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While making the simple bevelled wall board for my ' Ships Clocks ' a few days ago, it occurred to me that the very same design might make a good (albeit chunky) box lid.  My stock (scaffold board Pine - of which I have a lot of it! ) wood is around 1 1/2" thick, the simple design allows me to use what I have without having to waste most of the wood making it thinner. It also saves me a lot of sweat with a hand plane! It also occurred to me that I have never made a simple Rabbet jointed box... I completely forgot to take any pictures during the build as things progressed pretty quickly. A rough description of the steps I took are below: Box Carcass Cut four pieces (2 long , 2 short) of cheap (pre-planed) Pine to length on the bench hook. 'Shoot them' to exact lengths with square ends on the shooting board. Mark and cut the shoulder line of each rabbet on the short sides of the two long boards (the front and back of the box) again using the bench hook -...

With some well earned cash in my pocket I have decided to treat myself to a long awaited indulgence - A 5pc set of Lie Nielsen Bevel edged chisels complete with the leather tool roll.  After some discussion with a few other woodworkers who's opinions I have come to value, I decided to opt for the O1 tool steel, over the A2 steel. As I do a lot of stuff with soft Pine, I'm hoping the lower 25/30 degree bevel of O1 steel will be more suited than using a 30/35 degree bevel as required with A2 steel. These Lie Nielsen chisels will replace my cumbersome Stanley Fat Max chisels, for finer joinery like dovetails etc. The Stanley chisels will still earn their living doing 'DIY' type chores around the house & garden. Each Lie Nielsen chisel feels so light and balanced in the hand, I am sure they are going to be a joy to use - as are all my other LN tools. The sizes are 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", and 3/4". The leather roll, while expensive is very nice q...

Wow it's been nearly two months since my last blog post! Will anyone still be reading this? While I have been back home from my yacht delivery for a few weeks, I have been busy building a new wooden garden fence and spending my time with Bible study. Finally, the other day the lure of the tools enticed me back to my wood working room to build something. Nothing complicated, just something quick and dirty to get me started again. A simple bevel edged board to wall mount my beloved ships clock & barometer. These little treasures of mine have been with me on all my sailings, including three single handed Atlantic crossings, so they mean a lot to me. It will be nice to still enjoy them now I'm a 'land lubber'. Anyway, I'm back - I haven't forgotten the blog and there will be more small projects to come, I promise.

Just a quick Blog update ... Not much wood working action recently as indicated by the lack of posts. I am busy preparing to deliver a nice little J92 racing yacht from the UK across Biscay and through the Gibraltar straits to the south coast of Spain.  I will be gone for a few weeks but there will definitely be more projects when I get back. See you all soon...

After attempting my first dovetails around November last year, I haven't built upon the experience or attempted any other dovetails since. The Small Pine Chest was (and still is) my favourite project so far and I think I got very lucky with some quite tidy joints for a beginner. I decided it was time to attempt to repeat the experience, almost knowing ahead of time that the first time was a fluke, and so to prepare for disappointment. The idea for this project came from a small piece of Oak I had which was an offcut from the first ever thing I made . I decided it would make a nice lid for a box, and this with a length of 6" wide Pine board formed my stock. I wont bore you too much with the starting process, needless to say that the bench hook, tenon saw and square, chisel and knife saw to cutting the pine to length, before using my no#4 plane and shooting board to shoot the ends clean. Having all my components to size, I started to get a feel for the finished box. After cutt...

It's funny how things all turn out and help you make a decision . In the past week I have both sold my boat... and ... received a lovely letter (and cheque) from the Tax man.  Finally, the icing on the cake,... I was sent a discount email for 10% off any item from Axminster tools.  Now, despite all the above, ... This decision did not come lightly I can assure you! I am sure the Quangsheng planes would have probably served my purpose adequately, in fact from the reviews I know they would.  They sound like really good planes at amazingly cheap prices. But... I am thinking of this as a one time quality purchase and I would always be wondering or lusting after the Lie Nielsen tools. No political or moral views came into it - I simply could afford what I wanted in the first place, regardless of the quality and value for money of the competition. It's lovely! ... If I get the same feeling from using this new no#7 plane as I get from my other LN tools, it's money well...

Just thought I would share this little gem from circa 1945. PDF Here