The Florida School of Woodwork is holding a raffle and silent auction to raise money for woodworking scholarships. This week’s silent auction item is a Kentucky Stick Chair made earlier this year by Christopher Schwarz. Plus you can buy raffle tickets to be entered to win one of this week’s raffle prizes: a Dixie Biggs carving, an L-Tomato fence from Chalkstone Woodworking and a finishing kit from Odie’s Oil). The silent auction for the chair and the raffle for this week’s prizes closes at 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 (OK – it’s a little more than a week). Click here for more information and to submit a silent auction bid and/or buy raffle tickets.
A follow the Florida School of Woodwork Instagram feed for the latest auction/raffle offerings – I spotted a few of them when I was there teaching last week; there are some excellent pieces still be be seen!
When you drill a hole with a 5/8” bit, then use a 5/8” tenon cutter to make the tenon, you should be golden…right?
Nope – unless you get lucky.
If you dare enter the fascinating world of boring you will quickly realize this truth: It is up to you to get your drill bits and tenon cutters to work together. You cannot trust the measurements stamped on the tool.
A quick example: a 5/8” WoodOwl spade bit and a 5/8” plug/tenon cutter from Lee Valley are not compatible. The tenon will drop into the mortise like throwing a hot dog down a hallway. It’s not a good joint.
There is no way I can cover all the bits and tenon cutters out there. But here is the methodology I use to get my mortises and tenons nice and tight.
Suggestion No. 1: Ignore the Official Measurements & Make Samples
A WoodOwl 5/8” spade bit and a WoodOwl 5/8” OverDrive bit make different-size holes. Because of its cutting geometry, the 5/8” spade bit cuts a hole that is .010” oversized. And that difference is enough to ruin a joint.
So when I get a new bit, I drill holes in oak, cherry and whatever species I have sitting around. Then I measure the holes and test them against the tenons I am making.
Suggestion No. 2: Ensure One Tool of the Pair is Adjustable
I can pair my Veritas 5/8” Power Tenon cutter with almost any 5/8” or 16mm bit because it’s adjustable. So usually I lean on that tool to make fine adjustments to the bits I have in my shop. I can pair it with my WoodOwl 5/8” spade by retracting the cutter of the tenon cutter. Or I can match it with my 5/8” OverDrive bit by advancing the tool’s cutter.
Here’s another example. Let’s say you have a 5/8” tenon/plug cutter because you cannot afford (or find for purchase) the adjustable Veritas 5/8” Power Tenon Cutter. In this case you cannot adjust the tenon/plug cutter, so you have to have an adjustable drill bit.
And that’s when you should definitely turn to spade bits. You can easily grind spade bits to match your tenon cutter. It takes seconds to do it, and you can sneak up on the right fit.
Suggestion No. 3: Go for a Snug Fit – at First
I am obsessive about the fit of my joints. Perhaps overly so. If you are like me, here’s how to go overboard. I adjust my tooling so that the tenon is a bit oversized and will not enter the mortise with hand pressure (usually .005” oversized or a little more). Then I use soft-jaw pliers to compress the tenons so they slip in to the mortise easily with almost no pressure.
This process makes assembly easier – the tenons slide right in. And the joinery is sound. The wet glue expands the tenons and locks the joint.
Suggestion No. 4: Use Tape
Once I have matched a tenon cutter and a drill bit, I wrap them each with a piece of brightly colored tape. This prevents me from making a terrible mistake.
A Wayne Anderson miter plane commissioned by Fred West. Blackwood, damascus steel finish, marked and dated 2011, 11″ sole.
Fred West was a modern-day Medici when it came to hand tools – a true patron of the fine arts, and a driving force behind the hand-tool renaissance of the last two decades. If you were into hand tools before 2014 and attended any woodworking shows, you likely knew Fred – or at least heard him exclaiming over the inherent beauty of a fine tool, or talking about tools with his legion of friends. And if you were a maker of fine hand tools, well, you likely had Fred to thank for helping to keep you in business.
Fred loved using good tools – but he also loved supporting their makers and other users. He’d often buy multiples of new tools (and sometimes commission custom designs), then send them anonymously to woodworkers – mostly to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them – who he thought would appreciate working with them. His only request was that the tools be used.
William Marples Ultimatum Framed Brace, ebony wood and brass, marked, Sheffield, England.
I have two things that remind me of Fred every time I pick them up: a Vesper Tools sliding bevel (which he insisted I accept despite my vehement protestations – I’m terrible at accepting kindnesses), and the Deborah Harkness book “Shadow of Night” – he sent me his copy as soon as he’d finished reading it. (I might have liked talking popular fiction with Fred even more than discussing tools!)
Fred was one of the most gregarious and relentlessly positive people I’ve ever had the good fortune to know. Even when struggling with multiple health problems, he’d travel to hand tool conferences and events to talk tools and support toolmakers, and to hang out with his many friends. I feel lucky to have counted myself among them.
Japanese chisel/nomi 15 piece set, wood handles, marked and labeled, some wear, original box.
