Pencil Post Bed

Recently, I completed this king-sized pencil post bed.  The wood is tiger maple.  The finish is Charles Neil's New England Maple, which is a mixture of 3 parts General Finishes Light Brown dye and 1 part General Finishes Orange.  I applied the dye by hand.  Before applying the dye, I trace coated the wood twice using General Finishes Medium Brown dye, first sanding with 120 grit and secondly with 180 grit.  The top coat is three sprayed coats of General Finishes High Performance Satin.

I built the bed in Charles Neil's woodshop, using his special jigs to taper the posts and make the octagonal bevels on the sides of the posts.  I finished the bed in my own shop, where I hand cut lamb's tongues at the transition points on the posts.  I applied the finish in Jeff Fleisher's spray booth.  It was a fun build and makes a great addition to our home.

The tiger maple pencil post bed

I hope you build something good for yourself!

Norm

Greene & Greene-Inspired Pantry Shelf

Recently, I completed--with the assistance of my friend Jeff Fleisher--a pantry shelf of my own design inspired by the Greene & Greene style.  The shelf, which measures 24 X 36", incorporates a number of Greene & Greene features, including cloud lifts, finger joints, reveals, and ebony plus and inlays.  The photo shows the finished shelf.

The Greene & Greene-inspired pantry shelf in use

The build for this project is slated to be featured in the August 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, so look for it there.

Norm

Shenandoah Awls

Previously I've written about the business I operate with Jeff Fleisher, called Shenandoah Tool Works, and the woodworker's mallets we introduced in 2013.  We since have added a new product, which we call the Shenandoah Awl.

Tiger Maple Awl

The Shenandoah Awl is a birdcage awl that incorporates a unique design for the handle, a large round bulb shape that allows the user to easily apply plenty of torque in use.  In addition, the steel shafts, made of oil-hardened (O1) steel, are shaped in a twist that gives them a decorative touch.  The shafts are hand-forged by a local blacksmith.  As with the Shenandoah Mallets, the handles are hand-turned from a variety of domestic and exotic hardwoods, the most popular of which are those made with crotch walnut and tiger maple.

Birdcage awls differ from scratch awls, which are intended to mark lines in wood.  Birdcage awls have a square shaft that, when twisted in the wood, is capable of drilling holes to start screws, install locks, or simply to mark the location to start a drill bit.

The awls have been selling very well and have received good reviews from other woodworkers, including Popular Woodworking magazine.  They are available at the Shenandoah Tool Works website and are priced at $54.99 USD.

Norm

My Planes are Finished; Well, Almost!

Today was the sixth and final day of the wooden bodied planemaking class with Scott Meek.  The class, held in Scott's basement workshop in Asheville, North Carolina, was a great learning device, not to mention a lot of fun!

Today we sharpened and honed one blade so we would know how to do it.  I already have learned to sharpen freehand on diamond plates so for me, this served more to get one blade prepared for a trial run with the new planes.

Here is the blade I honed, using a solution of Hone Rite on DMT's Diasharp diamond plates

Then we opened up the mouths of our plane bodies just so the blade would protrude through the base with enough room to spare for the desired shaving to pass through.

We spent additional time refining the shape of our plane bodies to fit our aesthetic objectives and also to fit out individual hands, given the differing ways we hold our planes.  They are our unique creations.  We didn't finish this part of the work and will further refine the fit and then the finish at home.

My 22 inch jointer plane, showing it rough shape; I'll refine it further after I put it to use

Finally, we put our planes to the acid test--taking shavings with each of them on the famous 2X6 Scott has taken to woodworking shows for years and that is now closer to a 2X2.  What a great thrill it is so see a wonderful full width shaving curl off the board and feel the mirror-like finish it leaves behind.

My Osage orange smoother, white oak jointer and teak jack planes

In addition to what I learned about planemaking, I got to use a Benchcrafted leg vise and plan to get and install one of these in my own woodshop.

My Planes are Taking Shape!

