Showing posts with label new. Show all posts

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Making A New Turning Saw Part I

My "prototype" turning saw finally died. It was a quick and dirty project that was never intended to last. The original idea was to work out the bugs in the design, and then move on and make/use a nicer saw. It didnt end up that way. In fact the prototype was superior, and was my turning saw of choice over the years while the "nicer" saw hung on the wall.

Heres a shot of the DOA saw:

The epoxy that held the brass pin in the handle finally let go. I could just fix it, but as good as this little saw was (way better than you might guess from looking at it) Ive been wanting to build that nicer saw that really works too. I though this was probably the time.

The new saw will be made of oak. I still have some left from the broken library chair episode. After making some cardboard templates, I traced the design onto the stock. I decided to make the handle convex where my hand will hold it, much like a panel saw handle, rather than the more standard concave bowsaw handle. Im not sure if this will end up being a good idea or a bad idea. Ill know soon enough.

I prefer to do the mortising while the stock is still square. The setup is easy with the holdfasts. The big (giant!) mortise chisel and mallet do the grunt work and the smaller chisel is for cleaning out the chips and flattening the bottom:

The mortising sequence - start in the middle and work to one end (not quite to the layout line):

Back to the middle and work the other way:

Continue until the mortise is deep enough, then clean up the ends:

After laying out the tenons with the same gauge setting used for the mortises, I cut just outside the lines with a backsaw and trimmed with a shoulder plane to a snug fit.

Heres the saw so far - looking very chunky in its unshaped form:

In Part II I will shape the frame parts, make the blade assembly and create the tensioning system. After that, Ill try it out.

If history repeats itself, Ill be regluing the prototype in Part III.

Monday, February 10, 2014

home stretch on the new metal shop

when last we visited this project back in september, the carpenters had just finished getting the slate on the roof ... after that it was on to the siding and window trim outside, and the insulation, second floor radiant heat,and sheetrock inside. click the photos to enlarge them ..

it was kind of a thrill when the lights went on and siding was mostly finished ...

we still had to have the concrete professionals back to pour the slab for the

steel/blower/compressor shed ..

and we had to build the rather elaborate 20 long rack to store all the small in size, but 20 to 24 long raw materials ... fortunately, the carpenters were called away on another job for a day, which gave us time to figure out the rack before the roof went on .. mucho easier that way ..

the shed is fitted here with a bronze color standing seam roof by donnie dorrs metal shop ..

and inside, we did some painting, and reconfigured the chop saw tables into a mockup work table so we could figure out where to hang up the welding fume extractor. we ran the pipes to the blower thursday ..

boilers these days are amazing ... this little guy puts out 80,000 btus, enough to heat both floors, (+/- 1500 square feet in a vemont winter), and provide domestic hot water for the sink and bathroom. exhaust out in pvc pipe. no chimney ...

ahhh, the doors .. nobody made a cheap standard unit three doors wide, so we had to cobble these together with parts from a company whose name escapes me now .. we made up some quicky transoms from 8/4 pine and ordered up some custom thermopane to fill them.

there were a couple reasons for that configuration .. #1, you can open the doors totally in the summer like below, and should we move on at some point, the openings are framed to accept regular 9 x 7 commercial overhead doors .. presto, a heated, two car garage with a mother in law apartment above ... the plumbing and radiant for the second floor was roughed in before the sheetrock went up ..

a few notes below on the quicky transoms ...

9 3" x 16" plus the frames

essentially, the frames are butt jointed, timberlock construction, with applied moldings to accept the glass .. framed in the shop and screwed in over the door units .. cheap, easy, and fast ... you dont get that combo often enough ...

all for now ... sam is moving in this week

the steels there waiting for him

New Tenon Saw

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 couldnt 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 didnt 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 while learning to use the new saw as it initially jumped about in the kerf. This is a large saw and a lot heavier than what Im currently used to. The weight, combined with the extra height of your hand above the cut (blade depth) and the angle of the (dangle) handle meant I had to saw very slowly and steadily not applying any downward pressure at all other than the natural weight of the saw while my body became familiar with the movement. After quite a few rip cuts in some scrap Pine I finally got the hang of it, and found the saw to cut fast and track straight as an arrow. No doubt I will further improve the more I use the saw.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how smooth cutting the saw was when cutting across the grain, I will certainly be able to cut wider and thicker boards to length on the bench hook when my Carcass saw is struggling. Anything that is to big for this new 16" beast can then be handled with my panel saws.

