Post-Its and Other Shims

In the shop I use a lot of random small pieces of wood and paper to assist me with my work. I hoard all small piece of scrap wood and keep them in a zip lock bag. I find myself reaching for that bag of scraps to use them as shims. I use them to shim up my shoulder plane to keep it cutting parallel on a rabbet or even as a pad for my C clamps. The most helpful shim in my shop is the simple Post-it notes. These guys are great because they have a sticky end. I use them frequently on my shooting board to offer up a piece of timber "square" to the plane. This is a trick I picked up from David Charlesworth in his Shooting DVD. You can find a variety of uses for Post-It notes just give them a try. Setting the projection of a hand plane iron can be difficult. I use a curved iron in most of my bench planes and I want the curve as centered as possible. Most authors suggest using a white piece of paper as a background to site against as you witness the iron emerging from the sole of the plane. I find this difficult to see. I will use this method to set the gross projection and balance, but will fine tune the setting with shims. First, retract the blade into the body of the plane. Second, slowly advance the iron while sliding the shim back and forth over the mouth. Soon you will see and or hear that the iron is cutting the shim. By noting where the shim is being cut on the width of the blade you can compare it to the opposite side of the iron to see if your iron is balanced in the plane. I use small wooden shims, about 1-1/2” x 2” works the best. I use both long grain and end grain shims. I prefer the end grain shims because you can hear when they are cutting. This makes it easier to set the plane because I can hear it cutting rather that looking on the inside of the mouth to see if it is cutting. Long grain shims will get a fiber mark to illustrate the direction of cut. With the end grain shims this is of no concern. They can be used in any direction. I will try to make these shims from a close grained hardwood like maple. To make the end grain shims just take a piece of timber about 1-1/2 thick and 2” to 3” wide and slice a 1/8” to 3/16” off the end. Long grain shims can be cut out of stock but usually you can find some off cuts lying around.

Set Up With the Best View Yet!

Finally, the shop is set up and I can start working again. This is the first time in my woodworking career that my shop has been inside the house. This location has something to do with living in the icebox of America; Moose, WY. I really like the setup (in the kitchen as you can see) in front of the window. This offers great lighting and I can watch the snow fall as I work. On clear days I have a stunning view of the Grand.

Wax in the Workshop II

Do not limit the possibilities of this simple product to just the hard rectangular paraffin wax. Paste wax in the workshop can help prevent rust, smooth surfaces, prevent glue from adhering where you do not want it, and assist with fitting drawers and lids.
Paste wax comes in many different brands and mixtures, but I have found that Trewax and Johnson brand paste wax work the best. All waxes are originally solid in form. They are then dissolved in a solvent, usually a petroleum distillate like mineral spirits. Once the solvent evaporates it will leave a thin film of wax on the surface.
I use paste wax to prevent rust on my hand tools when I am storing them for long periods of time. For day to day use I will apply a thin coat of camellia oil to each tool at the end of the day. Paste wax is great for preventing rust on all power tool machine tables like the table saw, band saw, planner, jointer, router tables and even use some on the fences as well.
Waxing the bed of a shooting board allows the craftsman to shoot all day long without it becoming arduous. Paste wax can help make your next projects parts fit perfectly. When fitting the lid on the Herwiggy humidor I used a thin coat of paste wax on the lid. When the lid was closed, tight areas would show up on the lid slip. I would locate these areas and take gossamer shavings to remove the material for a perfect fit. The same rules apply when fitting drawers in the traditional manner used by Alan Peters. Once the drawer is build, but before the bottom is slide in wax the drawer opening in the carcass. The wax on the inner surfaces of the carcass opening will burnish the high spots and allow the craftsman to achieve a perfect fit.

