Lost Art Press

LAP Open Wire, Feb. 17, 2024

Posted on by fitz
Just a few of the Lie-Nielsen tools from my Anarchist’s Tool Chest (there will be shinier LN tools on hand for you to try out next Saturday – as well as the fine folk from LN to answer questions).

Comments are now closed. A reminder that Chris will answer the as-yet unanswered ones later tonight or tomorrow.

It’s time for Open Wire, our almost-every-Saturday woodworking question and answer session! Next week, however, Open Wire will be in-person only at the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event here in our shop. So if you have questions and can’t make it to next weekend’s shindig, ask now in the comments section below.

Note: Brevity is appreciated.

Note 2: Chris has an afternoon engagement, so he’ll circle back to later questions after comments close to answer any I’ve missed…or that I’ve willfully skipped (i.e. most chair questions, or queries about the amount of chromium in a 5/8″ rounding plane plane).

127 thoughts on “LAP Open Wire, Feb. 17, 2024”

  1. Good Morning. Do you feel that the number of tool manufacturers is going up or down? Are there any tools not currently being made you would like to see being made again?

    1. Here’s my two penn’orth – both old-school, pre-war US-made Stanley items that were never seriously exported, so are rare indeed in the UK.
      One, (for those who sharpen out own saws), the Stanley 42 X saw set. (Not the larger No: 42!)
      The 42 X was a pistol-grip type and could be adjusted to set saw teeth down to at least 16 TPI with some care. Its secret was a double-action spring arrangement that gripped the saw-plate just before the hammer pressed the tooth to the anvil. No other set has this function.
      Secondly, the first-generation Stanley No: 82 Scraper holder. (Not the later, revised version) This came out in the 1930s and allows a range of scraper blades of all shapes and dimensions to be gripped and most importantly, controlled, by hand. Good for heavy shape-scraping curved pieces….. chair rockers, for example.
      Both these were discontinued decades ago.
      There are probably more, but I won’t spoil the fun!

    2. I am thrilled to say that I now have no idea how the world of tool manufacturing is faring. It used to be a significant part of my job because their fortunes reflected out future fortune.

      As to which vintage tools should be made again, I have a long list on my laptop – things that we have been working on for Crucible. I’ve slipped up in the past and mentioned a couple of them. And surprise, someone had them made in India. Poorly. And so it crossed the tool off our list because we can’t compete with India.

      I will say this. I would be very enthusiastic if Lie-Nielsen offered a lightweight No. 5. Simply removing some bulk from the base casting. Their current No. 5 is fantastic. But too heavy for many students for the kind of work we do. For those students I recommend a bevel-up jack (like the No. 62) and that solves the problem. But a lightweight No. 5 would be a home run for me.

      Luckily there are still lots of good old Stanley No. 5s out there.

      1. I’ve long wondered — would going lighter than a vintage Stanley 5 be a benefit. For instance they made, but I’ve never tried, a steel and aluminum version of the #5. And the Stanley Gage #5 is the same size as a Bailey, but weighs about a pound less.

        1. I’ve used an aluminum No. 5. It felt weird. Of course, the other option is a woodie (I’m mentioning this before the Wooden Plane Cabal checks in).

          1. I have a wooden bodied metal mechanism jack and it is light. I love it. Ten dollars ten years ago. Plus a day setting it up and what not. So technically about the price of a Lie Nielsen for my time!

      2. I think you can compete with India simply by making a quality product. As for your lightweight #5, how about a 5 1/4? A little smaller and narrower but still lighter. I personally would like to see someone make the original first patent Forstner bits with the solid ring. If you want, I can bring one down on Friday for you to play with.

  2. Morning Megan and Chris,

    If you were to shorten the Anarchist Workbench to 6’ or 7’, how would you modify the base? Shortening the stretchers by an equal amount seems precarious, but I’m not convinced that losing the large overhangs is great either…

    As always, thanks for doing this!

