You can register to attend the Crucible Tool event at 7 p.m. Sept. 15 using this link. Please note that we can accommodate only 100 attendees because of fire codes. So don’t dally.
— Christopher Schwarz
Category: Uncategorized
Roman Workbench II: The Fall of the Machines
One of the interesting aspects of building this second Roman workbench has been how useless machines are to the process.
The benchtop is too big for a jointer and planer – and too heavy to move without a crane. But a jack plane trued it up quickly without any back strain.
When it came to the tapered legs, my plan was to cut away some of the excess on the table saw. I have a 3 horsepower cabinet saw, which usually can handle anything in furniture making. But the oak legs were too dense and wet. The saw bogged down and the thermal overload switch popped several times.
So I turned to the band saw with a fresh blade. Ditto. Once again, the jack plane and jointer plane did the majority of the work, and in fairly short order. (After wasting away a lot of material I did use my electric jointer to tidy things up with some light passes.)
Turning the tenons was like riding a bronco at a prison rodeo. I have a midi-lathe that I clamp to my massive French oak workbench. Even though I carefully balanced each leg between centers, the entire bench jumped and wobbled as I turned the 3”-diameter 5-1/2”-long tenons at 500 rpm – the slowest speed available.
Now comes the mortises. I hope that my corded drill is up to the task.
— Christopher Schwarz
A Thank You to the Roubo Editors
The vast majority of the headaches I’ve suffered in my life have been caused by one thing: editing.
Though it might seem like fun – sitting down and reading hundreds of pages of writing about woodworking – I assure you it’s a lot like working. So I am grateful to the men and women who showed up last Saturday to help us edit “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Furniture.”
The amateur editors found lots of typos and even a few mistakes made by Monsieur Roubo in the original text. We ate donuts, drank cream soda (thanks Eric!), ate pizza and drank beer. All these things help the editing process, but they still can’t mask the fact that it’s a slog.
As a result of their efforts we are on time with getting this book to the printer in September and in your hands in November.
We asked everyone who helped out to write down his or her name. Some people did; some people are clearly hiding something from the authorities. Here are the editors:
Jared Wilcox
David Pruett
Greg Jones
Rick Stillwater
“Handsome” Chris Decker
Scott Stahl
Mike Hamilton
Rosalie Haas Pruett
Mike Ham: Hon
Matthew Conrad
Jen Neiland
Ryan Fee
Brad Daubenmire
Charles Thomas
Megan Fitzpatrick
John Hoffman
If I’ve misspelled your name, it’s only because your handwriting sucks eggs. Mine is, of course, even worse.
Thanks again everyone. I think we will do this again with future books. It really helped.
— Christopher Schwarz
Registration for the Crucible Tool Event Opens Monday
We will open registration for the Crucible Tool launch event at 9 a.m. (EST) Monday (Aug. 22). We can accommodate only 100 attendees at the event because of fire codes, so don’t dally if you want to attend.
We’ll have both of our new tools there for you to examine, use (and buy, if you like). Plus T-shirts and maybe a beer or two. The event will be held at the Lost Art Press storefront, 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41011. The event will be from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15.
If you can’t make it to the event, we’ll have a booth at the Marketplace at Woodworking in America during the following two days.
— Christopher Schwarz
Raney’s Take on Crucible’s Manufacturing
Raney Nelson, the denizen of the Crucible Lab, wrote an article on his blog about the manufacturing side of Crucible Tool and why it took a Haas CNC mill to get us started.
Check it out here.
— Christopher Schwarz