Wax and the Workshop

Few tools make the cut when it comes to what I carry around in my woodworking apron. You will find in my apron a square, tape line, marking knife, pencils, sharpies, a pen, safety glasses, wooden shims for setting planes and a rectangular block of wax. In my work a block of wax is just as essential as a marking knife or a square. I find myself reaching for wax to ease multiple areas of my work. The usefulness of wax is not just limited to a hand tool workshop it has many uses with power tools as well. You can pick up a block of wax at any grocery store that sells canning supplies. Look for canning wax or paraffin wax. There are other types of waxes available, but they tend to be hard to find and more expensive than paraffin. Under $5.00 will buy you enough wax to last many work years in the shop. Here are just a couple of uses for wax in the shop.
Wax will help reduce friction making things slide with much less effort. Any time you have wood sliding over a surface it will drag because of friction. Try taking a block of wax and like a 3 year old with a crayon squiggle a line of wax on the working surface where the wood is sliding over. Any power tool machine table like a table saw, band saw, planner, jointer, router tables and even squiggle on the fences as well. Waxing the bed of a shooting board allows the craftsman to shoot all day long without it becoming arduous. Use the wax on objects that slide on top of wood as well. This is especially helpful with hand planes dropping the friction of the plane almost in half. Handheld routers can also benefit. When cutting wood with a hand saw wax can make the saw glide through the cut and slice the wood sweetly. Large panel saws always get a light squiggle a couple inches above the tooth line before they touch the timber. Dovetail saws and other backsaws will also benefit greatly and let you focus on sawing to the line not excessively forcing the saw. If you are tired of always breaking fret saw blades because of them binding in the cut running the block of wax on the back of the blade allowing it to cut into the wax will coat both sides of the blade and will turn your blades into marathon runners. This will work great in coping saws, power jigsaws and scroll saws. If you have ever snapped off a brass screw when installing that last piece of hardware in a project you know how frustrating this can be. Second only to drilling a properly sized pilot hole and pre-threading, wax can facilitate a smooth entry for any screw and prevent breaking. Wax is superior to soap in this application because soap can hold moisture and cause the screw to rust.
Wax will even help drawbore pins slide in without hitch into their designated holes. Recently while working on my bench the round brass bench dogs became very difficult to push up above the bench. A light coat of wax on the spring and far side of the dog solved the problem quickly.
Wax can prevent material from going where you don’t want it. Files can clog when working with soft metals like brass and even with certain types of wood. Running a block of wax against the teeth will fill in the gullets of the file with wax and will prevent clogging. I am eager to try this technique on rasps and floats. Next post I will talk about the usefulness of paste wax.

Two Toolboxes for Two

This past couple of weeks I have been working on a pair of toolboxes for two very important people. The first was for Clay Raterman. Clay was born in March 11th, 2008 to Ben and Alaya Raterman. He was born on the same day as Aimee. As a Hanna family tradition for the birth of a son the toolbox came equipped with a ball-pein hammer. The second toolbox was for Aimee, my wife, as a bike mechanic toolbox. Both toolboxes were based off of the first toolbox that I built over 10 years ago. Clay's box was constructed with Cherry and Mahogany and an accent of Ebony in the handle. Aimee's box was constructed with Mahogany and Poplar and an accent of Holly in the handle.

Just Scrapin' Buy

During a visit to the huge metropolis of Reno, Nevada I made a familiar stop at the local Woodcraft. Once in the store I was met with a sign informing patrons that the store was closing! This was not good news as I have shopped at this Woodcraft for 3 years now. That thought quickly left as I read on, 30% off everything in the store. Needless to say I picked up a tool that I made a spot for in my tool tote 2 years ago but thought I would never bring myself to actually buy one, a Lie Nielsen #212 Scraping Plane. I just tuned it up last night and am really happy with its performance. Finally a way to deal with unruly grain!

Wax It With The Nugget

I did not know what to say when my younger brother asked me to create a shoe shining box for him. I was even more in shock when he told me how big he wanted it, 14"X16"! When I hit the drawing board designing the box I decided that a frame and panel was the only option for the top. The entire piece was constructed of solid wood and designed to endure lifetimes of use. The box was constructed with Black Cherry and Yellow Poplar. I chose to challenge myself and try hounds-tooth through dovetails for the carcass construction and they turned out spot on. The fish shaped structure on top is a foot prop. I know that my brother will be able to fit everything that he will ever need for shoe shining (and maybe even the shoes themselves) for the rest of his life. By the way a nugget is a ball of wax for shoe polishing.

Herwiggy Up In Smoke

The Herwiggy Nation can now smoke in style. Mark Lobsinger commissioned this custom humidor with the Herwiggy logo front and center. The humidor is 9" X 12" X 5" and will hold 25-30 cigars for premium ageing. The entire piece was constructed of solid wood and was designed to endure lifetimes of use. The main box or carcass is Black Cherry. The Bird’s Eye Maple handle is mortised into the lid. The carcass was constructed with miters reinforced with keys and pinned at the corners. The keys are Bird’s Eye Maple and the pins are cherry. Holly inlay was set into the background of the lid. The Spanish Cedar interiors are intentionally left unfinished. The aroma of the cedar adds to the taste of the cigars as they age. The interior sidepieces were not glued in place and lock in when the humidor is seasoned. The exterior was finished with a Watco Danish Oil (Natural Color). The entire piece has been top coated with paste wax. This was a deviation away from my typical dovetailed carcasses using a birdhouse jig to shoot the long miters for the corners. The humidor also has a significant amount of hardware that is associated; humidifier, hygrometer, lid support, and the normal hinges. I guess I cannot speak to how well the humidor works till I sample from its storage.

The New Traveling Bench

These are some pics from the new bench that I just completed. A description of the bench with some detail shots to follow.

The vise is perfect for dovetailing!

Vise was fabricated from a vener vise screw and a blackpipe tee.

I bolted the bench to my table.

The benchdogs are going to make woodworking a lot easier.

The new shop all set up after 7 months off.

But Do You Have a 275lb Anvil?