    1. Alex, I did this. My bench is 6′ and yes I reduced the overhangs quite a bit and they are not missed. Since you’ll build the top first, you can test the overhangs with saw horses by sitting on the ends. Once the the entire base is built there will be so much more weight which will make it even more stable.

    2. I should do a dedicated post about this.

      Shift the base so you have a good overhang on one end (the end with your planing stop is preferred. Keep the base as long as you can. The overhang on the other end can be minimal and you’ll be OK.

    3. I just measured my smaller Ruobo. Overall length is 6’8” with about a 13 1/2” overhang on each side. The outside to outside of each leg is around 53”. 24” deep and all parts 5” thick. Thing is bombproof, and I have zero issues or complaints. It’s my favorite tool in the shop. Just figured I’d throw that out there since it’s roughly what you’re considering and I have almost 10 years of daily use with it.

      Cheers,
      Dan

  3. Hi! What kind of brush and/or roller do you recommend for milk paint? Linseed oil paint? The blog post by Mattias last week mentioned Gnesta brushes but the US prices seem pretty high.
    Thank you.

    1. Just a quick side note from me, Philippe, to say that they are just as expensive over here. If taken care of they will last you a long time, though (they’re marketed as “life-time brushes”), but I’m sure Megan will be able to point you in the direction of some more wallet-friendly options, should you be loath to make that sort of investment.

      Also, I’m not sure how good they would be with milk paint – I haven’t tried them with that, but have read that natural bristle brushes can be sub-optimal for milk paint, given the amount of water involved.

      1. Thank you Mattias! Your blog post was really great btw. All the photos at various stages very helpful.

    2. For milk paint, Galbert recommends Purdy 144080115 Clearcut Series Dale Angular Trim Paint Brush, 1-1/2 inch, Natural. Travis Curtis, who also produces incredible milk paint finishes, uses pieces of foam for application. For linseed oil paint, I use the Wooster 1-1/2″ Yachtsman Angle Sash Brush (not the best, but affordable).

  4. Working on my ATC lid. Do you use anything to keep the center panel centered but to allow space to move? See that someone sells little rubber 1/4” balls, but thought I’d ask the professionals. Thanks!

    1. I center the panel, then drive headless pins through the lid and panel at the center. This fixes the panel in the center and allows expansion/contraction at the edges. I’ve never used the Space Balls….

    2. As Chris says, headless pins if needed. I used two rubber balls one time in a frame-and-panel door…when a panel was just a hair short and I was worried about it moving too much and exposing a gap at the top. So far, it’s working (its on a piece in my house).

  5. Good morning Chris and Megan,

    A question primarily for you, Chris: after watching the video on rounding planes that you posted the other day, I was wondering if you find it easier or harder to get nicely centered tenons on the sticks with the rounding plane compared to the Veritas Power Tenon Cutter, or if it makes no discernible difference in that respect?

    Cheers and all best,

    Mattias

    1. Hi Mattias,

      After some comparison, I find the Ray Iles a little easier to control for tenons. But it is slower. I now have a 99 percent success rate for the Veritas Power Tenon Cutter, but it took some time on the tool to get there.

      I will say that the Power Tenon Cutter is much easier to adjust to dial in the tenon size. The Ray Iles is simpler to adjust, but takes more fiddling.

  7. Good morning LAP Folk. Regarding the January 2021 Sheffield Cutler’s Stool: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2021/01/25/plan-for-a-sheffield-cutlers-stool/

    I want to make one or two for my shop. I’d like one to be taller. With this design, and without adding stretchers, what do you think the max. overall height could be, built from oak or ash? And with increasing the height and resulting leg splay, should the leg angles be brought in a bit to lessen them as a tripping hazard but maintain stability? (I could always paint those long legs in safety orange…) Thank you for your guidance.

    1. I’ve seen them as tall as 26″-28″. They survive fine as long as the legs are dead-straight grain and the joinery is good. I’m uncertain about the rake/splay question, however. I would answer the question by making a half-scale model of the stool with wire hangers as the legs. Bend them until it looks stable and not a tripping hazard. And build that.

