This Week in Wood » Northwest Woodworking Studio

Lie-Nielsen Tool Event – Wrap up

glennth — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:13:14 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I headed up to Port Townsend. It turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour road trip (each way, including the required ferry ride) though I was able to catch up on a lot of podcasts during the ride so it wasn’t totally wasted.

It was a much smaller “event” than I had envisioned. They had tables set around a small room (might have been 40′x30′) with a lot of Lie-Nielsen tools. I’ve seen many photos of similar displays but it is impressive to see them in person. It was really cool to see the hand plane collection in particular. I was able to touch a few planes that I may consider getting in the future.

The two planes that I was in particularly interested are the Iron Miter Plane and the Tongue and Groove Plane.

The Iron Miter Plane was very nice in heft and feel. It comes with a “hot dog” which is basically a grip that can be moved from one side of the plane to the other for use on the right hand side or the left hand side. I’ve seen older miter plane designs that have a knob instead of this grip. I’m not sure which would be better in day to day use. It seems to use the same bed angle as the low angle planes which would make it very effective for shooting the end grain. As an alternative to this, I would consider getting the Low Angle Jointer Plane. My reasons for not going with the Low Angle Jointer Plane include the sides of this plane are not as tall as the standard Jointer Plane (which I already own) and the fact, that I already own a jointer plane.

Lie-Nielsen Iron Miter Plane

Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Jointer Plane

The Tongue and Groove Plane had a nice heft though seemed reasonably complex to use with the fence and the fact that the plane does two jobs instead of one in cutting the groove as well as cutting the tongue.

Lie-Nielsen Tongue and Groove Hand Plane

I did watch a session on hand planes and what makes a good hand plane. The instructor was from the local woodworking program (the Port Townsend School of Woodworking) which I have considered (vs the Northwest Woodworking Studio mentioned in many previous posts). The instructor was sharp and did not have the arrogance of some woodworking instructors that I have met. I didn’t really learn anything from the session though it was full of information. I think this could have been useful if we had been given a schedule of these sessions in advance. I could have been there for the sessions that interest me versus just landing on this session.

I did also see (in use) the Shapton Glass Stones. I don’t know how long my Norton stones will last but these are stones I would consider replacing them with. I also saw something that could prove more useful than standard sheets of sandpaper for flattening plane bottoms and plane blade backs. This was Adhesive Backed Sandpaper on rolls. The only weakness (that I discovered later when I got home) was that these don’t seem to be available in high/polishing grits.

I got value from this event but it probably wasn’t worth spending the 5 hours of driving that I needed to get there. If this was more local, I’d go again in a heartbeat (i.e. at the Local Rockler or Woodcraft stores).

Post from: This Week in Wood (c)2009 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to This Week in Wood. See This Week in Wood Legal Information Page for specific usage rights.

Lie-Nielsen Tool Event – Wrap up

Handcut Dovetail practice

glennth — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:52:03 +0000

At the class on Handcut Dovetails that I attended at Northwest Woodworking Studio, for the first half of a day, we used a simple technique to practice cutting dovetails. Gary, the instructor, used the analogy of a muscisian or a runner warming up and I think that fits well.

All that is needed is blocks of wood that are dimmensioned to 2 1/2 to 3″ by 3-4″. 3/4″ is probably as good as any to work with on thickness. Gary also suggested practicing with a soft wood and a harder wood.

I went to the local borg warehouse store and bought a stick of poplar and oak which were 3″ wide and 3/4″ thick. I will use my hand saws to cut off practice boards from each of these. This will give me some sawing practice. I will need to ensure squareness so my shooting board will get a bit of work too. Once I’ve made a bunch of practice samples, I will then get to work.

The purpose is not to cut a zillion dovetails in each board but rather practicing cutting to the line (splitting the line so to minimize or eliminate cleanup at the end), cutting square to the board, marking boards correctly. 2 1/2″ is really enough to have one dovetail in this case though 3″ might allow you to try cutting 2 at a time.

The goal is that from the cut to the fit is all you need. Cleanup should be minimized or eliminated. I’ve seen references to a notion that it takes 10,000 hours of doing something before you can consider yourself competent at it. I think that this is true for most woodworking techniques whether they require hand tools or power tools. There really are no short cuts though I’m betting the gains at near the end of the 10,000 hours are not as significant as the beginning.

So I hope to have a bunch of samples and get working on my 10,000 hours.

