My New Bandsaw Arrived

 As much as I like working with hand tools, I want a few machines.  High on that list has been a bandsaw.  There was a sale at Rockler over Black Friday weekend in which the Powermatic tools were 10% off and free shipping.  It's been at least two years since that deal has appeared.

As such, I bought the Powermatic PM1500.  It's their 15" bandsaw that is on the beefy side and has a 14"ish resaw capacity.  It's likely more bandsaw than I need.  Having said that, I'd rather argue did I spend more than I need vs. did I buy enough bandsaw.  Right now, it's shoved over to the side and over the holidays I will set it up.  I bought a Bora mobile base with a 20% off coupon while at Rockler on Black Friday for this.  

The only thing I really need now is proper dust collection. I have the money saved up.  It's just a matter of seeing if Onedia or ClearVue will have a sale.  Ideally, I'd like to save 10% off if I can on such a big purchase.  I'm willing to wait till mid Jun of next year if needed.  I think the economy will falter and there might be some incentive sales around the corner.  Planning to future proof myself a bit in terms of CFM, horsepower.  Fingers crossed.

After that, really, the only other tool I'd like to get for sure would be a drill press.  There are times when it would come in handy.  Fortunately, there are a lot to choose from and cost less than either the dust collector or bandsaw does so saving for it won't take that long either.  

My New Workbench - Built by My GrandPa in 1960s/70s

 I have wanted a second workbench for a while.  A place to do my finishing when I choose a finish that takes a longer duration such as waiting for linseed oil to dry, my daughter to woodwork, and a place to keep my new waterstones for sharpening on.

I was all set to build the jointers bench that Rex Kruger has popularized in some YouTube videos.  To the point I had printed the plans, gone to Lowes with my moisture meter to get a feel how wet the wood was.  I was a paycheck or two away from buying the wood.

My cousin (two years older than me and local to me) reached out that he was cleaning his garage and needed to make room. He had a workbench my grandfather had built him the in the late 60s/early 70s that he no longer needed and was wondering if I would want it.  Would I want it?  Of course, I'm excited.  Though my grandfather's workshop is still intact, I don't have a lot items made by him though lots of memories of him in the garage.  It's the "best" workbench I could ever have as a secondary bench.  To top it all off the has the original machinist vise my gandpa out on it.  For a secondary bench, I kind of wanted that vise style in the shop so that was another added bonus.

When we picked it up, my cousin mentioned he had some small chairs and a few other items my gandpa made and would I be interested in them.  Of course.  The small chairs were likely built in the 1960s but could have been built as early as the 1940s (for when my dad was a kid).  There were a few other items that will work well as shop furniture.  I am beyond the moon happy by all of this.

Over the Christmas break, I will clean them up and move some things around.  Will do more detailed photos then.  All in all, my Christmas gifts arrived early.  Can't imagine it getting any better than this.  I did test the bench quickly for lead paint.  It came back as negative.  Will check again after cleaned up proper as well as the other pieces.  I'm not worried about lead paint, just want to know if I have it.  I understand its potential dangers.  If anything does have lead paint, after cleaning it up, likely just put a clean finish on top of it.

Here are some photos of some of the picture frames my grandpa liked to make.  He made a lot of them.  Still handing all over his garage.  My dad owns the house and has kept the workshop area pretty much the same (some changes but nothing too big).  At some point, I need to get photos of this shop.  

My Favorite Wood

 A year or so into my woodworking experience, if you had asked me that question, I would have said cherry.  I loved the way it darkened over time and just it's overall color and fragrance when working with it.  

One of the things I've noticed is that I no longer have a favorite wood.  I mostly enjoy whatever wood I am working with its subtle or not so subtle differences from other woods.  I noticed this shift about two or three years into woodworking.  I was at a lumber store (big surpirse) and saw this poplar board that had these beautiful purple and green streaks (mineral stains I'm guessing) in it.  I had to have that board.  I know, you might be thinking purple and green, gah!  However, it was lovely.  I cut up that board and used it to make a simple shelf underneath the bench.  It was so beautiful to see those streaks.  They have since turned lovely shades of brown.  Again, I enjoy wood transitioning to its final color.  I also used a lot of poplar early on for the sides of drawers because I could easily purchase it in 1/2" thickness at Lowe's.  As such, I got to work a lot with poplar for secondary wood and to make shop boxes, etc.  During this time, I began to think to myself "poplar is an underrated wood.  It works so well with hand tools.  Hard enough for use but soft enough to be a pleasure to work with hand tools and it planes so well and is not prone to tearout."  Looking back on it, that was the turning point of my thinking of favorite woods thought I didn't realize it at the time.