  8. Good morning all, Chris and Megan, do you use hand screw clamps in your work? Why or why not?

    1. We do use handscrews. We have some large old Jorgensens. They are pretty much my favorite clamp because they can do things that other clamps can’t. A long article on handscrews and their million uses would be a great suggestion for a woodworking magazine…,.,

      1. Or a blog post from yourself, I haven’t bought a woodworking magazine in years!

          1. Hey I think I may actually have that issue. Thanks but I still would like you to write about it yourself!

          2. Hey thanks! I think that I actually have that issue, I will have to dig it out. But I would still like to read your take on the blog.

    2. I would be lost without my large handscrews at home – it’s how I hold doors for planing/mortising, and for hanging them after I’m done with fitting and hardware. A better third hand than most of my neighbors…the handscrews never say, “well actually…”

      They can also serve as a twin-screw vise if, say, I left my usual one at the shop…

      1. Is Jorgensen still making them in the USA? If not, a good USA alternative handscrew clamp is made by Dubuque Clamp Works in Iowa. Sold by many retailers, look them up. They also sell a handscrew hardware kit and you supply the wood. They make the best aluminum bar clamps, too. HF and similar aluminum bar clamps can’t hold a candle to them. Only steel pipe clamps will be better.

        1. The handscrew clamps sold now as Pony/Jorgenson are not made in the USA, made in China, but the hardwood is supposedly still sourced from the USA and/or Canada. The ROC based company that now owns the Pony Jorgensen brand also owns Arrow staplers and the rights to the Millers Falls brand name amongst a number of other old USA brand names. I think the parent company name is Great Star or something similar.

  9. I’m building an Anarchist’s workbench, but due to space constraints I need to shorten it to five feet long. I will need to adjust the overhang at the ends and am wondering if you have any recommendations. I was thinking 4″ at one end and 12″ at the end with the vise and planing stop. If it makes a difference the top is a 2 1/2″ thick glued up hard maple slab of three 8″ wide planks. Does this sound reasonable/workable?

  10. Hi Fitz & Chris
    I’ve done a panel glue up in European Oak to make a desk for one of my sons. It’s inevitably cupped! Starting MC was 12%. I’ve got a veneering vacuum press. What do you think to spraying it with some water, then putting it in the vacuum bag between 2 mdf sheets? I’m sure it won’t do any harm, however will it help to flatten them at all?
    Cheers
    Andy

  11. When planing with any of my bench planes (new or vintage; cambered or straight blades; smoothing, jointer, jack or fore), I very commonly get weird shiny tracks on the surface that don’t appear to be plane tracks and not the result of nicked blades. They appear more burnished than anything else. I haven’t found any obvious sources in the soles.

    I’ve filed the edges of my planes when I got them. Is this just a matter of redoing this whenever these burnished lines appear on the wood, or is there something else I’m missing?

    1. I have noticed that burnishing effect at times and wondered what causes it.

      If anyone here has a good answer I’d love to hear it. I don’t worry much about it or try to correct it because once the finish goes on, it disappears.

      1. I’ve always suspected it comes from the rear portion of the sole of the plane rubbing the wood during the stroke. It’s one of the reasons a very light pass with fine sandpaper can be useful after planing.

      2. I always assumed it would show through the finish, so I’ve never been able to treat a smooth planed surface as final. Really good to know, thanks!

  12. You mentioned that you prefer salt over urea in your liquid hide glue after extensive experiments. Is it simply that salt is cheaper/more readily available than urea or is there another downside to urea?

  13. Thanks for doing this every weekend! Someone locally has a 26’ x 15” walnut log down and I’m thinking of getting it. I don’t have a sawmill or a way to cut it up but I do have wedges, a sledge hammer, some saws, and axes. I know you typically use KD stock but I was wondering mostly how far down should I split it (halves, quarters, eighths)? Do you know of any special considerations for drying rived stock? My plan is to use this for chair parts (legs and sticks) since I doubt I’d be able to get any boards of any width out of a 15” log.

