Woodworking Projects and Plans: old

Some days ago I finished writing an article about combination planes and their uses for the Italian woodworking magazine Legnolab. Was this an occasion for a job I had in mind for some time, regarding a not so common combination plane, the Lewin Universal Plane. The Lewin plane was a British tool sold around 50s. Very close to Stanley 45 and 50, is featured by an aluminium body onto which steel skates are fixed. Another particular feature are the cam bolts; they permit a faster and easier part fixing. The plane I acquired was in excellent conditions, complete of all cutters and original instruction manual.The original wooden box (it came with the plane too), instead, came in poor condition.

The plywood bottom was quite irrecoverable as well as the cover was cupped and with its veneers lifted. The box sides (pine) showed the time signs too, split in more points.

Clearly, the box was been stored in a very wet site and the moisture was an hard test for the wood, causing the inevitable damages Either the plane than cutters, instead, came in very fair conditions, rust free, due to a thick grease layer I found onto the plane and blades: someone payed particular attention to the precious box content: Thank you!

So, I decided of restoring the box, preserving as well as possible the time signs which give a beautiful lived look. The first operation was to disassemble parts. The nails were very thin and rusted, so their recovery was quite impossible. I provided to repair splits and, where necessary, I added pine wood for restoring original dimensions.

Original side joints were pinned rebates but, due to the poor wood condition at extremities, I preferred simple rebate joints. For the purpose I added a little bit of new wood and nails for more strength.

I unglued the cover upper veneer and reglued it onto a piece of 4 mm plywood.The new bottom was veneered on both sides with a pine veneer on the upper side and a beech one on the bottom side: the original bottom had a similar structure.

For veneering I used hide glue and pressed the work between two boards for 24h.

The box inside showed some critical points: the cutter box, obtained from a pine block was glued cross-grained to a corner. This probably contributed to the box splitting. So, I preferred to leave it free on the bottom but stopped by two little wood pieces, glued with the grain in the correct orientation. In this choice is also possible to remove the cutter holder and keep it on the bench.

The plane holding system is clever and permits of keeping the plane assembled and lifted, so its weight does not act on the bottom. One holder was substituted end increased in thickness for offering more support to the rods. The instruction manual too has its place in the box, protected now by a plastic bag. On the external side I refreshed the original colour using a water based dye (a combination of cherry and rosewood dyes); a wax coat completed the box finishing.

A particular was still missed:Looking at a box short side I noticed a little piece of paper, the remaining of the original label with plane description. A lighter coloured area established its dimensions.On the very good site Cornish Workshop I found a scanner of the label (and a lot of other precious info). I printed it and did a colour photostatic copy (my ink jet printer does not produce colours resistant enough for the purpose). In order to give an antique look, I used a diluted coffee solution in which the paper was soaked for several minutes and a microwave (1 min) for drying it. The final colour was right with some (good) stains due to the fast drying.

The Lewin, is now inside its new old box, ready to work again.

Jumat, 12 Februari 2016

Squaring up a board

Rough boards need to be squared up before they can be used in our project. Here it is my method.

Kamis, 11 Februari 2016

New Tenon Saw

After much research and deliberation I have finally got myself a shiny new and very large Tenon Saw.

For ages I have felt like I have needed something bigger than my Lie Nielson Carcass & Dovetail Saws, but I couldnt decide on the size or whether it should be sharpened Crosscut or Rip.

As far as size goes, it seems the wood working superstars recommend something at least 14" and preferably larger.

Most of my cutting is to length and therefore requires a Crosscut sharpened saw but larger tenons require a Rip sharpened saw and my Dovetail saw blade is only 1-5/8" (4.12cm) deep. I certainly didnt want to buy another two saws, so which saw would provide the best coverage and compliment my existing joinery saws?

I came to the conclusion that I should get a Rip sharpened saw which could also be used across the grain if required and decided on the Lie Nielson 16" (400mm) 11ppi Tenon saw (reviewed here).

As I found previously, I had to spend a while learning to use the new saw as it initially jumped about in the kerf. This is a large saw and a lot heavier than what Im currently used to. The weight, combined with the extra height of your hand above the cut (blade depth) and the angle of the (dangle) handle meant I had to saw very slowly and steadily not applying any downward pressure at all other than the natural weight of the saw while my body became familiar with the movement. After quite a few rip cuts in some scrap Pine I finally got the hang of it, and found the saw to cut fast and track straight as an arrow. No doubt I will further improve the more I use the saw.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how smooth cutting the saw was when cutting across the grain, I will certainly be able to cut wider and thicker boards to length on the bench hook when my Carcass saw is struggling. Anything that is to big for this new 16" beast can then be handled with my panel saws.

