Summer is in full swing and where I live it is HOT. The best way around this is to stay inside and read the forum. Remember, if you have a question about our products, procedures in our books or anything related to Lost Art Press, the fastest way to get an answer is our forum. Check it out here.
Workbench is finally finished I love showing off people’s finished projects and this one is perfect for that (above). I love the painted legs. Beautiful work Tyler.
Staked worktable is rickety Christopher is finding his staked worktable to be a little rickety so far in his construction and is thinking of putting two aprons between the battens with screws to remedy the problem. Has anyone had a similar experience? And if so, what was your solution?
Suitable replacement for pine
David is looking for pine on the West coast and has found it nowhere. The question now is whether to build from 3/4” pine or switch to poplar. What are your thoughts?
Roubo bench green timbers – the waiting game How dry does wood need to be to start a bench build? This is the question Jason is pondering while anxious to get started. Most are advising that as long as there is dry would for the legs, the top can be green. Do you agree?
Making a wider bookshelf Thomas’s bookshelf is painted and in use. Looking good! (At right.)
Planting on a raised panel Michael is getting ready to build a wall cabinet and is thinking he wants to approach his doors the way Peter Follansbee did the lid on his tool chest. (Below; the photo is from Peter’s blog.) The problem is that he is not sure how he attached his dust seal. Glue? Dowels? Dominos? Anyone able to help him out?
The only place Peter Hardwick had where the tool cabinet could be displayed was inside his unused fireplace surround in the cottage parlor. Appropriately, the surround was some of Studley’s handiwork from the Quincy house. (Photo courtesy of Sandor Nagyszalanczy)
The Fan Frenzy Begins In the late 1980s Peter installed a new chimney in his home, and, in doing what guys do on such a momentous occasion, invited a friend over to show off his newly completed project. This friend, an insurance agent, saw the tool cabinet, recognized its special-ness and encouraged Peter to insure it. This event, Peter said, “Opened a can of worms!”
Peter tried to figure out exactly what it was that he had and how much to insure it for, and so he turned to FineWoodworking, the Smithsonian and an antiques appraiser for answers. At FineWoodworking magazine, Senior Editor Sandor Nagyszalanczy took the call and carries the memories vividly.
In early 1988, Nagyszalanczy made arrangements to go visit it during another scouting trip to Maine. When he opened the chest, it was, and I am quoting him, “Jaw dropping to floor!” He set up to take the photographs that eventually entered directly into our collective consciousnesses via the back cover of that magazine.
At that moment, Peter’s life of stewardship of the tool cabinet changed forever. In an age before e-mail, the result of that single back-cover image – and the ensuing posters – was an onslaught of actual “fan mail” for the tool cabinet that overwhelmed him. He received so much mail that he rented a dedicated post office box just for the unsolicited correspondence being forwarded to him by FineWoodworking. Peter’s only regret from this period was that he did not save the fan mail.
The Smithsonian One of the correspondents was the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Curator David Shayt. While on vacation, Shayt visited Peter and they struck up a fast friendship based initially on their mutual interest in the tool collection, but it soon evolved to reflect the fact that both men were affable and genuinely good guys.
At the time, Peter had a dilemma. He owned a family heirloom that was also a monumental piece of Americana, and he was concerned about its security and preservation in a simple Maine farmhouse. Shayt proposed a temporary solution. What if Peter loaned the tool cabinet to the Smithsonian for a 10-year period, during which the Smithsonian would bear all the responsibility for it? Once again, Peter reached an agreement to foster the care and preservation of a genuine national treasure, a theme that has touched him throughout his life.
While at the Institution the cabinet was conserved and exhaustively documented, and included in a small vignette adjacent to the exhibit “Engines of Change:The American Industrial Revolution 1790-1860,” with several other tool chests and cabinets for various trades. Though the larger exhibit lasted almost 20 years (late 1986 to mid-2006), the Studley tool cabinet was included for perhaps only a third of that time, probably from about 1992-1999. No doubt seen by thousands of woodworkers there, the Internet has numerous accounts of woodworkers who were captivated by it. I spoke recently with one visitor, a woodworker, who recalls it “being displayed a long way back from the glass, and in the dark.”
During the time of the Smithsonian possession, the collection was photographed and documented, and underwent a thorough cleaning and some conservation treatment, as well as being included in the small exhibit. Meanwhile, the torrent of fan mail kept coming, becoming even more of an avalanche with the issuing of the poster, then a FineWoodworking article, a second edition of a poster and finally a third. The maelstrom of mail led Peter to reconsider his continued ownership of the collection.
And it was one of those letters that again changed the course of the Studley tool cabinet’s history.
Last Thursday John told me he was heading to the warehouse and asked if I wanted to tag along. I jumped on the opportunity. I was glad to get a chance to meet people that I was emailing with regularly. Also, the more I get involved in the business the more I am curious about what happens in the process once we are finished on our end. John happened to be going to review the systems in place with those who do our shipping so I knew I would get a great look into their side of things. It was worth the trip. They are great people and looking to make our shipping processes better than ever.
