Norse Woodsmith's Hand Tool Headlines

Chris Schwarz's Pop Wood Blog: A Slight Change in the Teaching Plan

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:25:30 -0700

This week I’m in Bavaria to teach two woodworking classes at the workshops of Dictum GmbH. (And to visit my favorite coffee machine in the entire world.) However, instead of pushing the machine’s buttons over and over, I’m teaching in a different workshop and making friends with a different coffee machine. Because of heavy rains … Read more »

The post A Slight Change in the Teaching Plan appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Lost Art Press: Chris Schwarz: Strong Beer, that he might be Strong to Labour

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:11:15 -0700

Benjamin Franklin writing about his time spent working at Watt’s Printing House in London, about the year 1725.

At my first admission into the printing-house I took to working at press, imagining I felt a want of the bodily exercise I had been used to in America, where presswork is mixed with the composing. I drank only water; the other workmen, near fifty in number, were great drinkers of beer. On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands; they wondered to see, from this and several instances, that the Water American, as they called me, was stronger than themselves who drank strong beer!

We had an alehouse-boy, who attended always in the house to supply the workmen. My companion at the press drank every day a pint before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner; a pint in the afternoon about six o’clock, and another when he had done his day’s work. I thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, he supposed, to drink strong beer, that he might be strong to labour.

I endeavoured to convince him that the bodily strength afforded by beer could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of which it was made; that there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread, and, therefore, if he could eat that with a pint of water, it would give him more strength than a quart of beer. He drank on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay out of his wages every Saturday night for that vile liquor: an expense I was free from; and thus these poor devils keep themselves always under.

Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in the composing-room, I left the pressmen; a new bien venu for drink (being five shillings) was demanded of me by the compositors. I thought it an imposition, as I had paid one to the pressmen ; the master thought so too, and forbade my paying it. I stood out two or three weeks, was accordingly considered as an excommunicate, and had so many little pieces of private malice practised on me, by mixing my sorts, transposing and breaking my matter, &c., &c, if ever I stepped out of the room, and all ascribed to the chapel ghost, which they said ever haunted those not regularly admitted, that, notwithstanding the master’s protection, I found myself obliged to comply and pay the money, convinced of the folly of being on ill terms with those one is to live with continually.

I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon acquired considerable influence. I proposed some reasonable alterations in their chapel* laws, and carried them against all opposition. From my example a great many of them left their muddling breakfast of beer, bread and cheese, finding they could with me be supplied from a neighbouring house with a large porringer of hot water gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumbled with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the price of a pint of beer, viz., three halfpence. This was a more comfortable as well as a cheaper breakfast, and kept their heads clearer.

Those who continued sotting with their beer all day, were often, by not paying, out of credit at the alehouse, and used to make interest with me to get beer, their light, as they phrased it, being out. I watched the pay-table on Saturday night, and collected what I stood engaged for them, having to pay sometimes near thirty shillings a week on their accounts. This, and my being esteemed a pretty good rig-ite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the society. My constant attendance (I never making a St. Monday) recommended me to the master; and my uncommon quickness at composing occasioned my being put upon work of despatch, which was generally better paid ; so I went on now very agreeably.

* A printing-house was called a chapel by the workmen, because printing was first carried on in England in an ancient chapel, and the title had been preserved by tradition. The bien venu among the printers, answers to the terms entrance and footing among mechanics; thus a journeyman, on entering a printing-house, was accustomed to pay one or more gallons of beer for the good of the chapel.

Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself (1771 to 1790)

- Jeff Burks

Filed under: Historical Images

Brokeoff Mountain Luthierie: Julia's Guitar-Making a Copy of a 1933 Santos Hernandez Guitar-Some Photos

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:32:00 -0700

As promised, here are some color photos of Julia's new guitar

A front view.

The back.

A close up of the top.

A photo of her guitar compared to a guitar that is made on a Robert Bouchet plantilla. I suppose I should call this Julia's 1929 Santos Hernandez in that it is very similar in size to a guitar that Santos made in 1929. Her guitar is practically the same, the difference is only a few millimeters. Click here to go to Kent Guitar Classics to learn about a 1929 Santos Hernandez.

Pegs and 'Tails: A Small Queen Anne Gateleg Table – Part Three

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:44:48 -0700

There’s nothing particularly complicated or exceptional about the construction of the table’s frame other than possibly, the (aforementioned) upper gate pivot.

After drawboring all the joints, I assembled the gates (securing the rails to the stiles with 1/4″ oak pegs) before incorporating them into the table’s frame (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The assembled table frame.

Fig. 2. The gates operate within the frame.

Fig. 3. Shaped upper end rails.

Fig. 4. Braganza feet.

Jack Plane

Filed under: Tables Tagged: braganza feet, drawboring, oak pegs, table frame

Old Ladies - Pedder's blog: Holzwerkzeuge im Freilichtmuseum Altranft

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:47:00 -0700

Easter 2013 my family and I visited the Open-Air-Musuem Altranft. Actually it was so cold we were mainly indoor but I took the chance to take pictures of some woodworking tools.

