Mongo - my foreplane

I don't always buy S4S wood.  Even when I do buy S4S wood, it isn't always in the thickness that I need.  Thought the more I woodwork, the more I try to buy in the thickness I need as getting boards to thickness is something I don't enjoy doing.  About after a year of woodworking I decided it might be handy to have a foreplane to hog off lots of wood.  My foreplane creation I have labeled as Mongo (anyone get the reference?).  It is ugly but it is lovely in how well it works.

I started with one of those wood plane kits you can get from Lee Valley.  At the time, money was tight so I worked with scraps I had around.  I laminated up some oak for the body and laminated up some pine to make the handles.  For the actual construction I followed the instructions.  They were more than adequate.  Since the wood I was using wasn't really oversized, I wanted to make the resawn sides glue back on easily.  As such, I drilled some alignment holes before I sawed off the sides.

For shaping the handle, I just traced the handle from one of my handplanes.  The knob shape I just winged it.  I didn't have a lot of tools at the time.  I had a 4 in 1 rasp my dad had given me 25 years ago.  No files.  I'm not even sure if I had a gouge at the time (I think I did).  Anyway with the 4 in 1 rasp, sandpaper, and maybe a gouge I made my handle and knob.  Though they look quite primitive, it feels good.  Both handle and knob have big deep tennons and I just mortised into the body to install them.

I put an 8" or so radius on the blade using my dad's grinder (another tool I don't have even to this day that would be handy).  I just free hand sharpen the blade.  Though this is a somewhat ugly tool, it works very well at the task of removing stock.  It has come in handy on a number of projects.

I enjoyed building this tool and have the parts to do a few other tool builds: kit from Hock for a spokeshave & kit from Blackburn tools for a frame resaw.  Not sure when I will get to them but Covid-19 has hit the place where I normally get my dimensioned wood and I'm waiting for an order I placed for the next big project.  These tool builds might happen while I wait.

Gift Box for my Dad

One of the joys I've had since I have started woodworking is trying to make a box to house the gift I am giving to my dad for birthday's, father'd day, Christmas, etc.  Figure 1 is a snap shot of one such gift.  I was between jobs at the time so I wanted to use what I had around.  As such, I used three boards of scrap cherry that were 3/4" thick and sawed it in half by hand.  It took a while for sure.  It got the wood to a more desirable thickness.  Though not obvious in the photo, the long sides and short sides and top and bottom are all book matched.  I was quite happy with that.  The dovetails came out ok but I did need to put in a few slivers of cherry on some because of gaps.

Figure 1 Gift Box closed

For each of the various boxes I have made for my dad, I have tried different methods for the top of the box to open.  For this one, I glued it all up and then sawed the top off.  I was a bit nervous doing that but I took my time with the handsaw and it was relatively easy to do.  Took my number 5 hand plane and then smoothed everything up.  To get the saw off part to stay put, I lined the top with some thin Spanish cedar I had purchased at Woodcraft.  They have a nice selection of pre-milled woods for just such use.  Used amber shellac then wax to finish it off (Figure 2).

Figure 2

If I had to do it over again, I would width and height of the piece different values.  I had just read By Hand and Eye so I was using proportions for the length to width (2:1).  For the height I went 1:1 between height and width.  In my mind, it sounded fine but it reality it does look as good.  I know this because I can look at the open box in Figure 2, imagine them as the finished proportions and they look better.  Such is life. I didn't loose sleep over it.  Next time I will know.  My dad like the box (I don't remember what the gift was inside the box) and it is proudly on display in his living room.

Shaker Style Step Stool

In Fine Wood Working Issue #266 (Jan/Feb 2018), Christian Becksvoot wrote an article about a step stool influence by a Shaker Style.  I immediately fell in love with it. The construction looked straightforward and I had a young daughter at home so it would get some use.

I decided to make it out of poplar and give it a milk coat paining.  My wife is an artist and she was then going to finish it off with cartoon characters.  The layout and construction were straightforward.  It had dovetails on the front.  It was my first set of dovetails that went into a piece. I had practiced dovetails before but I was bit apprehensive on getting five to all fit.  I took my time and they came out nice.

My wife was too busy to paint cartoon characters.  Initially I was a bit grumpy about this.  I would have chosen cherry otherwise as the wood.  I just don't think poplar looks as nice when finished as compared to other woods.  I had seen an article on how to finish poplar so it looks nice (https://www.popularwoodworking.com/american-woodworker-blog/make-poplar-look-pretty/).  I decided to try that.  I was happy with the way the finish came out (Figure 1).

Having said that I prefer cherry is true.  I don't want to dismiss poplar. It works nicely with hand tools and it can have some very nice color as it matures.  I have used a lot of poplar in things for the shop. 

My daughter uses this chair on nearly a daily basis but not as designed.  Rather than use it as a step stool, she likes to sit in it as a chair when watching TV.  In this way, it actually gets more use.  She is starting to get too big for it.  I am starting to debate if I should make a larger size one for her or a Limbert style chair (Figure 2).  All good problems to ponder.

