One of the difficulties students have when making Irish stick chairs is drilling the mortises for the two back sticks that also pass through each arm (we call these particular back sticks “posts”).
For a recent class, I made a jig that makes it easier to drill accurate mortises. While no jig is foolproof, this one is close.
If you know me, you know that I avoid jigs. For my work – especially with stick chairs – I would rather rely on skills than gizmos. This jig is simple (two pieces of wood screwed together) and actually removes the need for another simple jig I use when drilling mortises in the arms and seats. So it’s a bit of a wash when it comes to counting the jigs I use.
If you’re lost (“Martha, what the heck are ‘stick chairs!’”), then take a look at this book: “The Stick Chair Book.” It’s a free download.
About the Jig
Essentially, it’s an oversized doweling jig that lets you drill 3/4”-diameter mortises at exactly 20° off 90°. You simply clamp the jig over the mortise location, place a 3/4” bit in the jig and drill. The only thing that can go wrong is that you lean sideways as you drill and waller out the hole in the jig.
The jig is made from two pieces of wood: a 1/2” x 6” x 6” base and a 2” x 2” x 6” drilling block. You can use any old thing for the base, but I recommend a stout wood for the drilling block.
To make the jig, bore a 3/4” hole through the block. The hole should be centered on one edge. Cut off the bottom of the drilling block so it’s a wedge with a 20° included angle. (It will look like a doorstop with a hole bored through it.) Then glue and screw the drilling block to the base.
Next drill out the 3/4” hole that passes through the base. You are almost done.
I added some lines to the base that indicated the centerpoint of the hole through the jig. These allow you to place the jig accurately on your layout lines.
The jig on the seat. The sightlines are in red.
Using the Jig
All the sightlines for the five back sticks of this chair are at 0° – or straight ahead. Draw them on the seat, plus the locations for the mortises for the back sticks. Put your drill bit through the hole in the jig and position the bit’s point on the location of a mortise. Allow the jig’s base to rest on the seat. Rotate it until the jig’s centerlines match up with the sightlines. Clamp the jig down.
Now run the spinning bit through the seat, guided by the jig. Repeat this process for the other four mortises for the back sticks.
Drilling the mortise through the arm for the post is a bit of a trick. I had to figure out where the sightline was on the arm so that the arm would end up in the right place in space. This was done with a drawing (see below).
Once I marked this sightline on my arms, it was easy to place the jig on an arm in the right place. To drill the mortise, I clamped the jig and arm together in a vise (this was easier than adding clamps).
Placing the tip of the bit on the mortise’s location.
Clamp the jig and arm in a vise.
With the holes for the posts drilled in the arms and seat, I put the posts in the seat, threaded the arms over the posts and held them 8” above the seat with the drilling rig I use for almost all my chairs (which is shown in “The Stick Chair Book” about 100 times).
The posts, arms and one drilling jig. I am ready to drill the mortises in the arms.
Of the nine chairs we built in class with this jig, a couple students had mortises that weren’t aligned. After some investigation I realized it was human error. The student had driven the bit sideways and cut into the jig with the bit’s side flutes.
This problem can be minimized by sanding the sharp flutes of the bit that allow this side-cutting. I used #220-grit paper and only sanded the flutes – not the cutting edges of the bit at its tip.
This type of jig also works great for making a Gibson chair – you’ll just have to make a separate jig for the 30° lean of its posts.
The jig, the pattern with the sightline on it and the finished arm.
Our storefront will be open the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 23. We will be selling our full line of books and tools, of course. But we will be on hand to answer your questions, give demos and talk about woodworking. And to ply you with cookies. And to show you the clock if you ask (if you know, you know – but let’s just say you need to be 21 to see the clock, and it’s not naughty).
We will have a special, free, commemorative Lost Art Press…something…to give away – one to a visitor. It’s so special that we can’t yet reveal what is it. (We’re still workshopping ideas.) And we will also likely have blemished books and other LAP/Crucible items at 50 percent off. We might also have a few personal tools to sell – both Chris and I have some basement cleaning to do. (Blemished books and tools will be cash only). Our storefront is at 837 Willard St., Covington, Ky. 41011
So mark your calendars – we hope to see you in November!
I recently finished this Irish stick chair in red oak during a chair class and am offering it for sale to readers of the blog. This chair will be sold via a random drawing for $1,600 (that price includes both crating and shipping to your door anywhere in the lower 48).
Details on how to buy the chair are below.
About the Chair This chair is adapted from “The Stick Chair Book” (a free download). It is almost identical to the chair I built for my recent article in Fine Woodworking. It is a low chair (the seat is 16” from the floor), with a back that leans 20°. It is designed for one task: Sitting around with friends and family and talking, reading or sharing a drink.