So ... all in all I feel it has been a good purchase and my Trinity of Joinery saws should encompass all my needs, probably for the rest of my life! In fact I would say that my nest of saws is now complete.

I would be very interested in other peoples opinions on my purchase and what saws other people use.

An afternoon of boredom led me to find a use for some kitchen surface chip board and some old reclaimed pieces of Pine to make a quick and dirty bench side saw stand. Its not pretty but it did get my freshly sharpened saws off the floor and out of harms choice.

Other new additions to the tool collection, once again courtesy of my girlfriends mum. These include two Marples chisels 1" & 1.5", the larger of which is very rusty. I will probably use these for jobs such as cleaning off dried glue etc. saving my Stanley chisels for best. Id love some Lie Nielson chisels one day they look gorgeous!

A fret saw (needs de-rusting) and pad saw (no blade) and a small mallet. The mallet head is actually made of a roll of wood and will make a good assembly hammer.

Anychoice thats enough for now... time to build something soon!

Minggu, 07 Februari 2016

My New Old Tools

Recently my girlfriends mum invited me to look through her shed for any tools that might be of use in my new woodworking hobby. A lot of the tools I found were suffering from rust and have not been used (or even touched) for around 18 years.

Here are a few of the tools I am either in the process of cleaning up or have cleaned up and pressed back into service once again.

Roll of 12 Auger bits
Ridgchoice Large Expanding Bit Set 3/8" - 3"
Large Yankee Push Screwdriver
Small Ratchet Screwdriver
Marking Gauge
Small Hammer
Stanley 102 Block Plane
Rapier Spokeshave
2 x Egg Beater Drills (One Stanley the other a Millers Falls?)
Spinney Bailey No#4 Bench Plane - I may set this up as a Scrub Plane
2 x Sureform (Straight & Curved) Planes
Wooden (Shoulder?) Plane.

There were also three Warranted Superior Panel saws which I counted as: 5tpi, 8tpi & 10tpi all filed rip. I de-rusted the blades, sanded and oiled the wooden handles and have sent them off along with my own 10tpi panel saw for re-sharpening and should get them back next week.

I have requested the 5tpi to be filed rip, the 8tpi to be filed crosscut and the other two 10tpi saws rip and crosscut. At some point in the near future, I would like get the required saw files and tools and be responsible for sharpening my own saws.

Cleaning, de-rusting, oiling, servicing and sharpening all these tools is helping me better understand how they work and whats required to keep them functioning properly - all the more important in the hand tool world.

Its certainly a steep learning curve!

Old way for frame and panel construction

A traditional method for frame and panel construction consists in assembling frames using mortise and tenon joints and inserting panels in grooves cut along the perimeter. the job Success heavily depends on an accurate layout and compliance with the various working stages.

For cutting grooves we will choose a plough plane blade with the same width of the chisel we will use to cut the mortises and which is consistent with the panel thickness (1).

The tenons will be cut on the rails and consequently mortises are positioned on the stiles. Establish the length of the stiles and cut them leaving few inches at both ends. This spaces (horns) will be useful to work safely during the mortise cutting and avoid splitting problems (2).

Use the rails to mark their position on the stiles and divide the space according to the scheme shown in the picture (3).

Layout tenons on the rails with a mortise gauge (4): the distance between their shoulders plus the width of the stiles must correspond to final door width. Use the same mortice gauge for tracing mortises on the stiles.

Cut mortises and tenon cheeks first (not yet shoulders) (5-6) and realize the grooves on stiles and rails (7-8).

Cut the tenon shoulders and create the haunch (9), the height of such element being equal to the groove depth.

Dry assemble to check all joints and then glue up. When the glue is dried, cut the horns and insert the door into place (in this case a frame has been added).

Woodworking Projects and Plans

Selasa, 22 Maret 2016

WIA11 A Whole Bunch of Photos

Kamis, 25 Februari 2016

Welcome

Rabu, 17 Februari 2016

A new old home for the Lewin Universal Plane

Jumat, 12 Februari 2016

Squaring up a board

Kamis, 11 Februari 2016

New Tenon Saw

Minggu, 07 Februari 2016

My New Old Tools

Old way for frame and panel construction

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