On the fourth day of the Scott Meek class on making wooden planes, we shaped the wedges that will hold our blades in place and then began to cut the now rectangular plane bodies to their final shapes.
For my Osage orange smoothing plane, which has a 50 degree bed angle, I decided to create my own body style and so I strayed from the traditional design. 

The Osage orange smoother body before shaping

My idea was to incorporate handle-like curves in the toe and rear of the plane to make it more easily fit my hand in use.  So I left the front and rear sections higher so I could shape them to fit my hand.

Some of the shaping is visible on the front of the plane; I did less shaping on the rear

I will probably not make any more changes to this plane, except to polish the rasped areas.  I can do additional changes to fit my hand when I'm back in my own woodshop and after I have spent some time using the plane.

My teak jack plane in the process of being shaped

The teak 12 inch jack plane is still being shaped.  I'm following Scott's pattern for this plane, which will have Scott's "wave" pattern on the rear section.  That not only makes it easy to hold and use, but beautiful as well.

I've not yet started on shaping the 22 inch white oak jointer.  That will come tomorrow.

My teak jointer and Osage orange smoother as they near completion

Some of the 12 planes being built in the class this week

Tomorrow we'll finish shaping the bodies and then work the mouths so the blades protrude just the right amount.

Need I say that I'm having a lot of fun--and learning a lot too!--in this class?  When I update my book on handplanes, Choosing and Using Handplanes, I plan to include a chapter on wooden handplanes, which are quickly becoming favorites in my handplane collection.

Norm

Starting to Look Like Planes

In yesterday's class, we made the cross pins, against which the wedges will secure the blade in place, and cut the cheeks off the sides of the plane blocks; until now they had been whole blocks.  Then we cut the center block into two with the correct slopes to bed the plane blade at the desired angle.  My smoother is being crafted from Osage orange, a very hard and beautiful yellow wood.  Domestic varieties are also known as hedge apple and by other names.

I then marked the location for the crosspin, drilled holes through the body to accept it, and glued the cheeks back onto the center blocks.

The Osage orange smoother in clamps after the cheeks were re-glued to the center blocks

The clamps came off after a few hours.  I centered the crosspin between the checks, trimmed off the crosspins where they stood proud, and laid out the profile for the plane on one side.  Then it was off to the bandsaw to create the rough outline shown below.

After the clamps came off, the boxy plane body was sawn to rough shape

Next steps are to refine the body shape, hone the blade and fit the blade and the wedge to the plane body.

Norm

Day 2--Scott Meek Plane Class

We made great progress in constructing our planes today. Those blanks, like the Osage orange shown, that were glued with epoxy, came out of the clamps this morning.  We jointed the bottom and one reference edge, then planed the blanks to rough width.

Osage orange plane blank with applied sole in Ipe glued on

The Osage orange blank viewed from the end on; doesn't look like much does it?

 Then we cut the cheeks from the edges, leaving behind a center block to be further cut to accommodate a blade. 

The center sections of two planes marked and partially bandsawn, awaiting further work

We marked up the center blocks for a plane blade bed angle of 45 degrees, except for my Osage orange smoother, which will have a 50 degree bed angle.  We also marked the reverse slope, the shape of which is less critical, needing mainly enough room to get the fingers into the opening to remove stubborn shavings.  These cuts were made freehand (following a line) on the bandsaw.  The bedding angle cut was made on the table saw.

The forward slope was sanded on a belt sander, the bedding slope on a strip of sandpaper attached to a slab of marble.  We filed slight 90 degree bevels on the bottom of the bedding slope.

We measured and made crosspins (not shown) and rounded their tops.

Tomorrow we will drill the locations for the crosspins, install dowels in the front and back corners and glue the cheeks back onto the center blocks.  After allowing time for the glue to set up, we will begin the process of shaping the blanks into something more closely resembling the planes we will take home with us.