But what I didn’t quite realize was the sheer number of tools (both old and new) that Fred acquired in his all-too-short lifetime as a tool user and collector. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Susan, Fred’s former wife and mother of his daughter Eleanor, who has helped to organize an auction of Fred’s large collection. The family, she said, has realized it is time to let some things go, and to honor Fred’s work of getting tools into the hands of those who will use them. I got a preview of the auction catalog as it was in progress, and while I knew Fred bought a lot of tools, well…it turns out I had no idea quite how vast and diverse his collection was. I’m pretty sure there’s something in the collection for just about everyone – as Fred would have wished.
You can see the catalog for Day 1, November 8, here, and place bids online until the morning of November 8. From Alderfer Auction: “Auction is open for pre-bidding until Tuesday, November 8th at 10:00 AM, at which time pre-bidding will cease and the auction will go live online only at the auction center. When the auction goes live, lots will be sold one at a time, in numerical order, by a live auctioneer who will be taking bids from multiple online bidding platforms, absentee and phone bids. During pre-bidding you are able to submit a max (maximum) bid. The bidding platform or our auction staff will bid on your behalf up to the maximum bid that you have entered. Once the auction goes live if you wish to increase your bid you will have to wait until that lot opens for bidding and enter any additional bids manually.”
For more on how the auction works, and to register to bid, visit the Alderfer Auction site.
The catalog for Day 2 will be posted late this week or early next. We’ll announce it here, but you might also want to keep at eye on the site. I got a look at just some of what will be in the second catalog; you won’t want to miss it.
The following is excerpted from “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker,” by Anonymous, Christopher Schwarz and Joel Moskowitz, from the chapter on making the dovetailed schoolbox.
In this chapter, as with the other projects in the book, Chris builds “alongside” young Thomas, the main character in the charming 1839 fictional account of an apprentice in a rural shop that builds everything from built-ins to more elaborate veneered casework. The book was written to guide young people who might be considering a life in the joinery or cabinetmaking trades, and every page is filled with surprises. You can read more about it here.
To understand how little that is certain with dovetails, let’s take an abbreviated journey through the literature. I promise to be quick like a bunny. Charles H. Hayward, the mid-20th-century pope of hand-cut joinery, suggests three slopes: Use 12° for coarse work. Use 10° or 7° for decorative dovetails. There is no advice on hardwoods vs. softwoods. F.E. Hoard and A.W. Marlow, the authors of the 1952 tome “The Cabinetmaker’s Treasury,” say you should use 15°. Period.
“Audel’s Carpenter’s Guide,” an early 20th-century technical manual, says that 7.5° is for an exposed joint and 10° is right for “heavier work.” No advice on hardwoods vs. softwoods. “Modern Practical Joinery,” the 1902 book by George Ellis, recommends 10° for all joints, as does Paul Hasluck in his 1903 “The Handyman’s Book.” So at least among our dearly departed dovetailers, the advice is to use shallow angles for joints that show and steeper angles if your work is coarse, heavy or hidden. Or just to use one angle and be done with it.
At least in my library, the advice on softwoods and hardwoods seems to become more common with modern writing. Percy Blandford, who has been writing about woodworking for a long time, writes in “The Woodworker’s Bible” that any angle between 7.5° and 10° is acceptable. The ideal, he says, is 8.5° for softwoods and 7.5° when joining hardwoods.
The finished schoolbox.
One Wednesday morning as I toiled with these old books, I went into the shop and laid out and cut a bunch of these dovetails. I ignored the really shallow slopes because I wanted to adopt something more angular. The 10° dovetails looked OK. The 12° dovetails looked better. The 14° tails looked better still. And the 15° looked good as well. Whatever angle you use for your joint, you can rest easy knowing that someone out there (living or dead) thinks you are doing the right thing.
One thing is certain: As dovetails have become somewhat of a cultish joint (a 20th-century phenomenon), their angles have gotten bolder. As Thomas’s slope looked too shallow for my eye, I chose 14°.
People who make things are the best people I know. And that’s why I’m a fierce believer that the best way to help our craft is to unlock or open doors for anyone – anyone – who wants to step through.
Recently a friend alerted me to a new Instagram account that highlights the work of transgender craftspeople – transcraftsociety. Even if you aren’t transgender, I encourage you to follow their efforts and add their feed to the images you consume every day. Embracing beauty in all forms will make you a better designer (and person).
Example: Though I’m a rabid advocate for vernacular furniture – peasant pieces – my feeds are filled with brutalist architecture, Soviet bus stops and decay aesthetics. I am a better woodworker and designer thanks to the unfamiliar.
One of the members of the Society of Trans Craftspeople explained their mission to me this way:
“The Society of Trans Craftspeople was started by a trans furniture maker who wanted to connect with fellow artisans who shared similar life experiences. What started as personal social project due to Covid isolation has grown into a project that promotes and supports Transgender and Non-Binary artists in craft and art media. We aim to increase visibility for queer craftspeople who are often forgotten or overlooked and strive for equity in the craft and art world. In addition to continuing bi weekly posts, class promotions and community building we hope to eventually grow into or work with equity based non-profit or non profit adjacent organizations (such as chairmakers toolbox – a workshop of our own, etc.) in order to provide funding, class seats and other financial, emotional, and communal support. That being said, our main goal is to remind people we exist and to show off some beautiful work.”
Check it out. The worst thing that can happen is you’ll see some things you haven’t seen before.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. Don’t bother posting hateful or negative comments. They will be deleted.
