If you have a woodworking question, post it in the comments below. Chris and I are holding Open Wire today between now and 5 p.m. Eastern and will do out best to answer everyone (in between finishing a chair and a tool chest – guess who’s doing which…).
– Fitz
Good Morning, the Christmas light and decorations are beginning to be on display, when will the Annual Tool Gift Buyers guide arrive?
I have a good jointer and planer. I know pretty much nothing about maintenance of machines. Any suggestions for a book (or a source) on how to take care of these things ?
Thanks
In your sharpening videos you mention you do not rate the Shapton Ceramic Glass stones as highly as the Shapton Pro stones. Please could you elaborate. Alas the required beers will have to wait for you next trip to the UK.
I do not receive the blog emails as I once did, but I do receive the American Peasant. Is it me?
The glass stones are too thin for the $ – you will use up a 1,000-grit stone in less than a year. (Or at least I would.) Plus, you have to turn them over to see which is what grit – but that’s a minor annoyance.
I don’t see another place on your site to say it, so I say it here. Thanks for putting together the Gibson chair video. I’ve been using it to build a couple, and, as always, your terrific instructions are simple to follow. (I used your Roorkhee chair video to make a couple of those years ago and felt the same way.) My question is about stick chair paint. You use different kinds and brands. If you remove curing time from the equation, what is your favored paint these days for stick chairs? And, again, thanks for the video. Well worth the price.
Will the Anthe building be open during the open house?
Probably not – we’re getting some floor work done so we can move the editorial offices there, and it will be underway.
Good Morning. I am wondering if you still recommend fortification of chair seats with pegged loose tenons at glue up. I know the recommendation was in The Stick Chair Book, but have not seen it mentioned much lately. Thanks for the wonderful information and products LAP provides!
Forgive me, I’m still very new to woodworking, but I’ve got a new-to-me vintage Stanley No 5 Type 11 jack plane with the original iron, chip breaker and cap iron. Everything appears to be in very good shape, and I’m setting this up for the first time. This is my first hand plane. I’m wondering in about the mouth opening and the positioning of the frog. When I set the plane up, I have the frog aligned so that the slope of the frog is aligned right on the edge of the mouth such that the slope down the frog and out the mouth is a single coplanar slope. Is this the right way to do it? It seems the mouth is quite closed up when I do it this way, meaning there’s not much of a gap between the exposed edge of the iron and the front of the mouth, and while I’m able to get shavings, they are fairly fine, and I’d like to be able to take some bigger bites. When I back the frog up away from the edge of the mouth, I have trouble getting the edge of the iron to come out of the mouth sufficiently to make a cut. I’ve tried backing the frog maybe an 1/8”. I feel I must be doing something wrong. Any advice? Thank you.
Chris has a great series on jack plane setup – here’s the one that talks about the frog position (but in short, he recommends positioning the frog so it is in the same plane as the back edge of the plane’s mouth).
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2019/11/10/clean-true-critical-surfaces-of-a-jack-plane-part-2/
I am having a very bad time using the tapered tenon cutter. Is there a special trick? I have sharpened it, and set it in place against the tapered mortise reamer so that they are in alignment, but it only cuts halfway down and then stops.
Good morning! I’m currently working on the AWB and I’m facing a bit of a challenge. My shop floor is made of concrete and has a few cracks and is a bit uneven. I’m looking for some advice on how to make sure the work surface is level. I’ve heard about using shims, attaching the table to a wall, using adjustable feet, and even cutting the legs to different lengths to make it level in a specific spot. But I’m not sure which of these options is the best one, and I’m worried about any potential drawbacks. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Our shop floor is uneven, and we use shims. It’s the cheapest and easiest solution (and you can ad and take away shims as needed if you move the bench)
Are there any plans to bring Peter Follansbee back next year for another carving class? I am bummed that I missed the one this year.
If he wants to visit, we’d be delighted to have him.
Just to put my mind at ease, can you confirm that page 73 of Kitchen Think, third printing is intended to be blank? It’s just jarring coming upon that expanse of white in the middle of that beautifully printed book, and it’s the only blank page in the body of the book, and the only blank right-facing page so it sticks out like a sore thumb and I can’t help but think “is something supposed to be there?” and it’s bugging me.
Thanks!
That is correct. The chapter ended on the left-hand page, and every chapter opener is on a left-hand page – hence the blank RHP in between in this case.
Thank you…my mind is now at ease.
Good morning, Chris and Megan! I recently received an old Stanley miter box, but the saw could use some TLC. I remember seeing someone mentioned on the blog who restores saws. Do you recall who it was, or can you recommend someone reliable?
Yep! Matt Cianci: https://thesawwright.com/
and Mark Harrell: https://www.sawsharp.com/
Good morning gurus of the ATC!