Norm

Making Wooden Planes

I'm in Asheville, North Carolina, this week, learning to make wooden planes from Scott Meek.  Yesterday was our first day, and it was a busy one,

Our first job was to choose the woods we wanted and to assemble the blanks. I'll be making three planes, a smoother from Osage orange with an applied sole of Ipe and a wedge and retaining rod of the same wood; a 12 inch jack plane from a nice block of teak and a 22 inch jointer of quartersawn white oak that will have an insert just in front of the blade to help with wear at this critical spot.  The jack and jointer will have wedges and retaining rods from bubinga.

Assembling the wood blanks

 One thing I learned is you don't have to have a 4X4 inch blank to make a plane body.  You can glue up two 2X4 inch boards to get the size needed for a jack or jointer.  Here is my jointer in clamps.  We used Titebond 3 glue for the oak, but an epoxy glue for the woods like teak, bubinga and Osage orange that have more natural oils and would resist normal glue.

Gluing up two white oak boards; squeeze-out is good!

The white oak boards clamped up

Teak blank for jack plane

After selecting our wood, we jointed a smooth edge for the bottom and also one side.  When glue-ups were called for we did those, rough cut our wedges to shape (we'll rasp and sand them later) and cut off the cheese so we can get to the interior.

More to come!

Norm

Handplanes Book Now Available in Europe

My recently-released book on handplanes--Choosing and Using Handplanes: All You Need to Know to Start Planing By Hand--is now available from Amazon in Europe.  It will be priced there in Euros or British pounds.

Front and back cover

If you are looking for information about handplanes and how to get started using them, this book is written for you.  I hope you will find it useful.

Norm

Preparing to Make Wooden Planes

Over the last few years, I've acquired a few wooden handplanes.  Several of them are older planes that I've not yet restored to working condition and they are basically sitting on the shelf for display.  But I also purchased a pair of planes--a smoothing plane and a 16" jack plane--from Scott Meek and I'm finding them really lovely to use.

Scott Meek jointer (rear) and smoothing planes

Scott offers plane-building classes in his Asheville, NC, workshop and in a few weeks I am scheduled for a week-long class to build three planes:

• A smoothing plane
• A jack plane
• A jointer plane

To get ready for the class, I've been reading and watching DVDs.  There are some good resources available.  In case you are interested in learning about making wooden planes, here's what I've found so far:

•  David Finck's Making & Mastering Wood Planes -- an excellent resource on making a Krenov-style smoothing plane; he also has a DVD set on making and using wooden planes
• John Whelan's Making Traditional Wooden Planes -- a brief description of how you can make not only a smoothing plane but also many other specialized types of planes
• David Perch and Robert Lee's Wooden Planes and How to Make Them -- similar to Whelan's book in that it covers many types of planes, but not the same ones as Whelan
• Scott Meek has a DVD set that shows his method for making Krenov-style planes

The books are mostly available from Amazon.com or Highland Woodworking.  Perch and Lee is sold by Lee Valley.  The Meek DVDs are available from Popular Woodworking.

Handplanes Book Now Sold at Highland Woodworking

I'm pleased to report that my recently-released book, Choosing and Using Handplanes: All You Need to Know to Get Started Planing by Hand, is now being sold by Highland Woodworking.  They are a fine family-owned and operated company that sells a wide array of tools and other resources for woodworkers at their Atlanta store and via the web.

If you are interested in purchasing the book from Highland Woodworking, here's the link.

If you do purchase the book, I hope you find it helpful and enjoyable.

Norm

New Book on Handplanes Released

My new book, Choosing and Using Handplanes, has just been released.  Intended for the beginning and newer handplane user, its 90 pages include nearly 100 color illustrations.  In this book, you will learn:

• The types of handplanes, names and functions
• The first planes you should get
• How to set up and adjust your planes
• How to sharpen your plane blades
• The kinds of sharpening stones
• The different bevels you’ll want on your blades
• How to hold your work for planing
• The body positions that work best
• How to determine the direction to plane boards
• How to plane cupped, bowed, and twisted boards
• How to plane end grain
• How to buy and restore old planes
• How to store and care for your planes
• Sources of new and used handplanes
• How to solve handplane problems

Choosing and Using Handplanes is now available from Amazon and CreateSpace.