    1. Hi Andrew,

      I’ve rived our chair parts from walnuts. It’s something fun to try as long as you have no expectations for success. Finding a good “chair” tree for riving is a matter of experience and luck. Most urban trees are too knarled to have much straight stock in them. The pith should be dead center of the bole. The trunk perfectly straight with no wild variations in the bark.

      Peter Galbert discusses this at length in “Chairmaker’s Notebook.”

      When/if you split it up, start with 24″ sections for the legs and stretchers and use the straightest bit of wood. For sticks, I use a straight section that is about 30″ long. I split things down to where I have oversized chunks for the parts, then I dry them. It’s a whole other part of the craft. One that I do on occasion. But am no expert on. Follansbee and Galbert, Greg Pennington and a whole host of others can give you more detailed advice.

  14. Is the LN event just Saturday? I thought i saw Friday as well. Looking forward to visiting next weekend

  15. Good morning!
    The Joiner and Cabinet Maker has a nice history of pre industrial, how to books. Your library is full but I have never seen any commentary from you on Otto Salomon and his original Sloyd books, particularly his steps and models used to teach children. Jogge’s books on Sloyd are beautiful and helpful but not like Salomon’s books where he is teaching teachers.
    Have I missed your commentary on the Sloyd moment in the 1880-1910? Sorry for the lengthy comment.

    1. If I recall correctly, Doug Stowe is working on a book on this very topic. The simple answer is that we are not experts on Sloyd and leave that to the people who are.

    1. I do. Our No. 62 (bevel-up jack) has an 8″-radius camber and works incredibly well. There are people out there who say it doesn’t work. I invite them to our shop and we will give a live demonstration.

      1. Your answer is spot on. A fellow named Derek Jones wrote an extensive article (which great photos) on this back in 2008 that I found on the web “The secret to cambering Bevel Up Planes…”. Because of geometry, it t does take more of a radius on a BU blade to get an equivalent to a BD blade, but it kinda depends on what you are trying to accomplish – doing work a suited for a scrub plane? Edge jointing or more finishing type work. But, his favored radius for a BD jack was 8 1/2″.

  17. Cutting dovetails, more specifically cutting the pins after having cut the tails. Instructions always specify to leave the line in place, but on photos and videos it always seems like the line has disappeared after the cut is made. Any tips on placement of the saw blade relative to the mark lines?

    1. It varies to an extent based on the set of the teeth and plate thickness of your saw. With my well-used DT saw, there is almost no set remaining, so I can drop a tooth into the knifeline, with the opposite tooth and the plate on the waste side of the line, saw straight down, and it’s exactly right. That should leave half my line. With my newer DT saws, which have some set, I put the teeth that are set toward the pin (it will change depending which side of the pin you’re cutting) just against the line, and cut straight down. I can usually see a tiny bit of the line after cutting – if I look closely.

  18. How do you go about servicing the round bandsaw bearings once they stop spinning? Many thanks

    1. Replace them, but buy good quality. The bearings have different load ratings depending on who made them and model/type. You want a high load bearing that can handle the speed. The inexpensive bearings don’t last near as long. They need to be sealed. Depending on make, you can probably buy original bearings.

    2. I take the bearings off their posts and see if they can be cleaned, lubed and returned to service. If they remain frozen, I replace them. Good bearings aren’t terribly expensive and they are readily available.

  19. In last weeks Open Wire, someone had asked a question RE orientation of wedges relative to leg tenon grain. You responded:

    “You should orient the annular rings of the legs so they are perpendicular to the grain on the seat. So the kerf would therefore be parallel to the annular rings in the leg”.

    In the ADB (pg 67), the caption of the photo says “In the top of each leg, saw a kerf that is perpendicular to the annular rings of the end grain.”

    In my mind, the ADB makes sense (since the seat and leg would have sympathetic seasonal wood movement, provided the seat grain runs left to right vs front to back).

    I promise I’m not trying to ‘get you’ or be pedantic, just curious RE best way to wedge legs for longevity.

    1. I have made both arguments, as have others. And I’ve gone back and forth. Both make some sense. So I decided long ago that it’s probably not a mission-critical detail.

