We knew Salvatore Mastrangelo at one of the many pleasant meetings we organize in the shop of our friend Daniele (left in the first pic). Salvatore is a really pleasant and exclusive person,  full of life experiences. A true professional, filled with an uncontrollable passion for everything is related to woodworking. 

He expresses with great skill most of all his outstanding artistic vein  in the art of carving. 

This time we have "forced" him to teach us some good rule to acquire the best practice in this work and, under his leadership, we have tried to do some exercise. The quality of carving tools and their sharpness are fundamental prerequisites for best results.

In this regard, it is very useful to have a sharpening stone on the bench for honing more frequently the cutting edge of most commonly used tools. In the picture it shows a concave shaped oil stone that best fits the profile of some edges.   Unfortunately the time available is never enough, but we memorized some good advice on strategies of work, the importance of a good initial design and  the respect of plans on which the various details are located, in order to obtain a perspective effect.

Finally we add a couple of pictures that illustrate the Salvatores work. I think they comment themselves. 

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During a visit to a friend of mine, Michele, owner of a Record 778 plane, we enjoyed to compare it with my Stanley 78 in order to verify technical differences and performances.Both planes are suitable for cutting rebates up to about 3 cm wide.

Looking to two planes, leaps to the eye the difference between parallel guides. That of Stanley (left ) is supported by only one circular bar , unlike the Record that provides two circular bars support.

In both planes there is  a stop on the right side for rebate depth adjusting.

Another difference  regards the depth adjustment system: The Record 778 has a comfortable wheel for finest regulation,

while in Stanley 78 the task is

provided by a coarser lever, easy to  move downward accidentally during the pushing action , compromising the blade adjustment. The blade sits on the bed with a double contact, on the top and on a machined

area just above the mouth. We measured the extension of this area, important for the good stability of the cutting edge. For Stanley 78 this portion was about twice than the the Record one . If we look  at the two parallel guides more closely, we see that the Record guide has three holes useful for adding an auxiliary  wood fence, important to increase the plane stability while planing . Unfortunately, both guides were out of square (more for Stanley 78)  but for Record 778 the gap can be easily correct,

adapting the auxiliary hard wood fence.

Both planes also have a spur just before of the mouth, for  cutting cross grain  rebates (but we have not tried to). We then sharpened blades with  25 ° bevel and 30 ° microbevel and tried the  planes  on a well flat and square pine board (Michele in the pic).  We not  found very different performances (we even tried to exchange blades to highlight any differences in steel quality ) . The Record 778 seemed to us better prepared in technical solutions , especially for the two supporting bars, the possibility to add a larger hard wood fence and the more accurate  and easy to operate cutting depth adjusting system. However its cost in online auctions significantly exceeds that of  a Stanley 78.

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First WorkBench

The Chicken & The Egg Workbench Conundrum...

As its been sunny lately and the room I intend to use isnt quite ready, I have been using a scrap piece of kitchen worktop placed on the garden table as a makeshift bench to clean & sharpen up my tools.

I was considering using the same piece of worktop and maybe knocking together some rough saw horses for it to go across as a slightly more rigid bench solution. However, it seems I would still be wrestling with clamps holding more clamps to hold a work piece. While Im sure its doable its far from ideal - much like previously living on a boat!

I could try and build a bench myself, but lets face it with my skills and no other bench to build it on, Im not sure its going to be any better than the saw horse solution.

Therefore, after much deliberation and reading, I have decided that the best thing (for me) is to buy a beginner bench.

This bench at only £126 seems pretty cheap and despite a few poor reviews must be more sturdy than the other solutions, especially if I can butt it up against a wall. It includes two vices and other work holding devices. I dont think I could build anything better for the price.

A friend introduced me to Axminster Tools and it took less than 5 minutes to sign up and pay for this little beauty, with free next day delivery! While I dont expect it will be as solid or rigid as a professional bench, for the price I dont think it can be beaten as a beginner bench. If the woodworking bug really takes hold then obviously Id like to build my own full size bench at some stage but by then I would know what Im doing (hopefully) and probably wouldnt be working out of a tiny spare room.

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Building The Wine Rack Part II

Fabrication: Initial Cutting & Setup

Once I had the design sketched out on the LVL I began by making relief cuts in the back face which would make the concave curved cut easier.

These Relief Cuts Will Make Cutting The Rear Curve Easier.

I did all my cutting on the band saw. This was the first project I made using my new Carter Guides. I won’t say they turn my crappy Ridgid band saw into a super star, but they do make it usable and predictable. For that, I give them credit and appreciation.

Once I had made the relief cuts, it occurred to me that a square block would be much easier to clamp and work then a curved one. Thankfully I thought of this when I did and left the back square (if slotted) for the time being.

Next, I cut out the “L” shape on the inside face. This too was easily done on the band saw using the Carter Guide. Though an “L” because the back and base are at 90° to each other, they are both reclined slightly to hold the bottle at a slight back tilt.

The Basic L.

Once the “L” was cut out of the inside face, I got ready to sculpt the concave face of the back. Having picked up an ArborTech Turbo Plane and a Saburrtooth Extra Coarse donut wheel since my last power sculpted project, I began the sculpting on a practice piece. When I was done I had tried the Turbo Plane, Saburrtooth wheel, my Festool RAS 115 and my medium grit Kutzall wheel. While the Turbo Plane and Saburrtooth have some potential and the RAS 115 is a great tool for finer shaping, I ended up preferring the moderate material removal rate, controllability and smooth resulting finish of the Kutzall. To paraphrase Paul Lemiski, the Kutzall is awesome.

The Saburrtooth Extra Coarse Proved Too Aggressive.

With the sculpting tool decided on, I took a scrap piece of 1x3 and screwed a very small piece of OSB to the end. Then I took the wine rack and placed it on the OSB. I secured it by screwing up through the OSB into the bottom of the wine rack. This firmly attached the 1x3 and allowed me to easily hold the rack in position with my bench vise.

Catch all the Wine Rack Posts Here.

Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.

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Sabtu, 20 Februari 2016

Frame and Panels a way for building furnitures

......offering many advantages:1) Panels are thin and allow to lighten the structure and save wood2) Frame can be jointed by tenon and mortice, a simple and sturdy choice.3) We can add mouldings and raised fields.4) Panels are free of moving in the frame following the humidity changes.But have a close view in the following video: