Building nice wood: the

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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Exploring the Libella

Recently Ive been building shop made wooden squares. I was inspired to start by the English Layout Square featured in a recent Popular Woodworking magazine article. After some discussion with other woodworkers I was further inspired to drill a hole in the squares apex and hang a string with a plumb bob from it. Making what I have been calling an A-frame square

You can read all about this square and the build by clicking HERE.

After I posted two things happened,

1) I had a well deserved question about the use of this tool, I think that I had difficulty communicating some things about it, mostly because I dont think I had a good grasp on the multiple complexities that can come from such an ancient tool.

2) A little bit of my pride reared its head and I felt compelled to shoot an email of to Chris Schwarz to show off a bit, He wrote back and told me that the actual name of the tool I had made was called a Libella.

In the comments I was gracefully rescued from my own ignorance by this:

I tried to do a little research on the internet about further uses for the Libella or the A-frame square and I came up with very little to show for it. So in place of research I took to the shop to put in some hands on fooling around starting with the list supplied by David.

After a couple hours I decided to shoot a quick video on some of the things I had figured out that afternoon. So even though I dont go to moving picture too often, here is a quick shot on exploring the Libella.

Cheers
Oldwolf

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Poplar Bowl working on the foot

Hi Everyone,

Well, its a lovely day outside-Minnesota summers are wonderful. This is perfect turning weather and what do we do when the weather is good?:

Make wood round!!

Excellent, youre all beginning to get the hang of this.

Ok, the poplar bowl is finished and heres how that went:

This is the bowl with the finish dried and in place. The finish went on very well and dried without incident (keeping two curious cats away helped this process). I took it down to the wood shop and placed in back on the lathe and polished with with a green nylon kitchen pad and then I buffed it with wax. Im very pleased with it:

The last thing we have to do is to shape and varnish the foot of the bowl. Here is a photo of the bowl on the lathe. Im going to take it off and flip it over and turn the bottom. To do that I"ll remove the Nova chuck from the lathe:

This is the Nova chuck:

And Ill take off the jaws and replace them with these pie-shaped jaws. These will screw on:

This entire contraption is called a Cole jaw set. Ill place the bowl between the white rubber stoppers and then tighten the jaws. This will hold the bowl on the Nova chuck and then I can re attach the whole thing back on to the lathe:

Heres the bowl in the jaws:

And here it is back on the lathe:

This area of the foot is going to be re-turned. I want to narrow the foot a little and turn the bottom flat so there arent any places for moisture to collect:

Here is the bowl about 10 minutes later. Its ready to be removed from the lathe:

Before I take it off, Ill place my makers mark on the bottom with a small, sharp veiner tool, the same one I accidentally marked my hand with a few weeks ago:

Its done. Time to take it upstairs for a final coat of varnish:

Ive emailed the new owner and these bowls will be moving on to their new homes this weekend. Ill post final photographs tomorrow.

____________________

Its time to turn my attention to the art pieces and this is what well do next.

Stay tuned,

The New Yankee Workshop workbench build has started!

Ive been watching a lot of episodes of The New Yankee Workshop on YouTube lately and one of my favorites is their woodworking workbench. I found a hardcover copy of the 1st season of NYW book on eBay for a good price. Norm said that the project can be made with 6 - 2x4s so I bought 7. I made one mistake in my cuts and had to redo one 17" board that somehow came out 16.75" and still managed to use only 6 - 2x4s. I am also shooting video on this project so I didnt take as many pictures as I normally would have.

Its Norm!

This is the goal for my workbench to look like.

My wife got me this dado set for christmas. I cant find anywhere to buy new plates for my table saw so I

am in the process of making one out of hardboard.

The new plate for the dado set is almost done.

The plan called for 6 - 2x4s so I bought 7.

Time to make some cuts.

These are all the pieces cut for the frame of the workbench.

Even with my one screwup this is all I had left for scraps.

These are all the pieces laid out. Rabbits and dados are next!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Sch�rch For Great Marquetry

Last weekend was Woodworking in America 2012 Midwest. Between WIA and hurricane Sandy, it’s been hard to get to posting. I’m going to try to a make up for that by sharing all that I can about WIA and the great woodworkers we met there.

We are the Modern Woodworkers Association. Meet us when you can.

Since I was busy manning the Modern Woodworkers Association booth, I wasn’t able to partake in classes at WIA as much as I’d hoped too. Luckily, the first class I took was worth many.

Paul Schürch, Master Marquetry Guy

Marquetry for Furniture by Paul Schurch was a fantastic introduction to marquetry. Paul took us through his journey of discovering marquetry and wading through the many ways of doing it until he found his own. While continually reminding us that there were many ways to do it, and all were perfectly valid, he emphasized that his method of “packet cutting” was what worked for him.

I’ll admit that I’ve not given much thought to marquetry before this class. That said, Paul’s artistry and easy explanation certainly make is seem within reach for anyone with even modest experience to try.

One of Pauls beautiful, marquetried tables (photo from his website)

Paul, of course, has a full featured web site (http://www.schurchwoodwork.com/) with instruction, DVDs & marquetry supplies. As it happens, his book/DVD combo pack is currently on sale at Shop Woodworking. Its a great set for anyone interested in marquetry.

editors note - after this post was written, but before I published, Paul-Marcel of Half-Inch Shy posted a great blog and video about Paul. Its nicer than this post and well worth the read.

