The Newport Mechanick

Woodworking is a Gateway Drug

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 15:02:00 +0000

I always thought (naively, I am beginning to suspect) that as a woodworker, I would while away my free hours making wood shavings and dust. And also, sweeping up said byproducts. As I began the transition into hand tool woodworking, I quickly realized the error of that thought process. Many of the tools I need, or will need, are currently produced and available from contemporary manufacturers.
However, they are either shoddy imitations of the vintage tools they approximate, or priced beyond a point that I feel comfortable with. I don't really want to explain to the children that they won't be able to go to college, but wow do I have a great shop.

So, I have begun seeking out vintage tools that require a little love, shall we say. Along the way, I have had to do a lot of research, reading, and experimenting. And all of these have led to acquiring new skills and a new comfort level with metal work (other than the historic sheet metal work I need to get back to soon). And no project has been as challenging as the Stanley 246 mitre box that is currently in the center of my bench.

Once more, fresh from Craigslist.

Certainly, when I first brought it home, it didn't turn any heads. except for the children maybe, but then only because they had seen Roy Underhill use one. The paint was badly worn, numerous blooms of rust, some more than just on the surface, and several missing parts. Thank God for the internet and the knowledgeable woodworkers and tool collectors who generously share their information.

Step one of course was dis-assembly and assessment. I could have gotten away with a very serious cleaning and put it back to work. But why make things so simple? Besides, if I have to take a tool apart to clean it, I may as well do the best restoration that my skills allow. Our shops and our tools say a lot about us as craftsmen, and several decades from now when I am finished, I would like mine to speak of a conscientious workman who made the most of what he was given.

So as the Saturday morning of a long weekend dawned, I began the cleaning and stripping of the larger parts (many of the smaller parts were de-rusted and cleaned nights last week).

Smaller parts undergoing rust removal.

More of the same.

In removing the rust, grime, and at least two layers of paint from the main frame and legs, I was presented with a surprise. Apparently, a past owner had done some minimal embellishments. There was evidence of some red detail painting on some of the parts. Never one to refuse the opportunity to milk a project, I decided the tool deserved to return to its prior glory, and added a step.

This scale wasn't even recognizable when I brought the box home.

The frame repainted and part one reinstalled, the Stanley plate.

Repainted. It wasn't much, but I really liked the contrast of colors.

After repainting and my brief foray into tool decoration, I began the reassembly. I should have taken better pictures prior to taking the whole thing apart, but a few minutes of trial and error and I had the basic assembly back together.

Glamour shot number one.

And another.

Realizing that my Labor Day free time was coming to an end, I stopped there to clean up and took a little time to lay out the new wooden deck. I used half inch oak and cut the shape. Then off to my trash can for some ammonia fuming. Not thinking, I didn't cut the dadoes prior to fuming, so I may be repeating that process. I'll at least have the photos of the fumed board soon.

This day in (Mostly American) History:

1664 New Amsterdam renamed New York under British rule
1941 Siege of Leningrad begins
1943 Italian surrender anounced during WWII
1945 American troops partition Korea
1974 President Ford pardons Richard Nixon
1998 Mark McGwire "passes" Roger Maris with his 62nd Home Run*

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 13:46:00 +0000

Another year has come and gone, punctuated by another birthday. One of the many highlights of the day was the gifts that I received from my loved ones. One that made me laugh was a fantastic t-shirt from my wife and children.

Am I really that bad?

I was also fortunate enough to receive some gifts for the workshop.

New additions to my sharpening kit.

As I have evolved into more of a hand tool woodworker, I have begun to realize the limitations of my former sharpening kit. I had smaller soft and hard Arkansas stones in a smaller size. The stones were fantastic for learning the basic processes involved in sharpening and the size of the stones were no hindrance when it came to sharpening chisels. Having progressed to planes, I began to see some limitations. Enter this gift. Each of these stones measures 3x10. Also, I have added the Black Arkansas stone for a much nicer polishing. The Veritas MK II jig is also a useful addition, making it easier for me to create repeatable bevels on the wider plane blades. The very next day I spent a couple hours finishing the restoration of my Stanley 4 by honing the blade and putting it to work. After some fine tuning, I was very pleased with the results. More on that in another post.

Continuing Education

Thanks to the sale at Popular Woodworking, I also added some new DVD's to my collection. The next frontier for me will be saw sharpening and maintenance. Hopefully these will be a good start.

And of course, my little gift to myself, the vintage Stanley 246 I mentioned last week.

A gift to myself.

I was able to download a great deal of original information from the web and have begun the dis-assembly and cleaning process.

The first of the parts being treated.

After the bath, more work to do.

Hopefully the weekend, will bring enough shop time to continue the process and make a major dent in the work remaining on this project. And maybe even a little time to start viewing the new DVD's to gear up for working on the mating saw. We shall see.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to my wife, children, and parents. I am truly blessed to have each of you in my life. I hope to spend many more birthdays with all of you.

Today in (Mostly American) History

1777 The Stars and Stripes is flown

1783 Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolutionary War and establishes the United States of America

1861 Confederate forces march into Kentucky

1919 Woodrow Wilson begins a tour in support of the League of Nations

1943 Allied invasion of Italy begins

A Time for Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 15:24:00 +0000

Today, I turn 40 years old. There, I said it.

All kidding aside, numbers don't bother me as far as age goes. But birthdays are a time of reflection for me, especially the ones that end in zeroes. It's another year in the books so to say, and another year beginning and bringing with it new opportunities. It is definitely a time to take stock and make plans.

Forty, though, is a little different. Statistically speaking, I realize that I am in the neighborhood of the half way mark in life. I am fortunate to be able to look back and realize that I have accomplished a great deal in my forty years. I have been blessed with a great family (thank you mom and dad for all that you are in my life), wonderful experiences, and many opportunities to gain knowledge and skills. For the most part, I have been able to pursue my interests and dabble in many different areas,

The last year (or seven) has been one of change. I was blessed to meet and marry a woman who is, at least to me, the picture of perfection. A truly amazing woman, friend, mother, wife and genuinely good soul. I have been graced by the presence and love of two wonderful children. We have made great progress in household renovations (one of the main reasons this blog has been so quiet these past few months) and reclaiming the yard from years of neglect. Back in January I started this blog as a means of interacting with fellow woodworkers, and it has been a tremendous experience. Among others, thank you to +Ralph J Boumenot, +Jonas Jensen and +Robert Demers for all of your advice, encouragement and support. As I get this blog back up and running, I hope to continue talking with each of you and hopefully many more.

Realizing that I have lived such a wonderful forty years, it brings me to what will hopefully be the next forty plus. There are so many things that I still hope to accomplish in life. Of course continuing to be a better son, husband and father. Professionally, I have many goals, not the least of which is finally going to graduate school. Physically, I have been working for months at taking better care of myself. Plenty of cardio and weights (although not nearly the way that i worked out a couple decades ago) and a more healthy diet.

But for the purpose of this blog, I am very excited about dedicating myself to finding more time in the shop, taking classes and pushing myself to become a better all around craftsman. That's not to say that I've been completely inactive. I have had a number of small projects pass through the shop and I have a backlog of material for posts which I promise to get to in the coming days. But I do need to be conscious of better documenting my work with photos and actually making the time to update here regularly.

And on that note, my latest project...

Stanley 246

I just blundered into this miter box and it's saw on Craigslist on Monday. I have been using a shop made miter box for some time, waiting patiently for the opportunity to upgrade. While the Stanley 246 would not have been my first choice, the price was right and at least this will be good practice in restoring it to working order. The saw definitely needs some work, sharpening at a minimum. I am not sure how effective the box will be when I finish, but I will definitely have some fun with the process. I began the dis-assembly last night with the help of original documents I was able to find online. Hopefully I will have some time to get to it this weekend, if not before. I'll update my progress as I go.

Also, in the next couple days, I'll share some of my woodworking related birthday gifts.

This Day in (Mostly) American History

1804 Lewis and Clark promote Patrick Gass to Seargent

1862 Second Bull Run campaign begins

1920 19th Amendment Adopted

1939 First Televised Major League Baseball game

1944 Charles DeGaulle enters a liberated Paris

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Tue, 05 May 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Six months after her surgery and a grueling therapy schedule, my wife has returned to work at a new job closer to our home. She is loving the work, but it is a change for both of us. Yesterday began week three and little by little, we are acclimating ourselves to our new schedule. Couple that with spring break for the children, (very different form my last spring break: rumor has it that I had a great time) and spring bringing a tremendous laundry list of outdoor chores and repairs after our harsh winter, and we have the makings of a dead period here on my blog. I have been finding shop time where I can, finishing some small projects that have been languishing on my bench for some time. That said, I have a decent amount of material to share here if I can only find the time to sit down at the computer and write.

So today, I would like to post my first completed project, just to prove that I am in fact, still alive and mostly well.

My Grandfather's block plane, finally reassembled and ready for work.

I began work on this plane hoping to do a very basic job of cleaning it up and returning it to work. I had inherited the plane at a time when I was either not capable of, or unwilling to use it in my work. Roughly ten years of Rhode Island moisture in my basement had taken its toll.

A picture from an older post showing the before.