  20. What’s the benefit of the stair step profile on the Hulot stop block? I’ve just been clamping a lip on the end of my saw bench. It works, but probably could be better. Thanks.

    1. The steps are of different heights, for different-size work. My guess is that 99 percent of the time, Chris is using the top step, which is 1/2″ – he can shave his sticks there without the plane sole hitting the top of the block – and when he does get down close to the top of the block, that indicates (by eyeball measurement) he’s reached the finished size. You can read more about it here: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2022/01/06/a-faster-way-to-make-long-sticks/

    2. Yes, the steps are for different thicknesses. I use two steps the most, for sticks and legs. Also, it holds the work up to a comfortable height so you don’t slam a tool into the benchtop.

  21. Seems to be more and more cos out there selling fashionable leather aprons with myriad pockets. Are these useful aside from potentially helping ease the blow from table saw kickback? Thank you,

  23. A lot of your books have plates of old tools or benches / depictions of woodworking in old art. I like those parts.

    Do you know of a source that’s dedicated to just that? A volume full of woodworking plates from [everywhere] that’s either nice to read / feel / look at, or good for, say, planning what to visit when you’re traveling?

    Can I buy a book or three of just that, or is the only way to dedicate a lifetime to picking up tidbits through research and hard work?

    1. Picking up the Dennis Diderot books will give you a lot of visual candy. But it’s not all woodworking-specific. We published “The Book of Plates” years ago and barely broke even on it.

      And then there’s Forgotten Books, a POD service that lets you preview hundreds of woodworking books. I’ve been meaning to write about them, as they have changed the way we think about reprints.

      https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/Technology_and_Engineering/Carpentry

      (We’re not going to do things this way – promise.)

      1. Oh, dang. I didn’t know about the book of plates. That looks cool, and also I see the adamant ‘not doing this again’ message next to it. Shucks. I’ll look for one used, and check out Diderot. Thanks!

  24. When Chris conducts a workshop what are the top three things that participants have done in the past that are best avoided? What does a model participant look like (behavior-wise)?
    PS. That’s my last question, promise.

    2. Everyone learns differently. So a lot of (actually most) behaviors I excuse. Some behaviors make the class difficult for other students.

      1. Asking non-stop off-topic questions. I usually shut this down by saying they are welcome to ask me any and all off-topic questions after class hours.

      2. Arriving with tools that must be restored before they can be used, and expecting me to do it. I usually hand them one of our student tools instead.

      3. Deciding to do a technique different than we are doing in class. And encouraging others to follow suit.

      I think students get the most out of my classes if they:

      1. Listen and take notes. And try to follow the instructions to the letter without “hotdogging.”
      2. Push to get the task done before dorking around.
      3. Take the end product seriously instead of saying “Oh this is just a class. I’ll try for real when I get home.”

      I sound like a total a-hole here, I know. Apologies for that.

  25. Meghan, you have a great wit. I laughed so hard at your writing above that you will skip over questions about “the amount of chromium in a 5/8 rounding plane blade.” Well played.

  26. Happy Saturday! I’m about to take on the packing crate and school box, and thought it would be fun to use the Rabome folding rule that sits on my desk. Chris mentions using Boraxo to clean up the scales, but Boraxo is no more! Can you/someone please recommend an alternative product to clean and brighten the scales? Thanks.

    1. Assuming it’s a wood rule, I would try hand wipes with citric acid in them. I like GOGO scrubbing towels in the silver container. When done wipe the wood with a wax or other protector. (Like Katies wax)
      These loosen and lift dirt off pretty good. Throw towels away when done. (No fire hazard.)

  27. Any advice on striping/refinishing a large complex piece with fine details? I’m facing down an old stair railing/banister and wondering how I can resurface it quickly-ish without losing a lot of detail.

    PS I attempted to subscribe to your substack via the substack app this week. TLDR I couldn’t and the substack support suggested the author would need to enroll in a beta program to allow for this.

    Thanks for all your hard work!

