debor054

Due to family matters I am currently in France away from my workshop and tools. Aside from swinging the odd axe and hatchet for the log burner, I have been a completely woodworking free zone for three weeks!!!  However ... with lots of free time to spare I have been doing a lot of internet reading and learning! The new 'buzzwords' floating around my head are Timber Frames & Green Oak, and Chainsaw Milling. Objects of desire now include such things as  Robert Sorby  1, 1.5 & 2 inch chisels and 2 & 3 inch Slicks. Gransfors Bruks Draw Knives and Froes, and Wetterlings    Axes . 'God Makes Work for Idle Hands'.... I'll be back home real soon and I have a lot of 'catching up' to do!

 A trip to the local timber yard over the weekend led me to find a cheap budget range of timber . Four 3m lengths of 2"x2" (50mm x 50mm) B grade Pine at a little over £1 per meter. I had to cut each 3m piece into 1m + 2m to fit it in the car.  While the timber is less than straight and quite knotty, its (hopefully) perfect for me to build my long awaited saw bench. I have been wanting a decent saw bench for ages to cut stock to rough length outside using my panel saws.  It will also serve to chop mortises on while sitting down and as a 'workshop stool'. Some online research led me to the following sources of information: here , here  and here  . I figured I would follow the same basic traditional design using slightly different joints and measurements with the entire thing made from 2"x2" timber. The whole project is basically an exercise in precision sawing practice, thank god for my new tenon saw . While the saw bench is a tool, I wanted to approach it al...

After much research and deliberation I have finally got myself a shiny new and very large Tenon Saw.  For 'ages' I have felt like I have needed something bigger than my Lie Nielson Carcass & Dovetail Saws , but I couldn't decide on the size or whether it should be sharpened Crosscut or Rip.  As far as size goes, it seems the wood working superstars recommend something at least 14" and preferably larger. Most of my cutting is to length and therefore requires a Crosscut sharpened saw but larger tenons require a Rip sharpened saw and my Dovetail saw blade is only 1-5/8" (4.12cm) deep. I certainly didn't want to buy another two saws, so which saw would provide the best coverage and compliment my existing joinery saws?  I came to the conclusion that I should get a Rip sharpened saw which could also be used across the grain if required and decided on the Lie Nielson 16" (400mm) 11ppi Tenon saw  (reviewed here ).  As I found previously, I had to spend a whil...

A week or so ago I decided to try my hand at making something that wasn't Pine. I have a crate full of small pieces of Mahogany, Oak and various other hard woods, none of which are large enough to make furniture. While most of the pieces are small they are however quite thick, around 19mm (3/4"). I therefore decided to try my hand at re-sawing a piece of Mahogany and White Oak to make a simple Jewellery box. The only saw I had at the time (my panel saws were away being sharpened) was my Irwin pull saw which allowed me to get a semi decent cut on each piece.  I did have to plane the cut surfaces quite heavily to remove the saw marks that resulted from constantly turning the piece while sawing and sometimes correcting my inaccuracy. Also, almost immediately after being cut both the Mahogany and the Oak cupped quite badly.  I removed most of this cupping with a plane and ended up with my two long and two short  sides of the box all of which wer...

Another quick and small but satisfying project ...   A simple Pine Dinner Tray which I have made for my girlfriend's mum as a 'thankyou' for the tools  she gave me a while ago. I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable simply 'knocking together' these small projects on request.  The simple joinery for the side pieces was cut mostly by eye with very minimal measuring and mark up. I need to be careful that I don't get too lazy! Another first for me was the Edge to Edge joint I used to make the base board from two pieces of 15mm thick by 145mm wide Pine. The longest and most tiring part of this project was reducing the thickness of the base board to minimise the overall weight of the tray, while retaining flatness. Lastly, a quick coat of Boiled Linseed oil to highlight the grain a little and I called it done. I hope she likes it ...

It's a happy day! After waiting for over 3 weeks, I finally have my saws back from being sharpened. As mentioned previously  I have been given some saws (1,3 and 4) which I promptly de-rusted, cleaned and oiled and sent off for sharpening as follows: 1. Warranted Superior 26" - 5ppi RIP 2. Sandvik 22" - 10ppi RIP 3. NoName 21.5" - 8ppi Crosscut 4. Warranted Superior 20" - 10ppi Crosscut All saws have been jointed flat and resharpened and set, each costing £10.50. I will get myself some files and a saw  set to learn to do it myself eventually but for now, for just over £40 I should be able to cover most of my larger sawing requirements - bargain!  Unfortunately, the guy who normally does the sharpening has been on holiday, hence the delay, the service normally only takes a week. If anyone in the Surrey area is interested, the company who carried out the sharpening is Winsor Saw Ltd of Windsor 01753 862029, but you can also drop off and collect saws from  Village ...

As a none practical, handyman, DIY type person learning woodwork as a hobby, here are a few things I have realised during my steep learning curve over the last month or so since beginning working with wood.  Most of these points you read about and are common sense, but I still had to go through the learning process myself before I got that 'ah now I get it' moment of realisation ... Like most physical activities the process of building something can be subdivided down into smaller components. For example the thought of building a complete table to a beginner can be quite daunting (remember I am talking about someone who has never built a thing out of wood in their life), but by considering the tables components almost as separate projects things seem to become easier.  A tables components might be table top, table legs and table skirt. Building each component can also be subdivided down into smaller processes such as marking out and cutting to size . By making each small sub p...