Call me sick (or call me “cute as a button”) but I enjoy breaking down rough stock with a handsaw. Part of it is necessity. I don’t have a miter saw, and many boards I work with are outside their capacity in width or thickness.
But more important than the tooling is that handsawing the stock forces me to slow down a bit and it gives me a good feel for how much moisture and tension is in each board. I’ve found some real stinkers when boards tried to pretzel my handsaw or choke it to death.
Today I broke down all the stock for another Dutch Tool Chest. I drive up to Maine on Wednesday morning for a three-pronged mission.
1. Teach a class on building the Dutch Tool Chest on July 5-6.
2. Film a DVD on building the Dutch Tool Chest with the Lie-Nielsen crew the week of July 7-10.
3. Attend the Lie-Nielsen Open House on July 11-12. Both John Hoffman and I will be there with books, T-shirts and Dutch Tool Chests. If you’ve never been to an Open House event, it’s like a huge Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event with factory tours (I tour the factory every time) and a lobster bake. Plus Maine is particularly nice this time of year.
Check out all the people who will be there via this link. Dang. Make your reservation for the lobster bake before July 1 (it’s just $25). The Open House is free and open to the public.
I’ll also be bringing some campaign furniture I’ve built to show off.
If you know what a sharp tool is and you have basic hand-eye coordination, then you have the skills to do basic leatherwork, such as the seat and strap for this folding campaign stool.
This weekend I built a couple of campaign stools – one in mahogany and one in teak. I can’t show you the teak one, though I wish I could. It’s part of a project in its early stages – new turnings and some new hardware. When it’s all worked out, I’ll definitely post it here.
While making the seats for these stools, I filmed a short video of the process to demonstrate just how simple the leatherworking is. Full plans are available, of course, in the book “Campaign Furniture.”
I also added a carrying strap to these stools. It’s a detail that I meant to add to the stool in the book but forgot. Here are the details.
The strap is 3/4” wide and 48” long. Attach a 3/4” buckle to one end. Loop the strap into the buckle like it’s a belt. Attach the loose end to the leg of the stool using two No. 10 x 1” brass screws and finishing washers.
Put the loop around the feet of the folded-up stool. Make the loop so it’s snug on the feet, but not tight. Mark a hole for the prong. Punch that hole, then add two more holes on either side of that hole (I put them on 1/2” centers). You are done and ready to take your stool to a Night Ranger concert at the roller rink.
Almost every day that I’m home, I spend time searching real estate listings or hitting the pavement, wandering around old neighborhoods in search of the perfect building for Lucy and I to live and work.
We’re picky. Our first house was in downtown Lexington, Ky., and it should have been condemned when we purchased it. And while bringing that building back to life was satisfying, it also was a lot more work than we ever expected. So we’ve vowed to buy a building that doesn’t have structural problems.
We also are looking for a particular vibe. We moved to our current house in Fort Mitchell, Ky., in 1996 for the fantastic schools. And while the town is quite nice, it’s far too gentrified, sleepy and homogenous for our tastes. We like being surrounded by other urban pioneers, independent entrepreneurs, craftsmen and artists. We like to be able to walk everywhere.
So we’re walking a lot of neighborhoods. And while we haven’t found the perfect building, street or neighborhood yet, we have found the perfect sign for the building.
One of the places we’re investigating is Pike Street in Covington, Ky., which is nearly perfect for us. Outside the Pike Street Lounge is this utterly fantastic welded and wicked metal bird. It suits my aesthetic perfectly – now all I need to do is find out who made that bird so I can ask them to make us a pair of dividers in that style.
Oh, and I need a building so I can hang it out front.
Judging from the e-mails I’ve received today, some readers thought I was making a macabre joke when I mentioned we’re having a coffin-making party in August.
It’s no joke. And I’m dead serious about the project. Everyone has personal desires about how they want to pass into the next world; I want to go in a simple pine box I built myself. I don’t want my family to spend a single cent more than necessary.
