The next post should have some pictures. Having never built a project entirely by hand, I had no accurate idea of how long any particular step was going to take. Once I got started I realized that any guess I had was far off (by orders of magnitude). I think I compounded the time problem [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Skills’
What a mess!
OK, as a woodworker I have a chore that I’m responsible for once in a while. I need to empty the dust collector bag. It’s not a fun chore and boy does it make a mess – even in the best of times. Having had a dust collector, I’ve often put it off too long [...]
Small Epiphany – Dovetails
In my daily (ok, not daily but nearly so) practice of hand cut dovetails, I came together with a finished practice joint that was very tight. I still had one small gap (I’ll talk about that in a bit) but the sides were very tight. In the cutting of the sides of the tails and [...]
Unremarkable Shop Time
I know that I haven’t been posting recently. My problem is that the time in my shop IS happening but it’s kind of dull and tedious (at least from a blogging point of view – I’m actually enjoying the time). You see, my situation mandates that I have a strongly adhered to budget for my [...]
Re-sawing by hand
As I move more and more of my woodworking to using hand tools, I have to try and experiment with different elements and techniques of hand tool applications. My latest attempt is re-sawing boards which is most commonly done with band saws. I have an increasing collection of saws. I have a bow saw that [...]
Dovetail practice
Just a quick post. In addition to the mortise and tenons, I have continued on with my dovetail practice. I hope I’m reaching a significant milestone because I cut one of my best dovetails yet. It was tight (except for one small corner) in all places. A joint like that would be one that I [...]
Mortise and Tenon Practice
I’ve been practicing Mortise and Tenon joints for the past couple of days. I’ve found some things out about hand cut Mortise and Tenon joints. Shallow mortise/tenons are easier to keep square Conversely, deep mortise/tenons are much harder to keep square Deep mortise/tenons can be tuned a bit to make square after they are cut [...]
Mortise and Tenon
I decided that I should mix some Mortise and Tenon practice amidst my dovetail practice. The real reason, is that I have done machine cut mortise and tenon but not very well. Since this was a different technique given that I’m cutting them by hand, I was hopeful that I could do much better. I [...]
More dovetail practice – oak
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I have taken a path to practice hand cut dovetails. In the first round, I worked with poplar. Now, I’m down the path of using oak. My first attempt (back before Thanksgiving) was a disaster. I had forgotten how easy it is to split oak and I did split [...]
Another new tool – Brace and hand drill
Yesterday, I made a post about getting a new tool (which arrived today). I forgot that I had also ordered a Hand Drill (eggbeater drill) and Hand Brace. As I move to using hand tools, this is a new set of tools that I’m excited to use and experiment with. I have hand drills and [...]
Not Woodworking – Electrical Soldering
About 2 years ago, I went out and got a “real” soldering iron under the supposition that the crappy Radio Shack (or “Shack” as it is now known) was the cause of much of my bad soldering both electrical and plumbing. Well, this was the first time that I had a need for electrical soldering [...]
Dovetail Practice – an update
OK, I’ve been practicing…and practicing…and practicing…and… Here are some of my test samples: I’ve tried both tails first and pins first. Pins first is frustrating. I find that I make many more errors with pins probably due to assumptions and skipping steps. For instance, when I make tails first, I mark the waste before I [...]
Dovetails – Tails vs Pins
As I noted in a previous post regarding my Handcut Dovetail Hopechest class, we learned about cutting tails first. I came into the class with no opinion on the old battle about cutting pins vs tails first. Even if I had, I would have probably gone with the direction from the class. What’s the point [...]
Hand Plane for shooting board
As I mentioned in my last post regarding the Lie-Nielsen Tool Event, I was thinking about a dedicated hand plane for the shooting board. I’m currently using my Lie-Nielsen Jointer Plane which is set up for medium planing work (versus rough/aggressive or smooth/fine work). This works though I’ve found that the plane should be set [...]
Off to Port Townsend
Today and Tomorrow Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is at Edensaw Woods in Port Townsend. They are supposed to be showing attendies how to use and tune our tools to make us better woodworkers. I own a few Lie-Nielsen tools so I felt it was worth the long drive time (and a ferry ride too) to see what [...]