So ... all in all I feel it has been a good purchase and my Trinity of Joinery saws should encompass all my needs, probably for the rest of my life! In fact I would say that my nest of saws is now complete.

I would be very interested in other peoples opinions on my purchase and what saws other people use.

An afternoon of boredom led me to find a use for some kitchen surface chip board and some old reclaimed pieces of Pine to make a quick and dirty bench side saw stand. Its not pretty but it did get my freshly sharpened saws off the floor and out of harms way.

Other new additions to the tool collection, once again courtesy of my girlfriends mum. These include two Marples chisels 1" & 1.5", the larger of which is very rusty. I will probably use these for jobs such as cleaning off dried glue etc. saving my Stanley chisels for best. Id love some Lie Nielson chisels one day they look gorgeous!

A fret saw (needs de-rusting) and pad saw (no blade) and a small mallet. The mallet head is actually made of a roll of wood and will make a good assembly hammer.

Anyway thats enough for now... time to build something soon!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

woodworking ideas for new baby

woodworking ideas for new baby one of the best

Woodworking Ideas For New Baby

Woodworking project ideas for kids | ehow, Kids love to build things. it seems like every day they are building new creations like sandcastles, forts or towers. woodworking projects are a great way for kids to. Great ideas for baby shower cakes - squidoo, Congrats, mom! a baby shower cake is often the focal point of one of the sweetest little celebrations we get to have in a lifetime. these days, many baby shower cakes. Small woodworking ideas | ehow - ehow | how to videos, Small woodworking ideas. when taking up a new hobby, such as woodworking, it is best to start with smaller projects rather than larger ones. you do not.

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Monday, January 27, 2014

New Claro Slab Table is FInished

Well OK ... Another big claro walnut slab table. Weve made quite a few of them now and there is more information about them on my blog than a person could likely want to read. (If not, be sure to scroll to older posts). But, we like them. They always seem to have this mysterious sense of substance to them when they are completed. The wood is dark and deep and totally unpredictable in its grain and color. We like the steel bases too. This one looks a little shinier in the picture above than it is in person. There was a little sunlight sneaking in the door when I took the picture and, reflected off the floor, it made the base look pretty impressive. Actually, its clean, but not real reflective and is meant to match the zinc counters in the clients kitchen ... Click the photos to enlarge them ....

A birds eye view of this 48 x 120 x 3" thick slab ... We figure conservatively that the table weighs at least 400 pounds assembled and I am unable to pick one end off the floor without feeling like I might hurt something ... For shipping to Montana, the slab will unbolt from the base and the 5 part base will be disassembled.

This project has been going on for a month or so so I reloaded a few of the relevant pictures of the process. You can see the other posts in the claro slab tables category to the right. Above is the raw slab before we trimmed it to width and length.

First step was to use my trusty 25 year old 3.5" Makita hand held planer to smooth the rough sawn top.

Then since we had other stuff going on in the shop, the preliminary planing and cutting was done at my garage. Easier than loading and unloading, and, with my old truck on its way to the graveyard, we towed it merrily down the driveway with Sams Saab, whistling while we worked.

We laid in a few strategic butterflies

And worked on the chairs that go with it at the same time ... They are a version of our contemporary ladderbacks with a Danish cord seat by Sandy Sherman chair caning. Danish cord seats were popularized by Hans Wegner in the 50s and 60s and are friendly and comfortable, though a bit labor intensive. The chairs are, like Windsors, more about the silhouette than the grain of the wood ...

Our typical base installation

A close up of the finish

The chairs in two views ...

The 160 nails per seat that it takes to organize the weaving. Fortunately for Sandy, Trevor was able to layout and rout the holes on the cnc so all Sandy had to do was hammer them in.

And in contrast, an updated photo of our skinny console for comparison ... You can pick that one up with one hand ...

Friday, January 24, 2014

Happy New Year !

A Blue Moon ... Some tarts by Kit .... and some thoughts for the New Year ...
I wish you all the best for 2010 ...

Click to enlarge it ... This is not, in fact, from Old St. Pauls Church , but is, in fact, a poem called Desiderata, written by Max Ehrmann, a lawyer from Terre Haute, in the 19 20s

Yeehah ! ... paddle tennis at 11:00 ... start the New Year right ...