see a photo of what I saw in the videos.

  What got me thinking about this was talking about the pull saw in a previous blog.  I put my thinking cap on my pointy head and came up with a solution for a bench hooks in a mixed shop like mine.

            

  I have two excellent saws for fine cross cutting and so I made the bench hook extra long and put the stop block in the middle.

This way I can use which ever saw takes my fancy and not have to have two different jigs. 

The new Bench Hook is long enough that with the cleat on the underside tight against the bench the is enough length to clamp the corner down solidly.

  I bought the pull saw 15 years ago before there was such a broad selection of good European push cut saw available to the hobbyist. Now I have more really good saws than I have hands to work them. Just because I have new tools doesn't mean that I will get rid of my old tools, not unless the quality gap is too wide, in the case of the saws, there is no gap. They are both great saws.

  

Hard Point Handsaw

  I have talked specifically about this type of hand saw in a couple of previous blogs.  You might also be surprised to note that when I checked blog dates I found a typo that I went back and corrected.  You can now follow this hard point/economy priced saw story from here, to March 11/ 2012, to December 16 /2011.

  The other day a blog post came from theenglishwoodworker.com, he was posting about building a work bench and how he wanted to build it with basic tools to show that it was possible without spending a fortune.  I agree with him, and other bloggers, wood working in enjoyable and does not have to break the bank, and again this bench build project proves it.

  He appears to agree with my position regarding these "throw away" saws.  I doubt that many hobby wood workers will ever wear one of these saws out. And by the time that the saw is wear out the wood worker with be well skilled and know exactly what they need to buy to replace the hard point saw. 

   Also, I seriously encourage the use of these saws when using re-claimed and/of recycled wood.  I have some lovely barn boards, but they scare me enough that I begin all work on the barn board with tools over which I would shed no tears.

   Not only does theenglishwoodworker have wise things to say,  but one of the comments talked about having a hardpoint/economy saw in the boot (trunk) of his car for dealing with found wood.  This is going to be a spring of found wood, there are countless tree branches in ditches all over rural Ontario.  I like this saw:

Bacho  22inch x 8 point 

as a potential trunk saw.  Good length, course enough teeth to handle green wood and thicker branches.  And cheap enough that I would shed no tears if it got lost, bent, forgotten, stolen etc. 

cheers, ianw

Hand Saw Bench

   This morning, once I cleaned up the shop from the weekend's boat* production I began a larger project for myself/my shop.  About this time last year my shop work went off the rails with a serious back injury, and to get working at all I created raised tables to sit on top of my desk, and benches.  Standing very straight enabled me to get back to work with reduced pain.  High standing desks work OK, my computer desk is 48 inches off the floor. A work bench for carving, or using a Dremel tool that is that high off the floor is OK too, but it is no good for any sort of large scale work.  I don't know about you but I am not comfortable with real power tools that close to my face.

  

  The project I began is morning was a saw bench, a saw bench is traditionally used with hand saws and is designed to be used alone, were as 'saw horses' are used in pairs.  The bench will be about 23 inches off the floor 32 inches long  with a broad stance for stability.  

  My inspiration for this project is Tom Fidgen's latest book:

  I have both of his books and recommend them highly.  Hand tools have an important place in my shop but, my shop remains a hy-bred with both power and hand tools used on nearly all projects.  My saw bench will be used with all sort of saws, jig and circular saws need a solid, stable, reliable platform upon which to work just as much as a handsaw does.

   As with so many things that I make I am only using the plan as a guideline.  

  Tom's bench has a very good design, I think and the idea that one sent of legs is vertical while the other is splayed out is genius.  The top boards on my bench are 1 1/2 inch spruce rather than hard wood, I had some stud lumber and I know that it will get beat up and so will need replacing.

  The legs are going to be made from 2 inch poplar that is left over from previous projects.  I find that some poplar can be very heavy, straight grained and dense making it a useful, low cost 'hard wood'. 

   

    In the next blog I will show a hy-bred technique that I used to rip the poplar board down from 9 inches to 6 before it was planned.

cheers, ianw

* Kieran was here on the weekend and he collected a bundle of off cuts in the shop that we turned into two river barges and a submarine.  He did some cutting with a small hand saw and used the cordless drill to help me drill holes.  Kieran also has begun driving nails, he likes screws and nails better than glue, glue takes too long. I think he has wood worker genes in there some place.

Tool Box Saw

cut down hand saw, about 19inches in length.

   A couple of months ago I was into the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and spent a few bucks on paint for base coats and some miscellaneous hardware, and this $3.00 saw.  When it got home the saw went onto a shelf and was promptly forgotten in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.


   I like to drop into the Re-Store when I am in the neighbourhood or when we are working on a project that needs good materials that don't really have to match. The light fixtures in my work shop are a classic example of something from the Re-Store as well as the beige paint that I   splashed around the garage when we bought this house. I think the Re-Store is a good organization and I have always got what I paid for from them.


   Anyway, I saw this funny little saw while I was shopping and for $3.00 I figured even if it was useless one of my crafty friends could paint a picture on it and I could hang it on the work shop wall.  The other day I was cleaning up in the shop and found the saw where it had been stashed. It is not useless, and will not have a picture of chickens or cows painted on it, it is a very good little cross cut saw. It appears that it was a full sized saw that was broken off or cut down to fit in a tool box and maybe even had its own mitre box. Now on my list of to-does is to polish the little saw up and give it a spot in my working collection of hand saws.   It will fill the roll of a tenon saw very nicely. 

Hand Saws for Sale at thetoolstore.ca

  I learned to  saw with European saws, and as much as I admire the Japanese pull saw, of which I have several,  I find myself reaching for European saws first now days.  In fact I am using hand saws more often now days than ever,  the raw, roaring power of the sliding mitre or table saw is just not necessary to comfortably get all my jobs done.  I can't ever imagine life without power saws, but...who knows what the future holds. 



   It is an extra kick when I get something like the $3.00 saw, that gives added value for my money or effort.  The possibility of finding something like that is what takes me into flea markets and places like the Re-Store.  

Wood Working on a Budget

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogschris-schwarz-blog/another-solid-10-and-change-saw?et_mid=529782&rid=130862447

   Chris Schwarz, one of my wood working heroes wrote an interesting and informative blog on a low cost hand saw.
 
   Sometimes the "Gods of Woodworking"  forget that many people live their lives on a pretty tight  budget, and so can't afford the latest and greatest hand made wonder tool.  In my experience that is not the case with Mr. Schwarz, he seems to have both feet solidly planted on the ground. This blog is a clear example of that down to earth attitude.

  We need also to remember there are many times that the wonder tool is not necessary, it maybe a once in a life time task, or it might be something that is seldom done. One of my low cost tools is my circular saw, it gets used three times a year or so, so I did not spend a tonne of money on it.  Yes, it is heavy, awkward and noisy, now that I have stopped using sheet stock the circular saw will get used ever less I expect.  The $10.00 hand saw Mr. Schwarz is talking about is a similar tool. Most people don't cut up enough material to need a super high quality cross cut saw, and this saw proves you can get along OK for around $10.00.

  The Stanley saw that Chris is talking about appears to be this one.
http://www.thetoolstore.ca/view.asp?Stanley-26&-39;&-39;-General-Purpose-Panel-Saw-15-726_11099.

Check out Chris's blog to see what he has to say.