Grey Stone Green

It's that time of year again...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:23:00 +0000

In our little family, the first weekend after Halloween is Tree Raising Weekend!

I'm not much for the commercial celebration of Christmas, but I sure love the feeling I get, surrounded by soft lights and greenery and... plaid tree skilts.

(Did I just coin a new word??)

I didn't used to feel that way. I used to dread the winter holidays. Some of my more dominant memories were always of people bickering and fighting about having too many or not enough ornaments on the tree and lots of hustle and bustle and parties where I had to behave properly (or, better yet, not be seen).

When I was still dating my wife, the topic came up as we were decorating her mom's Christmas tree. Or, rather, as THEY were decorating the tree and I was sitting in the other room not having a terribly good time. That day I realized something - that I had to make my own positive Christmas memories, that I've changed a lot over the years and it doesn't have to be a holiday I hate!

So, the year we moved into our new house, we decided to start a new tradition and get into the holiday season a little earlier than most. We always make a small party of it - invite a few close friends over to a good meal, good beer, Christmas music (this year's first album was Rob Crabtree's A Piper Christmas, which is a repeat from last year... it's a great album!) and then we went to something a little more hands-off, using Pandora to (mostly) play a good variety of holiday tunes. (I say "mostly" because Pandora and I have been known to fight about what is deemed "good" music.)

We've minimized the dangers to Finley a bit by only using non-breakable ornaments. We try to stick to wooden ones, when we can find them, but also use cloth, pressed tin, and pine cone ornaments, as well. He seems to be drawn to the simple ones, like little sleigh bells on a cord. He certainly had a blast last night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tree stays up all season without any major mishaps...

While the tree is the main decoration, it isn't the first. The first decoration I always put up is a lighted wreath out on the front porch. I love seeing how long it takes my neighbor across the street to get a wreath up on his front door, too. I imagine the discussion with his wife to be something like, "Well THEY already have decorations up... why don't we??" "Alright, I'll get started on them this weekend... *mumble mumble* damned neighbor and his Christmas spirit *mumble mumble*"

(It's usually about two weeks.)

As per her usual, Baby Teeters took position under the tree before we even had it totally put together. This time of the year, if the tree lights are on, you will find her sleeping under it. She does look lovely under there, I must say. She tends to leave the presents alone, as long as I leave a spot for her to sleep, but I have had to re-wrap a few over the years.

Let me be the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I hope the season brings you the same kind of joy I get from it.

Yes, this is pretty much how I felt when I was there, too...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:55:00 +0000

I seem to be in a really good music groove lately.

When I first started listening to Mumford & Sons, it wasn't long thereafter that I saw them play a few songs on VH1's Unplugged. My only real disappointment was that the show was a half hour long and they only aired three songs. I wanted more!

And one of the songs, England, wasn't even theirs! It is by The National, an indie band out of Cincinnati, OH. Fortunately, it's a great song. I love the original version. But I think M&S made it just a little better...

I've only spent a week in London (two weeks total in the UK) so far in my life, and it was a while ago, but I still have very vivid memories of the general atmosphere, of the places we visited, and of the people we met.

I remember being awed into silence during the drizzly walk back from Westminster Abby after listening to the choir. I recall thinking it would be hard to sit in such an overwhelming and monumental building, listening to the beautiful sounds of the boys' choir, and not have your belief in a higher power be strengthened. And this was even in my rebellious, flop-but-shaved haircut, long black trench coat, spiked bracelet and boots days.

When visiting another cathedral (the name of which leaves me at the moment), we entered from the east and ended up leaving the grounds from the west. Upon exiting, I figured if I just turned left, and then made two more lefts, I'd end up back where I started. So I turned left. After about 15 minutes of walking, I realized I'd never come across any way of turning left! I looked back behind me to see the whole rest of the group following... as if I knew where I was going. I was having a good time, so I didn't say anything, but kept walking. Eventually, we ended up in a residential neighborhood, where we walked past a cemetery to see two men digging a grave out by hand. I waved. They stopped to stare at the punk teenager leading a group of people on a walk down a quiet street in the outskirts of London.

In Bath, while walking through one of the markets, I was approached by a couple with a German Shepard; they were panhandling for money. I'd seen most people shy away from them - two less-than-kept Brits with dreadlocks and a mangy dog. But, really, they were quite nice and the dog wasn't at all sickly or mangy-looking. I told them I wouldn't give them any money, but if they were hungry I would buy them lunch. (That's always my way of finding out if they really want the money for food or for something else.) To my good fortune, they agreed, and I spent an hour visiting with them, chatting about anything and everything and nothing - where they were from and where I was from and what brought us to that spot on that day. I remember the visit with the homeless British couple more than going to see the old Roman baths, to be honest with you.

I don't often find music that stirs such memories in me...

I want more.

The Little Kiltie Makes An Appearance

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:45:00 +0000

The St. Louis Scottish Festival is always on the first weekend of October. And unless I'm off on some damned fool adventure (like attending the Woodworking In America conference in Cincinnati, OH, which was my excuse last year), there's a good chance you'll see me there in one of my kilts.

And now there's a good chance you'll see Finley there in his kilt, as well. His new kilt (it was a new size, not a new tartan, which is Ancient Campbell) was delivered just in time, thanks to Neil at Baby Kilts. (You might also take note of the fact that Finley is one of the babies pictured on the front page of Neil's website... yeah, he's a model.)

It was interesting to see what aspects of the festival Finley liked and didn't like. For example, we thought the pipe and drum bands would be too loud for him, but he loved them! He kept leading us closer and closer, though we stopped far enough away that it wasn't too loud for his sensitive little ears.