Some would say that I have a serious problem with OCD, I just think I get enthusiastic about positive results. Long story short, the plane ended up completely disassembled, paint and rust stripped, repainted, sharpened, and honed. As you can see in the first picture, I've got the plane adjusted to take a nice fine shaving out of a nasty piece of scrap pine.

Inspired by my results, I have started down the same path with a vintage Stanley #4 that I ran into at a junk store. I'm working on it slowly, as I also have a couple of small woodworking and a finishing project that I am alternating on (which is to say that I am creeping along on all of them).

As we continue to get used to the new rhythm of life and spring yard work gives way to summer, I hope to get back to more regular posting here on the blog. Thank you for for your patience and I hope you will keep reading along. I have some bigger projects on the horizon.

A much needed diversion.

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 13:09:00 +0000

This post will be a first for me. Rather than begging the readers' pardon for a lack of posts based upon a lack of shop time , I will now note that I have actually been able to spend a great deal of time in the shop working on numerous small projects and experiments. I've actually been so busy working, that I've had little time to report on my progress here. Needless to say, I'll try to catch up in the coming days and weeks.

This post however, will be about a little diversion that my son and I embarked upon a few nights ago. And in the process, I was reminded how a little work time can bring the generations together.

My son received a wonderful gift some time ago. It was a kit to build a wooden monster truck. At six years old, he was excited to get started. Being slightly older, and very busy at work, in the house, and in the shop, I was less enthralled. But finally, my son won me over and we decided that we would open the package and read the instructions and plan our strategy.

Work begins on our "workbench", the dining room table.

I am embarrassed to admit, the project turned out to be much easier than I had anticipated. I had assumed that the kit would require painting, but lo and behold, stickers were provided to complete the truck. And so, as I am wont to do, I got a bit carried away and our planning session became a full blown construction session. He was very excited, and insisted that mama and sister not look until we were finished.

The kit was perfect for the younger, aspiring woodworker.

Everything but the hammer was included and all of the holes were pre-drilled. As a result, the project progressed quickly. I did start most of the nails for him and held the pieces while he hammered. I wanted his first real building experience to be positive. He can learn about the fun of hammer meeting thumb sometime down the road when he is a little less pain averse.

The finished dalmatian monster truck, complete with ears and tail.

All in all, it was a great project for father and son. It was a learning curve for me, as I had to tread the fine line between "helping" and teaching. In the end though, he was a great listener, and was able to learn some beginning lessons in woodworking despite my shortcomings as a teacher. We were also able to bond over my hobby, and hopefully one that we will share again in the future. I see a birdhouse in our future this spring. (As an aside, mama and sister were duly impressed with his craftsmanship. Sister will however, not be allowed to touch the truck without permission.) Thanks go out to my parents for providing the gift, sorry it took so long.

The proud carpenter and his first project, gotta love the urban camo PJ's.

This Day in (Mostly American) History

1783: Congress ratifies the peace treaty with England

1865: Abraham Lincoln dies the morning after being shot by John Wilkes Booth

1894: Bessie Smith is born

1912: The "unsinkable" Titanic goes down in the North Atlantic

1947: Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball

2013: Three parish and hundreds are badly injured in the Boston Marathon bombing

Necessity is the mother of invention (learning something new)

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:45:00 +0000

I had mentioned last week that a new project had moved to the front of the line. Last night, after I finished up some work on another project, I got started.

My next project.

I hesitate to call this chair an antique, well-used would probably be a better description. My wife and I purchased this chair a couple years ago because it loosely matched our dining room set and we were guessing that we would eventually need more than our six existing chairs. It came as part of a pair. We knew at the time of purchase that we would eventually reupholster the pair. But when catastrophe struck last week, eventually became now, at least for this chair.

Joint failure.

Certainly, I am no Don Williams, and this chair is definitely not among America's treasures. But it is a useful and necessary seat. So down to the shop it went. My first step was to remove the seat. It was an extremely easy job as three of the four screws holding it to the glue blocks were overly loose. The fourth was a Phillips head replacement. That accomplished, the chair frame will be more accessible for gluing and clamping.

The seat.

At this point, I decided to continue along and remove all of the old upholstery from the seat board. The embroidered cover, a muslin lining, horsehair fill, burlap underlay, and finally the webbing straps gave way to a very loose seat frame.

Some of the layers.

The frame discovered.

Factory made and doweled together.

The loose frame, will probably require some work before I reupholster it. As it is so far, I have already glued a chip back into place.

The chip.

The treatment.

Now on to more decisions. How much work should I put into the chair. Aside from the structural issue and the upholstery, there are several additional issues with the chair, including sloppy repairs and some more than average wear to the finish. I'll be discussing this with my wife over the next few days and coming up with a plan get the chair back into service.

Wear and tear.

Excess glue from a repair made by a previous owner.

More wear to the finish.

And a plea to all of our readers: Any suggestions as to books or videos on upholstering? I'd like to have it be as close as possible to the original, but being a newer reproduction, we will be willing to make some compromises for cost an comfort.

And finally, I hope that all of our readers who observe Easter had a warm and joyous holiday with their families.

The candy binge commences.

This Day in (Mostly American) History

1776: The Continental Congress opened all colonial ports to international trade.

1830: Establishment of the Mormon Church.

1832: The Black Hawk War Began.

1841: John Tyler Inaugurated as 10th President.

1862: The Battle of Shiloh began.

1896: The first modern Olympic Games began.

1909: The expedition led by Robert Peary reached the North Pole.

1917: The United States entered World War I.

The search for tools continues.

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:12:00 +0000

While my shop time has been limited, and several projects lay languishing on my bench, I have found some time to be a be a seat of the pants woodworker. I've been keeping up with all of my regular blog reading. One thing that has become obvious from that, is that if you have contact with enough other woodworkers, you're bound to be working on some of the same or similar projects. It's nice to get other woodworkers input either before or during a project. You have all been very helpful to me. Especially the non-professional woodworkers who's thoughts and issues often mirror my own.

The other aspect of virtual woodworking that has consumed some of my time, is expanding (or trying to) my tool collection. Since I tend to rely on vintage tools that I rehab myself, I try to look down the road and anticipate what tools I will need in the future. This allows me to hunt for favorable prices on users that won't take weeks to rehab. It also gives me the time to work on them before they are needed. It's not always easy to get into a good work flow, so once I do, I hate to break it to work on a tool for the next step. My luck in this pursuit is streaky at best, but I am always grateful for what I am able to acquire. Lately, I've had a mini-streak of good luck.

I've been searching for some time for a brace. My antique store finds have either been junk or priced beyond what I thought was reasonable. Same thing on EBAY, especially considering the addition of shipping. But I finally found the right deal, an old Millers Falls. It's definitely a user, but it's fully functional and the price was right.

This one won't require too much cleaning.

My next two finds are based on my spring cleaning. One of the old projects I'd stowed out of harm's way prior to my hiatus from woodworking came to light. And I couldn't resist putting it on my to do list.

The beginning of the base of a tall case clock.

When my grandfather passed away, I inherited a set of plans for a tall case clock that he had built for my mother. After living with that clock on a daily basis for more than a decade prior to leaving home for college and work, that clock came to symbolize my grandfather's craftsmanship to me. So when I felt able, I began to build my own. The plans are a "traditional" design, probably from the 1970's I didn't want to build the clock exactly to the plans, I envisioned something that was influenced by historic examples that abounded in my new home state. When I began the clock, I was almost exclusively a power tool woodworker. Switching to hand tools really won't have too much of an affect on my plans, but I know that I'll have to find a way to make the mouldings for the transitions from base to waist, waist to hood, and on the hood. I got a copy of "Mouldings in Practice" by Matt Bickford for Christmas and realized that hollows and rounds would be my best bet. My search is not limited to any particular sizes (I hope to build the vaunted half set) but the mouldings around the waist are going to require some larger coves. Enter my first stroke of luck.

My first set of hollows and rounds.

I found these beauties on EBAY, and I'm guessing due to the larger size (16), I had no competition and was able to acquire them very reasonably. They are in fantastic shape, even sharp right out of the box. A huge thank you is due to the previous owner. I also bid on some additional sets from the same seller, but as those were more commonly used sizes, i bowed out of the bidding well before my competition.

Mere days later, my luck was still in place. I found a usable set of 18's, also on EBAY. Again, no competition and another addition to my growing collection of hand tools.

The 18's just out of the box and in need of some work.

The shipping of these planes provides an odd and (for me) unsettling story. I received an e-mail while at work that they had been delivered. When I got home that night, I had forgotten about them, until my family and I were out for dinner. When I remembered, I asked my wife, but she said they had never arrived. It really ruined my night (Wednesday) and most of the next day, but I held out hope. By Friday night, I had come to the realization that they were probably stolen off my front steps. When the thief of thieves opened the package, I was sure that one more set of planes would be bound for the landfill. But surprisingly, early Saturday afternoon, the package mysteriously appeared on my porch. The box was pristine, completely unopened. I still don't know what to make of it, but I am very thankful that they finally found their way to their new home.

The second set of planes was in need of a lot more work. I won't go into that here as +William Lattanzio did an excellent job documenting his work on a set of these planes here: https://confusedwoodworker.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/rehab/. Thank you for your help.

I have a long way to go to complete the set, but at least I've ticked two off the list.

This Day in (Mostly American) History

1513: Ponce de Leon reaches Florida.

