Wood Project Ideas

Prop up a book silly.

Now where was I . . .  Oh yes, building a version of the William and Mary Book Stand built by Chuck Bender and showcased Popular Woodworking Magazine. If you need a refresher of where were at, what were talking about, and the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. Then you can find two of those things HERE. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

As I said before when talking about this piece, I was super impressed at how much of a challenge it was. There is a ton of joinery in this little 12" by 12" by 4" pile of walnut. As I neared the end of the build I became more worried about the Derek Factor involved here.

"Ive come so far on this, I screwed up the last time I tried this piece, it all seems to be going so well, when will the other shoe drop and I deflower the pooch on this one."
I was down to cutting and joining a piece critical to the proper function of the stand. The frame I had finished is really just a frame but two pieces inside the frame make it into a book stand. thats the saw-tooth rail and a tapered leg that spins on a pivot inside the inner frame.
The first thing to do was mill a piece of walnut to size and then cut the tenons for the through mortises in the front and back pieces of the frame.
Heres where the plot thickens...(pause for dramatic effect). Im working away, knocking out the mortises with my 1/4" bench chisel.
The first mortise goes off without a hitch, so I move on the the second mortise, Im halfway through the thickness of the stock, I drive the chisel in and lever back to clear the chips and BAM.

Now I know these Irwin chisels arent Ashley Iles or Lie-Nielsen chisels, Ive never claimed that they are even close. But really these chisels are pretty decent for the price you pay, I was planning to upgrade someday but not really just yet, and here my 1/4" is broken. I havent abused it or did big modifications on it. The usage was not beyond what a bench chisel should be able to handle.

To Irwins credit, I visited the companies website and filled in a comment and in a couple days I heard back from a representative. Irwin was sending me a replacement chisel for my trouble. In the end I think they redeemed themselves. I will still find myself upgrading in the future, but that was always the plan.

I found another 1/4" chisel in a drawer with other older chisels, it took some time to tune it up and get back to work. Once that ordeal was done I had another decision to make where the inner frame pivots in the older frame. Left alone the inner frame impinges on the saw rail as it raises.
There are a lot of ways to fix the issue. I could bevel the backside of the bottom stile, but I was worried that would weaken the round pins I had cut from the ends of the stile.
In hindsight I realize I could have made a localized round over right at the contact of the rail and stile. I guess I just didnt think of it at the time.

With my first failed attempt at this piece I made the choice to notch the stile to move around the saw-tooth rail. I have gotten to look at that decision alot while its sat around the shop, and I hate that decision. I wasnt going to make it again.
The answer I decided on was to grab a small gouge and make a small groove in the saw tooth rail so the inner frame could travel up and down unimpeded.
Now to make the saw teeth that give the rail its name. I measured and marked out the spacing and depth and made a series of cross cuts

I used the bandsaw to back cut the slope into the cross cuts.
Then I used a chisel to clean up the bandsaw marks.and refine the slopes.
Now half of the mechanism was done. The swinging leg was what was remaining. I sized a small square section of stock to ride on two pin tenons inside the inner frame. I cut a small tenon into a piece of sized stock  and a matching mortise into the small cross piece.
A little work with a block plane and I had the leg properly tapered.
I cant help myself, I had to dry fit the piece together once again. I was so tickled to see the piece together I had to reach into the backpack I carry back and forth from the shop to home and pull out a book to see how it looked.
Ill bet you cant guess which book this is???

Now it was on to do some finish planing, some sanding, and some finishing.

And one more thing, if you were disappointed that my earlier link did not contain the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. Well if you dont know already . . . the answer is 42.

Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf

I know for a fact that I will not make my goal of blog posts for October, again I apologize for my recent tardiness but I have been missing the shop as well. My family and I have been very busy relocating to a new residence in LaCrosse WI, about 20 miles from the old place. The good news is that the weather has been beautiful here, cool, dry and easy for moving. The bad news is that the weather has been beautiful here, cool, dry, and I havent been able to see the inside of the shop for longer than five minutes for about three weeks now. I guess the best news for me is that the shop is located on neutral territory and was immune to the whole moving process, and I do have a little bit of a back load of photos here to share until I get into the shop again next week.

In a previous post I mentioned that my father-in-law had seen fit to give to me the tool chest that had belonged to his great uncle, his father, and himself. In Norway in the 1800s his great uncle Melvin Indahl had been a carpenter. In 1865 he crossed the pond with his brother to find a good life in America. Eventually they settled in South Dakota and went to work farming. Being a carpenter Melvin ofcourse knew that his tools would be some of the most valuable items at his disposal, so he constructed a tool chest, (I could be embellishing a bit, imagine that, the chest could very well have existed before any decisions to strike west happened) The chest dutifully transported his tools across the ocean and across half of the USA before they paused in South Dakota later to backtrack as my wifes grandfather moved the to Western Wisconsin. The tools inside have changed along the way, some have been lost and replaced with others, some tools have been added, and some broken I am sure.

A few years before my father in law gave me a cardboard box that contained some of the previous contents. Several chisels and gouges, a couple of axe heads and a pair of wooden body jack planes. But to see what else this chest contained still leaves me buzzing with energy. Everything needs a clean up to say the least. Some pieces have a thick layer of rust and may not be usable after I get them cleaned up, but well see.

So many tools they could not all fit on the workbench. The saws had to rest out on the lid for their pictures.

Starting on the right end of the bench. A large 24"drawknife, a couple of slicks, one with a very short handle, a wedge and a couple of large thread cutters. The mallets in the background have been in the shop a long time, they were not part of the chest.

Moving towards the left, a fine wooden level, a couple of dividers, a trisquare, a variety of files, a saw set and a couple more wedges. One item I am having trouble identifying is the circular "pizza cutter" looking item on the left, the blade does not rotate it is pinned static.

A little more left we go, and here we can see a couple of hammers, one sans handle, some multi wrenches a stone dressing tool and a couple of the nicest woodwrights rasps I have ever seen, I really hope I can get them cleaned up and usable again.

A variety of brad awls, a stone wheel, and various small pieces of metal and bolts, a blacksmiths tongs and a couple of files forged into scrapers and what I think was probably a hoof knife, both for farrier work. Theres a miniature, maybe a practice, horse shoe, a slew of steel cutting chisels that have almost all been neat to hell, and a whole bunch of brace bits.

A couple of spoon bits, something I have been looking for for a long time, With my second hobby as Viking age rennactment, spoon augers have been found in archeological finds, so spoon bits are a big part of making me more authentic in my portrayal of a a woodworker from the medieval era.

 And last, but not least, the saws. These blades are old, I am sure that at least on of them pre-dates the Disston Era, perhaps several. Three full sized are filed crosscut, One filed rip, a keyhole saw with a lot of rust and an odd little saw with a home made handle and maybe a home made blade as well... Im just calling this a joinery saw for now. One really neat thing about living where I do is its the same town that Mark Harrell lives in. Is the name familiar, yes hes the owner of Bad Axe Tool Works and the infamous Bad Axe hand saws. Mark does an excellent job of saw restoration and though I have done my own saw restoration in the past, if these saws are as old as I think they are, then I want an experts opinion on what should be done and most likely I think want to have an experts hands "supercharge" these saws for me for another few centuries of performance. I know that hes probably getting busy with Christmas upcoming, I think Ill look him up after the holidays.

Next time...The chest itself.
Cheers

Oldwolf

I have always been a little intimidated my the finishing process. I know I am not the only shaving slinger who faces this issue. Im sure there are several reasons for this.