How to determine how much finish is needed?

glennth — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:10:47 +0000

I’m working on finishing the Handcut Dovetail Hope Chest that I discussed several posts ago. In class, we used Shellac to finish the interior (ok, pre-finish). I’ve not used Shellac really. It seems like a really interesting finish and can provide some color to the work without the over powering nature of some dyes and stains.

Shellac is a finish that you try and mix what you need for the project as it has a more limited shelf life than some other finishes. My current issue, is how do you determine how much finish to mix up to have minimal waste (always have to mix a bit more than you need because it would be bad to not have enough)?

For me, it’s a guessing game as I don’t have any experience to tell me what to do. If there are any readers with experience with Shellac and can give me some insight, I’d love to hear about it.

Handcut Dovetail Hope Chest – Wrap Up

glennth — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:32:46 +0000

See my previous posts giving updates from my Handcut Dovetail Hope Chest from last week (I did 5 daily updates). This post is to give you some progress pictures and show you what happened.
Here is Gary, the owner and teacher of our class at Northwest Woodworking Studio:

Here are a series of shots that show tools, test cuts, layouts, pin boards, tail boards, carcase fit, pre-finish for the inside:

This is my one and only action shot (thanks Katie!). I was cleaning up the outsides so we could cut off the top.

Lastly, here is a class shot with all the students and Gary in front along with our boxes:

Quick Update: Dovetail Chest – Day 5 (last day)

glennth — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:29:53 +0000

OK, this was the last day. With all the work to do, I didn’t truly expect to get finished. I didn’t get to the following:

Put a coat of finish on the outside (this would have been the last step and would have been done an hour before leaving).
Put the hinges on the top (almost got to that, I’ll discuss a bit below).
Completely clean up the box (this is sanding, scraping, planing, patching dovetails with patches and in limited cases epoxy/sawdust to match)

We started the day by starting patching. Many of us had gaps in our dovetail joints due to ill fitting dovetails (I had quite a few). The notion behind this is that the best patches are made so that they match end grain or long grain. A little glue is put in the hole and a patch piece is hammered into place then excess is cut off, chiselled flat, and maybe sanded. Sometimes the hole has to be enlarged by many different means depending on the desired look. Last chance is to add an epoxy/sawdust mixture. This will fill limited spaces but is darker so doesn’t match as well.

We could have spend all day on this but after lunch we cut the top off. I used a table saw and remembered why I don’t like them (glad I got rid of mine).

After that, we had to clean the edges where the table saw cut off the lid. This was to prep it to route out for the hinge. We did this and at the end, we discovered that last cut (in my case the last 2) had the router bit slip a bit and make too deep of cuts. Gary gave us a way to patch and repair which we will do at home.

So when I get home, I’ll fix the hinges. Then I’ll decide whether to fix the dovetail joints more and do the finish (planning on shellac to match earlier pre-finish). I’m leaning towards using this as a traveling tool box though it may be too big (unless I’m taking a lot of hand planes, saws, chisels, measuring/marking, and other misc tools).

Overall, this was an awesome experience. Gary is an outstanding instructor as long as you can take critisicm. Given that we are trying to learn, I’m not sure I’d recommend any class, in any subject, for someone who can’t take critisicm. Any time, Gary criticised me, I took mental or real notes.

I was originally planning on taking a separate 1-day dovetail class but after talking with Gary, I felt that I could practice on my own at home. I think I will do 5-minute dovetail excersices and make a few small boxes and see how I can improve from there. I’m looking forward to using more dovetails.

Quick Update: Dovetail Chest – Day 4

glennth — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:00:20 +0000

It was a big day.

We prepped our pieces (cleaned up the interior for pre-finishing) and taped off the glue joints so that finish didn’t cancel out the glue.
We adjusted a dado (for the top and bottom) so that the pieces didn’t need a hammer to go in.
We pre- finished our pieces – specifically the interior pieces.
We cleaned up our finish.
We dry assembled in case we needed to adjust anything and discover how many and what length of clamps were needed.
We assembled in two stages since it has been so dry and hot and the glue working time was measured in seconds not minutes.
We started cleanup.
We began planning for next stages including patches and repairs (I have way too many) and installing hinges (a jig needed to be done).

What’s left, if it can be done in the time remaining, for tomorrow is:

Finish cleanup (benches are very high so we will have to be creative). This will take quite a long time in my case. I may revert to using a plane though I think Gary is worried about my skill set on that.
Patches and additional clean up of said patches. This could also be a lot of work as I may have dozens of patches and these can be very challenging.
Cut the top off and clean up the new edges. This may be the shortest amount of time.
Router out for the hinges and install.
Finish piece.