Osten 2013 besuchten wir das Freilichtmuseum Altranft. Es war noch so kalt, dass wir die meiste Zeit in "unfreiem Licht" verbachten, aber ich habe die Chance genutzt, ein paar Bilder von Holzwerkzeugen zu machen. (Falls jemand aus Altranft dies liest: Ja, ich habe die Gebühr für das Fotografieren gern bezahlt.)

Ein Wagnerhobel - A carriagemakers plane

Hobelbank - Bench

Behaubeile - pair of carpenters axes

Rahmensäge - Framesaw

Blatthalter - Bladeholder

noch einer - another

Gehrungslade mit Fuchsschwanz - Mitre Box

Die Form des Übergangs gefällt mir sehr - I like tthe shape of the transition

Acorn House: Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:11:28 -0700

The Tinman’s Heart guitar is finished and delivered to a happy customer! It has it’s own page, of course, filled with details and pictures. And, like every major build, after it was finished, it had to have a photo shoot. In past years (thanks to teaching at a University as part of a Fine Arts school), I have had access to professional grade photo lights to take my pics. Sadly, they are temporarily out of commission, so I had to improvise. My first option was to use an inner office with copious fluorescent lights. Some of the final pics came from that set. But, depending on the angle of the camera and the lights on the guitar, some shots were downright ugly, with bizarre color in the image.

Here’s a shot of the front that wasn’t too bad:

And here’s the very next shot of the same from from a different angle that has gone horribly, horribly, awry:

After reviewing the shots from that first set, and finding not enough useable ones, I went searching for a new locale. Luckily, our Fine Arts building has a large glass enclosed atrium by the auditorium, and the rainstorm had finally stopped and was starting to clear. This gave me the ideal lighting environment: natural, but not direct, light.

Here’s the back of the headstock under fluorescents:

Here’s the same shot from almost the same angle, with natural light:

Big difference! The Osage orange actually looks orange rather than green (yech!), and the mahogany has that beautiful rich color that it is known for.

So, that is the first component to good pics, GET THE LIGHT RIGHT! But, that’s not the end of the story. Even with the right light, you still have to work out the best angle. Especially with reflective surfaces, you have to make sure that you aren’t getting light bouncing back, washing out whole sections of the piece. (This is particularly tricky with guitars since they have almost no flat surfaces; everything is curving every which way.)

Here’s a shot (in natural light) of one side of the guitar that is reflecting too much:

From the other side, the light is much kinder:

But, the most important factor in getting good shots is this: Take as many pics from as many angles in as many environments as you can! Pixels are cheap, use as many as you can. You can always delete the really awful ones if you’re running out of space in the camera. (A second card is also a good idea!) The more you have to choose from, the more likely that you’ll find just the right shot.

Nobody wants to end up with a Tinman that looks like he’s green to the gills!

Dan's Shop: Silly Stuff: How to Make a Tape Measure

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:08:00 -0700

How to make a tape measure in two steps:

Step 1 - Get a yardstick*.

Step 2 - Get a plane.

Complete!

*Instructions intended for use in USA, Liberia, and Myanmar only!

Toolemera: Larsson Sloyd Bench

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:33:45 -0700

While searching for a copy of a Chandler & Barber trade catalog (I have the later Chandler & Farquhar but not the earlier. Alas and alack!) I came across a Skinner Auctioneers listing of a year ago for a Larsson model adjustable workbench which I wish I had known of: This is the same bench featured in Larsson's book Elementary Sloyd And Whittling, 1906 which is sitting on my desk. All you workbench fanatics out there stop messing with Roubo benches, stop fussing over Nicholson tops and Moxon vises! Start making Larsson Sloyd adjustable workbenches for the next generation of...

Nabil Abdo: A-Frame Nightstand Completed

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:32:00 -0700

A-Frame NightStands

Walnut, Poplar

20"w x 15"d x 26 1/4" h

Watco Danish Oil (Natural), Arm-R-Seal

I initially designed this nightstand in 2011 as a way of blending dovetail case construction with a mid-century modern aesthetic.

The case features dovetail construction, seperated into 2 compartments with a solid shelf seated in a dado. Perched on four legs, rabbeted to accept the case, the design moves away from traditional mortise/tenon which feature aprons to join the legs to the top. The leg assemblies are connected with a stretcher to resist racking forces.

Matt's Basement Workshop: Weekend with WOOD 2013 – Brian Simmons

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:30:11 -0700

I make no bones about it…I’ve been very reluctant to pick up my turning tools for years now. I use to ask “WHY?” every time I saw the lathe in my shop and wondered whether I should just sell it or not? But I knew deep down that I wanted to get over my phobia and dive in someday.

That day has finally come and thanks to Brian Simmons’ classes at the recent Weekend with WOOD conference I feel even more confident than ever.

This year Brian taught several different classes at the first ever event, and I was lucky enough to take two of them. The first was a sharpening turning tools class and the second was a turning fundamentals.

Like I mention in the video, I knew deep down I was doing the right thing with my lathe, but it was like I needed someone to give me permission to continue doing it.

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