If you are hankering to learn how to use handplanes, I think you'll find this a useful guide.

Norm

Writing While I'm Laid Up

I'm wearing a soft cast right now to heal inflamed tendons in my right ankle.  I'm supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible.  That means I'm not getting in much in the way of shop time.  Instead, I'm using the time for my other interests, writing and photography.

I'm finishing up my latest book, Choosing and Using Handplanes, a guide intended for the newer user of handplanes.  It will be published by Amazon as a paperback and also in a Kindle edition.  I've described some of the process I've been going through on my writing blog. 

And, I'm working my way through literally thousands of photographs in my files.  Some of these I'm selling as art prints.  Others I'm posing on my photography blog and on Facebook.

So I'm occupied doing things I love to do.  But when the cast comes off my foot, look out--it'll be back to the woodshop to finish up some projects that are waiting to be completed and start some new ones.

Norm

My Book on Handplanes

For the last several months, I've been writing and photographing a book on using handplanes in woodworking.  Titled Choosing and Using Handplanes, it describes the various types of handplanes, how to set them up and sharpen them, ways to hold work for planing and planing technique itself.  It also addresses caring for handplanes, buying and restoring old handplanes and how to diagnose and fix various problems encountered in planing.  The book should be completed in November in a paperback edition that will be sold on Amazon.com as well as on my web site and in a Kindle edition to follow soon after that.

A photo of the book's cover is shown here.  If you are new to handplaning, I think you will find this book a helpful resource for getting started.

Publishing the Handplanes Book

I continue to progress toward completion of my book, Choosing and Using Handplanes.  It has 74 pages now and will probably reach 80 by the time it is finished.  I still have a few photos to make and some appliances to construct.  I hope to have this all completed by mid-August.

That means it's time to start thinking about how I'll get the book published.  I could go for a traditional publisher, but I'm inclined to think that the self-publishing route would be better.  It think that offers the possibility of a lower price and wider distribution.

I do know that I'll be publishing it in full color, both the cover and inside.  That's important particularly for the photographs, which are important for conveying the information I want to share.

At the moment, I'm taking a hard look at publishing through CreateSpace, which will make the book available for purchase via Amazon.  I'll probably also produce a version for Kindle so it can be read on tablets.  That's what I did for my mystery novel, The Hero of Gucci Gulch, and it worked well.

I'll keep you posted on my progress and let you know when it is available.

For now, my offer stands to send a free copy (via email) to anyone who wants to review it.  Just write me at cobblermtnpress@gmail.com and I'll send the latest version by return email.  If you send me helpful comments, I'll also reference you in the acknowledgements!

Norm

An Update on the Handplanes Book

Since my last post, I've made considerable progress toward completing my book, Choosing and Using Handplanes.  The text is completely written, all of the figures are complete and most of some 80+ photos are inserted in their proper places.  I still need to complete the appendices on shooting board construction and build and document a few other appliances.

I have the book out for review with a few people who are knowledgeable about handplanes.  But, I would love to have additional readers.  If you would like to be one of them, send me your email address to cobblermtnpress@gmail.com and I'll send you a pdf version of the book in its present draft form.  Bear in mind, however, that it is about 3 mb in size.

I hope to have the book completely finished in a few weeks.  I am starting to look for a possible publisher.

Norm

Choosing and Using Handplanes

For a number of years now I've taught classes on handplanes at two northern Virginia Woodcraft stores.  My classes--Handplane Basics and Restoring Old Handplanes--are both fun to teach and educational, not only for my students but also for me.  I've learned a lot about handplanes since I started.  My beginning was a class at the Marc Adams School with Chris Schwarz and Tom Lie-Nielsen.  Following that, I studied a number of books on handplanes and became a user in my own shop.  But as much as anything, I've learned a lot from the questions posed by my students and my sometimes fumbling attempts to answer those I'd not anticipated.

As a result of this experience I've come to believe I have a good feel for what beginning handplane users want and need to know.  And while there are many good resources available, none of them seem quite right to meet the needs of my students.  So, I've decided to write a book of my own.