Now, seven years into woodworking, I realize I enjoy them all when working with them.  Mesquite finishes lovely and has a beautiful fragrance; it's a pain to hand plane but the end result is worth it.  Walnut, maple, paduk, pine, etc, all have things I love and that challenge me.  Whenever I can, I try and work in new species of wood just to see what they are like.  I have some Alaskan cedar, genuine Mahagony, and yew sitting about for some upcoming projects.  Excited to see how they are to work.

For a long time, I was puzzled when experienced woodworkers would say they didn't have a favorite wood.  I think I now understand why.  I still like to ask the question though.  So, do you have a favorite wood?

Below are just some images of various projects with different woods in them.  Can you tell what they are?  Do any stump you?

I FINALLY Own a Planer - the Dewalt 735

 The thing I have liked least (or close to least) about woodworking with hand tools is thicknessing wood by hand.  If I only have a piece or two, no problem.  However, if I have a lot, I put off the project or end up using wood in a non-desired thickness.

This past fall, I have been taking a local woodworking class (more about that in detail in a future post).  The purpose of the class was for me to obtain some training on woodworking machines.  I don't want to fill my shop with a lot of machines, but I would like to learn how to use them.  In learning how to use them, I can develop further opinions on the ones I really want.  

During this class it became quickly evident to me at how handy it was to have a thicknesser there.  They have a 15in (ish) and a 24" wide PowerMatic thicknesser.  I have used them quite a bit since I finished my class assigned project to thickness some wood for upcoming 2023 projects at home.  Yes, they are noisy but wow, do they make quick work of getting work to desired thicknes with a high degree of control.  I think after using them a few times, I was able to take three or so five foot boards from 7/8" thick to 1/2" thickness in 30 minutes or less.  To do this by hand would have taken me a few weekends of work.  I can certainly do it but I really don't enjoy doing it.

As such, I want a planer at my home.  The main debate for me was the Dewalt 735 (with or without helical head) and the similar lunchbox Oliver that comes with a helical head.  I haven't seen many reviews on the Oliver (always makes me suspicious; is it too new or does it not work well).  In the case of the Oliver, I think it is too new.  I decided to go with the Dewalt 735 with straight knives.  Cost ended up being $650 including the stand, second set of knives, and the extensions for the table.  I also bought the adaptor for my ShopVac.  I am going to be purchasing a proper dust collector within the next six months (waiting for Oneida or ClearVue to offer a discount).

Set up was straight forward.  I ran a few boards through it (oak and paduk).  It worked well.  Some minor snipe that can likely be removed with a hand plane.  I used the preset 1/2" stop and measured six spots on the board.  Five of the six had the same exact number when measured in 64ths by my digital calipers and one was a 64th thick.  Works for me.

What about my temporary dust collection set up?  I have a ClearVue cyclone going into a 5-gallon bucket.  I also own a Dylos particulate meter.  The initial number was 81 (very good) before I started for the small particulates.  After running, the three boards, the number was 342 (fair).  With the garage doors and side door opened, the air quality was nearly back to normal in about 10 minutes.  As such, I will be wearing a respirator (and eye and ear protection).  Is this the best/perfect system and set up I did to test things?  No.  However, it does give me some useful info and is better than guessing. 

I'm happy I have it.  I don't like the noise and am not crazy about the dust (though it will likely get better when I have the proper dust collector).  Given how infrequently I will need to use it (start of a project), I can tolerate the noise and extra PPE I need.  The straight knives seem to be good enough for my needs.  If I get tear out, I will simply use my hand tools to fix it.  For now, I'd rather save the money than buy a fancy helical head cutter.

Trying to Tighten Handle to Stanley Scrub Plane

 At the tool show I visited in Oct in Sonoma CA, I picked up a vintage Stanley scrub plane for $60.  I liked it's light weight relative to the Vertias scrub plane I already owned.  

After I got it home, I noticed the handle was a bit loose on the plane.  I tried to tighten it but that didn't seem to help.  I was trying to be careful because I didn't want to bear down too much on it and crack the handle.  When I took it apart, I noticed that the threaded rod had a slight bend in it.  I figured that was the likely cause.  Ralph, from the Accidental Woodworker blog, was kind enough to send me one that was straight.

