Christopher Schwarz is the guest moderator for the next meeting of The Woodworker’s Book Club; at 6 p.m. Monday, March 2. The book under discussion is David Savage’s “The Intelligent Hand,” for which Chris was editor and publisher…and there endeth his suitability for the role.
Chris says, “I have never been to a book club and I don’t know what book clubs do or what you do during them, so I am completely qualified to be a moderator at the book club.”
So this ought to be fun!
– Fitz
Got a woodworking question? Post in the comments below between now and 5 p.m. Eastern, and we’ll do our best to answer. In between answering, Chris is getting ready for an upcoming class and video shoot with Jerome Bias, and I’m working on a personal project (so if we don’t answer right away, that’s why).
— Fitz
Comments have been closed. See you on April 19!
After a few years of drying, my workbench’s benchtop shrank a bit. It’s not a big deal, but the drying process also shrank my 1” holdfast holes. And with a few of the holes it became difficult to insert the holdfast’s shaft.
There are a few ways to open up the holes a bit. Reaming them out with a 1″ drill bit and “wallering a tad” works, but it can take some effort to get the middle section of the hole to size.
A second expensive-but-precise method is to use a tool called a “bridge reamer” or “car reamer.” These construction tools have a slight taper and are used to correct misaligned holes in steel construction and the like. These cost $100 or more, which is a lot for a single task.
The third option is to buy an inexpensive 1-1/16” drill bit such as this one. Before running this drill bit into your holes, I recommend you open up the top rim of the hole with a rasp so the bit won’t tear up your benchtop’s surface.
For drilling, use a corded drill with a side handle, especially if your benchtop is made of a hard wood. Yellow pine is especially tricky because of the differences in density between the earlywood and latewood. Take your time, don’t rush and you’ll get through it.
Holdfasts work best where there is a close fit between the shaft and the hole, so don’t over-do it.
— Christopher Schwarz
Here’s the news. We are closing out two of our historical reprints: Joseph Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises” and Peter Nicholson’s “Mechanic’s Companion.” The books are now $13 each until we run out of stock. Act quickly to avoid disappointment.
I’m grumpy about this sale because I hoped to keep these two properly bound, nicely printed books in our backlist. But we don’t have enough space at our warehouse to do this. We are expecting about 12 pallets of new titles in the next two months, and I have no desire to (again) store books under my bed.
So this is your last chance to buy these two historical texts, which I consider the foundation of the craft in English-speaking countries.
These are well-made books: they are printed offset on a web press on heavy uncoated and natural paper. The signatures are sewn, glued and taped. Then the book block is fastened to the boards with a heavy paper hinge. All done here in the United States (Michigan, to be exact).
These books will last decades if not centuries.
Most of the classes I teach involve at least one moment of fear for me, and that’s when I lend students my 3/16″ Philly Planes beading plane. I love this plane, and love to put a bead on just about everything. Once you try one, you can’t stop! I’d be bereft without this tool.
A bead not only dresses up the edge of the board, it creates a shadowline and makes a small gap look intentional (think backboards). And, it helps to protect a fragile corner by removing a bit that might otherwise break off (say, at the top edge the top skirt of an Anarchist’s tool chest, where the lid drops down over and over).
But a beading plane is a bit of a delicate tool. If you don’t drop the plane back into the cut properly, it’s easy to snap off the boxing. And it’s best to use a light and gentle touch. In my experience, both of these can be difficult for new woodworkers; the tendency is to push too hard (think starting a saw cut) and to attack the work.
But I want students to experience the joy a simple bead can bring; a few passes with the plane, et voilà – now your project is fancy! So I demonstrate the use several times, make sure the plane is properly set, issue dire warnings about what will happen to a student if they break my plane (1), then clench my teeth and hand over the tool.
So far, I’ve been lucky – no breaks. And lots of happy faces when the students cut their first beads. (And I hope a run of sales on beading planes.)
Sure, I have other beaders (because you can’t have just one – and beading planes lead to the acquisition of more moulding planes, then a few hollows and rounds, then…), but this is the tool amongst them that I like the best – not only because it was my first, but because it gives me the least trouble in a classroom setting, usually keeping its setting through six new users. (Note: Other beaders – Bickford, Old Street Tool, Caleb James, Red Rose, Clark & Williams – are excellent; this particular Philly Planes tool is simply the one with which I’ve had the most success while teaching.)
Below are a few paragraphs and photos from my book “Dutch Tool Chests” on how to use this plane, in this case for the bottom lip of the chest, onto which the fall front gets dropped over and over.
A beading plane (and all moulding planes) work best on only one corner of a board: the corner on which the grain is rising out on both faces in the direction of the cut (the plane cuts in only one direction).
Moulding planes also work better in softwoods.
But know that you can often get away with breaking the bead rules – especially in mild grain and softer hardwoods, such as walnut and cherry.
So give it a go no matter your species – and if it looks terrible (i.e., it tears out), turn that ugly bead into a nice chamfer with a block plane. Or just start (and finish) with a chamfer if you’re going for a more utilitarian look (or don’t have a beading plane).
Identify the lip’s best corner (if you’re beading), then clamp the workpiece to your bench in an end vise or wagon vise, or use a sticking board. Bead the edge.
Hold the plane perpendicular to the work, with the iron on the wood and the fence pressed to the edge of the workpiece (it’s easy to get the position wrong and push the plane’s fragile boxing into the wood). Your right hand’s job is to push forward. Your left hand’s job is to hold the plane at the correct angle, and in contact with the workpiece from above and below the tool.
Push forward, following through on the cut. Keep the plane in the cut (2), pull straight back, then push forward again. Repeat until the depth stop contacts the wood and the plane stops cutting. Be careful as you pull back; that boxing can easily break off if you stress it by pulling sideways.
After the plane stops cutting, you might notice some fuzzy bits in the quirk; grab a handful of the plane shavings to burnish those away.
– Fitz
(1) They will have to watch me cry; no one wants that.
(2) Once you have a few beads under your belt, it’s OK to lift the tool and reposition it at the start of the cut…but make sure you get the fence in the correct position so as not to A) break your plane’s boxing and B) ruin your bead.