If you have done any woodworking with hand tools you know that sharp edge tools are central. Plane Irons, Chisels, Marking knives, Panel Saws and the list goes on. Just last week I wanted to add to my tool collection with a tool that is no longer made, a Striking Knife. Since these ancient tools are no longer made and used ones are hard to find I turned to my local blacksmith. Lucky enough for me my local smithy is my brother, Nick. I commissioned him to forge a striking knife out of an old flathead screwdriver. The shape and feel turned out great and we hardened the steal in oil. This striking knife will be used for marking out lines for crosscutting with a panel saw. I also have just put into use on my new workbench a holdfast that was also forged out by Nick. The holdfast is a great way to hold your work down to the bench. One whack with the hammer and it is fixed. One more whack to the back and it releases. Next time you want a tool that is not manufactured any more look up your local smithy.

The knife blank in the coals. (In the middle of the coals)

The finished product.




Holdfast in use.

Thanks to the best blacksmith that I know!!!

Old Friends

Today I retired two good woodworking friends, my apron and my Lie Nielsen cap. The Apron will live its new life in WV as a backup apron as I could not throw away this woodworking icon. Aimee hand made this apron for me back when I was in high school. It has been with me for every woodworking project since and has served me well. Its replacement is a very nice and light Lee Valley MK-II apron. I will give a review of this apron once I put it through some projects. Some aspects of the original apron I would change would be a flap over the pockets at the bottom. Because the pockets are open they catch heaps of dust and wood chips. The apron is also doubled up material in its thickness that makes it durable but heavy, light is better. I also had to modify the original apron with cross back suspenders to take the weight off of my neck strap. As a side note these “ruler” suspenders were my grandfather L.C.’s favorite pair.

I have also replaced my original Lie Nielsen cap with a new one. (Same color for all that were worried!) This was kindly given to me as a gift. Maybe someone was trying to tell me something about the old hat, sweat rings and all. Well I hope to be wearing both of these items in the next months as I set up shop again, only this time with a new view.

–Cheers

A Cottage of Asbestos

During our last trek in the Tablelands area of Kahurangi National Park Aimee and I spent two nights (Rained out) in the Asbestos Cottage. The Cottage was built Circa. 1900 and is a standing history of the area. Once inside the woodworking history of the cottage really showed it self. All of the timber in the entire building was all pit-sawn native timber. Pit-sawn meaning each board was ripped by hand out of a log, no saw mill here. Basically two carpenters would take a log and straddle it over a dug pit. One carpenter would jump in the pit and the other on top of the log and they would start to saw the log lengthwise with a large two man rip saw. As I looked around the cottage I was surrounded by what seemed to have taken thousands of man hours to make. That will make you appreciate s4s timber.

Saw marks on floor boards.

Note the Log Dog used to hold the logs during the pit-sawing process.

Organic Brews With Chippies?

(Another day in the books at CFW and this is how we wrapped up the day.)

While traveling in NZ I found that the locals not only call their fries chips but their carpenters chippies.

Counsel of His Own.

A picture from inside the Centre for Fine Woodworking, NZ.

Today was a good day. I was fortunate enough to pay a visit to the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson, NZ. I had originally planned to take a short class at the school while on holiday, but time did not cooperate. Instead I just stopped in to have a look over the place. As I stepped into the benchroom it was a breath of fresh air. Benches, planes, timber, shavings, and workers of wood abound. (Note good day!) The Centre was started by David Haig and John Shaw, both pronounced woodworkers in New Zealand and have taught in the States as well. (Check out http://www.centre-for-fine-woodworking.co.nz/ for further info.) My intent was to just have a short visit and head out, but I was invited to stay the whole day. To start off John invited me over to his bench, pulled out some native timbers and a Veritas Low Angle Smoother, and let me play. The species I was working were Matai and Totara, which took the iron remarkably well. I had this vision that New Zealand timbers would be dense and hard like the horror stories I have heard about Australian hardwoods. I was surprised to find that most NZ timber is quite soft. As I planned away in bliss John brought over a wooden Krenov style plane for me to test drive. Come to find out later that plane I was using was an ORIGINAL James Krenov plane. James gave it to John during a visit to NZ before John spent a year with James at the College of the Redwoods. I asked John and Dave a lot of questions throughout the day about woodworking and their backgrounds. David revealed he is mostly self taught, learning the "hard way". While talking with David in passing he muttered a paraphrased quote that I later found from Hunter Thompson. "No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master." - Hunter S. Thompson (1939) What David was trying to say really stuck with me. It showed me the importance of woodworking instruction and the need for me to sit under the tutelage of other woodworkers. Not that self teaching is inadequate but I think instruction can take some of the frustration out of learning a craft and it passes on generations of knowledge learned the "hard way". I think we can all learn from each other and not just rely on the counsel of our own.

An original James Krenov plane.

Some old Stanleys.