On the other hand, he wasn't at all interested in the border collie demonstration, where they herded a bunch of sheep around the field. I thought that weird because he always like dogs, but he really couldn't have been bothered. Maybe it was the angle we had to watch it from. Or maybe the police helicopter flying overhead was too much of a distraction.

At one time (this was before I was born, in the early 70's), I think my parents may have been the only proud owners of a herd of highland cattle in the state of Missouri. They didn't last but a year or two, though. Apparently highland cattle don't like fences and are quite deft when it comes to circumventing them. Or, at least, they were good at breaking free from the fences on our farm. After chasing them down one too many times, the diminutive bovines ended up on a shipping truck. I don't know if my mom has any pictures of them - if I find any, I'll append this post with them.

Watching Finley's reaction to the two highland cattle at the St. Louis Scottish Games made me want to go out and get another herd! He really enjoyed getting up close to them and they're small enough that they didn't scare him. I venture to say he could have ridden one...

(As an aside, I think these cows were probably raised in America, because I didn't hear any kind of accent when they mooed. Not even a bad Kevin Costner one...)

I Heart This...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:58:00 +0000

If I still used a CD player, my Sigh No More CD would possibly never leave it.

(Crap. You know you're getting old when things you used to do have become "proverbial"...)

So I don't have the album on CD, but it is on my iTouch. And I listen to Mumford & Sons daily (I don't just listen to this album all day long, but it does get played at least once a day).

If you've not heard them yet, then here is a taste.

I don't often come across new music that resonates in my soul like these guys do. Thought I would share...

Coming up... a few weeks ago, Finley came face-to-face with his first Highland cow. Will post pictures before this weekend. :)

And Now For Something Completely Different... Part 01

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:01:00 +0000

Ever notice how The Inlaw Josie Wales...

has some striking similarities to Little Martha...

I wonder if there was some influence there, recognized or subliminal. Or maybe I'm being influenced by the Hi-Rev coffee I'm drinking right now... *shakes*

Either way, both really great songs.

Could Have Been Worse...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:18:00 +0000

Over the Labor Day weekend, on our way to visit the in-laws in Ohio, we stopped at a friend's house in Columbus for lunch and a brief visit. While there, Finley did his duty (doody?) like a courteous little boy (i.e. he didn't do it while we were doing 80 mph on the interstate). We asked where we could change him.

"Oh, anywhere is fine. You can change him there in the living room, if you want."

Having had our share of diaper changing challenges when traveling with the baby, my wife and I exchanged furtive glances of concern. But we eventually consented (mostly because we didn't have much choice). The living room had two possible surfaces - an upholstered futon and a leather ottoman. We chose the brown leather ottoman, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who has changed a diaper with a very strong and willful baby.

He didn't flip and toss, but Finley promptly forgot his courtesies and peed everywhere during the 5 seconds he wasn't wearing a diaper. Floor, ottoman, himself... me.

*sigh*

But, ultimately, it wasn't really a big deal and we quickly had it cleaned up. We offered many apologies, which were graciously accepted. After lunch, we continued on our way.

The other day, we got an e-mail from that friend, making sure we had a good trip and inviting us back the next time we were driving through. As an aside, she mentioned they now refer to that piece of furniture as "the pottoman".

I quickly replied, "Hey, at least you don't have a 'poopton'".

Her Favourite Sesame Street Song...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Before he was born, my wife and I made a conscious decision to not turn the TV on when our son was awake in the house. We asked family and babysitters to please consider this, as well, when he was in their residence. The goal was to reduce his exposure to television to as little as possible for at least the first two years of his life. So far, it has gone well! In fact, he hardly seems interested in it at all when we chance upon a TV when out in public.

Yesterday, the 6-year-old daughter of one of our babysitters asked me (in the matter-of-fact way only a 6-year-old can ask) why Finley wasn't allowed to watch TV like other babies.

I explained to her that we feel this time in his life is the most important, as far as brain development is concerned. We want his interactions with the world around him, at least for the first two years of his life, to be based on direct and personal communication with his parents and extended family. We want him to explore, to sit with us as we read to him, to knock blocks over and poke at things with a stick.

I continued, saying it was a challenge to ourselves to not ever resort to "putting something on" to occupy him while we tried to do something we felt might be more important than raising our child. Since we both work full-time during the day, we only get to spend about three to four hours of each day with him, and we want to make the most of that time.

Was that too much explanation for a 6-year-old? Maybe...

Her next question was, "Is that ALL?" Maybe she was looking for something more like, "Because I'm a mean parent!"

So with that explanation done, it should be obvious to you that this is not Finley's favourite Sesame Street song. It is, in fact, his mother's...

Green Blogging...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:41:00 +0000

In this case, it's just the savings of a few bits (or is it bytes?) as I re-purpose this blog to something associated more with my personal non-woodworking life.

(If you want to continue following my woodworking antics, please jump over to The Kilted Woodworker!)

First "new" post of this blog to follow soon...

Book Review: The Anarchist's Tool Chest

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:35:00 +0000

I hate to do this to you, but... I have another link to the new blog post. Again, I'll just dual-post until I can get some background stuff figured out (you know, during some of my expansive free time). In the mean time, what's one more 'click' among friends, right?

Book Review: The Anarchist's Tool Chest

Thanks!

Ethan

Shaking things up a bit with a new blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:32:00 +0000

So, after much thought and deliberation, I'm going to shake things up a bit here.

I've had an idea rolling around inside my empty head for a few months now - thoughts on how I want to improve my woodworking. Part of it involves skills - practicing to improve skills I have and studying to learn new skills - but part of it also involves my mindset and my general state of mind when I go down into the shop.

After two days of tentatively using WordPress to see how this new blog might work out, I was sold on it. (If you've never used WordPress for a blog, you need to. Now. I love, love, love it!)