For now, the working title is Choosing and Using Handplanes.  The book will explain the types of planes and their uses in the woodshop, techniques for planing, setting and adjusting planes, sharpening and honing blades, buying and restoring old handplanes, and jigs and fixtures to use with handplanes, including holding devices and shooting boards.  It will also have a list of resources.  It  will make extensive use of photos, drawings and explanatory sidebars.

My plan is to publish it as an eBook through Amazon's Kindle.  I'm hoping to have it finished sometime this summer.  Already I have a first draft written, figures drafted and photos planned.  Most of the sidebars are completed.  What remains is to fill in the gaps and edit the text.   I will also need to build the jigs and fixtures I want to illustrate.  There's plenty of work to do yet, but I'm very excited about the project and find myself making progress on it every day.  Look here for information about my progress.

Norm

A Sharpening Station, At Last!

Many of my tools will benefit from regular sharpening.  This includes handplane blades, bench chisels, carving chisels and woodturning tools, all of which I use often.  It's well known among woodworkers that sharp tools are necessary to achieve the best work, while dull tools are inefficient at best and dangerous at worst.  My problem was that I had no regular place to sharpen my tools.  Instead, every time I wanted to sharpen my plane blades or chisels, I had to get out my stones and set them up on my workbench, then move them out of the way when I was finished with them.  My woodturning tools are sharpened on a heavy slow-speed grinder that was inconvenient to lift from under my workbench every time I wanted to do some turning.  I use a Koch sharpening system and Shapton stones for my carving chisels and, once again, it was stored in an inconvenient location.

The eventual outcome of all this inconvenient, of course, is that the job of honing gets put off until no small amount of resharpening will suffice to restore the tools to peak condition.  And it means that tools get used when they are dull, poor practice indeed, but one I'll admit to practicing.

Gluing up the drawer

The solution is a dedicated sharpening station, something I've yearned for over the years and even planned but never built.  Fortunately, my good friend and business partner Jeff Fleisher came up with some surplus property that provided a solution.  First was a slightly damaged cabinet with a wide drawer opening and double doors leading to a moveable shelf inside.  Then, a local restaurant was renovating and he snagged some thick Formica table tops for each of us.

With these two pieces in hand, my job became simple.  I attached rotating wheels, pin nailed the table top to the case and built a drawer to fit the opening just under the new tabletop.  Then I added drawer pulls and finished it all with a coat of shellac.

My sharpening tools

Even before the drawer was completed, however, I put the station in operation.  The tabletop measures 48 X 30 inches and is large enough for all my sharpening equipment--a Tormek T-7 water-cooled grinder, a Koch sharpening system for my carving chisels, a low-speed grinder and a tray with my Shapton stones at the ready.  My strop is hanging on one side.  Tormek accessories and other small tools are in the large drawer.  Water jugs (I have no water in the shop) and other large items are accessible through the double doors.  Being on wheels, the whole sharpening station can be easily rolled near the workbench when wanted there and then rolled back out of the way when the floor space is needed for assembly and the like.

The finished sharpening station

I feel certain that this improvement to my shop will greatly enhance the speed and quality of my woodworking.  If you don't have a sharpening station, consider building one similar to this.  If you can get hold of a surplus cabinet or tabletop, so much the better!

Norm

Adding a Laguna Bandsaw

For a long time now, I've wanted to build boxes.  Beautiful boxes.  Boxes that feature beautiful wood.  And for some time now, I've been building up a stock of highly figured woods that could make boxes that are attractive and, I hope, salable.  I've got several nice, thick pieces of crotch walnut, some with gorgeous feathering, that would look lovely gracing the top of a box.  I've got some figured ash as well.  And small quantities of tiger and birds-eye maple.  Plus a goodly amount of less figured woods that would make attractive box sides to offset the figured tops, woods like quartersawn white oak, maple, cherry, hickory and mesquite, among others.