The first two are so intensive, I have doubts about finishing at this point.

Quick Update: Dovetail Chest – Day 3

glennth — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:39:25 +0000

Today, I finished all the dovetails. According to Gary (instructor and owner of school) “it looks good, except that it doesn’t.” He’s a funny guy and makes many “smart” remarks throughout any day. From this statement, I read that it’s good that I have the dovetails done but that there is a lot of work that will be needed to clean them up.

I also cut the grove for the top and bottom. The design is a simple enclosed box that we will cut the lid off and then put hinges on. We had an issue with the router bit that Gary had who unfortunately had a personal appt so Zach was in charge and couldn’t find alternatives to the router bit. Fortunately, we had a close woodworking store where one of our fellow students ran out and got a new bit. After that, everything went well.

The groove is very tight though and my dry fit is still not quite fit. I am going to have to seriously chamfer the bottom edges of both the top and bottom pieces (which are cherry ply).

In working, I really leveraged the graphite coating the edge of the tails to fit the pins to the last 2 edges I finished. The results were much tighter though still quite a sight different that what Gary or Zach have samples of.

Today was much more encouraging though I had hoped to glue up before we left today.

Tomorrow should be putting a coat of finish on the inside and glue up. I may even get to the cutting the lid off. Once that is done, it’s hinges and finish (maybe not in that order). One benefit of the dry and hot weather is that glue and finish sets up very quickly (of course, one bad thing about the dry and hot weather is that glue and finish sets up very quickly).

Depending on tomorrow, Friday could be a short day off. I do have Saturday off (and the family may come down for the day and play – or not). Sunday is a dovetail class so I can practice dovetails more (and maybe other types of dovetails).

UPDATE: I forgot that I also got a couple of tips.

Gary recommends 1 1/2 lb cuts when mixing shellac.
To mix 1 1/2 lb cut, take 4 oz of denatured alcohol and add 1 1/2 teaspoons (it could be tablespoons but in reality it is supposed to be ounces so which ever of teaspoon vs tablespoon of flakes that ways an ounce) of shellac flakes.
Gary prefers a polishing motion for applying shellac.
A fellow student recommended Camilla oil to coat chisels and planes to eliminate rust. Another student had some and I got to smell it – a fairly pleasant smell.

Quick Update: Dovetail chest – day 2

glennth — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:11:11 +0000

Today, I finished cutting the tail boards and started on the pins. This is easily the most frustrating part. Getting it to fit tight seems impossible to my current skill level. I get it to fit but the examples the instructor, Gary, does are impossibly tight. Also, he and his assistant have good eyes and tell us (all the students) what the errors are. To me, they look pretty good. Maybe a woodworker needs to grow into tight fitting joints after many less than tight joints (or maybe not).

We did get some pointers today.

Even with hollow ground chisels with a primary cutting bevel, it is still a good idea to do a micro bevel.
25-30 degrees is the angle to use for all chisels even mortise chisels
When fitting dovetails, palm pressure is the strongest you should have to hit it.
When fitting dovetails, start the fitting process at one end of the pair of boards (much like a rolling interlocking of your fingers on your hand).
When fitting dovetails, look for shiny wood where the two boards have rubbed together (for this, you need really good light) and that is where to trim.
Alternatively, use graphite and coat the edge of the tails or pins and see where the graphite rubs off to determine the trim location.
In fitting dovetails, a square (smaller is easier to use) is your friend.
A sharp and long knife is great for helping to clean up the corners.
When chiseling out the space between tails or pins, chisel a rough edge (this way you don’t have to be precise) about 1/8inch away from your marking line. On the other side, move to 1/16″ away (you have to be a little bit more precise but not absolutely) so that the other side is supporting this side.
When doing the cleanup chiseling on the space between tails or pins, paring smaller shavings gets a smoother shoulder (THOUGH the inside of the space actually works with a small valley vs being flat AND won’t work if it has a bump).

It was tiring today probably due to the 105 degree temps but I am still learning a lot. Some of the learning is painful though.

Quick update: Dovetail Chest – Day 1

glennth — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:13:19 +0000

I just got back to the hotel. It’s after 5:30p and it’s over 100 degrees outside. The class is in an old, non-AC’d, warehouse. Did I mention it’s over 100 degrees outside?