I’m also not planning on dying anytime soon (sorry, WoodNet). This coffin will live as a bookshelf in my office until it’s needed. And I am certain my wife will want to borrow it as a prop for the lawn on Halloween.
If you want to read more about coffin-making and the special jigs for the process, check out “Coffin-making and Undertaking” by Paul N. Hasluck (a reprint is available from Lindsay Publications).
In this segment, we visit The Naked Woodworker, the oracle of east-central Minnesota, to ask his advice on the following important questions.
1. Oh Naked Woodworker, tell us the truth about safety advice. It’s mostly legal, cover-one’s-behind stuff, no?
The Naked Woodworker speaks: Avoid injury! There is no greater loss to a woodworker than an injury; while most injuries are small cuts that are fairly easily taped over, you still get blood on your work and have an annoying sore spot to take care of until it heals. The bigger wounds might require stitching, which involves time away from your shop to get sewn up, time lost to heal if the wound is in a bad place, and money out of pocket to pay the doctor. We won’t talk about more severe wounds, which have more severe repercussions, such as the loss of the ability to count to 10 or pick your nose. Be careful, read instructions, follow them, wear safety glasses and dust masks, listen to your “gut” if the voice in your head says, ”Don’t do that.”
2. Oh Naked Woodworker, where will I find tools and wood to make things? For we are naked and have no such objects.
The Naked Woodworker speaks: You will need tools, wood and a place to work and store your tools and materials. Be creative. Perhaps you’ll have to work outside and store everything in a garden shed; if you don’t have a shed, that could be a good project. Figure out how you want to work; both hand tools and power tools can be found on Craigslist. Be patient and watch for a good deal.
It is a good idea to have a small trailer for getting materials and machines. Small trailers can be found on Craigslist as well. If all you have is the back seat of a Miata or a bicycle, you will be severely limited in your ability to jump on deals when they arise. Though I have been able to pick things up via motorcycle as well. Many items will easily fit in the trunk of a car, but lumber can be tricky. Roof racks are good but be sure to tie things down well; be creative.
Keep it simple at first. Build a sawhorse and a workbench of the type that suits you and your method of work. I find the English joiner’s bench to be inexpensive, very functional and easy to make. Workmates and sheets of plywood on sawhorses work as well.
3. Oh Naked Woodworker, what is the most important tool in the shop?
The Naked Woodworker speaks: Without knowledge of your tools and material, you will be lost. Learn the basics, put down a solid foundation of how tools work and how wood behaves, or misbehaves. Learn to sharpen and maintain your tools and equipment quickly and efficiently. Your brain is your true power tool, make sure it is turned on before you enter the shop. You don’t want to say, “I knew better” or, “I just wasn’t thinking.” Your mind is where you keep your most important tools, make sure it is full and well maintained.
Take a class and try other people’s tools. Learn how to sharpen and tune any tool you own, power or hand tool. Buying tools will not give you skills! Skills come with training and practice; they are earned! Many machines are very dangerous; learn how to operate them safely by reading the manuals that come with them. Know what makes a tool or machine “good.” Price is not always an indicator of quality. Buy the best tools and machines you can afford.
The broom is the second-most most important tool in the shop. Keep your shop clean, and when you drop a tiny screw or break a chip off of a dovetail you might be able to find it. When you hit a tough spot in a project and don’t know how to progress, or you had an upsetting phone call and are stressed out, sweep the shop to music. Put things away and tidy up. Soon you feel better and can get back to work. You may even come up with a solution to your tough project. You will get far more work done and have fewer tools fall off the bench and break in a tidy shop. If you can’t find a tool in the shop, start putting things away until it turns up. Don’t simply search for it. When you go into your shop, always put 10 things away.
4. But Naked Woodworker, we did not ask about the second-most important tool, for we are slovenly. But where can we purchase such knowledge and skills?
The Naked Woodworker speaks: Take classes to gain skills. Create or join a group of like-minded people, SAPFM, M-WTCA, PATINA, or local guilds and learn together. Bring in a teacher and create your own class. Knowledge is your best tool for saving money. Learn, practice, learn some more and improve by practicing. Do not practice poor technique.