1777: Ebenezer Learned promoted to Brigadier General.

1863: Riots in Richmonnd , Va. over food shortages.

1865: The Army of the Potomac captures the Confederate lines surrounding Petersburg, Va.

1902: The first female judge passes away in Wyoming.

1917: Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war.

1941: Erwin Rommel recaptures Libya.

2005:Pope John Paul II passes away.

So busy doing nothing, I haven't had time do anything at all

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 14:19:00 +0000

While the title is more than a little bit of an overstatement, it seems like the time that I have in the shop has been diffused into small projects too numerous to mention. Many of the projects have been either underwhelming, not very much fun, or covered on other blogs (probably better than I would be able to). Also, using the last of my vacation time before the end of our fiscal year yesterday has led to activities outside of the shop. But today, good readers, I would like to update my work and also pledge to update this blog more regularly (hopefully with interesting content).

Spring appears to be on it's way here in drab New England. I can tell from the weeks of fighting the tide of snow melt into my basement shop. I have not however, been able to discern it's arrival either by the thermometer, or by looking out my window.

Could this finally be winter's last gasp?

This past Saturday brought snow flurries all day. Sunday morning dawned to reveal a dusting, and more disappointingly, a thin layer of ice covering almost everything. The heavy snows this winter wreaked more than the normal amount of damage to my yard. Now if the weather would just cooperate, I could begin the repairs.

In my last post, I had mentioned working on some of my planes. As is often the case, I got a little carried away. I had set out just to sharpen the blades. But maybe in an effort to put off more difficult tasks, I ended up doing a more thorough cleaning of all of my planes and a more serious rehab of a block plane that I had inherited from my grandfather.

Flattening the soles a couple weekends ago.

Another continuing theme in my shop has been cleaning. I have made major progress in reclaiming the majority of my basement as shop space. The more I do however, the less satisfied I am with the way things are currently configured. I want to create a better workflow, introduce some better storage methods for my now growing compliment of hand tools, and just create a more inviting space. Unfortunately, this generally results in a lot of time holding my shop stool down, or on the computer looking at other people's shops for inspiration. The goal is to transform thought into action as we emerge from the winter season and lower heating bills result in more disposable income. A new bench remains a priority for this year.

One bright note from the cleaning is the discovery of several projects that I had begun many years ago, before life changes forced me to take a break from the shop. Some tinplate and some wood, several are worth taking up again, and I will mention them in a post later this week. They will be joined by another project that necessity has pushed to the front of the line.

And finally, the biggest project on my plate at the moment is the renovation of my first floor bathroom. It is not a full gut job, but a previous owner had done a fairly poor job of installing a toilet. The slow leak that resulted was nearly imperceptible. That is, until the day a footfall crumbled the wood floor under the linoleum. I have put this off for a while, but this past weekend, my beautiful wife intimated that my grace period had expired. Fortunately, the floor was composed of three layers and the bottom one was intact. Replacing the sub floor was an adventure though. Metric and imperial, nominal measurements, changes in sheet products over the years, and the settling of the floor led to this past weekend being one of trial and error until I found the right combination of thicknesses to match the existing floor. Fortunately I can report that the floor is patched, level, and nearly ready for tile.

Patched and leveled. To speed this project along, I will be utilizing power.

In the coming days, I'll be mentioning some older projects long forgotten, some ongoing projects, and some "new" tool purchases.

For the future, I will be closing posts with a new feature, This Day in (Mostly American) History. Occasionally, I will probably include some related items on events that interest me. Thanks for visiting and for bearing with me.

This Day in (Mostly American) History:

1621: A peace treaty between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in the Plimoth colony.

1700: April Fools' Day popularized in England.

1789: The first Speaker of the House is elected.

1865: The Confederate defeat at the Battle of Five Forks leads to Gen. Robert E. Lee's withdrawal from his Petersburg, Va. lines.

1984: Marvin Gaye shot and killed by his father.

Pressing Business

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:07:00 +0000

Some jobs are clear priorities. One of those crossed my path this weekend. My wife and I sent the children upstairs to clean and neaten. Several trips later, all of the trash had been collected and we had a new candidate for the" Isle of Misfit Toys".

Flight grounded indefinitely.

My wife had purchased this plane used some time ago. It wasn't terribly well made, and while not one of our son's favorites, I guess I had a soft spot for a wooden toy that required more imagination than most toys on the market today. Besides, it was an excuse to putter around in the shop on a day when I didn't have the ability to work on something more involved. At a glance, it looked like an easy fix, just glue the wing back on. Off we went to the hangar for some much needed maintenance.

Once in my shop, lucidity (and a cup of coffee) kicked in. Not only was the wing broken free, but the entire tail section had been snapped off along the grain line. Judging by the wood color, my son had never enjoyed the plane in it's entirety. Looking further, on the bottom of the wing, there had once been landing gear. Now, being something of a perfectionist, clearly, just gluing the wing on would not be an option.

My first order of business was to glue the wing back on. I figured that if he enjoyed the plane in that state for so long, he would continue to, at least for a while. Then I would assess what more could be done.

A little closer to air-worthy.

Next, I sawed the remaining tail section back to a 90 degree angle to the sides of the plane's body. That would give me a solid surface to glue to. The body of the plane was slightly thicker than the one inch stock that I had in the scrap bin. So I planed down an off-cut from one of the bedside table legs I had on hand. Once I reached the proper thickness, I drilled both pieces for a dowel, as the curved bottom of the plane would not allow for proper clamping. I rough cut the tail piece and glued it up, using a rubber band to hold it in place.

Once all of the glue had dried, I cut a new rear wing in a profile to match the main wing. I attached that with glue and brads. I'm hoping to keep this plane on the flight line for some time to come.

The plane, waiting for a little blending on the tail section with chisels and a rasp.

Over the next few evenings, I hope to shape the tail section and figure out what to do about the landing gear. I was going to cut the wheels with a plug cutter I had, but as with many tools, it seems to have gone missing for a time during my on-going shop reclamation project. I'll keep looking as I also work to remove the growing pond of snow melt from the shop.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope to see you again soon. I'm off to bail more water out of my shop.

A Weekend of Odds and Ends

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 13:07:00 +0000

As last weekend approached, I was greeted with some good news, and a dilemma. The dilemma, as I mentioned last week, was the water infiltration into my shop. I had worked hard to eliminate what had already gotten in, and to remove snow from around the house to a less threatening position in the back yard. I mentioned that, as I was writing my last post, the snow was falling. And it continued throughout the day and evening. The foot that we received quickly replaced all the snow I had removed and with more warm weather the last couple days, also replaced the water in the shop. So I once again took up my shovel to relocate much of the newest snow. We'll see how well that will worked in the coming days.

As for the good news, we are nearing the end of our fiscal year at work, and I have some vacation time leftover, so I will be taking Fridays off for the entire month of March and hopefully that will translate into some productive shop time, fingers crossed. Also, this past Saturday, my wife and children spent a good portion of the day with a friend and her son, so between Friday and Saturday, I was able to visit two antique stores for a little rust hunting. On Friday, I nearly purchased and old Miller's Falls block plane, but at the last minute decided against it. Something about the shopkeeper's attitude reminded me that somewhere in my shop, I had an old Stanley 9 1/2 that had belonged to my grandfather. It was gonna need some work, but I have nothing but time (tongue in cheek). Saturday's trip netted a couple small egg-beater drills. Both were small, one for me that needed some cleaning, and one for my son's tool chest. His was nearly pristine, but a brand I had never heard of. Off to the big box for some cleaning supplies.

So back in the shop, I spent about twenty minutes finding the block plane. Not as bad as I remembered it being, but definitely in need of some work.

A little rust and a couple non-moving parts.

A little better from this angle.

I disassembled the entire plane and the body and blade went into a rust removing bath. The bath made quick work of the blade, just a couple hours. It came out looking nearly brand new. Not bad for a plane that is at least thirty years old and has seen very limited use for the last two decades. The body was another story all together. Between two soakings, the total was about twelve hours in the bath. In addition to the rust, it also removed some loose paint, so I'll have to touch that up, hopefully some night this week. The blade will need some honing as well. The cap was easy. No rust, just a lot of dust and grime. A little WD40 and an old toothbrush and it's as good as new. I'll show the after photos as soon as the process is finished.

A much needed bath.

While the plane was soaking, I took a look at my new drill. Nothing complex at all.

A "few" years of dirt and grime.

One screw and a couple parts removed, and on to the cleaning. A few more minutes with the toothbrush, and reassembly, and the drill was ready to take it's place in my chest, and more importantly, go back to work.

One small project finished: a miracle.

Also filed under odds and ends, I am continuing my sharpening odyssey. On Friday, my wife and I visited Michael's so that she could look at some much needed painting supplies. I figured she would be a while weighing her options, so I wandered the store for a bit with that classic "deer in the headlights" stare. I thought it would be a very cheap (read free) stop for me, but au contraire. In my wanderings, I stumbled across the leather section. Something unusual happened, a timely thought. While I stood there, I realized that I still didn't have a means of a final polish on my edge tools after sharpening. A couple bags of leather remnants later, and I avoided having to make a return trip. Saturday evening, I used a generous coat of yellow glue on some scrap wood, layered on the leather and covered it with plastic wrap and clamped it up overnight between two additional boards. Sunday morning, I cut the leather to the edges of the board.