Over the next month or so, I'm going to try and figure out how to transition my woodworking out of this blog and into my new one. I'll probably maintain Grey Stone Green as a more personal, non-woodworking blog. Should still be some fun stuff on here, but I'll have to see about making the switch on the Unplugged Shop so you don't see a link every time my little boy does something I think is cute. Until then, I'll post a link in here for new posts over on the other blog, m'kay? (Or you can always just follow the other blog with any one of the various methods available...)

Here's the main Blog page:
thekiltedwoodworker

Here's the first post:
Let's Give This A Try

And here's something that explains more about the title of the blog:
Kilted Woodworking

Hope you enjoy it. I think the last link is probably the most important one for now, though I do already have two posts up on being green that I think are quite snazzy.

Sorry for being such an absent blogger for the past year. Anyone who has had a kid probably understands, but I'm trying to make a focused and determined effort to carve some much-needed "me" time out of each week. It's there. I just need to sharpen my carving knife, so to speak.

Which Way Are You Going?

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Tue, 17 May 2011 04:03:00 +0000

"A properly set hand plane should be able to plane in any direction."

That's how Graham Blackburn started up his discussion on hand planes.

Well, wait a second... that's not right! Doesn't he know you should figure out the grain direction, then plane WITH the grain? You pet a cat one way, and you plane one way. You don't want to raise the hairs on a cat's back just like you don't want to push your plane blade into the fibers of the wood. He proceeded to talk about the myth of what I was just thinking - that you should always plane with the grain.

Then he paused. And he asked us if we thought, 200 years ago or 400 years ago, woodworkers always planed with the grain.

"What about curly grained wood, like maple or mahogany? What about crotch walnut and birds-eye maple or wood where the grain changes directions? And then changes directions again? Do you think people back then planed a little one way, then a little the other, then a little the fist way again, all the way across the board?"

No, they didn't. They set their planes up properly, they clamped their wood in their bench, and then they started planing!

To further illustrate his point, he pulled out a slab of Indian walnut and clamped it into the bench. It was several inches thick, with one live edge, some curly figure, a few knots, straight grain, ribboned grain - you name it, it was on this board.

And he pulled out a Lie-Nielsen smoothing plane, made sure it was set properly, then went left, right, up, down, and sideways on the board, taking smooth, tear-out free shavings each time.

Then he showed us how he does it.

Rule #1: You need to have a sharp plane blade. Don't bother sharpening above a 12,000 grit waterstone. Your basic set should include the 400 grit, for shaping, the 2000-3,000 grit, for rough polishing, the 8000 grit for getting a really good edge, and then a 12,000 for the final mirror-like polish you need to get on the leading 1/8" of the face of your blade and on the bezel if you're going to be working with exotic woods. Most of the time, however, you will be working with just the first three (400, 2000-3000, and 8000 grit stones).
(Note: The face of the blade is the side without the bezel)

Rule #2: You need to get the cap iron (sometimes erroneously called the "chip breaker", as per Graham) fit tightly to the blade. That is, you should not be able to see even a slight bit of light between the face of the blade and the cap iron edge. So when you're sharpening your blade, you should work the cap iron, as well, to make sure the edge seats properly on the blade.

Rule #3: There were two parts to this rule...
One is that you should set the cap iron as close to the edge of the plane blade as the thickness of the shaving you want. For a smoothing plane, that's really, REALLY close. It isn't as close for a jack plane or a jointer plane.
The other is that you should adjust your plane to have the tightest mouth you can give it.

That is a simplified version, but... honestly, that's about it!

Hey, that doesn't seem too hard. If I could accomplish that, I'd be a pretty happy man!

This evening, I was in the basement with a bit of free time on my hands, and I thought I would give it a try. So I pulled out my #604.5, not without some trepidation, and grabbed a turnscrew. The blade was already sharp, so I just needed to set the cap iron properly and make a minor adjustment to my frog and then I could give it a go!

I choked up on the cap iron, moved my frog forward a millimeter or two, and then dug through some boxes to find something that I might not have attempted before. In this case, it was a chunk of curly mahogany I was saving for a tool handle.

I cleared a spot on my small bench (not an easy task, with the mess my basement is in), pushed the wood up against a stop (without checking for grain direction - not that it mattered much with this wood), and took a couple of swipes with the tuned-up plane.

Hey, that looked pretty nice! So I flipped the wood around to plane it from the other direction and watched as one thou shavings (and anodda thou... and anodda thou) piled up behind the knob of the plane.

Wow! It works! I went back upstairs to grab my camera, grinning from ear to ear.

Thanks, Graham! I'm looking forward to trying out all of the other tricks you showed us in class!

Oh, and now I also need to work on getting some of my other planes set up the same way...

NOW I know what Chris meant...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Sun, 08 May 2011 02:37:00 +0000

In the opening chapter of his new book, The Anarchist's Tool Chest, Chris Schwarz mentions an interview with Graham Blackburn, and refers to him as one of his, "woodworking heroes."

I don't know about you, but from where I sit, that is quite the compliment. It made ME come to attention, anyway.

As it just so happens, today was the first day of a two-day seminar the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild is hosting with Graham Blackburn here in St. Louis. Since tomorrow is my wife's very first Mother's Day, I was only able to attend half of the seminar (today), but I felt it would be worth paying for the whole weekend, even if I could only attend a part of it.

I was right. And now I know why Chris calls Graham one of his woodworking heroes.

The seven hours of the first day that sixteen members of our guild spent in a room in the Creve Coeur Community Center seemed to fly by. I spent a lot of time frantically writing down quips and tidbits of information Graham threw out like he was overseeding a lawn.

He had so many great ideas and concepts that were just one- or two-line comments, like, "Jigs and guides make your work more accurate. The use of hand tools is not synonymous with 'Free Hand'," and "You cannot plane anything flatter than the flatness of your plane."