    2. Unfortunately, the best way I know is to use the nasty dangerous stripper stuff, keeping the stuff wet for a long while (and covering it with wet rags) so it can go deep). I used to do a lot of this when I was restoring Arts & Crafts originals. But I don’t anymore. There might be new technology/chemistry out there that I am unaware of.

      And on substack, could I ask what does TLDR mean? A Google search didn’t turn up anything that made sense to me…

      1. “too long; didn’t read” but in this context it’s essentially “to make a long story short”.

      2. I have an 1880 farmhouse with a lot of wood trim painted with what I assume is lead based paint. I have been very happy with https://products.franmar.com/products/lead-based-paint-stripper-lead-out. Unlike the other strippers I know, while they tell you to use ventilation it doesn’t have any particular odor. It also chemically encapsulates any lead. The lead part comes as a dark gray powder with a 24 hour shelf life, so I mix it in smaller quantities and plan to apply in the morning, strip in the evening, re-apply and strip again in the morning, or apply in evening, first strip in the morning, second in the evening. It does work better after several hours but like all the other strippers I have ever used needs several applications to clean a multi-painted surface. I use cheap synthetic brushes and a small flexible spackle knife with an old toothbrush for some of the ogee edged molding.

        I will admit to giving up on the kitchen wainscot with 3-4″ wide vertical beaded planks, and am going for some nice drywall instead, keeping the chair rail…

  28. Good Saturday am
    I am curious as to how one goes about designing furniture. Do you use pictures from books, magazines, etc? Use existing pieces as a guide to the new piece? Doodling on a bar room napkin? Use Sketch-Up?
    Do you then make mock-ups of the new design to see how it all looks?
    I have patterns and plans that I have either purchased or was able to download free plans from the web, but what if I wanted something different?
    I guess just start drawing?

    Thanks

  29. Thanks, as always, for doing this. I plan to camber my jointer plane blade as suggested in Sharpen This, but I’m not sure how far back to set the chip breaker from the cambered blade. What do you do?

  31. Since you’re hanging with Lie-Neilsen today, could you kindly ask them if they have any plans to expand into Canada or arrange for a Canadian reseller? You know the problems with the cost of shipping so I won’t belabour why.

    It would be nice to have more choice than just Veritas or Vintage!

    1. We’re not hanging out with LN until next weekend. And I’m afraid that’s a question for LN, not us.

  32. Fitz, who taught you to make dovetails? You mentioned him last year and I might stand a better chance of getting into a class at a woodworking school than in the nanosecond opening at LAP. Thanks.

    1. Kelly Mehler. As far as I know, the only place he’s teaching now is his former school – which is now the Woodworking School at Pine Croft. The classes there are easier to get into than ours, for sure (including mine, when I teach there). And it’s a gorgeous place. (I’m hoping to be invited back for the fall – we’ll see!). https://pinecroftwoodschool.com/

  33. With heirloom pieces, attachment, and money invested into hand tool woodworking kits, and in the picture of moving your house, how would you approach moving your tools if ground transportation wasn’t an option and you had to ship them via air? Would you fly them, sell them, keep that kit at home with someone and rebuild your kit abroad?

    1. I don’t know what Chris will say…but I guess it would depend on how long I think I’ll be staying in the new location. If for the foreseeable future, I’d fly my hand tools. My chest, along with its contents, weighs about 210 lbs. The cost to ship it would be worth it to me for the long term.

  34. Do I need to be worried about using a rasp across a glue line? (Mostly concerned about gumming up the rasp.) Does it make a difference whether it’s hide glue or PVA? Thanks!

  35. I am at the point of final assembly of the handrail for my shop. The balustrade consists of frame and panel sections that are joined with pegged mortise and tenons. The dowels are a hammer-tight fit but not draw bored. Would you glue the tenons? The pegs? Both?

    1. I used a one-pound cut on a floor at my old house. Seemed to work – at least for the 1.5 years in between my applying it and selling the place.