Another simple project, but at least it's completed.

It's just about time for work, so I'll leave the most "important" work of the weekend for tomorrow. Thank you for visiting.

Winter Doldrums

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 14:11:00 +0000

Having wandered around the blogosphere, (maybe more than my fair share) I know that there is no shortage of posts dealing with this extraordinary winter which just seems to keep on giving and giving. In fact, big puffy flakes are falling as I type. I hope that my readers will humor me as I add one more.

As always here in Rhode Island, we had a snow-less December. The one day of the year I can be fully accepting of mother nature's winter blanket (Christmas) past with cold showers of rain and the sickening browns of dead foliage. And then, without even so much as a few dustings to acclimate ourselves, we were welcomed to winter with the snowstorm of "historic proportions" in late January. Since then, it's been a series of lesser storms, one or two per week, sometimes every other day, just to refresh any snow that may have melted in between.

I'm sure that I am not alone, but my house sits on a corner lot that even during the best of weather, seems impossibly small. I am fortunate enough to have a large driveway, but also sidewalks on two sides of the property. And so, every morning when I awake to a "winter wonderland", I have to do at least enough shoveling to get myself to work and our children to the bus stop. At lunch, I often spend more time further cleaning up, and sometimes even more time at night. It's a common occurrence to have to move snow banks as the storms progress. My tiny yard struggles to accommodate the snow from the driveway and two sidewalks. No big deal, I just work until I'm tired, take a break, and pick up where I left off. But this year has been special. This year, my wife hasn't driven since her injury in November. And being the way of things, I allowed temptation to get the better of me. I allowed the snow to build up on and around her car. Oh yes, I've seen the warning signs. Steadily her hand has regained function. She has started doing things around the house that she had been unable to for quite some time. Somehow, I managed to ignore the signs until they practically slapped me in the face. Last week, my beautiful, wonderful wife took my car and went for a drive. I savored the moment of victory for all of a few moments, before my gaze turned to the window, and the sight of the humongous snow bank that was, at one time, her car. And so, fellow inmates of this horrendous winter, I picked up my shovel and went to work. It didn't take me long to realize the cost of my lethargy. Several storms and several freeze and thaw cycles had made my work all that much harder. Now, I am relegated to removing the top layer and praying that the sun will loosen the next layer. It seems to me a perverse form of archaeology. With luck, by spring, I will be able to reclaim a past civilization from the grips of ice and snow.

Phase one of digging out complete.

And that is my first excuse for being absent from this blog for so long. My second, is actually the opposite (yes, i know...I'm difficult to please). This past weekend and earlier this week, the mercury in the thermometer stirred to a point slightly above freezing (although the difference was imperceptible in my frigid shop) and we had several days of bright, almost springlike sun. And while all of that made my digging out far easier, it also presented a new problem.

The bench side of the shop, adjacent to the driveway, and the ever growing pond.

The far side of the shop, where the onslaught of melting snow has just begun.

I knew when I first toured the house that the basement was damp and probably had some water issues during heavy rains and spring thaws. The furnace, water heater and storage being placed on blocks was a dead giveaway. And in fact, I have gotten used to small puddles throughout the basement on occasion. But never like this. It's actually gotten me to thinking. If I turn my basement into a reservoir, at least I could cut the city water bill. As tempting as that might seem, I've decided that I'd really rather not sacrifice my shop for the cause.

And so, when I am not digging out the car, or pumping out the pond, I am willing myself to the task of moving snow away from the foundation of the house, and hoping the melting snow will find its way to the harbor, without a side trip to my shop. At the very least, perhaps someone else's basement? (I know this is terrible, and I'm very sorry for the thought.)

I have, however, found the time for some mundane cleaning and repair tasks in the shop. Most notable is the cabinet I am now using for my miter saw.

A photo from an earlier post.

I was able to find the time to remove all of the detritus that had found it's way into the cabinet over the last decade. And I'm happy to report that I even managed to properly store, or throw away all of it (as opposed to my usual practice of piling for a later date). I also was able to cut the back and secure it to the cabinet. Lastly, I was able to rehab the slightly warped right side door and get it into place, although the effort was slightly greater than what it took to make it in the first place (in fairness, it was made with power tools, all of this work was done by hand, and my current mood may have played a role).

The cabinet is finished and ready to store a variety of saw accessories.

And life continues here in Rhode Island. Certainly, it is not always as planned, but tomorrow will come. It may even be a better day, with more time in the shop and hopefully here at the blog as well.

Thank you for visiting, and I hope that wherever you are, spring is just around the corner for all of us. Please be safe and well as we "patiently" wait out the winter doldrums.

The second time around

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 13:46:00 +0000

As I had mentioned some time ago, I was debating about whether or not to start over on the drawer box sides of the +Tom Fidgen designed bedside table that I am building for my wife. I had just replaced a less than stellar $10.00 home center back saw with a pair of Veritas carcass saws. These sides being wider than the upper rails, I figured the new saws would make a bigger difference here while I could still make use of the narrower upper rails I had previously cut. And so, with the top and bottom now at the proper thickness, it was now or never. I wanted to have both sets of rails done and dry fit so than I could take more precise measurements before cutting the top and bottom to length. And so it began. I cut the lower rails again, to rough length and began the layout and cutting. I set my marking gauges to the three different measurements required and struck my lines. To ensure nice finish cuts, I then struck my lines with a chisel and relieved the cut on the waste side of the lines to give my crosscut saw a firm track.

Cut lines struck and relieved on the waste side.

With bench hook in place, I then picked up my crosscut saw and cut the shoulders of my tenons. The new saws cut so nicely, I had to be careful not to over cut into my tenons. I left both rails long, so I did the layout and cutting on one end of each, leaving plenty of room to correct any errors on the far end. Two shoulders cut, time to move to the vise for the cheeks.

Cutting the shoulders.

Being a cautious man, and knowing my limitations, I always leave my tenons a bit thick, I can always fine tune them with a shoulder plane later. As yet however, I have not found a way to put wood back, short of gluing shims on, which then leads to trimming anyway.

Cutting the cheeks.

Again, the new rip saw was a joy to use. The tracking and accuracy of the cut was amazing. In the future, as I get better, I am pretty sure I will be leaving less extra thickness on the tenons. Perhaps it is true that you get what you pay for when it comes to tools (I know, a lesson that I should have committed to memory long ago).

At that point, it was time to clean up. All of the planing and cutting had produced a decent sized pile of shavings and I had to safely stow all of the tools that remained on and around my bench.

Even clean up is easier in the hand tool shop.

The rest of the night was a blur. By the time I finished in the shop, my wife and I had to rush to get ready. Despite a little snow and freezing rain, we had a 30th birthday party to attend.

Happy 30th Steven!

It was a very full day, and we were certainly grateful for so productive and happy of a day. But, we were also grateful to finally lay down for a good night's sleep.

Next up, some odds and ends and plans for the weekend. Thank you for stopping by.

Procrastination comes to an all too brief end

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 13:50:00 +0000

Having tuned up the hand planes, I really had no good reason not to make use of them. I hadn't worked on the +Tom Fidgen bedside table I am building for my wife since before our snow apocalypse and our winter illnesses. With the planes ready to go, it was finally time to thickness the board that would become the top and bottom of the drawer box. My first step was to bevel the edges of the board down to my 1/2" scribe line. My first several passes would be cross grain, so the chamfer would eliminate a lot of ugly tear out and much smoothing and scraping later on.

This photo shows the chamfers and the first overlapping passes of the jack plane on 2/3's of the board.

I was very happy with the stock removal achieved by my newly cambered jack plane blade. Certainly the effort required was greater than if I had just plugged in my thickness planer, but so to was the level of fulfillment from doing it by hand. I took my time and monitored my progress, and the process went along very smoothly, pun intended. I am relatively new to some of the hand work, learning as I go. But I will say, I really enjoy the pace of hand work, and more importantly, it is a pleasure. The sounds of the shop are relaxing, almost meditative. Good music and the sound of plane, chisel, and saw are much preferable to the whine of electric motors.

Nearing the scribe lines for the finished thickness.

Finished with the jack plane.

As I neared the scribe lines, I switched to the jointer plane, also newly ground and honed, taking my passes with the grain. The results were just as gratifying. By the time I had flattened the board and brought it down nearly to the scribe line, I was amazed by the finished surface. A truly sharp blade and focusing on grain direction made the job both easier and a better finished product.

Stock removed, board flattened.

Unfortunately, the photo is a little out of focus, but this is the finished board with no smoothing, scraping, or sanding.