Figure 1 The finished step stool

Figure 2 Limbert style chair I like

My Go To Hand Planes

As a hand tool woodworker, I spend a lot of time using my hand planes.  I very much enjoy using hand

planes.  I know shavings aren't the end goal but I just love seeing shavings spill out of the plane.  I have settled on three hand planes that do the majority of my work (Figure 1).  I certainly have other hand planes, but these three are the ones I use the most.  I think I have now been working with this set up as is for one (probably closer to two) years.

Figure 1 My go to hand planes as of 2020

It melds with both what Paul Sellers talks about as well as Chris Schwarz talk about.  I am documenting my journey.  Where possible, I'd like to acknowledge where I learned something.

My three planes are a Craftsman No. 4, Lie Nielsen No. 5, and a Lie Nielsen No. 3.  

I use the No.4 with its more cambered blade to do the bulk of wood removal.  By using it for the bulk of the removal, it helps to allow the other blades to retain sharpness longer.  This old Craftsman No. 4 I got from Hyperkitten and I think I paid $25 for it.  It looks almost unused and is a delight to use given how light it is.  All I needed to do was sharpen the blade and it was good to go.  I have a fondness for Craftsmen tools.  When I was a teenager in the 1980s, working on cars was a right of passage.  Before I obtained my own car tools, I used my dad's 1950s vintage Craftsmen tools.  As such, the brand has a fondness in my heard.  Some day I might try to get a No. 3 and 5 Craftsmen as well.  I like how light it is and the thin carbon steel is really easy to sharpen.  

The No. 5 jack plane is just that, a jack of all trades.  I can smooth and make things flat.  For most of my work, this plane does it all.  I will admit, I do like the refinement of the screws on the blade adjustment knob.

The No. 3 is what I use for smoothing.  I like the smaller size.  For a long time, I was using a 4-1.2 for smoothing.  The No. 3 and its smaller size seems to work a bit better for me.

All in all, I am quite happy with the set up.  I'm not really looking to change anything with the exception of maybe going to all Craftsmen brand.  I am curious as to how a No. 2 plane would work as a smoother but this isn't something that is pressing.  Time will tell.  

Sharpening Revisited

Warning - discussion of sharpening ahead.  It is one of these topics like religion and politics (or Ford vs. Chevy pickups) that gets folks heated up.  I am not adamant about anything.  I have a system I've been using and have been happy.  I am sure that there are many other systems that work well and maybe even better.

In 2006 I posted how I was sharpening.  It was the "Paul Sellers" diamond stone method (Figure 1).  It's basically the same system with just a few adjustments (Figure 2).  

Since I don't have a grinding wheel of any kind, I have chosen to use a honing guide.  On occasion, I had gotten the bevel too steep when free hand sharpening.  Using a honing guide to get the bevel back down even with 80 grit sand paper is a bit time consuming and not fun.  As such, I avoid the problem with a honing guide.

The other change is an addition of another stone.  Per Paul Sellers, the first three are coarse, fine, super fine (I don't remember the grits anymore).  For my tools that are high carbon steel, this works fine.  However, for Lie-Nielsen, their A2 steel was taking a long time for me to feel the bevel on the coarse stone.  My solution was to purchase an extra extra coarse stone when working my tools that have A2 steel.  Somewhere between 50 and 100 strokes and I feel a good burr on the extra extra coarse diamond plate.  I then move on to coarse, fine, extra, fine, strop.  In less than 5 minutes I have a sharpened blade.

It took me a few years before I really felt confident that I was sharpening well.  What helped was that I took some of my Lie-Nielsen tools to one of their shows and had them sharpen.  The sharpness and shavings was similar to what I was seeing.  As such, I felt better.

For some reason, I was afraid to use the strop for a number of years.  I don't know why.  I think it was because I was afraid of "rolling the edge."  I think that is more hype than reality.  This is done freehand.  You can tell when the angle is right as the blade moves nicely over the strop.  

Where I find the strop really handy is to "refresh" the blade.  There have been some times where I have had highly repetitive work.  I noticed the chisel wasn't working as well (mostly by just having used it a lot now and having developed a sensitivity of fresh sharpened vs. not), I pulled out the stop.  Gave it 30 strokes and there was a night and day improvement.  I had heard folks say it makes a big difference.  I was skeptical until I did it for myself.  

I won't say I enjoy sharpening but at least I am not comfortable doing it and do it often enough so that I am not working with a dull blade.

Oh, I like to use a 30 degree bevel.  I sharpening everything to 30 degrees (less to remember that way). Since I don't have any kind of grinding wheel, I don't use a secondary bevel.  I know a lot of folks do and that is fine by me as well.  It's real easy for me to set the distance form the honing guide.  When I built this, I set it up so that the side to the left and in front of my stones is the distance I need on the honing guide.