The thing about boxes is they are generally built from thinner than usual pieces of wood; 3/8" and 1/2" are common thicknesses.  While it's possible to plane wood to these thicknesses, it wastes a lot of valuable and perhaps irreplaceable wood.  So resawing--slicing wood vertically through its width--is the preferred solution.  Resawing is best done on a bandsaw.  Though a tablesaw can be used for narrower boards, for boards over 5-6" in width, a bandsaw is required.  In all cases, a bandsaw is both safer and takes a smaller amount of wood for a kerf.

I have a 14" bandsaw, a Grizzly GO555, and it's perfectly adequate for many operations.  But I've never had good results when resawing with it.  Drift is a big problem, plus I'm limited to 1/2" blades like Highland Woodworking's Woodslicer.  While this is a good blade, I'm looking for something even better.

Enter the Laguna 14" LT14 SUV.  It started with a sale that Woodcraft had on this saw.  So I did some research.  Actually, a lot of research.  This SUV model (SUV stands for "Souped Up Version") has several attractive features, including some that are new to this model.  It is driven by a 3 hp. motor.  It has a large table (slightly larger than 15" X 19") that is easily adjusted and that tilts in both directions.  It has two 4" dust ports.  It has a resaw height of just under 14".  The 125" blade is available in a 1" carbide tipped version called the Resaw King.  Amazingly enough, this 2-3 tpi variable pitch blade has no set, which helps it achieve a smooth cut.  The saw uses ceramic guide blocks that are easily adjusted above and below the table.  The fence has two positions, high and low, and can be quickly adjusted for drift.  Most reviews are high on this saw, which is said to give a superior cut when using the Resaw King blade.

The nearest competitor is the Hammer N4400, a 17" German saw from Felder, which will accommodate a 3/4" blade, quite adequate for resawing.  It has a 3.5 hp. motor.  The nicest thing about this saw is that the tires are flat, rather than crowned, so drift is never a problem.  I'd have easily have gone for this saw--I've seen it in action--but it costs almost $700 more than the Laguna's sale price.   As far as I can determine, each saw delivers excellent results when resawing.  Price being an important consideration, I decided on the Laguna.  It's on order now.

I'll be keeping my Grizzly bandsaw.  I've got plenty of jobs that call for smaller blades.  And, I'll slice logs into lumber on the Grizzly, leaving the Laguna for resawing and protecting the expensive carbide blade for high quality cuts.

Naturally, I'm eager for it to arrive.  Getting it off the truck (the crate weights 420 lbs) will be the first issue.  Then I'll need to go through the whole setup and testing process.  After I've had time to test it for myself, I'll write a review.

Have you used the Laguna bandsaw?  If so, share your thoughts with other readers by leaving a comment.

Norm

Using Pinterest for Woodworking Research

I recently signed up for Pinterest.  I've got to admit it straight out; I'm not a big social media user.  Sure, I have a Facebook account and I read it sometimes but seldom post.  And I'm on LinkedIn as a passive presence.  I don't Tweet.  So frankly, I wasn't sure why I'd want to be on Pinterest.  All that said, I decided to give it a go.

My first idea was to post links to my business, Shenandoah Tool Works, and I created links to photos of the woodworking mallets and birdcage awls my partner Jeff Fleisher and I produce.  But then, upon looking around, I began to see photos of things I'd like to build for myself.  So I created boards in Pinterest for several projects--a cabinet to store hand tools, saw tills, a rolling lumber cart, table designs and decorative boxes.  After creating the boards, I searched each of these topics, scrolled through what I found and pinned the photos I liked best to my boards.

Already I've used the photos to design a rolling lumber rack that combines several features I saw in the Pinterest photos--racks for boards, storage for plywood, bins for offcuts, a panel saw and clamp storage.  I can already see that it will reduce the clutter in my shop and add functionality as well. 

If you haven't tried Pinterest yet, you may find it useful for designing projects.  The good thing is, it is not only easy to use but it's free!  If you like the project boards I've set up, you can always follow me.  My site is my name--Norm Reid.  If you decide to use Pinterest, let me know how it works out for you.

Norm