I am certainly not a stranger to hand tools. In some form or function, I have used them my entire adult life. But I also realize that I am just beginning the journey of learning. This will be my first major project completed with only hand tools ( I have done several with mainly hand tools). I have a lot to learn, but I am having a lot of fun reading, watching, and actually practicing the craft of woodworking. Each new skill that I acquire makes the journey easier and more productive. I am also learning that every operation is important and they are all connected. For instance, sharpening. I always assumed I had mastered sharpening. After a few years in my early twenties, believing that chisels came sharpened and stayed sharpened (I laughed typing that), someone set me straight. Apparently I wasn't alone, because before the internet, it wasn't very easy to locate quality stones. After much reading, trial and error, and practice, I got pretty good at getting a seriously sharp edge on chisels. Especially narrower blades. Enter this newest phase of my woodworking life. Plane blades. Yet again, I find myself climbing a little bit of a learning curve. I probably spend longer than some, and may not be a successful as many more experienced workers. But I am beginning to see the results of my efforts, and I am greatly enjoying the satisfaction of mastering (or trying to) each new process and procedure. More importantly, the quality of my work is advancing every time I go into the shop. I enjoy the work, and I look forward to a lifetime of learning. That said, if anyone has any suggestions or advice, I would be thrilled to hear from you. I also hope that you will follow along with my progress as I document my journey here. And to those of you who work so hard to find time both to work in the shop and blog or produce videos, thank you for sharing. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

Some much needed TLC for the bench planes

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 13:18:00 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday, the simple task of grinding a camber on my jack plane blade gradually became a more involved process. Miraculously, the grinding went so well, I began looking at the blades on my other bench planes. My smoother (Stanley #4) was roughly as sharp as a bowling ball, perfect time to begin again by grinding it to a new bevel. The jointer (Stanley #8) was still relatively sharp, but i had realized a couple of weeks ago that blade was far from straight, not very helpful in flattening surfaces at all. Again, what better time than now to tune it up. After all, the afternoon would see all of the planes in use to thickness, flatten and smooth a board for the bedside table that I am building for my wife.

#4 and #5 blades ground to new bevels. A nice new camber on the #5.

I took the photo above, looked at it, then looked at the planes. Not really any rust, but definitely a lot of staining. Nearly 100 years of use, a decade in my seaside basement, and years of sparse use had taken a toll. I figured I had the whole day, so why not do a little cleaning too.

An older photo of the #8 showing rust and a lot of discoloration on the non-japanned surfaces.

Pre-cleaning, with a lot of caked on saw dust and the marks of years of use.

I started off with machine oil and the coarsest steel wool that I had on hand. I ended up switching to 600 grit wet/dry sand paper adhered to a marble tile, carefully keeping the plane bodies aligned to keep the faces 90 degrees. Successive work with finer grades of steel wool followed. On the japanned surfaces, I used steel wool to remove rust spotting, and then lightly oiled all of the surfaces. I like the historic (vintage) nature of these planes, and I'd rather not harm the japanning that remains until I absolutely must. That being said, I will probably look for a less nuclear option than removing all of it and repainting for now. Maybe paint just the spots that are bare metal and prone to rusting. That would be an easy project for a weeknight when I have limited shop time.

Cleaned and tuned.

I am very pleased with the outcome. I did leave some of the marks for a couple of reasons. First, I was nervous about removing the amount of metal required to get to a pristine surface. Secondly, and more importantly to me as an historian, based on placement and shape, some of the marks appeared to be finger and hand prints left from those who used the planes well before me. I really love that feeling of lineage, knowing that hopefully, as my skills improve, I will be adding to the history of craftsmanship with these planes.

I am breaking these posts up a little bit, mainly to keep them from growing too long. But also, I am in the middle of a very long week at work with very limited shop time. I hope you will join me tomorrow as I share some woodworking on the bedside table.

Thank you for visiting.

A productive Saturday morning

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 13:36:00 +0000

There is nothing better than a Saturday morning in the shop. Another work week in the rear view and the promise of working for yourself, relaxing, and hopefully being productive. But let's face it, any day in the shop is far superior to the best work day.

On my way home from work on Friday, I stopped at the hardware store and picked up the nuts, bolts, and washers to mount my grinder. Again, I could have been smarter and actually measured prior to the stop, but I guessed the size bolts I would need. Fortunately, I got the size I thought I would need and 1/2" longer. The longer bolts worked, and I took that as a good sign of things to come. At the last minute, I decided to change the orientation of the grinder on the table, so I re-drilled the holes and tightened it down.

Grinder in it's original position. I ended up turning it 90 degrees to face to the right.

The grinder had become a major focus as I needed to camber a jack plane blade for quicker stock removal. With the grinder ready to go, I started on the blade. The first step was laying out a template.

The template laid out on the spine of a manila file folder. I went with an 8 inch radius so that I will be able to hog off serious material.

The next step was marking the radius on on the plane blade. I didn't have any layout fluid on hand, so I made due with some white spray paint. I then traced the radius with a scratch awl. The paint made it much easier to see my line.

The template on the blade, radius marked.

Ready to grind.

This was my first attempt at grinding plane blades (I've been fortunate to find vintage planes without heavily nicked blades), so needless to say, I had spent a lot of time thinking about the procedure. Once I got my nerve up (and realized that I could always order replacements), I filled my mind with pure thoughts and got started. In most cases, we worry for nothing. That was certainly true for me in this instance. The process went very smoothly. So smoothly in fact, I went ahead and reground a smoothing plane blade and my jointer plane blade. As it turns out, that was a fantastic idea. I got the plane with the blade razor sharp, and my trusting self had put it to work. The edge however was far from straight. I realized it while planing down the legs for the bedside table. It created a lot more work as far as checking progress and carefully evening out the stock removal. My afternoon work would prove the effort worthwhile.

Smoothing plane and jack plane blades reground. Time to hone.

As with many things in life, I managed to get carried away with the maintenance work. I ended up completely disassembling the jointer plane and nearly so, with the jack. I hadn't done more than a very cursory cleaning since I had gotten them, but flush with my success at the grinder, I decided now was the time. Besides, I had all day in the shop. I'm still getting used to blogging, so I totally neglected to get a really good before photo and didn't take an after. I do have a decent photo showing the two planes that I will share tomorrow, and I will get a good after photo tonight. I will say though, that neither will ever be perfect as both are approaching 100 years old and have definitely seen some hard use. That said, there was a major improvement in both, aesthetically and functionally.

I'm looking forward to sharing more tomorrow, and maybe even some actual woodwork. I hope you'll visit again then. For now, I'm off to work.

Grinding away.

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:56:00 +0000

By the time I got home and ate dinner last night, it was around 7:30. I was tired and probably more than a little cranky (apologies to my wife). But I did manage to push myself into the shop to get a little work done (thanks to my lovely wife who asked me to retrieve the days laundry from the basement). As planned, my night centered on getting my new grinder ready to go for the weekend. I really need to grind a nice camber on a plane iron so I can hog a quarter inch of thickness off about 2 feet of 1x12. Taking the old grinder off of it's stand was of course an easy task. Two nuts and a little cleaning later, I was in business and ready for the new grinder.

The old grinder, still operable, but with fixed tool rests.

I opened the new box and put all of the pieces aside. When I took out the main unit, I knew I was going to face a little problem. The base of the new unit was noticeably higher than my old one. I really should have looked before I went to work. No matter, I went to work on the assembly, I could look for mounting hardware when I was done. Surprisingly, the box contained all of the needed parts and the assembly went off without a hitch. I didn't even have to consult the vaunted owner's manual (I'm fairly certain I've heard all of the safety procedures from the legal department before). I did glance at the manual at this point out of sheer laziness. Being more of a weekend warrior type machine, I had hoped that there would be a template for drilling the mounting holes. My hopes were quickly dashed. Glancing briefly, I didn't even see a two holes, x number of inches on center. A good reminder that laziness rarely pays off. I broke down and took the ten steps to grab my bench rule and got to drilling.

Now back to the hardware to mount it. I have a fairly impressive collection of orphaned hardware. For 40+ years my grandfather never threw away a piece of hardware and I haven't had the heart to part with any of it. On top of that, I was raised a true "Yankee" myself and I've added a fair amount over more than a decade. And at this point I was dealt another lesson. I think at some point in the near future I must either gain the patience to sort through thousands of odds and ends or break down and take the time to better organize my stash. Long story short, I opted for some reading before an early bedtime. I'll be stopping at the hardware store on the way home from work tonight.

New grinder, nearly ready for action.

On the bright side, I'm only a few minutes away from starting on the plane blade and should be able to get that done tonight. My schedule seems to be fairly clear for the weekend as well. I should be able to accomplish a decent amount of work. Hopefully I'll have plenty to show here in the next few days.

It got late early.

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:31:00 +0000

The title of this post was first uttered by the great philosopher Yogi Berra, but is was extremely applicable to my night. As always lately, I got out of work late last night. Just before I left, my wife let me know that my brother and sister in law would be visiting. We only live half an hour away, but life often gets in the way of the things that matter most, and it had been too long since we had been able to visit. As it turned out, we had a great conversation as always, and a really enjoyable visit. I should also note that they brought a fantastic cheesecake for dessert. A sincere thank you is due for that wonderful treat. Long story short, after a ten hour work day, a pleasant visit, and an unusually high caloric intake, I was more prepared for a good night's sleep than a visit to my shop.

I did however, push myself down the stairs knowing that the longer I waited to repair the chest of drawers holding my tool chest, the better I would get at procrastinating. And besides, it seemed like it would be a simple fix. Famous last words. I removed all the drawers, dry fit the tenon back into its mortise and clamped it. And lo and behold, the case was out of square. After an intricate dance with the carcass lasting what seemed to be an eternity, I finally got everything lined up, glued, and clamped. This morning, I took off the clamp and piled all the drawers back in. Success, even if it was slightly delayed by fatigue last evening.

