Lost Art Press

The Use of the Plow

Posted on by meghanlostartpress
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Lefty plow? This plow plane is a mirror image of a plow, and is different than what Moxon describes in his text. So we’ll have to show you some other plows.

This is an excerpt from “The Art of Joinery” by Joseph Moxon; commentary by Christopher Schwarz

Analysis
Moxon’s plow is widely reported as a mirror image of the same tool in Félibien’s work. And that is why this picture of this plow is like a Gucci bag for sale on an urban street corner. It looks OK from about 10 feet. But on closer inspection, this is not the plow you’re looking for.

Unlike many tools in Moxon, the plow has evolved quite a bit since his description. And you’d be unlikely to find a plow as he describes. Let’s look at the differences between the Moxon plow and some ultra-contemporary (19th-century) ones.

1. The posts or staves. Moxon states that the staves move through the body of the tool to adjust the fence. The fence is fixed to the staves. This kind of wooden plow was common in England and North America but not Europe. In typical European plows (which is what is shown in the accompanying plate) the staves are fixed to the body and the fence slides on them.

2. From many plows, one. Moxon states that the mechanic would have a different plow for every size groove. Modern plows have interchangeable irons in a range of sizes.

3. How the fence is set. In Moxon’s book, the staves and fence are friction-fit into mortises. So you tap the fence and staves to move the fence closer to or farther away from the cutter (with wedges to help).

Modern plows use something mechanical to secure the fence, from thumbscrews to screws to far, far more clever mechanisms.

4. No depth stop. All but the most primitive plow planes have a depth stop that stops the plane’s cutting action when you reach your final depth. No mention of a depth stop is made in Moxon.

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Familiar plows. These plows are more typical in English and North American shops. On metal plows, the fence moves on fixed posts (which Moxon calls staves). In Moxon’s description, the staves move through the body of the plow to adjust the fence, as shown in this screw-arm plow.

As to actually using the plow, Moxon merely states that you set the fence and thrust it forward like the other planes. This would imply that you start planing at one end and take a shaving to the other end. This can work. However, many craftsmen use a different technique.

Many start near the far end of the board and take a short stroke with the plow to start cutting a groove just a few inches long. Then each following stroke is a little bit longer as the woodworker backs up along the length of the board.

You can indeed do exactly what Moxon suggests, but the chances of your iron wandering by following the grain of the board are greater.

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Begin at the end. The first strokes with a plow are typically taken at the far end of the board, and the work progresses with longer and longer strokes. This helps keep the groove as straight as possible by reducing the chance that the iron will wander in a long cut.

By taking short, advancing strokes, you can keep the plow’s fence against the work during the part of the cut that is new, then the cutter drops into the already-made groove and the tool won’t jump out.

Plus, if your plow plane does wander, it will be for a shorter distance, and you’ll get an opportunity to make a correction before the tool wanders so far that your work is ruined. Here’s another tip on use: Give each of your hands only one job to do when working with the plow. Use one hand to thrust the plane forward. Use the other hand to press the fence against the work. Don’t try to make both hands do both jobs.

— MB

Reminder: We Edit Roubo on Saturday

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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This Saturday we’ll be opening up the Lost Art Press storefront for business and for making a little bit of history.

We are in the final throes of editing “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Furniture” and are asking anyone who can rub two participles together to help. Come to the storefront (837 Willard St. Covington, KY 41011) at any time between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

We’ll give you some pages to edit and a red pen. You’ll get to read the text, look for typos and help us make this project as perfect as possible. Everyone who helps with the project will get free coffee, doughnuts, beer and pizza. And for every plate you edit we have a special Roubo postcard for you.

You are welcome to help edit the text for just one plate or even edit all day (that’s what we’ll be doing).

As per usual, we’ll also have all our books there, plus blemished books (50 percent off – cash only), T-shirts, posters and free stickers. Plus you’ll be able to check out the new Roman workbench I just completed and tinker with its workholding.

— Christopher Schwarz

Free Videos for ‘The Joiner & Cabinet Maker’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

The Packing Box from Christopher Schwarz on Vimeo.

When we published “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker” I had a large number of images that didn’t make it into the book for space reasons. So I put together three narrated slideshows – one for each of the projects in the book: the packing box, the schoolbox and the chest of drawers.

We sold these (along with some other assorted extras) on a CD. As CD-ROM drives have disappeared, we considered offering these as streaming video. Then we said: Nah, let’s just give them away for free.