Which was shortly followed up by...

"You cannot flatten anything flatter than your sharpening stone."

I have a lot more in my notebook, but I'll probably have to read through it a few times to absorb the information before I write on it with any clarity. But I do want to share one part of today's session with you.

One of the first major topics we touched on was hand saws. He started off by asking how many of us had just two or three saws in our shop. It ended up being most of us. Then he spent a few minutes going into just how many different saws there were, from rip to cross-cut, back-saw to coping saw, dovetail to hack saw, and even how there were several different versions of each kind so that you could easily have 12 or 15 or more saws and actually use most of them at some point in the course of a year of making furniture.

Then he said he felt the reason hand saws have fallen into disuse is because nobody knows how to sharpen saws anymore!

(Still partially overwhelmed by the fact that I might need to know when to use 15 different saws, I had another possible reason in mind...)

He then pulled out a Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw to discuss one of the more common saws we might have in our shop. He said the saw in his hand, like many of the dovetail saws on the market today, was a copy of the old Tyzack dovetail saw and that he wished he had one to show us because they were such great things to behold.

I opened up the portable tool chest I'd brought with me, pulled out an old maroon hand towel, unrolled it to produce a very small dovetail saw with great patina and rounded teeth and said, "You mean like this one?"

It was the saw I'd picked up at the Woodworking In America conference last October, the slightly smaller brother to Kari's (link possibly only visible if you're Kari's friend on FB) brass-backed Tyzack dovetail saw. And Graham got to use it as his prop for discussion on saw sharpening and sharpening techniques.

Shortly after that, we broke for lunch. But before we did so, he offered to help me practice sharpening with my little Tyzack dovetail saw if I wanted!

Let's see... personal help from Graham Blackburn on sharpening my dovetail saw? Yeah, I guess I could go for that.

Given several limitations (a saw vise that wouldn't totally clamp my saw blade properly, a triangle file that was a bit too big, and some pretty crap-tastic lighting), I think I did a pretty good job! He tried it out and agreed it was definitely a much more usable saw than when we'd first started out.

So I have a little more work to do on it. Not a big deal. I checked this evening and the saw vise I recently picked up from John Zimmers holds the blade perfectly. So once I get a triangular file that is the proper size, I'll finish taking down a few leveled teeth and be done. But even without the additional work, I'm happy to have a nice little saw that makes fine dust with the absolute lightest touch possible!

We spent the rest of the day talking about hand planes and sharpening techniques. I'll have to save those topics for a different blog post, but I definitely want to talk about it because there is some great information in my little spiral notebook.

I'm a little disappointed I'm going to have to miss tomorrow's session. But I have my priorities straight, and spending time with these two wonderful people is the most important thing I could do on Mother's Day.

I guess I'll just have to catch Graham at Mark Adam's school some time in the future, right? :)

Purple Reign

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:38:00 +0000

So after a week of silence, I bet you thought I was already off the blogwagon, didn't you? You also probably thought I'd not done anything further with the shop.

Both not true.

Progress Report:
1. I've finished hanging the lights. They are bright! Yeah! They're wired so I can have overhead light just over the area where the workbench will be or I can have light over the rest of the room or I can have both (or none, I suppose...). Also have can lights against the back wall where I plan on installing a bank of base cabinets. I have plenty of outlets along the walls, so I can use portable lights for when I need to create a raking effect.
2. I've narrowed down flooring selection. Hopefully this week I'll be able to view samples of the three or four I'm going to choose from and will be able to put in the order. Would like to get the flooring ordered this week so I can get it into the room to acclimate for a few days prior to install. We'll be pushing this part to the wire. In the mean time...
3. *sigh* The walls. Ugh, I hate purple. So far, the exercise room purple walls, painted by the previous home owner, have defeated me. After three (3) coats of KILZ, I can still see a hint of it coming through. Is it because they painted virgin concrete? Is it purple paint coloring from Hell? Why can't I get it covered up? I'm going to let my third (3rd) coat dry for more than 24 hours and then I'll go down again and see what it looks like. Maybe I'll paint a test area with the semi-gloss top coat to see if it is giving me good coverage.

Wish me luck. And toss any advice my way you might have on painting purple walls.

Oh, and I had an interesting idea for the box commission I recently received. I'll toss some photos/descriptions at the person requesting the box to see what he thinks. If he likes it, I'll start working on dimensions and details. Don't worry; I'll probably let you know what I'm going to do.

Shop Flooring - Light Or Dark?

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:16:00 +0000

This whole idea of setting smaller goals seems to be working! In the last week, I've installed my can lights, painted the ceiling (two coats, semi-gloss), replaced a few outlets that needed replacing, put all outlet and light switch covers back on, and installed two of five florescent lights (I'm currently using 5000 Kelvin color temperature bulbs for a natural daylight effect; it seems a little harsh, so I might change a few bulbs out with a lower color temperature to warm it up a little). I'll try to get some pictures up this weekend.

In order to complete my current goal list, I need to finish the lighting, paint the walls, and get the flooring down before May 1st.

Thinking ahead, I'll need to get flooring ordered within the week so I can let it acclimate to the basement before I install it. A life-long friend of mine, Ken, owns a carpet and tile store and is going to help me out with the flooring. I think he's partly interested in helping me because I'm going with a new product and he wants to see what it looks like when it is done. I might even be able to talk him into helping me install it for some beer and pizza... (good beer, of course).

Continuing a theme of an eco-friendly (and not echo-friendly, which would just get irritating after a while) workshop, which will be the subject of another post, I think I'm going to give cork flooring a try. He carries a new product of cork flooring that is Greenguard Certified and comes in 4" wide planks, like a hardwood floor might. That should make installation easier (I can crosscut with my power miter saw in the basement instead of on the table saw in the garage). And it should be a tool-friendly floor when the inevitable chisel rolls off the workbench.