All fixed, and hopefully ready for another 40+ years of service.

By the time I got the clamp tightened, I decided to forego the second part of my plan for the evening.

For about ten years, I've used a very inexpensive Ryobi bench grinder in my shop. The tool rests on the unit are fixed. It never really bothered me, my grinding was confined to lawn mower blades and turning tools. While I am sure that both practices would have benefited from better rests, I was always able to manage well enough freehand. But as I've been progressing more and more toward predominately hand tools, I knew my plane blades were going to require a little more. About a month ago, I picked up an equally inexpensive Ryobi model, but this time with adjustable tool rests. And since then, it has languished in it's box in front of my grinder stand. Enter my plans for this weekend: to finally get back to the bedside table I am building for my wife. The top and the bottom of the drawer box will be half inch boards, and so it is finally time to grind a cambered blade for my Stanley #5. In a perfect world, I would have the plane ready to go so that I can get right to work Saturday morning. I have an appointment tonight, but hopefully I can at least get the grinder set up tonight. Then if I don't get to the blade, at least I will still have tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Vacation is Over...Back to Work

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 14:07:00 +0000

It's been nearly two weeks since I posted here and I've been missing the work and the writing. In addition to what seems like a never ending series of snow storms and shoveling, I've also had the poor fortune to alternate sickness with my wife. So with all the household duties (and did I mention shoveling?) as well as the very low temperatures in the basement, my shop time has been reduced to practically zero. Even this past weekend (a four day weekend for me) I only really felt well enough to spend a few hours in the shop on Monday. Still not totally well, and gearing up for a bathroom renovation, I opted to continue the workshop overhaul instead of working on my wife's bedside table project. As I had mentioned before, my shop space had become a catch-all storage area for the detritus of a past life. I had concentrated initially on the areas around my two benches (one for tin and one for wood) so that I could at least humor myself with some small projects while I performed the herculean cleaning task. But as the spring gets closer, I have to find a space for a new hand tool friendly work bench. And with the bathroom looming, I actually need to get some (or all) of the power tools accessible and ready for work. That said, I managed to clear another corner of the basement and re-purpose some items for a more inviting work space.

My new miter saw station.

My miter saw used to live on an old rolling microwave cart along one of the long walls adjacent to my workbench. It was really not as much of a pain as that might sound. The saw itself is far from a precision instrument, and so, I really rarely used it in the shop except to break down long boards. Since then, I've bought a rip panel saw, and actually prefer to perform this operation by hand. The saw generally is used at the site of a project on a pair of garbage, store bought saw horses (too tall to saw on, too short for a comfortable working height) and a piece of plywood. The saw's new home though, is a re-purposed cabinet that I had built for a friend years ago, but had never finished as a move had made it obsolete. In the coming days, I'll finish it up so that it can safely house all of the accessories for the miter saw, my table saw, and maybe even my circular saw. Maybe an hours worth of work, if that. I cleaned out a small niche near the stairs for the cabinet, making more room in the center of the shop. My son has claimed the cart for a desk, so I'll have to pull the wheels off and give it a thorough cleaning.

With the new location for the miter saw and the microwave cart gone, I had more room along the wall adjacent to my bench and decided to space things out there. I began to move a set of drawers my grandfather had built to hold his tool chest (now a coffee table in my mother's house) and that now holds mine. Of course things were going too well, so one thing had to go wrong. I would guess that the chest of drawers is at least 40 years old. And the ocean air here in Rhode Island hasn't done it any favors. Long story short, the lower rail tenons pulled out of their mortises. It'll be a quick fix tonight, and it was the only mishap of the afternoon.

My tool chest and the damaged chest of drawers.

A close up of the damage I inflicted.

The cleaning and organizing is an ongoing task and I have neglected to post photos, or mention some of the steps I've taken in the new year. One of the biggest annoyances I've faced is that my tin patterns have never really had a dedicated space. At this point, I am probably approaching 75 or more patterns which have been living wherever I could find a nail to hang them. Many had fallen and become separated from their mates. I am now about two thirds of the way to reassembling the pieces and providing proper storage.

Tin and copper ware patterns neatly sorted and hanging ready for work. A shop made form sits below the peg rail.

Another few hours of sorting pattern pieces and I may someday have a table saw again. Clearly, I'm in no hurry to have it back.

When I invited my lovely wife down to see my progress, she rather quickly fled upstairs. But little did I know, my work had inspired her to lend me a helping hand. When she returned, she had all the supplies required to eliminate at least five years worth of spider webs, and in some cases, their deceased occupants. The effort may not have been completely altruistic, but it was greatly appreciated.

Little by little, the shop is really coming along. The sense of dread I used to feel about going down there is slowly giving way to sense of joy to be there. Even if it's only for a few minutes to look around, brainstorm, or just spend some time. The next few nights will be for some small work, gearing up for what I hope will be the productive weekend I've been searching for.

Hope springs eternal, I just pray for no snow.

Renewed motivation sometimes comes in a small box

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:25:00 +0000

This post will be a somewhat short one, but I will confine this entry to craft. Thank you for bearing with me last time.

After a rough few days, Tuesday night began to look up. Shortly after I got home, a UPS truck stopped in front of my house and dropped off a package I had eagerly been awaiting. Two new carcass saws from +Lee Valley Tools. Tuesday was family night though, so I confined my exploration of the saws to unpacking them to make sure there was no damage, and taking them to my shop. Fast forward to Wednesday. I had to work late and we had a family dinner out. By the time we finally got home, I was exhausted from the long day, or more like a series of long days. But I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a couple minutes with my new saws.

Right out of the box. I also included the dovetail saw my lovely wife gave me for Christmas.

Fair warning, this is in no way intended as a review. I have been working with inferior saws now for many years and so, I have no real frame of reference as to what a proper saw should feel and function like. That said, there is a fairly clear difference between these saws and a $10 home center back saw. The difference in tracking and control was phenomenal. My use was fairly brief, but I can't wait to get back to work on my wife's bedside table this weekend. In fact, I am thinking I might begin over again on my lower stretchers and then compare the results to the uppers I cut a while ago.

My only trial cuts last night. The larger kerf near the center is actually two cuts and a paper thin shim I neglected to save for photography.

I definitely needed some motivation to get back to work and this will be more than enough. It's a lesson that never gets old: having and using the best tools you can acquire really does increase the quality of your work, and the amount of fun you have doing it.

My tool chest with the new saws added. It even looks better and more inviting to my eye.

While we are on this topic; when I started woodworking in my teens, I dreamed of having a shop like Norm Abram. Don't get me wrong, my family and I watched every episode of The Woodwright's Shop. But unfortunately, at the time, those skills seemed so far beyond me. And where would I even look to find those tools? Besides, at that age, I derived my joy not from the process, but from results: finished projects. Of course life is easier with machines, right? Set them and forget them. Repeat-ability of an operation is a foregone conclusion. Every piece is precise, quickly executed, and on to the next step. Results, finished pieces.

My philosophy changed though as I entered my mid-twenties. I still had plenty of use for all of the power tools and machines I had acquired and inherited. I owned a house, and an endless list of projects to complete. I still use power tools for these projects, and I have a few of these coming up in the very near future.

But when I went into my shop, looked at plans, began projects, and even looked at past furniture work, I realized that I didn't really have an investment. I began to incorporate hand tools slowly into my work. I slowed down and began to enjoy the process. My time in the shop became my form of meditation. I was more relaxed in, and out of the shop. Woodworking became less of a dull science and more of a liberating art. I was hooked, but as I scanned my shop and the thousands of dollars worth of equipment, I knew that I would need to acquire thousands more dollars worth to truly have a shop where I could practice my new found art.

I had learned the lesson with power tools: buy the best you can afford the first time. Cheap tools do work. But the results aren't quite the same, and more importantly, the joy of use is often missing. On the other hand though, I could save my money for years, and confine my experience to reading and watching. Like most woodworkers though, I realized that knowing and understanding were dramatically different that actually building the skills to execute what I was reading. And so I made a decision. I would make do for a while, use what I had or could afford quickly and actually work as I learned. I would buy vintage tools where I could find them and spend my hours to restore them, rather than my dollars to buy new. I have functioned like that for more than a decade. Finally, although it is still a sacrifice with a family of four, I am ready to move forward. It's time to begin replacing the make-do tools with tools that will increase my enjoyment of the craft. Help me to produce results that both I, and my family can be proud of and hopefully treasure for generations. I know that there are more noted, and probably higher quality options on the market today. But the Veritas line will allow me to work with high quality tools now. Hopefully down the road these decisions will not be necessary

I know that most of us do not have unlimited budgets for tools and wood. Many of us have to make difficult decisions when it comes to our hobbies. I hope some of you will share your decision making process. I have a lot to learn and many of you are much further down this road than I. I will gladly accept any advice my readers, guests, and friends have to share.

Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again soon.

Blowing off a little steam...and some older woodworking

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 14:41:00 +0000

I will make a valiant attempt to keep the material on this blog directly related to craftsmanship and history as I promised in my welcome post about a month ago (please refer here if you would like: http://thenewportmechanick.blogspot.com/2015/01/welcome.html). But late last week, our household received some news that truly incensed me. For those of you who would like to skip my diatribe, please skip to the first photo.