  37. Hi Fitz, Nice you have an open day event at the shop soon, I, residing in the UK have great difficulty in attending such events in the US, flight prices being the main reason, part of life I suppose and the need for companies to make a profit.
    On another point I have noticed since Lie Nielsen have started concentrating on the US market (this started after the Covid-19 eruption) with their tools prices for their products have rocketed on the second hand market, example, a 7 1/2 Lie Nielsen plane listed on Ebay for £1300.00, opportunists ?

    1. I expect once production is at full force, they will be more readily available. I agree that seems too pricey for a tool LN sells new for $500.

    2. There will be a Lie-Neilsen presence (including, at least according to the programme, Thomas Lie-Nielsen himself and also Curtis Turner) at least a bit closer to you, in Arnhem in The Netherlands, on May 25–26. Still across a body of water, but at least a narrower one than the Atlantic. Probably not quite comparable to a full-blown Lie-Nielsen Event, but still.

      The event is a woodworking show put on by Baptist to celebrate their 40 years in business – they’re a top notch woodworking shop, and there’s a lot more of interest on the programme.

      Tickets (limited in number to 2,5600 per day) till seem to be available..

      I would have loved to go, but other fun stuff calls me to Sweden that weekend, so I shall have to miss it.

  38. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to answer questions.

    In the Stick Chair Book and videos, the chair arm is place 8 inches above the seat. Is there any problem with placing the arm only 7 inches or so above the seat instead?

  39. Thank you as well for taking the time to run Open Wire every week. Very briefly, how do you keep the lid of a Dutch tool chest open while working?

    When I need to keep the lid in vertical position, I use one of the thin strips that lock the drop-front. One end is resting at the front bottom of the top shelf. The other end is pushed against the open lid, secured by a small piece of wood nailed on the lid to prevent it from slipping. It’s simple and it does the job, but I was wondering if there’s a better way, as the lock strip in that position does sometimes get in the way. Thanks!

    1. It depends on the chest. On some, I’ve put a chain on the outside to hold the lid open. On others, I lean it against the wall, or do what you do. I’ve also seen a piece of leather tacked on to the side and the lid, and various other stays. You can also rest the back edge of the lid against the back, if the overhang is long enough, and that will hold it open.

      1. Thank you. I think that might be an issue for my particular build. The overhang is minimal (the lid is cut flush to the back), but the hinges and overhang keep the lid at a maximum of 90 degrees, no more. With the width of the saw holders plus saws, the lid inevitably always falls to the front. I think I’ll end up chiseling some sort of recesses on the back edge of the lid, so that that bit does not interfere with the hinges and it can go over 90 degrees to stay open.

  40. Good Afternoon!
    Chris once mentioned that all Linseed oil is self-combustible (in an Open Wire a few months ago), and I was wondering if this was just a warranted abundance of caution or if raw linseed oil can actually self-combust. Charles Hayward contradicts this, recommending periodically wiping plane soles with a cotton pad soaked in linseed oil (Woodworker’s Pocket book, page 73). So is raw linseed oil as self-combustible as boiled? And is genuine boiled linseed oil as combustible as the stuff treated with metal additives? I’ve been trying to find info about this for a while.

    Thanks in advance, Marc

    1. All drying oils generate heat as they cure. Linseed oil is a drying oil.

      The danger is real, but don’t be paralyzed by it. A little oil on a rag that isn’t bunched up isn’t a fire hazard. So it doesn’t contradict Hayward.

      I can honestly say that the only heat and fires from drying oils I have seen have been on the internet. I use linseed oil every day, and I’ve never noticed the rag was getting hot or even warm. That’s because I don’t soak them in linseed oil and bunch them up with other rags.

      Take normal precautions and you won’t have a problem.

  41. Chris,
    I saw that you are using a stock tank to immerse-soften your material on the stove to prepare for bending. How’s that working out?Still vouch for its usefulness?
    Thanks
    Geoff

  42. Is there a relatively quiet (or quieter) way to adjust wooden hand planes? I have come to love using them, but often can only work at night with my roommate asleep one room over. In particular I have had trouble with the noise of tapping the body to loosen the iron.

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