The Schoolbox from Christopher Schwarz on Vimeo.

The Chest of Drawers from Christopher Schwarz on Vimeo.

So now you can watch all three narrated slideshows for the book on our Vimeo channel with no advertisements or other garbage. I’ve also embedded them here for your convenience.

— Christopher Schwarz

Buy The Joiner and Cabinet Maker

Hancock: Behind the Scenes

Posted on by fitz

As a kid one of my favorite things to do was poke around the attics of my grandparents’ houses. Dark and dusty with all the relics of life past stored away. When I was young most of the ghost stories seemed to always begin with noises from the attic or basement. At that age a ghost seemed much more of a possibility than it does now, so that definitely added to the thrill.

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The most interesting parts of old houses and buildings are often times for me the parts not usually seen. In these places construction details such as tool marks, Roman numerals on the joints between timbers and sometimes even mistakes can be found uncovered by plaster or sheeting. Of course there are also the things that did not get thrown out that tend to accumulate in these places, saved for whatever reason and are still lying around that often have their own stories and history as well.

Saturday I managed to slip off for a while and go on the attics and basements tour at Hancock Shaker Village. What an experience!  Of the 20-plus buildings at Hancock many have areas closed to the public that can only be seen on the tour.

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A few of the highlights for me: The upper stories of the machine shop. All kinds of lathes, belts, pulleys and various other equipment are stored here. An old drill press with its flat belts that run through the floor below, looking as if someone had just stepped away from using it but has not run in decades.

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The upper floors of the brick dwelling where many of the artifacts not on display are stored. This area looks like time stopped completely in the many rooms, staircases and hallways.

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Of course there is also the basement of the trustees building where there dozens of tombstones are stored.  These were removed from the cemetery at some point and replaced them with a single large monument.  The Shakers, being utilitarians, used some of the tombstones later on as ironing boards.

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This is just a very, very brief summery of the tour. If I tried to write about all the things we saw it would be a volume too large for a blog post! The attics and basements tour cost a few extra bucks on top of regular admission price, and I highly recommend it.

— Will Myers

A Personal Note About Crucible Tool

Posted on by Lost Art Press

 

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I’ve been reviewing tools and machinery for 20 years now, both in Popular Woodworking Magazine and on my various blogs. But that long career of reviewing equipment ended in January of this year.

When it became obvious that John Hoffman, Raney Nelson and I were going to start Crucible Tool, I told editor Megan Fitzpatrick that I could not write any more Tool Test entries for the magazine or for the website. It simply isn’t fair, by any stretch, for me to both make tools and criticize tools made by other makers.

As a result, you aren’t going to see any more reviews from me (Yay! Or Boo! Take your pick). I’ll still have my opinions about toolmaking, and I’ll still be happy to share my ideas for what a proper woodworking tool should do. But I’ll no longer praise or condemn makers by name.

I know that some of you are also wondering what this tool company means for Lost Art Press. Will we publish fewer books? Will I outsource the editing to other people?

The answer to both is “no.” We will continue to publish four titles a year (five if we can manage it). I will continue to be the person who edits every word of every book to make sure things make sense and flow smoothly. What will be different (and it has been for a couple years), is that I have found people I trust to help with page layout, indexing and copy editing (finding the last typos).

When we started Lost Art Press, I did all of those functions so we could save money and keep our prices reasonable.

So Lost Art Press isn’t changing one iota because of the birth of Crucible Tool.

A few other people have asked what the h#$& kind of hubris-flavored Kool-Aid I’m drinking to think that I could work as a toolmaker. I could attempt to answer that question, but I prefer to let the tools we’re designing and making to answer that question.

Finally, one more personal detail I’d like to mention. We’re going to remain a fairly small company, I’m sure. Though Lost Art Press ships more than 30,000 books a year, we are still just two people with laptops. Crucible is not intended to become a company that sets out to make the complete core set of hand tools (such as Veritas or Lie-Nielsen Toolworks).

We think there are a lot of tools that need to be made that aren’t currently on the market. Manufacturing those tools will keep us busy for at least the next five years and probably beyond. We probably will have to hire employees eventually and we might grow more than I anticipate. But our core philosophy is not to steal market share away from anyone. We think there’s a lot of room for other toolmakers to supply the needs of woodworkers.

And now we’re going to test that theory.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Several of you have asked for details about our launch event on Sept. 15. We will have hours and an RSVP system set up in the next week or so. So thanks for your patience.