Like all my chairs, this Irish chair is assembled with hide glue so it can be repaired easily in the future. The finish was a bit of an experiment. The oak was first colored with lye, which gives it a warm chestnut color. Then painted with General Finishes “Milk” Paint in Emerald (sadly, a discontinued color). Finally, I applied a thin coat of Black Bison Wax from Liberon (dark oak). Then I rubbed out the black wax, carefully burnishing through the paint in areas to give the chair a bit of an aged appearance.
I don’t do this finish often, but it seemed right for this chair.
The through-tenons on the arms are left slightly proud and are burnished, again to add some years to the piece. All the sticks and legs are left faceted straight from the tools, which adds texture and character to this folk form.
How to Buy the Chair The chair is being sold via a random drawing. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, Aug 29. Please use the subject line: “Irish Chair.” In the email please include your:
Name
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you are the “winner,” the chair will be shipped to your door. The $1,600 price includes the crate and all shipping charges. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
We just posted two bonus videos about the Swedish tool chest. These short videos, hosted by me, discuss where this chest comes from historically and also offers a tour of the finished chest with tools in it.
If you have purchased the “Make a Swedish Tool Chest” video, you should have received an email notifying you of how to watch and download them. We decided to also post them here for free so everyone can get a look.
I started writing “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening” in 2015, but the background work started long before that in the early 2000s. For me, learning to sharpen saws was trial and error, and there wasn’t much to guide me. I looked for written instructions but was always left wanting. I had no teacher to direct me, and whatever texts I did find seemed vague and superficial like the author didn’t really file saws all that often or at all.
That said, during the last 20 years or so I’ve collected a small library of books that describe saw filing and care. The story begins with Joseph Moxon, of course, and continues through today. Some of these books are fascinating and entertaining, others are not, but they are all important to me. While reading and re-reading them over the years I started creating a mental list of what they got right, what they got wrong and what they missed all together.
As my book begins to make its way out into the world, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorites. For simplicity, I’ll present the books chronologically as they were published, and separated into three general age groups: Really Old (authors wore wigs), Old (authors wore jackets and ties), and New-ish (authors wore shorts).
This is certainly not how I discovered and read them mind you, and this list is by no means all inclusive. I’m sure there are works out there I am not familiar with, and while I’d like to say that I have read (and know) everything there is about saws, my wife is sitting next to me on the porch as I write, and she won’t feed me dinner if I act up. So please do suggest other books or articles in the comments that you know of and find relevant. She would greatly appreciate you keeping my feet on the ground and my head out of my…..well, you know. 😉 Here we go…
Mechanick Exercises by Joseph Moxon, 1680(ish)
This is said to be the first book on woodworking written in English, and it is one of my favorites. It has a tangible charm in its prose, which is relatively simple to understand and (mostly) clearly written. And I love the old English long “s” that looks like an “f.” For some reason (probably linked to my warped reality), I like to imagine Moxon narrating the words to me with a slight speech impediment and actually pronouncing the long s’s as f’s like they appear. I think it adds to the charm and helps distract me from the fact that for all we know everything in the book is completely made up. Regardless, Joe does include a brief description on how to sharpen a saw in Section 26 of the Joinery chapter.
He writes, “…with a three-square File they (the Workmen) begin at the left hand end, leaning harder upon the side of the File on the right Hand, than on that side to the left hand; so that they File the upper side of the Tooth of the Saw a-slope towards the right Hand, and the underside of the Tooth a little a-slope towards the left, or, almost downright.”
Pretty clear, right? When I first read this, I twisted myself into a pretzel trying to find “the underside of the Tooth.” What, for the love of King Charles, is the underside of a tooth?!? No matter how many ways I turned the saw end for end I couldn’t find it. With that cleared up, he moves on to setting the teeth, which makes only slightly more sense. It’s pretty clear from Moxon’s use of ‘They,’ that he wasn’t talking about himself filing saws, and thus was established the important precedent of fancy white guys spouting off about things they know nothing about. Despite this, it actually is a fascinating early look at saw sharpening. It certainly raises more questions than it answers, but it’s just about as close as we can get to T=0 for saws. My first copy of Moxon was acquired years ago in a paperback reprint from my friend Gary Roberts at Toolemera Press, and I believe it is still available. I have acquired several other copies and reprints over the years including the first Lost Art Press book from Mr. Schwarz, “The Art of Joinery,” and the later Lost Art Press full-text version so I can learn bricklaying in my spare time, too.