Figure 1 Image of what I had in 2016

Figure 2 Image of what I am using in 2020

Choosing my Cordless Drill - Not How I Expected it to Go

In the late 1990s, my father purchased me a cordless Makita drill one Christmas (Figure 1).  I had been quite happy with it and have used it for all manner of home improvement and fine woodworking (mostly pilot holes or holes to hang the project on a wall) projects.  After 20+ years, both batteries have essentially stopped working.

Figure 1

I knew this day would eventually come and I would either send the batteries out to have them rebuilt (as my father has done a few times on his) or get another cordless drill.  I was going to send out the batteries to get them rebuilt as I hate the thought of discarding a good tool even though battery economics leans towards the tool disposal route.  Fate intervened before I sent the batteries out for rebuilding.  My wife purchased a cordless hedge trimmer (Figure 2) at some good sale price at Home Depot.  We have a fair bit of hedges and it's a bit much for the manual trimmers plus it is hot during the summer.  Faster hedge trimming would make us both happy.

Figure 2

Turns out that the single battery provided didn't have enough charge to finish the amount of hedge trimming one might want to do in a single session.  My wife was contemplating to get a second battery.  I had an moment of clarity.  I told her to buy me a cordless drill that uses the same battery as the hedge trimmer.  Cost unlikely all that different between a battery and cordless drill plus battery.  Plus, I kind of needed to do something about my cordless drill situation.  I don't think I even knew that the brand involved was Black and Decker. She purchased me a cordless Black and Decker drill (Figure 3).  I've been happy with this Black and Decker cordless drill.  It lacks a light which would have been nice but then again my Makita didn't have a light either.  It cost under $50 according to my wife.

Figure 3

I wasn't planning for my decision to be made this way.  I had planned to do a bunch on internet research, reread a Wood Magazine cordless drill review I saw in the past 12 to 18 months.  Go hold some. Agonize over which and them end up likely spending more than $50.  None of that happened.  My choice was dictated by the commonality of batteries.  If you have some cordless tools, you might consider the same approach.  Again, if you are a professional who uses a cordless drill day in and out, you might have more drivers than me as a hobby woodworker.

As for the Makita, it goes back to my dad.  He will rebuild the batteries and now have a spare drill in which he can have a different bit.  I'm glad I didn't have to toss it away.

Speaking of Black and Decker as a brand (I have no affiliation or sponsorship and paid fair street value for these tools), I have been quite happy with them.  A few years ago, we needed to make a plywood box with forty-five 3"ish holes for a school festival (Figure 4 & 5).  The cordless drill with the hole saw bit could do one hole but it was slow and completely  wiped out the batter after one hold.  As such, I needed a corded drill.  I went to the local Ace Hardware and basically bought the more inexpensive corded drill I could find.  It was made by Black and Decker (Figure 6).  I was amazed at how much torque it has relative to either cordless drills I own.  It was at or under $50.  That's now three times (corded and cordless drill, cordless hedge trimmer) I have been happy with their products.  I probably wouldn't have considered this brand otherwise but so far so good on three of their products, at least for a hobbyist.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Wall Hanging Small Curio Cabinet

My wife these mice figurines from MA called Wee Forest Folks.  I am happy that they make her happy as it makes an easy gift.  There are lots to choose from so it's a matter of going through them and finding one that somehow captures a special moment in our family and buying it as a gift.  After a decade of a couple a year and they "collection" has grown.

My wife wanted to have something special to store them.  Fine Woodworking Issue #198 (May/Jun 2008) had a Craftsman Wall Cabinet by Ian Ingersoll that looked to be perfect.

I downloaded the plan and made some modifications to meet my wife's needs.  Also, I wanted to use hand tools, have the top and bottom attach to the sides via a housing dado, and one clear glass panel.  I wanted to attach it to the wall using a French cleat.

The woodworking itself was straight forward (part of the appeal) as it reminded me of making the Paul Sellers style clocks.  Just more housing dados.  The door was a new challenge.  I took my time, went slowly, make sure everything was square and used half laps  It came out nice.  There are plenty of flaws throughout.

I used Horton Brasses hinges.  I really liked the quality so I will use hardware moving forward.  

After getting the door square and twist free, the next proudest accomplishment was getting the underside bevel done with my hand plane.  I was able to keep to the lines on all three bevels.  Not that this is all that difficult.  However, for me, it was initially hard to do.  This work showed my skill is getting better.

At the last minute, the wife wanted some rows so I made some simple half width shelves that split the height using butt joints.  Simple and suitable.

I made it out of cherry.  I used garnet shellac that I dissolved up to around a pound and a half cut.  I really like how it came up.  Until I find a better finish, garnet shellac on cherry will be my go to default.  I do want to experiment a bit was well.  Better yet, my wife really likes it.  This was the first time I used a French cleat system for attaching to a wall. I really liked it.  I will use this system more.

This was a good project and I am overall very happy.  Plenty of mistakes but none that diminish my enjoyment of making it or how it looks with my wife's favorite figurines inside them.