So now here comes my question for you, the general woodworking community. Should I use lighter cork flooring, like the image on the left or darker cork flooring, like the image on the right, in a workshop?

I'm trying to consider more than just, "a dark wood floor will always look dirty", which is exactly the problem I have with my 1100 square feet of Santos Mahogany flooring on the main level (which happens to show drywall dust cat prints really well). It's a workshop; it will be dusty. That doesn't bother me. But I do want something that is inviting and pleasing to the eye, in addition to being comfortable to walk and work on.

Things to consider when responding:

The ceiling is semi-gloss off-white paint.
The walls will be semi-gloss off-white paint.
I plan on setting up a totally movable tool storage system involving a permanent French cleat around the entire shop with smaller 2'x4' storage boards I can move around as needed, so the white walls will hopefully be broken up quite a bit.

So please, give me your opinion. Is the floor in your workshop darker or lighter? What do you like/not like about that aspect of your floor? Would you put your flooring down again?

(And no, this isn't some shameless technique for getting people to comment on my blog. It is a very shameful technique... but I also want to hear what you have to say.)

Gentle Nudges Abound!

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:17:00 +0000

I like to think I'm pretty good at taking a hint. In the last week or so, it seems like I've received about five or six of them. That's a little excessive, isn't it?

Hint #1: This past Thursday was the annual Show-and-Tell for the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild. Always a good place to go and get inspired - if not by what you see, then at least by the actions of others. This is also the second year we've had silent auction tables. I already had a pile of duplicate tools (ok, ok... they were triplicates) sitting in a box to be sold on eBay or Craig's List or just given away, so I decided to bring them in. Oh, ho! I came home with $230 in my pocket AFTER paying listing and selling fees to the guild! (I didn't complain about the fees - it all went to the guild, after all.) That will go far in buying my new shop floor!

Hint #2: Earlier in the day on Thursday, I'd received an e-mail from Spike Carlsen, a fellow woodworker and author of several woodworking books. A few years ago, he gave a presentation at one of our guild meetings. In preparation for the meeting, I wrote a review of his book, A Splintered History of Wood. He's just published another book, Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects, and wanted to know if I would read and review it.

Hint #3: My friend, Alex, has been posting pictures on Facebook of the progress he's making on his new workshop. Jerk.

Hint #4: When I got home from the SLWG meeting, I checked my e-mail and saw that I'd received a possible commission request!

Hint #5: My little boy is getting baptized the first weekend of May. My wife's aunt and uncle could possibly drive down from Ohio for the event! Her uncle has recently become an avid woodworker and apparently this new interest was all started with the turned bog oak fountain pen I'd given him for Christmas one year. He has a pretty nice setup in the third bay of their garage. One of the last times I was up visiting them, I helped him install his Gorilla cyclone dust extractor. His shop is organized, clean, and fully functional. There's no way I can let him see the complete wreck of a room I call my workshop!

You think five hints is enough? I do!

So it's time for me to kick into gear and get some things done. First I need to get some things done in my shop - a bit of painting, hanging some shop lights, and installing a floor.

I want to get click-in cork flooring. I think it will work well in a woodworking shop - it is tool friendly and will provide some cushion for my feet. I don't have quite all of the money I need to buy the flooring, but I think I might be able to take a "loan" out of our savings account to cover the difference. I'll pay it back, I swear!

And... that's my goal - to get those three things done before May 1st. I don't want to set too many goals for myself that I get overwhelmed, you know? And when my wife's uncle comes to visit, that should be a good opportunity to get some ideas from him as to how I can set up the shop to achieve the best use of space.

Oh, there is another goal - to dust this blog off and get it back up and running. I haven't been writing anything lately mostly because I haven't been doing any woodworking. It is hard to justify the first without the second. But I have several blog ideas running through my head, and some obligations I need to fulfill, so I'll work on that, as well.

Sorry for the prolonged absence. Hopefully I'm back! My only excuse for the lack of blogging and woodworking is this guy to the left...

Now... who wouldn't want to spend all of their free time with this little Clark Kent wannabe?

Going to the Woodworking In America Conference... Really??

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Yes, really!

I am fortunate to have married an incredible woman. She is an absolutely wonderful mother and a thoughtful and caring wife. And earlier this year, when I was presented with an opportunity to go to the WIA Conference, I didn't think twice about it because I didn't want to leave my wife home with our ~2 month old baby.

But it happened to come up in a conversation and she asked why I hadn't talked to her about attending. I listed my reasons and she poo-pooed them, saying I had a great opportunity for a unique experience and I should take it.

So I signed up!

It is just a few days before the conference now and I'm starting to get nervous. Not because I'll be leaving work a little early and rushing home to pack and then driving six hours to Cincinnati. And not because I'll be spending three days running around like a chicken with his head cut off, trying to figure out if I should be watching an instructor in awe, furiously writing down notes, or snapping pictures until the cows come home. And certainly not because I'll be attending much of the conference in unbifurcated freedom (look for me in the mocha Survival Utilikilt)!

I'm nervous about being away from my boy for so long. I wonder if I'll find the strength to leave this little guy...

... for three days.

(Before you suggest it, Skype is already out as I'm taking the netbook with me, which has our only web cam on it. Oh, but wait... my mother-in-law will be in town with HER notebook, which also has a web cam! So maybe I can still get to see him in the evenings!)

I want to try and take the momentum gained from attending the conference and use it to push myself back into doing some woodworking. With a new baby, it is difficult to find the time to make it in the shop, but I know the time is there - I just have to find it.

So if you're headed to the conference, as well, and you see a red-head in a kilt, be sure to stop him and say hi! (Hopefully it will be me, natch.)

