Greetings from Lost Art Press. The Elves, Sharon and myself are headed to Duck, N.C., for the week. We are closing during this time and will re-open on Sunday, Aug. 9. We will stay on the email to answer any queries.
We have gotten a number of questions concerning the Chris’s new book “Handplane Essentials.” We are unable to take pre-orders for the book on our site due to technical issues (we are trying to get this feature available). However, Lost Art Press will have the book available in early August. The book will be signed by Chris for our customers and we will have plenty of books.
Thank you for your patronage and we always look forward to hearing from you.
If you are an accomplished finisher, stop reading right here. There’s nothing for you below. I hear there are some funny new movies of monkeys ironing linen shorts at YouTube.
This week I’m applying many thin coats of varnish to a chest of drawers that I’ve been building during nights and weekends at my shop at home. The finish recipe is my favorite for black cherry: First apply a coat of boiled linseed oil, let the project sit in the sun and allow the oil to cure in a warm room for a week or so.
Then wipe on thin coats of a satin varnish that has been thinned with low-odor paint thinner (also called mineral spirits). I like three parts varnish to one part paint thinner. Sand between each coat with a broken-in #180-grit sanding sponge. After about six coats, the result is a warm and durable finish. It takes time for each coat of finish to dry, but that gives me time to write, sharpen and tune up the machines for my next project.
This weekend I stumbled into two small details that make this finish easier. The first detail concerns the sanding sponge. When sanding each coat, the process creates a fine powder all over the project. With varnish, I have found it best to remove this powder before applying the following coat (it’s not as necessary as when you use shellac or lacquer because those finishes dissolve and bond to the coats below).
I like to use a tack rag to remove this dust, but I am tackless this weekend. So I started thinking about tacky things in my shop. I half-pondered even making my own tack rag. Then I looked at my 3M sanding sponge.
Hmmm. One side is abrasive. The other is a sponge. Duh, I wonder if the sponge side would pull up the powder? It does indeed, and quite well. And when the sponge becomes loaded you can wash it out and renew it. I can’t believe I’ve been using sanding sponges since “Silver Spoons” was on television and never thought of this.
Second detail: Gloves. Whenever I work with solvent, even paint thinner, I like to use gloves. It makes clean-up easier and I worry less about what danger is lurking on the solvent’s MSDS. Usually I use latex gloves from a big box store for mild solvents. I have always hated these gloves because they fall apart while I’m applying the finish and leave little bits of latex behind. I’m sure there are better-quality latex gloves out there, but not in my local stores.
A few weeks ago Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick gave me a bag of blue nitrile gloves, which are made using a synthetic polymer. These gloves were made by the same company that makes my latex gloves, so my expectations were low.
Boy was I wrong. The nitrile gloves are far more durable. I’ve applied four coats of finish using the same pair of gloves and they are still going strong without a single tear. Farewell latex.
Guess how I did this? Hint: It wasn’t a hand tool.
If the word “Stunod” was anywhere in your thoughts you win! Yup, I was trying to cut time making the arms for my two chairs. I wanted to clean up the rough surface left from the band saw. I was smoothing the parts with a file and spoke shave which left an ok surface but was taking forever. Also there was some difference between the left and right arm so I thought to myself, “try the router, yeah, that’s the thing”.
I smoothed the patterns perfectly which were made from ½ inch ply. I screwed them to the stuff and set about routing. I was doing fine until I hit the damn end grain. It’s always the end grain… Anyway the stuff shot back hitting me in the labonza, causing me to verbally acknowledge my error. It then continued its’ trajectory hitting the wall at reduced speed.
Well, I was back at it with hand tools when I had another idea! I put down the file and rasp and grabbed my floats! Yep, in front of me on the tool rack are four Lie-Neilsen floats. They leave a great surface and can hog off material depending on the amount of downward pressure you use. It is a great tool and easy to get the hang of. I actually started to get fast at this task.
Anyway, it was a router with a pattern cutting bit. And yes, I had to remake the entire piece.
One of my most essential tools for joinery is one that I never talk about: my magnifier lamp.
This fluorescent, articulating light fixture allows me to see my layout lines, any undesirable tracks left by my handplanes and the bevel of whatever tool I’m sharpening at the moment. The light fixture drops into my dog holes so I can move it anywhere on my bench, though it rarely strays from the area of the benchtop that has my leg vise.
I’ve burned through three of these fixtures since I started woodworking – most of the ones you get at office supply stores are just junk. Their springs are weak and soon the lamp won’t stand upright. Plus they get damaged easily when you drop them.
About five years ago I bought a magnifier lamp that was built in the 1960s. It was “new old stock” (thanks Slav!), meaning it still had the sales tags on it when it came into my shop.
This sucker is bulletproof. And I don’t care what I paid for it (about $45) – I’d pay twice that in a heartbeat. You move it, and it stays put. It laughs off knocks and dings. And the switch didn’t break in the first week.
My magnifier lamp was made by Luxo Lamp Corp., which is still around – though I haven’t inspected the company’s modern merchandise. I really should take a look at the different lamps available (sounds like a tool test, eh?).
I can say this: I’ve never been happy with the student-grade stuff, so you might want to stay away from it. I’d check the stores that sell old office equipment. Buried among the manual typewriters, adding machines and metal shelving units just might be your next favorite woodworking tool.
Though my wife might disagree, I am definitely a leg man.
Whenever I’m going to great lengths in the shop, it’s usually because I’m preparing a set of legs for a table or a chair. I will sort through hundreds of board feet of lumber to find the right thick planks that have the grain pattern I like.
I will gladly band saw boards at odd angles to create the bastard grain that will produce a leg that looks good from all sides. Today I spent a long time (too long, actually) finding stock that had the right curve to work with a double taper on a Stickley 802 sideboard I’m working on.
And when it comes to prepping my stock, I always do the legs (and any panels) separately from the rest of the carcase stock so I can focus on getting the legs dead square.
Like any red-blooded American woodworker, I also like a really nice top. And I go the extra mile to make a top that gets admiring glances. But I think tops are easier because ultimately they just have to look good. Accuracy can take a back seat – except at the edges.
Legs have to be accurate on certain faces, otherwise the whole assembly will be cock-eyed, have gappy joints or both.
I don’t know any woodworkers who obsess about bottoms in furniture. Perhaps James Krenov? He puts a whole lot of effort into the base when he builds a chest-on-stand.
And don’t get me started on those nutjob woodworkers who obsess about feet.
