Lost Art Press

Over There: Roorkee Hardware & Tool Storage

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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If you don’t check my blog at Popular Woodworking Magazine, here are a couple of items you might be interested in.

I’m finishing off two Roorkee chairs this week and am using some different hardware bits that are working out quite well. If you want a preview, check out this entry on my hardware sources for Roorkee chairs.

After I buy a new 1/4” leather punch (the old one is roaming California or Germany or who-knows where), I’ll post some completed photos of the chairs and discuss some of the hardware options I’ve been investigating.

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The other thing you might check out is a three-part series on storing hand tools. I have used (and still use) a variety of ways to keep my tools at hand. You might not agree with my perspective, but that’s OK. Because I’m OK and you’re OK. There’s what’s right and there’s what’s right, and never the twain shall meet.

Part 1: Principles 1, 2 & 3
Part 2: Principles 4, 5 & 6
Part 3: Principles 7, 8 and (BONUS!) 9

— Christopher Schwarz

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Plane maintenance

Posted on by fitz
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My trusty Lie-Nielsen #60½

The handful of you who witnessed the incident during the Midwest Woodworking wood sale already know that my block plane spontaneously disassembled while I was using it to check out some 8/4 incense cedar, with the various components flying out of my hand and scattering themselves across the concrete floor.

Surprisingly enough, I couldn’t find any signs of damage afterwards. There was a nick in the front adjusting knob, but that may have been there already. Anyway, once I got home I decided that it deserved the full spa treatment after an experience like that.

I disassembled it as far as I could, lightly went over the sole and sides with some 400-grit silicon carbide paper to remove any incipient rust, then cleaned everything with soap and water. After everything was good and dry, I sprayed the bare iron surfaces with Boeshield T-9.* Once that was dry, I wiped it all down with a cotton cloth to remove the excess.

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Ready for reassembly

Then it was just a matter of putting all the pieces back together in the correct order, honing the blade, and verifying that I hadn’t screwed something up and it still worked. Speaking of honing, I’ve been experimenting with some freehand honing techniques recently, and while the jury is still out, one thing I’ve decided to permanently add to the regimen is a final stropping. I bought a couple of Genuine Horse Butt strops from Joel Moskowitz, and—as he advises—use the rough side of the leather with some micro-fine stropping compound.

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The proof is in the shaving: sugar pine end grain

I suspect that the slight round-over produced by the stropping acts sort of like a micro-bevel, and helps toughen the edge. The net result is that the edge seems to last a bit longer between sharpenings.

–Steve Schafer

*I’ve also used TopCote (now apparently called GlideCote). Boeshield has gotten better reviews with regard to preventing rust; TopCote is less messy to use.

 

Look Mom, I Made the Cover

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Even though I’ve been writing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years, it’s still a thrill to be on the cover or the front page. This month, a campaign-style bookcase I built for a customer is on the cover of the October 2014 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The folding clamshell bookcase is my own design that is inspired by bookcases I have observed and measured during the last few years in my research for “Campaign Furniture.” The bookcase is in sapele. The finish is garnet shellac.

It’s a really good issue of the magazine, overall. And if you don’t subscribe, here’s where you can remedy that.

In addition to my piece, there’s a great article by Willard Anderson on restoring wooden-bodies bench planes. And Don Williams, the author of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible” has plans for a clever sawhorse that folds flat.

Oh, and Peter Follansbee, the author of “Make a Stool from a Tree” is now the Arts & Mysteries columnist. (Congrats to both Peter and the magazine.)

— Christopher Schwarz

Back Irons of Japanese Planes

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Part 4 of a British Introduction to Japanese Planes

What we in the West do not realise is that a plane comes to a maker as a kit of parts. He would buy the blade and maybe the back iron from the blacksmith but they may have been made by two smiths. The body would come from a Kanna maker down the road. These are the three parts that have to be made to fit together and it’s YOUR job to do it.

Note that there are only three parts. There is NO WEDGE to press it all together.