I have mentioned in previous posts that my wonderful wife suffered an injury last November and has been recovering. I really never mentioned the severity of the injury. Well, long story short, she was unfortunate enough to sever an artery, a nerve, and several tendons in her right (dominant) forearm. The night of the incident, she was rushed to two separate hospitals that managed to mishandle the case. Not until the following week, when she saw a specialist suggested by our insurance carrier, did the true severity of the injury come to light. He was appalled, that neither hospital had seen fit to operate that very night. Fast forward through surgery and still ongoing therapy to last week. Although she still has extremely limited use of her dominant hand, the State of Rhode Island has seen fit to deny her Temporary Disability claim, stating that she has limited use of her hand and could perform other duties. I was slightly angered when I read this. But after I looked at the website, I was incensed. The site clearly states that to be eligible for benefits:

To be medically eligible for TDI benefits, a Qualified Healthcare Provider (QHP) or medical practitioner must certify that you are functionally unable to perform your customary and regular work duties [emphasis added by me]. Your QHP will tell us the length of time he/she expects you to be unable to work.

For your eligibility to begin the first day you were disabled you must have an in-office examination by a licensed Qualified Healthcare Provider (QHP) that week, the week before or the week after, your disability began. A contact with the QHP via a telephone call is not acceptable by TDI law as a timely examination by a licensed QHP.

Additionally, you may be asked to make an appointment with an impartial medical examiner if we believe an exam is necessary. Your benefits will be stopped if you do not make or keep the appointment with the impartial medical examiner.

Functionally unable to perform customary duties...not other duties. Now, that being said, I am not a fan of big government or government regulation in our daily lives. But equally, both my wife and I have been forced to pay into this system our entire working lives. It would certainly be nice to see that the government bureaucracy and programs that we are mandated to pay for are available to us as well. If government programs will not be available to the masses, they should kindly leave our hard-earned income in our pockets. Coupled with the stories of abuse of the system, it makes me at least, wonder how many other legitimate claims are being denied while our representation worries only about reelection and the balance of political power at the state and federal level. I vote in every election, but this will certainly bring a new level of importance to the exercise of that right, privilege, and responsibility. We as a people must force our representatives to serve their constituents before their parties. And moreover, I can guarantee that I will make my concerns known to my representatives by e-mail, letter, and phone if need be.

I appreciate that not all people feel the same as I. That is the beauty of our country. We are all entitled to our opinions. We may not agree with the opinions of others, but it is imperative that we respect the rights of others to their opinions. And I hope that instead of arguing among ourselves, that we can have an honest discourse about ideas. As long as we allow ourselves to be divided, we will continue to perpetuate a political system that is not in anyone's best interest.

Thank you for weathering my screed, and I sincerely hope that my position has not offended any of my readers.

Beginning a set of green carving tools.

So, discretion being the better part of valor, I determined that I would not let my anger and disappointment keep me from the shop this past weekend. But I also didn't want to risk the progress I have made on the bedside table and barn lanterns I have been working on through lack of focus. Instead, I finally buckled down and began the mundane tasks that most of us put off until the very final moment. I began cleaning, organizing, rehabbing, and just generally bringing the shop back to the level it had been at years ago before my hiatus. I took the opportunity to sharpen an Ebay hewing hatchet and carving knife.

Stanley #4, and I've been caught: two Stanley 45 blades I failed to put away properly.

I also disassembled a 1930's Stanley #4 that I have had for months in preparation for restoring it to working order. I have a few cheap newer planes that I use, but there's just something about vintage tools for me. We will see.

I also continued the process of eliminating a decade or more of accumulated detritus from the basement. It will be a slow process, but I want to make room for a new workbench in the spring, once I have finished a bathroom remodel and a new living room ceiling.

Also, I've been lacking in real work, so I'd like to share an older project. I've been collecting hand tools for some time now, and this past spring I realized that my damp basement was creating more upkeep than necessary. I began researching tool chests. Being mainly interested in historical work, I turned to the ubiquitous Lost Art Press and +Christopher Schwarz, a site I'm sure most of us have been following for many years. A floor chest was out of the question a I just didn't have the real estate to devote. I also believed it would be some time before I would require that much space (I laughed to myself as I typed that misguided thought). So the Dutch chest seemed to fit the bill.

Laying out the angle for the side pieces.

Sides cut and dovetailed. And my table saw filling its new role:assembly bench.

The dados cut with a chisel and finished with a router plane.

The assembly begins with the dovetailed bottom and sides.

Clamping the shelf into the dados. I added nails later for insurance.

Front in place. Beginning the tongue and groove back.

Just as advertised, plenty of space for the bench planes.

Gluing up the top.

Finished, in the white.

Almost ready to go to work, after a few coats of my favorite Federal Blue milk paint.

I was able to go this far in one weekend in May while my wife and children were away visiting family. About a month later, I got back to work and finished the interior.

My chest, as it appeared this morning. The tool rack was finished in June.

Please excuse me for sharing a project that has probably already received its fair share of publicity with other blogs around the virtual wood shop.

In other news, I have also ordered a pair of carcass saws from +Lee Valley Tools, and they should be waiting for me at home tonight. That's another reason I've been procrastinating on the bedside table. I know they will be a joy to use in finishing the project, especially compared to the $10 home center back saw that I've been ashamedly keeping out of photos here on the blog.

As always, thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again soon.

The best laid plans...and a snowstorm of "historic proportions"!

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:48:00 +0000

There is a saying in the military: "Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy." In that world, one hopes that the enemy is a clearly defined entity. But in the world of the shop (that of the eager hobbyist or the busy professional) what is the "enemy"? I can only speak to my own experience here, but I am confident that many of you will at least partially agree with my own assessment. Oftentimes, the enemy can be time. For me, as a hobbyist, it is a constant challenge to find the time (especially relatively uninterrupted time) to devote in the shop. Life outside of the shop is a huge factor. Of late, my family and I have been struggling with this to a far greater degree. My wife suffered a major injury this past November. While she is progressing steadily, we all have to pick up some of the household duties. Also, my shop is a basement shop, so the sounds of family life are easily transmitted through the ceiling above me, a constant reminder of the daily activities that I miss while I am engrossed in my work. Concentration is another issue, probably exacerbated by the prior issues. Can we truly "be in that moment"? How much of the time spent in the shop is truly dedicated to the task, or tasks at hand? Are our minds preoccupied with other thoughts or happenings? How does the work suffer along the way? What are some of your enemies in the shop?

A busy tin shop.

I bring this up because this has been the story of my past five days. Last Saturday, I had hoped for a decent amount of shop time and focused productivity on the +Tom Fidgen designed bedside table I have been working on. Of course my plans were formulated forgetting a birthday party one of the children was invited to, things on my mind, and other important tasks around the house. While I could have taken this in stride, determined to make the most of my time, I instead set about re-learning one of the most basic tenets of the shop. "Haste makes waste." The few hours I had in the shop were spent looking for ways to do things more quickly or easily. The result? I ended up having to start over on the bottom side stretchers, and by the time I left the shop, I hadn't even gotten back to the point that I had been at. Lesson Learned... I hope.

One stretcher. All I have to show for a Saturday in the shop.

So when Sunday rolled around, I decided I could use a little change of scenery. I would take a day off from the table, re-calibrate my brain and pick up another project awaiting my attention...the lantern I promised my wife some time ago.

The lantern panel from a past post.

Panel bent around a shop made form, also from a previous post.

Panels bent, spacers made, yet again, from a previous post.

Now that we are caught up photographically, we can move forward with my progress. The next step was soldering the spacers to the lantern body. A fairly easy task to accomplish, but it is an art to do it well. And in this age, the selection of solder greatly influences the final result. Historically, a 50/50 combination of lead and tin would have been used. For the sake of safety, I do not use lead. But if you want your solder joints to look "right" by period standards, I wouldn't suggest any of the home center solders.

Solders complete.

A little closer look.

With the bodies completed, all of the remaining joints will be mechanical (no solder) until we place the hinges for the door at the end. To attach the bottom and top, the edges of the body must be burred. Burring, is turning the edge 90 degrees to the existing piece. In this case, I will use a rotary machine first patented prior to 1810. My machine in particular, dates from the second half of the 19th century.

Burring the bottom in progress. My flesh powered burring machine.

The completed burr.

I can now move on to the bottom. This particular pattern is new to me, so I will have to experiment with the diameter of the bottom.

Laying out the bottom circle with dividers.

Circle ready to be cut on the right.

After a couple tries, I found the right diameter.

Ready to burr the edge.

Once the bottom is installed, it will never come off and working space inside is extremely limited. That being said, now is the time to make and install the candle cup onto the bottom.

Tracing the candle cup pattern onto tinplate.

Candle cups cut with top edge folded and set.

Forming the candle cups: first curving the ends with a rawhide mallet over a candle mold stake.

Bending the cups by hand around the stake.

Marking the position of the cup. The holes for the legs will be cut with a cold chisel.

The legs are pounded flat on the outside of the bottom with the rawhide mallet.

Bottom and candle cup finished. The edge of the bottom is burred in this photo.