The class was great. Gary, owner/teacher of the Northwest Woodworking Studio, first started out with the notion that before you jump in and mess up a project with dovetails, you should do a warmup. He called it his 5-minute dovetails and he reckoned it was similar to a musician warming up before a concert. He had us try it with poplar and then cherry (scraps of about 2″x2″) and a few different techniques including using a coping saw vs chiseling out waste.

In the afternoon, we began working with our real materials. We are making a cherry blanket chest though the size is more of a small toy chest (about 15″ tall and may 20″ x 15″ L/W).

I struggled with planing. It took me quite some time to set up my plane to get the right shaving thickness. Also, I don’t feel I have enough radius in my plane blade. I wasn’t happy with the results of planing. Though with a little scraping though (learned a bunch about that), I mostly fixed the plane issues.

The dovetails were interesting. He started off discussing design options including the notion that regularly spaced dovetails are kind of boring. We discussed pin size, tail size, quantity, position, and strength of each of these options.

I finished the front (or the back) tail board. Tomorrow it’s on to the pins and maybe even dry fit the entire thing if I make enough progress.

Transportation for hand tools

glennth — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:30:39 +0000

As I mentioned in my post titled “Woodworking Class – Building a chest“, I’m going to a woodworking class for a week down in Portland, OR. The classes haven’t required us to take all our tools but they do recommend some so my question is how do I carry chisels, handplanes, and handsaws?

I’ve found this chisel roll that looks like the best way for chisels. I found it at Woodcraft.

Leather Chisel Roll from Woodcraft

I haven’t found anything to carry handplanes or handsaws yet. All my handplanes are non-wood so they are heavy and I don’t want them clanking around in a tool back. If anyone has any ideas before Sunday, when I leave – I’d love to hear it.

I found a tool bag which might work also at Woodcraft.

Tool bag from Woodcraft

If there are any better suggestions, let me know.

UPDATE: In a duh moment, I found a way to carry hand planes. I found on Veritas’ site, plane bags. On Lie-Nielsen’s site, I found plane socks. Guess what, they looked the same and from that, I determined extra large tube socks from target work too.

Woodworking Class – Building a chest

glennth — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:26:04 +0000

As I said in my previous post regarding the Review of a Sharpening Class, I really learned a lot out of just one day. The class was at the Northwest Woodworking Studio in Portland, Oregon.

In about a week, I am taking a 6-day course on Building a chest by hand and also a 1-day course on Dovetails.

In the first course, I hope to learn more about case building and design along with material selection. Of course the whole thing is by hand so I hope to learn a lot about necessary hand tool techniques. Specifically, I’d love to learn a bit about thicknessing and joining material. Most of my current hand plane technique is working ok but I’m sure that I can gain various insights into how to do things more efficiently or using less effort. According to the class listing, this is taught by the owner of NWS, who I met when I was there for my sharpening class. I’m really looking forward to this.

The 1-day course on dovetails will hopefully give insights on all different dovetails including through, half-blind and sliding as these are the 3 I expect to use the most. Given the fact that I’m re-inventing my woodworking skills, I’m expecting that dovetail joints will be my main joints for quite a while.

I’m going to miss my family though maybe they will come down for my last night and we can play a bit. Of course, I haven’t let myself have these opportunities to learn very often so I’m truly looking forward to these classes.

Sharpening Class Tomorrow

glennth — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:30:30 +0000

Finally, I get to go to a class on woodworking tomorrow (it didn’t get cancelled like the other classes did). The class is on Sharpening.

At this point, all my sharpening skills are psuedo self taught. I’ve read books, watched videos, and listened to podcasts on this subject. This has given me some skills but I still don’t feel comfortable with all I’ve done. I hope that hands on and an instructor to ask questions from will give me the insight and comfort level to keep all my tools sharp.

This class is from Northwest Woodworking Studio which is one of the few local sites to get any woodworking eduction. Here is the excerpt from the class I’m going to:

Keeping your tools sharp will change your woodworking. Learn how to turn your blunt chisels, plane irons, and carving gouges into the precise and sharp instruments you expected. They won’t come to you sharp; you have to learn how to give them a keen edge. Bring your sharpening stones if you have them. Other materials provided. Practice your grinding and honing skills and every cut you make will be smoother and cleaner.

I’m slowly (more slowly lately given the economy) collecting and learning to use many hand tools that I hope to become proficient with. I am looking for specific insight into skew blades and blades with curves (roughing tools usually) though I don’t own any at this point.

The blurb doesn’t say anything about scrapers but I will probably bring a scraper to see if he can teach that as well.