As I was putting it in, I noticed resistance as I tightened it.  The handle was still loose with the new thread.  I figured the resistance from removing the old one was due it being bent. This made me think the hole in the handle was misaligned.  Took a round file to the hole to smooth it out.  Didn't help.  Maybe the hole at the top wasn't center properly so I took a gouge and made it a bit bigger.  Didn't help.  There is a divot in the bottom of the handle that registers a metal dimple in the plane itself.  Made the divot a bit bigger.  Didn't help.  Took a hand plane to smooth the bottom the handle in case there was a slight but/hump in it.  Didn't help.

When I say it didn't help, I mean that there is a bit less wiggle in the handle, but it isn't completely wiggle free.  It's useable at this point.  I'm just stumped as to what could be causing this issue.  Any ideas are welcome.  I'm not actively working on fixing it anymore.  At the next antique tool show in Feb/Mar near Monterey CA I will ask folks there if they have any idea.  I am sure I will eventually get it sorted out.

Making Another Walnut and Vertical Grain Doug Fir Box

 I had left over wood from my summer Port Townsend School of Woodworking class to make another walnut and VGDF box in same dimensions as the other one.  Since the construction was basically the same as the post in late Sep, I want to mostly focus on the differences.  Here is a quick snapshot of photos of making it and below will be the differences I want to talk about.

For the captured bottom, the first box used a machine router with stopped grooves.  I don't have a machine router.  Though I do want a few machines to help with donkey work, I'm not sure if I will get a machine router.  Making through grooves by hand is easy with a plough plane.  The only decision I had to make for this box was for the material to use for the plugs.  Either use walnut (blend away the plugs) or use a different wood (to highlight this as a feature).  For this box, I decided to use walnut and blend it.  The next walnut box I make, I will use ebony plugs to make it a feature.  I'm not embarrassed or ashamed of using through grooves or plugs - with the tools I have available this is a tell tale mark of how it was made.  If I really wanted to not have grooves, I could use a 1/8th inch chisel to make stopped grooves.

I wanted to do things a bit differently on the top.  The last one slide out on one side.  For this one, I wanted the ability for it to slide out in two directions.  Just wanted to see what that would be like in a box and only way to know for sure is to do it.  As for the lid, I didn't want to put bevels on it.  Simply took my plough and shoulder plane to thin if from 1/4" to 1/8" thick to go into the sides.  As for the bottom, I had some 1/8" walnut and just used that for a bottom.

When I did the angles on the first box, I really liked the bevel near the bottom and how it made the box float a bit off the counter top.  For this box, I just put a bevel near the bottom and left the remaining portions of the box rectilinear.  I also used a different height for the bevel just to see how that impacted the overall look.  It does change the look.  Of the two, I think I prefer the bevel closer to the bottom.  Again, not a big deal, just a preference.  

As for the finish.  The first box used Liberon Finish oil.  Though I like the look and the fast drying time of this oil (due to metal driers added to it), I don't like the smell of the volatiles or the fact their safety data sheet is vague.  As a chemist, I'm a bit fussy when it comes to smells and vaguness of chemicals.  I prefer the smell of benzene to toluene, diethyl either over tetrahydrofuran, pentanes over hexanes, etc.  I wanted to try a different oil.  Christian Becksvoort in Fine Woodworking Issue 152 (Nov/Dec 2001), he wrote an article about Tried and True oils, specifically about their varnish oil which is partially polymerized linseed (flax seed) oil and pine resin.  No driers, etc.  As such, I used it.  I really liked and and found the smell to be on the pleasant side of things.  It does take longer to dry and less coats can be applied per unit time.  Since I'm a hobby woodworker, this is fine.  I did 4 coats and really liked the way it looked on walnut (darker) and felt (smooth enough where I didn't feel the need to wax the box).  This will likely be the oil finish I use more often.  I will use up the Liberon Finish oil on some other projects as well since it would feel wrong to waste/discard it.

And that's it.  Another box in the books.  I will likely use this box as a Christmas gift.  I have almost enough walnut for another box and will get to that in Nov.  Right now I'm working on a huge box for the my nephew's SUV to house his subwoofer.  It's being made from Baltic Birch and dovetailed together.  Still in progress but below are some sneak peaks.  It's pushing my skills due to its size.  A good problem to have.

From small to large.  Keeping me busy for sure.