Around the Woodshop 2010

Wood Turnings, Web Sites and Low-Angle Block Planes

The first week of 2010 has come and gone and Im happy to say that the world didnt end. Whew~ Happy new year indeed!
Things around the wood shop have been as busy as ever with cut lists being assembled and designs coming out of the wood work. Im working on a few new commissions and have been ordering some wood and finalising my designs. Its been an exciting few weeks and I cant wait to start making some shavings!
In my last post I featured my new treadle lathe from CME Handworks Inc. in Palos Heights, IL. and Im delighted to say that Ive been turning away. Just with some practice cuts, getting the feel and the rhythm of the process Ive been walking around with a bit of a limp lately! The lathe is quite comfortable and no issues at all to report.
Ill post some new information on the lathe again in the coming weeks but wanted to let you know that Ive asked a close friend of mine from Cape Breton to write some articles on wood turning for me. My first official guest blogger is Mike Morrison and hes just finishing off his first article for you. Mike and I have been playing music together for almost 20 years (jumpins how time flies) and he too is a very accomplished craftsman. He builds custom furniture and turns beautiful wood projects so instead of me trying to fake my way through the learning curves of wood turning, Ive asked him to share some knowledge. When people search the internet looking for information on wood turning theyll no doubt stumble over here and I wanted to be able to present some viable and accurate information about getting started in wood turning. Ill share with you my own developments as I go but felt there should be content here from someone with experience in the field. I hate it when I visit wood working sites and watch some guy pretend to know what hes doing with a certain hand tool or technique. I dont ever want to be that guy so thats why Ive asked an experienced turner to share some thoughts.
Mikes first post should be up in a day or two so stay tuned for that.

In other wood shop news I just finished an article for Canadian Woodworking Magazine- I reviewed four low-angle block planes and if youre interested in finding out my thoughts on them youll have to pick up issue #65, the april/may issue. The four planes reviewed were the new Stanley SW 60 1/2, the Veritas low-angle block plane, the 60 1/2 by Lie Nielsen and the new DX60 by Veritas. It was fun test driving these tools and you may or may not be surprised at what I found.
Besides that, the new web site ( www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com ) is almost complete and will be launched very soon. There youll have access to all of my blogs with additional content from Made by Hand. Expanded galleries, full Sketch-up models and free down-loadable bench plans of all six projects will be available. Well also have a Readers Gallery where people can share pictures and thoughts of their own on the book projects.
Im looking forward to another busy year and I hope youll be a part of it to share and enjoy all of these things working wood.
Cheers!

Monday, February 10, 2014

The Estey Organ Desk

We dont dont often take on work like this, but we just did a refinish on this 19th century desk for a friend ... The story was intriguing ... It was supposedly made by the owner or son of the owner of the Estey Organ Company of Brattleboro, Vermont ... An amazing 100 plus year old Veront company that made over 520,000 !! reed organs and over 3200 full size pipe organs before it went out of business in 1960. The desk appears to be from about the right mid to late 19th century time frame judging from the look of it. It had a severely distressed, insulted and alligatory shellac finish that was beyond saving which Jim removed with a little (lot) of alcohol and a white Scotchbrite pad ... After some serious sanding, we put a couple coats of dye stain and our typical gloss/gelstain/satin finish ... It now looks like its ready for another hundred years ... Out the door Friday morning ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

This is in the sanding stage, ready for the first coat of stain ...

The completed desk with the fall front open ...

Trevor made a quick replacement arch top ... the second from the left ... It had a neat detail. The shapes are cut from 1/4 thick lumber, but the back side of the profile is relieved to 1/8" thick which gives the appearance that the wood is half as thick as it is ... clever ....

Progress on the Cockatoo Chairs

The cocatoo chair prototype from my blog post of 6/5

7/1/09 ... Frames welded and arms on ... more tomorrow

Sam is underway on the cockatoo chairs ... Its going well for him. He made a new jig to make the seats all the same and then we had to figure out how to make all the chairs the same. Once he had the main parts made, we took the prototype and built a frame under it, marking the locations of the various parts and correcting the asymmetries of the prototype by averaging distances of parts from vertical and from center. It seems like it worked well as they all look the same to me ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

the main parts

jig from the back

jig from the front ...

And this from our client ... check it out; its a hoot
http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html

The Jointer Man

This photograph was taken between 1932 and 1934 and portrays some members of Macagno family. The photo was kindly provided by Giuseppe Macagno, who did not follow his father (center), grandfather and uncle steps, but he kept inside a terrific passion for woodworking.

The Macagnos were carpenters, descended from an ancient lineage of lumbermen and carpenters, dedicated to all types of woodworking. That big wood piece was probably a barrel stave, or maybe a carpentry piece. The ax the man on the left holds in his right hand, has an arcuate shape, more suitable for working quickly with curved surfaces.

Of course, what most attracted my attention was that big jointer plane which supports Giuseppes uncle. Although the man had not been very high, the big plane exceeded one meter in length and 10 cm in width. Coopers are famous for using huge planes, so large to have to be placed on stands and on which the staves were moved to give them the typical curved shape.

The plane in the pic above has a handle and then, most likely, was used in the traditional way, perhaps to prepare the boards that would become staves? But why use a so long and wide plane? It is true that more the plane is long, easier and faster will be obtain a flat surface, but the effort increases significantly.

Perhaps the word "fatigue" should not be so frightening to those men for whom everything depended from their hands and strength of their arms and who, like "the jointer man", was able to manage with skill that enormous plane, was designed to arouse admiration and respect.