Showing posts with label with. Show all posts
Showing posts with label with. Show all posts
Monday, March 3, 2014
Interview with plane maker Steve Knight Fine Woodworking
Smoothing plane. Before he sent them out, Steve tuned his planes to take the fluffiest shavings.
Photo: Steve Knight
It has been at least five years since I first saw one of Steve Knights wooden handplanes. Ive always found them attractive and the word on the forums was that they worked great--and thats the real test of a plane. I always had it in the back of my mind to buy a plane from him, just to support him. But then I started making my own and I never got around to it. So, I felt a bit guilty when I went to his website recently and discovered that Steve no longer sells wooden handplanes, at least not completed ones. He does sell kits for wooden planes: a smoother, a pocket plane (bevel down), a jack, a jointer, and a scrub. I gave Steve a call and asked him to send me one of the kits--a smoother with a 55 degree frog--for review. Ill write a separate blog about it. (I am really excited about the prospect of making and using the plane. My job doesnt suck!)
When I was on the phone with Steve, he and I got to talking about his experience as a plane maker and the story was interesting. Ive always wondered how hard it would be to make a living as a "boutique" tool maker. There are a lot of guys out there now who are making saws, infills, or chisels for sale. I think thats cool. Ive also noticed that many of those guys owed a lot of their success to internet forums. It was on an internet forum that I first heard of Steve, and Mike Wenzloff, and Chester Toolworks, and Blue Spruce, and Ron Breese, and many others. So, I decided to interview Steve and share his story with you. Heres what I learned. Enjoy.
Panel raising plane in curly maple. Steve Knight achieved a high level of craftsmanship in his planes. He used the Krenov method of plane making, even on traditional ones like this panel plane.
FWW: What was the first tool you made? Why did you make it?
SK: I think it was a smoother. My hands were really suffering from all of the sanding I did making furniture. I had heard about hand planes, so I bought a No. 4 smoother from Patrick Leach. Mind you, I couldnt even use a plane at that time, and I dont know if I ever got that No. 4 working. But I did want more planes. Unfortunately, I couldnt afford them, so I had the idea to begin making them. It was a struggle and for a while none of the planes I made worked. I had a boxful of non-working planes. I made those early planes out of red oak, I think, and glued on an ebony sole to combat wear. I then gave up on woodworking for about a year. I didnt get back into it until a friend asked to use my shop. I let him, in exchange for cleaning it. My shop, which is small, was so stuffed that it took him about two weeks to clean it! With the shop clean, I started making planes again. This time something clicked and I was off. Those first curly shavings really hooked me. Still, it was a struggle. I was not an accurate woodworker and my planes werent square. It took a lot of effort to get the bugs out and to get the planes working. I was learning to build planes, tune them, and sharpen the blades all at once.
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Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Boat Building With Wooden Boat Blueprints

You will get wooden boat woodworking plans with regard to canoes, kayaks, or flat bottom boats. You may want to build a vintage jetski or a level bottom Jon Boat with regard to fishing. Youll be able to design boats via 1957 or possibly a large seashore skiff. You might also build an old-fashioned universal boat so that you can reveal the experience along with another.
As an example, if you would like to create a simple wooden boat, youll be able to construct along with little composition over the course of every day if you have the moment. You will need a number of tools together with a chisel, sludge hammer, plane, found, and a large drift. Additionally you need resources such as the pine to create the edges, spruce solid wood to make the keel, come, transom (or strict) and reduce, pine as well as cedar items to make the bottom part planking and four seating, a thin metallic sheet to the mold remain and string cotton playing baseball or an outdated sheet for your white steer. You can also decide to power the particular boat with an outboard or perhaps oars.
A small twelve-inch inboard boat is the identical but it includes a V-hull for less difficult maneuvering. It can be meant to be operated with an outboard. Youll need similar supplies for the inboard because you would for your small boat and also accommodate your motor. In such cases, you need things like the inventory for patio framing, hatch out cut from the deck cell, throttle handle, plexiglass windshield, gas tank, and external plywood deck. Its also wise to have, shear secure, chine, pipe along with elbow deplete system, strength head, silicone gasket, stock music group sawed for the base, keelson, gearshift control, plywood flooring, exterior plywood facets and bottom part. Plywood transom, stock surrounding or mounting stock, rudder about rod, engine mount screws, control cable television and pulleys, five-horsepower Scott-Atwater decrease unit plus a cutout for that shift fly fishing rod, drive the whole length and normal water passage may also be a must.
Naturally, you can build larger or more intricate boats for instance a cabin casual riding, a 15-foot boat, or a Biloxi dinghy. Its also possible to find wooden boat blueprints with regard to recreational watercraft such as submarines, power-driven surfboards, bike boats or even a foot pedal catamaran.
Greg Saint. Clair is an enthusiastic boat lover as well as boat building enthusiast. For additional great info on wooden boat blueprints.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
woodworking with hand tools
woodworking with hand tools
Category:woodworking hand tools - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, This category is for hand tools used in woodworking. for stationary machinery used for woodworking, see category:woodworking machines.. Woodworking tools: the best tool reviews, tips & techniques, Whether you prefer woodworking hand tools or power tools, you'll discover expert reviews and advice on woodworking tools of all types..