With All the Precision Possible by Andre-Jacob Roubo, late 1700s
Across the Channel and a few decades later comes A.J. Roubo, hellbent on setting the craft record straight and not letting some English puddle chaser set the standard for woodworking. Like most, I didn’t read Roubo until it was translated into English a few years ago by LAP, but when I (we) finally could it did not disappoint. “Wow” is all I can say. What struck me most was Plate 5 regarding “The Sawing of Wood.” In the lower right-hand corner, tucked between figures 9 and 12 is a revelation. Clear as day are shown a row of teeth with alternating bevels at their points: fleam!
Roubo (translated) describes filing these teeth as such: “They are not filed squarely, but on an angle, each tooth in opposing direction one to the other. One must note that this angle is not present except in the leading edge and that the base is at a right angle, or squared, with the saw.”
Over the years I have been intrigued by an argument that I first learned of from Roy Underhill (if I recall correctly) that the joiners at Colonial Williamsburg do not file their saws with any tooth bevel, or fleam, as it is also known. The reason as I understand it (in chatting with the joiners at the Williamsburg cabinet shop) is that they cannot find any historical evidence that saw teeth were in fact beveled in the 18th century, and that they simply filed their saws straight across and with a raked back tooth for crosscutting. This argument has never made sense to me. It seems like the kind of logic that would suggest colonial English folk didn’t put jam on their toast because we haven’t found any toast from that period with jam still on it. Saws, like toast I would assume, would tend to get used up and erased as evidence, right? And tooth bevel is not all that complex as technical innovations go, either. For me, Andre ended the argument with Plate 5, but I imagine that 18th-century Englishmen are not so inclined to take direction from the French (unless you count plagiarizing their work…Moxon!). It is worth mentioning that Roubo was describing how a pit saw was filed, meaning a large frame saw for turning big slabs into usable planks, which curiously is a ripping operation and would not seem to benefit at all from a beveled tooth. As far as I can recall he doesn’t describe saw filing anywhere else, nor ever specifically the smaller saws used at the bench. And did AJ ever file a saw himself? He must have if he was a trained joiner, right? This certainly lends more credit to his saw descriptions in general, but it is clear that like Moxon this is not a description of how he files a saw, but how “they” file a saw. Similar to Mechanick Exercises this description is far from helpful, but it’s a solid second showing. Either way, it’s the oldest and most significant evidence that fleam was in common use on saws in the 18th century, at least in France.
Mechanic’s Companion by Peter Nicholson, 1812
To round out the early period of notable saw writings comes Peter Nicholoson some decades after Roubo and comfortably back across the Channel, thank goodness. He is said to have been a trained cabinetmaker so in addition to being an expert drinker we can confidently assume he had first-hand experience to convey about saw filing.
But no such luck. Pete does share some tantalizing descriptions of saw teeth as a consolation, but he seems to have prioritized a description of using basil when sharpening your plane iron (an odd lubricant if you ask me) over even the slightest mention of what kind of herb (or other medium) he recommends if your saw becomes dull. This is an odd oversight to say the least.
The chapter on Carpentry actually opens with a description of saws and he writes, “Some saws are used for dividing the wood in the direction of the fibre,…others are only employed in cutting in a direction perpendicular to the fibres…the former case requires the front edges of their teeth to stand almost perpendicular to the line passing through their angles…for otherwise the points of the teeth would run so deep into the wood, as to prevent the workmen from pushing the saw forward without breaking it.”
Nicholson is describing tooth rake, and in doing so provides the first written assertion I’ve found that saws need to be filed in different ways to accommodate either ripping or crosscutting operations. He continues in the Joinery chapter with specifics on types of saws used in furniture making and what kind of tooth spacing each saw should have. This is where things get really exciting, and by exciting I mean: Remind you of why you love your table saw.
Pete shares that, “The Ripping Saw Is used in dividing or splitting wood in the direction of the fibres; the teeth are very large, there being eight in three inches and the front of the teeth stand perpendicular to the line which ranges with the points.”
If you can do the math, that means this is a 2-1/3 tooth per inch (TPI) handsaw with zero tooth rake. Converted to points per inch (PPI) this is 3-1/3, which is fair to round up to 3-1/2 points. That’s one hell of a rip saw. If you’ve ever tried ripping with such a saw in something like oak or any other hardwood, you likely have a truer appreciation for the aforementioned drinking. I first acquired this book from Toolemera Press years ago in paperback. It may still be available there, but it has now also been reprinted by LAP with a proper Smyth-sewn binding and hardcover.
Next, in Part II of this three part series we’ll take a look at information from the golden age of western saw making, including trade propaganda and crazy people throwing saws off of roof tops. Stay tuned.
