debor054

I am still away from home and my tools until next week. Therefore, aside from lots of reading, I have been thinking about the New Year ahead and how it relates to my personal wood working aspirations... So ... My wood working New Years Resolutions, Aspirations, Hopes & Goals for 2012. Take my quality of working to the next level. Attend at least one (1 week)  wood working course. Improve my finishing skills (including patience). Work with more hard woods. Have the confidence to try more complicated & challenging joinery. Work on longer term larger projects. Sell some of the things I make. I'd be really interested in other peoples goals for the year ahead especially those beginners like myself. Happy New Year Everyone!..

The  Joinery section starts on Page 63. Enjoy...    FREE Download from Google Books.

Another little gem from 1866. Google Books - FREE  Download

You just can't beat sitting by the log fire with a good book... Available for FREE download from Google Books

I am currently away from home and visiting my parents in France for the festive period. So while away from my workshop and tools I certainly didn't expect to be making blog posts.  Lately, I have been reading a lot of stuff by Peter Folansbee . Peter uses predominately Oak which is not sawn but rived by splitting  and it inspired me to go and have a rummage through my parents woodshed.  Walnut - which I think was felled early 2011 Oak of around 1.5ft diameter which was felled late last year 2010 While there are a few Oak & Walnut pieces, unfortunately, everything has been cut to firewood size lengths, but ... with some determination I might be able to get some stock for small boxes.  The Walnut looks like it would be amazing once dried, planed and finished! Time to start 'playing' - what tools have my parents got I  can use? Attacking a likely piece of Walnut - first some mark up. Using a wedge to scribe all the lines before splitting anything. First lightl...

Had to share this  quote: Working with hand tools is a much more eco-friendly way to work. It’s a deep part of the human experience, working with that blade and the wood. It’s much like when Obi-Wan Kenobi gave Luke Skywalker the lightsaber and said, “This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” Roy Underhill - 2008.

I was going to document the full build of this little project but my camera battery died after just a few beginning shots and by the time it had charged up I had completed most of the build. Needless to say its very similar in concept to my Traditional Saw Bench  if you are interested. The spare off-cut from my large Coffee Table top and the last remaining budget  2"x2" from my Saw Bench were dying to be introduced and the simple lap jointed Stool you see below is a result of their union. I am calling it 'rustic' as the Pine that forms the simple lap jointed frame is so knotted and wild its almost unworkable. There is sap wood, reversing grain and knots but I couldn't bring myself to waste the wood. I was going to attempt lap jointed dovetails but I figured that would probably end in disaster at my skill level with this wood. To be honest, this project almost didn't make it to completion as I nearly threw the whole lot out of the window in a temper several t...

1000 Page views - A nice little milestone for my little blog. Someone must be reading it! Hopefully people are finding my 'wood working journey' vaguely interesting maybe even benefiting from my mistakes . So this post is a quick thank you to those few people who regularly drop by the blog and offer me advice, and take the time to comment. On that note, I would like to ask 'you all' - and yes I have read the forums. Has anyone who has paid 'big money' and purchased a Lie Nielsen plane had 'buyers remorse' and in hindsight wished they had gone the (much cheaper) refurbed Stanley route? The reason I ask is I am considering purchasing a LN no#5 with two blades (heavily and slightly cambered) to act as my 'go to' plane for smoothing, roughing, shooting end grain and flattening. I like the idea of being able to reduce the mouth without having to remove the blade each time as they are based on the Stanley Bedrock design. They are however - super expens...

The postman just delivered more new shiny things... First up are two Lie Nielsen Mortise chisels of 1/2" and 1/4" - Pure none essential luxury items. I have been cutting my mortises using bevel edged chisels and while it's obviously 'doable', the thin bevel edged sides make it quite hard to maintain a square and straight edge to the mortise. It's going to be a lot easier to maintain a straight mortise using the deeper purpose designed blades. They feel amazingly balanced in the hand. I was quite surprised at the difference in colouration of the Hornbeam wood and size handles between the two sizes. I guess it makes sense... Next up is the Veritas Cambered Roller for the Mark II honing guide. I have tried unsuccessfully to relieve the corners of my plane blades by hand. The regular straight roller makes for a dead straight blade edge which, while perfect for chisels etc, results in plane tracks when smoothing.  My long term goal is to sell my new no#4 and no#6...

This project started with me hanging out in the workshop, day dreaming and staring at my remaining wood supply. 'I wonder what I can use this 2m length of 2"x2"  (42mm x 42mm) for?'.  My first coffee table was a success (to me anyway) and it gets used everyday - this post has been written on it!  However, I didn't actually make the top from scratch, it was reused from an Ikea type piece of (crap) furniture I reclaimed from the dump. Also, it's quite small and is generally permanently taken up by my laptop. Time for a larger one... As already mentioned, I had a 2m length of 42mm x 42mm which I figured would make four legs and two 1.5m lengths of 67mm x 32mm which would make some nice chunky stretchers.  Let the woodworking begin... Cross cutting the legs and stretchers to length with the carcass saw on the bench hook. Precision trimming to length on the shooting board. Legs are the coffee table standard height (or so it seems) of 40cm. Doh! - I managed to make...