If you're not able to make it this year, check back here after the conference - I hope to have several blogs written on my experiences there. It won't be the same as being there yourself, but it might be the next best thing!

Birth of a Sincox...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:23:00 +0000

I want to take a minute to apologize for being a bit remiss in maintaining my woodworking blog over the past month or two.

Instead of woodworking, I'm been focusing on getting things ready around the house for a new addition to the family. We needed to do things like assemble cribs and strollers, finish some kitchen renovations, get a closet installed, and paint, paint, paint. Then two weeks ago I decided to go in and have sinus surgery done to clear up an infection issue I'd been dealing with for six months.

Fortunately, we were able to get most of it done, and recover from the surgery, because I decided to suggest Dana go to yoga class Tuesday evening.

Oops.

She came back and complained about some lower back pain. I attributed it to the class and asked if she felt a twinge at any point where she didn't get a pose right. She said no, that everything seemed to do well in class.

Four minutes later, she felt the pain again.

OOPS!

Timed it once more, just to make sure...

Yep. In retrospect, maybe yoga wasn't such a great idea, Ethan...

So off to the hospital we went, suitcases and bags and books in tow. A short seven hours later, my wife and I had a new addition to the family. So the Birth of a Roubo will have to take a seat for a little bit as the Birth of a Sincox takes precedence...

(Oh, and as a minor update on the Roubo... I checked the lumber in my garage-come-kiln the other day and it is light as a feather and straight as an arrow! So when I AM ready to get back to working on it, the lumber is good to go!)

The Birth of a Roubo...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:00:00 +0000

This last Saturday a friend of ours was over doing some electrical work in the kitchen. My brothers and I had removed the old counter and tore down the tile backsplash the previous weekend. While the drywall was down, I wanted Mike to update the wiring to make sure all of the outlets were GFI and add some under-cabinet lighting.

Mike has one of those big trucks you love to drive around and every guy you pass stabs you with jealous daggers from his eyes. I like borrowing it when he is working on a project at our house.

This last weekend, I borrowed his truck to take a trip to Lowes. I needed to pick up some supplies for the work he was doing, but I also wanted to take advantage of the bed of his truck to haul a little bit of lumber home.

Two hours later, I returned, triumphant (and sore and tired...)! I had the lumber picked out for what I'm calling The Ten Board Roubo.

It starts with the hand-selecting of ten 12' long 2x12 southern yellow pine boards. Let me tell you, hand-selecting 12' long boards by yourself isn't exactly easy. If you ever start on a bench-building project in the future, I would suggest bringing a friend along to help move lumber during the selection process. Those suckers are heavy and unwieldy.

Once I got them home, I cross-cut them to somewhat smaller dimensions before I stickered them in the corner of the garage. The top is going to be 8' long, so I decided to cut them all into 8' and 4' sections.

It isn't much to look at so far, but it is a start... and it makes my garage smell good!

The mahogany board sitting on top of the stack is not part of the bench but another project I also started (er... picked up again?) this weekend. I'll have some progress on that project at a later date.

Total price for the bench lumber came out at about $150. I'd love to be able to spend the time and money on wooden screws for a face vice and pick up a shiny wagon vice for the end, but I have a baby due in less than 10 weeks, so both are at a bit of a premium right now. I'll settle with using the two record vices I picked up last year (a #52) and three years ago (a #52 1/2). As long as I recess the inner jaws and make some nice big chops for them, I'll be happy.

Decorative Wood Inlay Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:26:00 +0000

Decorative Wood Inlay
By Zachary Taylor

At some point in your woodworking endeavors, you'll find yourself doing inlay of some sort. It might be intentional, such as the addition of stringing to table legs or banding to the lid of a box, or it might be to cover up a mistake, like when I had to inlay an escutcheon into the front of a box to cover up an error I made cutting the key hole. Whatever the reason, it never hurts to have a book handy to get you through these times. Decorative Wood Inlay is the first book I reach for when I want a refresher to get me prepared for my next inlay venture.

Zachary Taylor is a woodworker from England who comes complete with the dry, wry humor we tend to associate with our brethren from across the pond. His writing style is clear and concise and easy to follow, but also very “British”. While wordsmiths will find joy in such sentences as, “The stroke is completed with the same attitude of the blade to the hone,” others might have trouble digesting the English nuance. In this case, he means the blade should be in the same position on the sharpening stone when it ends as when it began.

The book is organized in an easy-to-follow format, beginning with a brief history of inlay and ending with, as he so aptly puts it, “the finish”. Some of the chapters are a bit sparse, like the history (he does call it “brief”) and the last two chapters on adhesives and finishes. In his defense, however, I would point out that a book written on inlaying wood in a decorative manner should mostly cover the process of inlaying wood and not focus on the most basic mechanics of woodworking.

The first few chapters are useful to the beginning woodworker who already knows they want to incorporate inlay of some sort in many of their pieces. Chapter 2 covers the tools and equipment one might find useful while Chapter 3 discusses what Mr. Taylor deems to be important features for a shop setup. It is important to keep in mind that his ideal workshop is created with his kind of work in mind, so it certainly wouldn't work for someone who builds kitchen cabinets for a living.

The bulk of the book, of course, is spent discussing various types of inlay, covering several techniques for each type. Mr. Taylor first starts with one of the simplest types, corner banding. His first method uses a custom purfling tool made for him by Carl Holtey, one of Britain’s master plane makers. The second and third methods involve multi-tools (e.g. Dremel) and hand-made scratch-stocks.

He follows this process for each technique he discusses – how to perform the function with a variety of tools, going into enough detail with each method that they all seem comfortable and do-able. Throughout the next chapters, he outlines inlaying stringing, inlaying curved stringing, inlaying panels and motifs, and inlaying irregular shapes. Each technique he discusses builds upon the previous, finally ending with the high-end techniques of inlaying guitar rosettes and purfling.