I am writing this morning for advice on what to do, if anything, about the 1/4” gap between the underside of the lid and the top of the carcass/dust seal at the back of my tool chest build.
Will it let any significant amount of dust in if I am using power tools (bandsaw) in my small shop?
To fix it, would you shave the top of the upper skirt, or the bottom of the edge/skirt of the lid?
I took a class with the illustrious Ms. Fitzpatrick last June (thank you for teaching!) and really want to attach the lid, but have been letting myself get hung up on this question.
Thank you for any help/advice/anecdotes you might share and hoping you are having a great weekend!
~Carrie
Hi Carrie! I don’t know about illustrious, but thank you. Looking from the back, can you see if the underside of the lid is hitting the lip on the chest? If not, you can plane the dust seal down a bit for a tighter fit/less gap. I usually have about an 1/8″ gap (and because the back is against the wall, I don’t have much trouble w/dust getting in),
Hey guys. Megan congrats on the new book. Lee valley has received my request….they’re pretty good with that.
Newbie questions
Can you talk about edge finishing and how and when you decide to leave them sharp vs round over and how much, vs a chamfer. I like the look of a clean sharp edge, but it’s not durable. Do I just break it or …
and do you keep that same edge treatment throughout the piece.
ie tops and legs.
Proportion.
In design stage, do you build models etc. how do decide that a leg thickness will balance and not look too heavy vs the top or seat.
For a visual example
Lie Nielsen workbench has a 4” thick top and 3” legs whereas Megan’s Benchcrafted has. 3” top and thicker legs
The lie Nielsen looks light and airy and the bench crafted looks chunky and heavy, even though they do the same thing.
When in the design process are proportion decisions made and do you revisit them or change them during a build.
Lastly
Any tips for getting over being paralyzed by perfection.
Example: if I chamfer this edge with my block plane, it won’t be consistent along its length because I’ve only done it 5 times… so I’m tempted to leave it sharp or sand it (which is more forgiving but a crutch) than take a chance and ruin it. Again.
Help.
Thanks
Best
Shawn Austin
Extremely new to woodworking but an old Wilco fan 🙂
Good morning Chris and Megan!
Thanks for doing this! It is very generous of you. I know I saw something written about this but can’t find it. I need to make a six stick comb back chair that is 2 or 3″ wider than the plans in the book. Do you have a suggestion for how to accommodate changes in the width with the layout for the arms and sticks in the back?
Thank you!
Josh
Any chance of buying a replacement Exeter hammer handle?
Hi Chris, Megan!
One of my brothers has repaired an old oak dining room table and added some new leaves. Everything is sanded down to 220, but there are significant differences in how the old and new boards are taking stain (e.g., dark walnut stain or something more “traditional” in appearance), which is to be expected. The boards are a mix of rift and quartersawn, but it seems to be more of an old vs. new issue; or perhaps just normal differences in grain porosity between whatever was the source of the old boards vs. the new ones. Is just a matter of doing test boards with different stain mixtures, or is there some kind of product or other approach (raising grain?) that could help?
Thanks!
Brian
Correction, none of the wood is quartersawn; it’s all rift/flat
I’d like to try out my first chair (made some other staked furniture). Want it to be an armless desk chair for computer use. I like the looks of the “Staked Chair” from Anarchist Design Book (chapter 17). For this chair what angle are the long sticks/spindles for the back rest? Couldn’t find it in the book, but may have missed it. Thanks!
Good morning. If you were building the comb back with bent arm bow stick chair for a dining room table, would you make any changes to your plan in the stick chair book? Should the seat or back angle be more upright?
Thanks for doing these q&a sessions!
As shown in the book, that chair is designed for dining and keyboarding. The arm is too skinny to tolerate much lean.
Hope this helps.
Hi guys!
Two questions, if I may:
For the LAP books that are only available as a physical copy, are you planning to make them available as PDFs as well? It would be appreciated, as I’m not in the US.
I got the book (that is to say the PDF) on door and window making and it’s a really useful book! It also made me realise that the English/US tradidtion has a completely different approach compared to the European continent where I am. In the former tradition, the edges of the door are square and close flush with the frame. To stop it over-swinging, a stop is nailed to the jamb (or a rabbet is cut into the frame).
In Europe, the door has a rabbet going all around it and when closed sits proud of the frame (which may or may not also have a rabbet for the door itself).
I don’t know if you have any experience or thoughts on the advantages of each, I would be happy to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!
If they are available only as physical books, it’s because for one reason or another, we cannot offer it via PDF. (And I’m afraid I don’t have enough window experience to comment on the differences.)
Just to add a little more here. When we don’t offer pdfs, it’s almost always because we cannot obtain the rights to them. Our preference is to have everything available both in print and electronic. But that is rarely our call.
On your question, try asking Richard Arnold, who is a wealth of information about traditional doors and windows. And a sweetheart of a person.
https://www.richarnold.co.uk/