So, In case you want to know what it looks like being the scenes, here are some pictures of where your Lost Art Press orders are coming from. Lots of beautiful books!
Nothing fancy but there it is. Now both you and I know where the books are coming from when we put an order in the system.
Good Morning and Happy Monday! It’s that time of the week for a forum update. Remember, if you have a question about our products, procedures in our books or anything related to Lost Art Press, the fastest way to get an answer is our forum. Check it out here.
Making a Wider Bookshelf
Thomas needed a bookshelf to fit a 6 foot space in his home, so he modified the bookshelf from “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” (shown above) Now he is trying to decide on a paint color. See his modifications and put in your vote for a paint color here.
1770 French Bench Doe’s Foot
Ever wonder how one would plane the edge of a board that was too short to reach the hold fast holes on the right hand leg on the vise-less French benches? Or wonder why the doe’s feet shown on most plates are so wide and short? Chris had. And then he saw the recent posts on the Lost Art Press blog. See his thought process here.
The Campaign Worktable of Necessity
How do you guarantee yourself a great workspace if your job moves you around to different offices on a regular basis with no promise of a decent desk at the next location? Build yourself a campaign worktable of course. And not just any table, one with style. Above it is shown disassembled and ready to be moved. See the table assembled here.
Why do cut nails rotate when driven?
John has noticed a rotation when driving cut nails and was wondering if there is a way to avoid it. A few suggestions have been provided to him as to how to prevent this. Have your own solution or the same problem? Here is the place to comment.
A Boarded Campaign Chest Joshua’s Campaign Chest that he was looking for some feedback on a couple weeks ago is coming along really well. (shown at right) The hardware is a great touch. Now for some feet and it will be set to go!
Parallel Guides
Jeremy has been working on a split top Ruobo and has a couple questions on parallel guides. Check out the specifics of his build and see if you can offer some advice here.
We will assume that the chamfer is to be, say, 1-3/4 to 2 ins. wide and that the stops are to be shaped as shown in Fig. 1. In the best construction the uprights would be in the form of solid squares, the ends and the drawer rails being jointed into them. Any such joints should be marked out, cut and fitted first. In fact it is an advantage to chamfer after assembling because cramps are more easily applied.
The position of the chamfer is marked out in pencil. If the gauge is used it will make a mark which cannot be removed in subsequent chamfering. Square in the line of the stop and prepare a template in cardboard giving the shape of the stop. This is shown in Fig. 2. It is merely necessary to lay the template in position against the squared line and mark round it with pencil. The template does for both front and side.
Working the Chamfer. A saw cut has to be made up against the stops, but in addition it is advisable to make a series of cuts across the grain throughout the length of the chamfer. The purpose of this is to cut up the grain. If, in the subsequent chopping away process, a split should develop it cannot run past the next saw cut. These cuts should stop about 1/16 in. short of the finished depth. They are shown in Fig. 2.
A great deal of the waste can be removed by chopping with the chisel. Use a wide chisel and, holding it bevel side downwards, strike the handle with a mallet. Watch carefully the grain and if it appears to run downwards work in the opposite direction. In any case, however, stop about 1/16 in. short of the line. This is shown in Fig. 3.
It is immaterial whether the ends are finished first or last. The bullnose plane is extremely useful, but much careful paring with the wide chisel is also necessary. The ordinary smoothing plane can be used for the bulk of the middle part of the chamfer. It will have to run out towards the ends, of course, and these parts will have to be finished with the bullnose plane or spokeshave. When approximately down to the finished line use the scraper, and make smooth by rubbing with glass-paper wrapped around a flat block.
The Decorative Stop. It will have been seen that saw cuts are also made across the grain of the decorative stop. Note that they stop well short of the pencil line. Fig. 4 shows how the bulk of the waste can be cut away in steps with the chisel. Afterwards a gouge can be used to bring the shape approximately to the line. Following this the file is used as in Fig. 5. Give this a compound movement, rocking it sideways at the same time as it is pushed forwards. Scraping follows and finally glasspaper, this being wrapped around a rubber.
Details of a Planted-On Stop
Planted on Construction. To avoid the troublesome necessity of working a wide chamfer up to a stop, the method of planting on the stops is sometimes adopted. The advantage is that the ordinary plane can be worked right through from end to end.
The first stage of working the plain chamfer is shown in Fig. 6. The blocks for the stops could be glued straight on at the ends but this is not very satisfactory, the better plan being to cut away the chamfer to a depth of about 1/8 in. as in Fig. 7 and plant the blocks in this recess. This is really essential in the case of a curved stop which forms a continuous sweep with the chamfer. At A, Fig. 9, for instance, there would be a feather edge in the event of the block being planted straight on.
Fig. 8 shows how the block is glued on, It must be thick enough to enable a square corner to be worked.