Over the past seven years, I’ve amassed a nice little collection of woodworking books. Many of them are quite enjoyable and do get read from time to time. But this book gets pulled down from the shelf for reference and for reading pleasure more than almost any other. I think it would be a fine and inexpensive addition to any woodworker’s library.

Hand-Cut Dovetails With Frank Klausz, Wrap Up

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:43:00 +0000

On Friday, March 19th, six members of the guild met up with Frank Klausz for dinner at the Soulard Restaurant. The beer was tasty, the food was rich, and the conversation was daunting! Frank is anything but shy and his speak-your-mind approach to everything in life is refreshing, if not intimidating. If you ever get a chance to eat dinner with Frank, don’t pass it up.

The next morning, 15 guys showed up at the St. Louis Woodworking Academy, most unsure of what to expect, ready for two full days of hands-on instruction from Frank. Except to say we cut our pins first, I won’t bore you with the details of making hand-cut dovetails. If you want to learn how to do it the Frank Klausz way, then you should pick up his DVD on How To Make Hand-Cut Dovetails or you can find detailed descriptions of his technique in the September 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking magazine or in the book, Hand Tool Essentials, also published by Popular Woodworking.

I would be remiss, however, if I did not point out a compliment Frank mentioned several times during the class (and even once after the class when talking to Wayne Watson, the guild V.P.). The benches we used were not the best suited for hand tools. In most cases, we had two woodworkers to a bench and the one vice on each bench either didn’t work or was of such poor quality it was unusable. But after Frank demonstrated the technique for cutting dovetails, and gave us scrap wood to practice with, we all went back to our benches and figured out how to make it work. Not one person complained about not having a vice – people either shared what good vices we had or people made their own set-up with clamps. Frank was really impressed with our ingenuity and ability to adapt to the situation.

By the end of the first day, 15 people had 15 boxes (though they weren’t all quite the same size) assembled with hand-cut dovetails. We let them sit overnight to allow the glue time to fully cure. On day two, we leveled the sides, shaped the lids, and cut off the tops. Frank showed us how to add the hinges and lock and we ended the class by discussing his suggested finishing techniques.

Hey, those are some pretty good hand-cut dovetails!

I really enjoyed this hands-on class, much more so than any of the lecture classes I’ve attended over the years. Some people learn better by reading and listening and others learn by doing – apparently I’m one of the latter. Though I do see the reason for and a need for lecture classes in the future, I also look forward to the next hands-on class sponsored by the guild.

I don’t expect we’ll see any finished boxes in the April 2010 guild meeting, but I do expect to see a few in the Show and Tell portion of the May meeting!

(By the way, that first picture is Frank's box, not the box of anyone in the class. I took some pictures of it for inspiration.)

Cruel And Unusual Punishment?

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:56:00 +0000

One would think seeing such a display in an in-box would bring tears to the eyes of the average woodworker. I mean... an e-mail from Konrad Sauer could very likely mean some type of infill smoothing plane is in the works, right? And who doesn't want to hear from Chris Schwarz on a lazy Friday morning? Or any morning of the week, for that matter.

Alas, the Konrad and Chris in the in-box displayed above are not the plane-making and woodworking gurus you might be thinking of. In this case, Konrad is the Team Lead of a report-writing division and Chris is a member of a technical support team at the software company that keeps food on my table. And I work with these two quite often in my capacity as a software support specialist.

But up until this last week, I hadn't seen their names so close together. To be honest, as I stared at my in-box, wasting a few minutes of my day thinking about what I'd rather be doing, I did find a tear in my eye...

Getting Ready For Frank...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:44:00 +0000

This weekend, I'll get to spend most of two days with one of my favorite master woodworkers - Frank Klausz.

I spent some time the past few evenings making sure all of the tools I'm bringing to class are tuned up and ready to work. This evening, following David Charlesworth's ruler-trick method of sharpening, using just a #1000 grit stone, a #8000 grit stone, an eclipse-style honing jig, and a thin metal ruler, I got my two block plane blades and my smoothing plane blade razor sharp.

I didn't even think to take any pictures of the process, but when I came up with an end-grain shaving from my low angle block plane, I thought I would photograph it for you. You can just make out some of the text in the middle of the shaving. Not too bad for end-grain.

Yeah, I think it's ready for Frank...

I'll spend some time each night the rest of this week warming up my sawing skills and making sure the rest of my tools are ready to go, as well.

Hand Tool Essentials Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:47:00 +0000

Hand Tool Essentials – Refine your power tool projects with hand tool techniques
From the Editors of Popular Woodworking Magazine

If you are a power tool woodworker interested in taking your woodworking to a new level, then this collection of articles, pulled from the covers of Popular Woodworking Magazine, is a great place to start. Chris Schwarz sets the pace for the rest of the collection in the first of seven chapters, with three introductory articles discussing the reasons for, providing the motivations to, and outlining the fiscal ease in which you can incorporate hand tools into a power tool shop.

Since most hand tools do not work well when dull, the second chapter is comprised of nine articles dedicated to helping you make your tools sharp. These articles focus on sharpening plane irons, chisels, scrapers, and draw knives and also cover some of the different sharpening techniques, like using the ruler trick or adding a camber to your plane blades.

Chapter 3 covers hand planes and is the subject with the most articles dedicated to it. There, you will find information on what different kinds of planes there are and when to use each one, how to restore a flea market find and how to tune a new one, and on using wooden planes, smoothing planes, and jack planes. The last article is a bit of eye candy, with some great photos and information on infill planes.

The next two chapters discuss the use of hand saws and chisels. In the chapter on saws, Frank Klausz gives us the final word on dovetails and Chris Schwarz discusses East vs. West. Another article goes into detail on the usefulness of the bench hook and how to make one. The chapter on chisels covers basic and advanced chisel techniques, restoring an old chisel, and modifying stock chisels to work better.