At this point, the bottom is ready for installation. The burr on the bottom is snapped tightly into place over the burr on the bottom of the body. When i turned the burr on the bottom, I went further than 90 degrees. This will make it easier to hammer the burr on the bottom flat onto the burr on the body. There is a setting machine for accomplishing this, but I find it more satisfactory to do this by using a setting, or paning hammer. It also allows me to make small corrections as I go, achieving a more perfect bottom circle. Like most things hand tool, it goes a little slower, but it allows for a better feel for the process and achieves a much better fit and finish. The hand of the artisan is far more skilled than the machine.

First bottom installed, with the candle cup inside.

I had hoped to have these finished prior to this post. But as the theme goes...I spent a long day at work on Monday preparing for a snowstorm of "historic proportions." Monday night, I made the same preparations at home and began shoveling periodically in an effort to avoid shoveling feet of snow all at once. By midday on Tuesday, it became apparent that the 40+ mph gusts of wind were going to foil that plan. But after a few hours spread over the last three days, I am pleased to report that I think I am done digging out.

Hopefully My remaining weeknights can be spent working on these lanterns. And this weekend, I hope to return to the wood side of the shop to keep going on the bedside table. Hopefully I will return a wiser woodworker for the experience gained last Saturday.

Wish me luck, and as always, thank you for visiting.

Continuing on the bedside table

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Today, I'll pick up where I left off with the last post. Having successfully executed the dovetail sockets on the top of all four legs, it's time to turn my attention to to the mortises and grooves for the stretchers and drawer box on this +Tom Fidgen design.

Joinery rough cut on the legs.

I started by laying out all of the mortises. That went quickly and without incident. I then sharpened my 1/4" mortising chisel and went to town on the upper stretcher mortises. Again, being pleased with the results, I began on the lower stretchers. I could have cut the groove the full length of the joint first, and then come back to the deeper mortises. Instead, I cut the mortises first, thinking that i might then cut the groove between them with the Stanley 45 set up as a plough plane. The mortises went very smoothly, but, by the time I was ready for the groove, I settled for scoring with a bench chisel and cutting to depth with a router plane. I think the whole deal turned out fairly well.

Having finished the mortises, I turned my attention to the stretchers themselves, uppers first. I ripped them to width and crosscut them to rough length. Planing followed, adjusting the width to finished dimensions and removing all of the saw marks. I laid out the finished length and tenons with a marking knife. I then established the shoulders with a two inch bench chisel, relieving a small v-groove on the waste side of the piece and moved in with the back saw to cut the tenons to rough dimensions. I will tailor each to its mortise later. Finally, I cut a side bead, top and bottom on each, using the Stanley 45.

Upper stretchers:cut, planed, and beaded.

Same deal with the lower stretchers. These are wider though, so two tenons connected by a tongue. And we will forego the beads as these will be dovetailed to the top and bottom of the drawer box.

Lower stretcher:cut to rough dimensions and ready for layout.

Same procedure here as top stretchers: one side finished.

I was able to nearly complete one of the stretchers before I had to shut down for the night. Today we are expecting snow and/or a mix with freezing rain. Sounds to me like the perfect day to sequester myself in the shop and hopefully make some major progress on the table. We will see if my plans stand up to reality. Wish me luck, and as always, thank you for taking the time to visit, I hope to see you again soon.

Moving forward on the bedside table

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 14:15:00 +0000

In the last post, I planed the legs to size. Moving forward, it was time to cut the front aprons to rough dimension. I had previously laid out my cuts on a 1x12 to maximize wood use. I used my rip panel saw and a couple buckets.

I think my next project should be a sawhorse or two.

Ripping a board on two five gallon buckets is definitely easier than on my bench, as it was made more for assembly and power tool work. However I did have to remain very conscious of the length of my saw blade and the location of the floor. Eerily, after I mentioned +Tom Fidgen yesterday, his second book "The Unplugged Woodshop" (which I had ordered last week) was waiting for me on the porch when I got home. And, even more eerily, one of the projects presented in the book is a sawyer's bench. This could be on the agenda very soon, but the book is a wealth of interesting projects. I may decide to do a simpler saw bench for the time being and try my hand at the kerfing plane or frame saw first, but I digress.

After ripping out the aprons, I crosscut them apart and started laying out the joinery. These aprons will be held in the legs by a housed dovetail recessed in a slight dado. I cut the notches on both ends, and began laying out the dovetails.

One apron ready to go, the other ready to cut. In the back left, you can see the dados cut in two of the legs.

The stock was cut to the rough size of the dovetails and then shaped with a bench chisel. Despite my worst fears, cutting the dovetails really wasn't terribly difficult even considering how soft the pine was. Once I determined to take my time and be careful, the process really was fairly painless.

Close up of the tail.

Once I got both aprons dovetailed, I moved on to the legs, and a chance to use my new dovetail saw on a real project instead of scrap. I hadn't ever done half blind dovetails before, so this was going to be a learning experience. Again, I went slow, cut to my knife-struck lines with the saw and removed waste incrementally with a chisel. By number four, I am happy to report that I had really gotten noticeably better. I wish that I had gotten a better picture, but hopefully this will suffice.

Dovetail socket.

At that point, it was time to call it a night and spend some quality time with the family. Tomorrow, I will continue on to some more joinery on the legs.

Thanks for visiting .

A long weekend, and another pleasant distraction.

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 14:25:00 +0000

As this past long weekend approached, I got to thinking. Every morning for the past month, as I got out of bed in the dark to squeeze in a morning walk/jog, I was greeted by the sound of my wife's favorite lamp rocking away on her bedside table. I certainly don't want to wake her at that unpleasantly early hour. And more importantly, I really don't want to be the cause of a lamp catastrophe. The lamp itself is an older one with three or more glass pieces in a metal frame. I'm sure it's not particularly valuable monetarily, but since she loves it, it deserves a better home than the rickety old department store table it currently lives on. Ah ha!

About a month ago, I purchased a copy of +Tom Fidgen's "Made By Hand" Of all the beautiful projects that he chronicled in the book, the one that spoke to me the most (and instantly: the cover photo and the ethic he espouses on his website are the reason I purchased the book) was a small side table. More importantly, when the book arrived, my wife agreed with my assessment. I knew that I would build the table eventually. Enter my early morning revelation about a cheaply made,quasi-wood side table currently inhabiting the space next to her side of the bed. I knew that the project was beyond my current skill level, but I also knew that I would never gain skill by staying firmly within my woodworking comfort zone. And it was a long weekend after all. So a new table went to the front of the line on my bench.

The bulk of the stock that I will need. And the coffee that I needed to get moving.

I came up with a compromise. Based on the space that I would have to work with, my desire to make the table my own, and knowing that this project was a stretch, I decided to make a full scale mock-up out of pine. This is my opportunity to practice the skills required, work out all of the measurements and joinery, and hopefully finish with a table that will make my wife happy until we can find the perfect wood for the final version.

With my fingers crossed, and my heart in my work, I'll document the journey here.

My legs cut to length.

I was able to find some 2x2's for the legs, so that it wouldn't be necessary to glue up stock. Of course the final dimension of the legs will be 1 1/4" square, so out came my old Stanley No.8 to plane the legs to finished size.

One leg down, three to go.

During the process, I noticed some issues with the plane. To make sure that my legs were square and smooth, I checked my scribe lines often, and accounted for any small errors as I went. That definitely made the process take longer, but I think the slower pace will actually help me achieve better results. And besides, isn't that one of the reasons we all decided to use hand tools? Working at a different pace? Being more in touch with the feel of each piece of wood as the fibers yield to our imagination and take on the shape we envision? A couple of blisters later, and my legs were all planed to final thickness.

All the stock that wasn't a leg.

In my next post, I'll share the beginning of the joinery.

It's been too long...

noreply@blogger.com (The Newport Mechanick) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:25:00 +0000

It's been too long since I last posted, but hardly due to inactivity. If I were smart, I would have used the long weekend to finish some of the ongoing projects around the shop. But being more eager than logical, this weekend I began a pretty involved, project. I expect that it will take me awhile to complete, even though it's a fairly small scale project. I'll write more about that as the week progresses, but I thought I'd tease it here a little.

My stock awaits...but coffee first.

And just to round out this post, I'd like to finish up the Christmas post. Last week, I shared some of the gifts I was fortunate enough to receive. This week, I'll share a couple of the projects I gave as gifts.

My daughter had been asking for a dollhouse, and we weren't thrilled with the plastic options available, or paying a great deal extra for the privilege of working with pre-cut pieces. So of course I built it from scratch. We based the design somewhat loosely on a small house at a local living history museum. We gave it to her Christmas morning with only primer so that she and mom could paint her color scheme of choice together (I'm assuming a lot of pink and purple). Below, you can see it with the painting begun.

Proud owner of a brand new house.

We had to have a homemade gift for our son as well. After hours of watching The Woodwright's Shop and seeing daddy with his tools, he's been dying to have some of his own. What better gift than a place to store those tools as he gets them. So I began a miniature traditional floor chest. He and I will add some tills together as he needs them.

Can you guess his favorite guest on The Woodwright's Shop?

The tool chest was a bit of a pain. I decided to repurpose some "solid" oak from an old entertainment center we no longer needed. Of course that meant it was mostly plywood, and old and warped plywood at that. But I managed to get it together, and I'm sure it will outlive me. Of course it had to be the same color as mine.

Next time, some real woodworking.