What we have instead is a tapering blade and back iron that tightens as it fits down in the body of the plane.

Most plane bodies are cut at an effective pitch of 38° this works well for them as they are cutting mostly softwood. If we are to plane hardwood to a shine we need a slightly higher pitch. My advice has been to go for 41°. Higher and you tend to loose the polish and have a harder pull on the plane body; lower and you get tear-out.

Getting a body made for a specific blade is not a problem. I will give a source later.

Back irons need some explaining. We have cheap bits of low-carbon steel that flap around like mother’s washing. The Japanese have laminated steel back irons that are made to sit a HAIR’S THICKNESS behind the edge. The contact with the blade is honed smooth and there is an angle ground at the point of contact with the blade about 0.25mm wide of about 70°. See the  photo. This surface is to drive the shaving immediately up after being cut by the blade.

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High-tech stuff this back iron.

Earlier planes were made to function without back irons, but this was in softwood. I believe we would not get the result we want without a back iron. Maybe wrong, but that’s the gut feel at the moment.

Next we will be fitting blades to the body.

— David Savage, http://www.finefurnituremaker.com

Knockdown Nicholson: Video & Principles

Posted on by Lost Art Press


I’ve built and worked on many Nicholson-style workbenches. And I’ve built and worked on many knockdown workbenches. This workbench is an effort to harness the advantages of those two forms and eliminate (or minimize) their disadvantages.

As I mentioned before, this bench is inspired by the get-it-done Nicholson bench shown in “The Naked Woodworker” DVD by Mike Siemsen. Also, planemaker and chairmaker Caleb James make a bench similar to Mike’s that uses barrel nuts to knock down. And wait until you see the vise Caleb made for it. It’s powered by holdfasts. Details to come.

There are myriad ways to build a knockdown bench. Here is what I was after with this design:

  1. You need only one tool to assemble and disassemble it (a 9/16” ratchet). You can install the hardware with one hand – no reaching inside the bench to hold a nut or other hardware.
  2. No faffing. I wanted to be able to assemble or disassemble the bench in about five minutes. Less time messing around means more time woodworking.
  3. Flat. I wanted to keep the disassembled components as flat as possible so they could be easily transported.
  4. Cheap. I spent $130 on the raw materials for the completed bench. (In truth I spent $250 purchasing bits of hardware to experiment with that did not end up on the bench.)
  5. Solid. One of the disadvantages of some Nicholson benches is the top feels springy or bouncy when you work on it. While you can add blocking to the underside to add thickness, I have found a method I prefer: Skip the “bearers” or “ribs” that go below a traditional Nicholson top and simply double up the thickness so the top is 3” thick in all the critical areas.

I could write an entire blog entry on why I prefer this method, but I really haven’t had enough coffee to go to that dark place in my mind that deals with the modulus of elasticity.

Some inevitable questions about this bench, and some answers.

  1. How does this bench compare to every other bench you’ve built? Is it your favorite?

As long as a bench makes it easy to work on the faces, edges and ends of a piece of work then that bench is a friend. I enjoy and – have no problems – working on a bench without screw-feed vises. You might have a different preference.

  1. Why no vises?

To keep the cost down. Someday I might add a leg vise. Maybe not.

  1. Will the plans be available?

Eventually, sure. I have to tune up my SketchUp drawing to make it presentable. Then I’ll post it in the 3D warehouse and put a link on this blog. First, I have some books to finish editing.

  1. I don’t have yellow pine in my area, what other woods will work?

Almost any construction lumber will do. Go to a home center or lumber yard and buy the stuff they use for joists in residential construction.

  1. Aren’t you just trying to sell product with this post?

Indeed. If you don’t purchase everything in our store right now, then you are a depraved human being. Fat, ugly and unloved. And by the way, this bench build was sponsored by Union Carbide and Brown & Williamson. You don’t need vises – you just need a Viceroy cigarette!

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Apologies for not getting this video up yesterday. I shot it, but it took hours to process the video and post it to Vimeo so it could be shown in HD.