Do you know how to properly use an awl? Or what the difference is between a striking knife and a marking knife? Or how to glue up a table base without using clamps (I'll give you a hint – it involves drawboring)? These answers and more can be found in Chapter 6, which contains several articles on the other hand tools you might want in your shop.

The final chapter provides you with the perfect excuse for buying some hand tools – projects! Start off your bench obsession with the Roubo-style workbench. Then follow it up with a cabinet to store your planes, a sawbench for sawing boards using the proper form, and some miter shooting boards for making tight, precise joinery.

The articles are all well-written with crisp clean photos and clear captions. They are both concise and detailed and easily read one at a time or all in one sitting. Had I not won this book for planing the flattest board at a Chris Schwarz hand plane class earlier this year, I wouldn't hesitate to spend the retail price of $24.99 to add it to my permanent collection.

Getting a little feedback on feedback...

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:15:00 +0000

The topic of constructive criticism has come up several times in discussions with other woodworkers over the past few months. I was thinking about tackling the subject in a more thorough manner, but I wanted to get an idea of how people in the woodworking community in general felt about it.

(Plus, I'm also working on writing shorter, more interactive, blogs and I thought a survey might be a good first step...)

Constructive criticism, as I see it, is defined as using your (limited or extensive) knowledge gleaned from life experience, structured learning, or books to offer advice to another as to how they can improve upon something they've done. When providing this service to another, I think the focus should be on the word, "constructive." Nobody wants to hear you say their work is crap, but they might be open to suggestions as to where they could apply themselves a bit more in the future.

So what are your thoughts on the subject? When you present a project to others, be it family or friends or other woodworkers, do you want to only hear the good? Are you completely satisfied with where your woodworking skills are and do not feel any desire to improve them? Or would you be interested in hearing what might be improved as long as it is balanced with some positive comments? Or are you completely comfortable with someone else offering advice on improving your work?

If you would go to the home page of my blog and take 10 seconds to fill out the brief survey, I would most assuredly appreciate it!

Guess who is coming to town!

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:36:00 +0000

Every year, the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild (SLWG) puts together a seminar for the month of March. It is generally a Saturday/Sunday event, with breakfast and lunch provided, attended by upwards of 30 or 40 people.

I've learned a lot over the past six or seven years, from the likes of Jeff Jewitt, Marc Adams, and even Frank Klausz! Presenters have discussed almost every aspect of woodworking, from power tools to hand tools, wood selection to "finishing the finish". We have had people talk to us about daily life in their shop and how they run their woodworking-related businesses. I have pages and pages of notes. Heck, I have notebooks of notes! I found during these seminars I can write and write and write and pretty much get down everything they discuss. And I've even gone back and referenced these notes for a particular finish or preparation technique.

Man am I tired of it!

What? Tired of learning about woodworking? No, I'm not tired of learning about woodworking - I'm tired of sitting on a cold, hard metal chair, doing nothing but taking notes for two days! I want to do some active learning! I want to put sharp edge to wood grain and hear the pleasing sound of a curl of wood being removed from a board. I want to learn with my hands!

One nice thing about being the SLWG Newsletter Editor is that I get to attend the super-secret planning meetings held the week before the monthly meeting! Ok, they really aren't that super-secret. In fact, they are open to any and all paid guild members. But I'm not sure I would make the time to attend them if I didn't have to!

So, being present last summer when the topic of the March 2010 seminar came up, I took the opportunity to express my dissatisfaction with sit-and-learn-seminars. I suggested we try to do a hands-on class, instead! And after a month or two of throwing ideas around, we decided on one guy and contacted him. So...

Santa Claus might have already flown back home, but, for 16 lucky woodworkers, Frank Klausz is still coming to town!

The class will take place on March 20th and 21st at the American Woodworking Academy in Festus, MO. Frank will take us through making a jewelry box with hand-cut dovetails (cut the Frank Klausz way), a hinged top, and a mortised lock. We will start off with a pre-cut and dimensioned pack of wood so we can focus on the dovetails and the construction techniques. As we won't have time to go over much else in class, sharp planes, saws, and chisels are a must, as is a comfortable level of tool use.

After two full days, we will (hopefully) leave the class with a high-quality solid mahogany jewelry box made entirely with hand tools as well as a greater understanding of our tools and how to apply them to wood. The class time is tentatively set for 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but when I talked to Frank on the phone last week, he said, "nobody will leave on Saturday until everyone has lid and bottom glued to their dovetailed sides." So it could go a bit longer (not that I'll complain). Applying the finish to this box will be left up to us, as we won't have time for that, either.

Doesn't it sound like a great class? Well, if you live in the St. Louis area and would like to attend, you might be able to join us! As of the writing of this blog, we still have one or two openings left. The cost for the weekend is going to be about $350, due before the first day of class, and I think that includes the kit of wood Frank will provide. It also includes breakfast (donuts, bagels, and coffee) and lunch (sandwiches, chips, soda) on both days.

If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible (through this blog or by using my contact information located on the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild website (www.stlwoodworkersguild.org). Open spots will become filled as soon as a $50 deposit is made with our guild treasurer. Once a deposit is made, I can provide a list of required tools.

How often do you get a chance to work side-by-side with a professional woodworker of Frank Klausz's caliber for such a great price? Not very often! So don't pass up this opportunity! I do not believe these open spots will last very long. In the event of multiple inquiries, I will start with emails received first and allow about 48 hours to get a deposit in before the next person gets a chance.

(Oh, the picture of me sporting the Lumberjocks shirt and standing next to Frank is from the first Frank Klausz seminar I attended in March of 2007.)