A place for me to display some of the varied projects that come out of my shop, as well as to "talk" about some of my experiences working with wood.

Monday 14 October 2013

Tool Porn Update - Plane and Spokeshave handles

WIA is only 5 days away and very much looking forward to seeing some old friends and make a few new ones in this great world of woodworking.

I had promised a good friend of mine some new handles for his Boggs spokeshaves and spent the weekend turning a few.  He sent me some wonderful Blackwood and Rosewood to make the handles from. Here's a quick iPhone shot of the finished handles.

I will be delivering these on Friday in Cincinnati.


I was making a new set for my two Lee Valley shaves as well and they use a different attachment method which I did not like. They used a small hanger bolt with a 1/4"-20 thread to attach to the shave. I did not think this gave me enough material in the handle to be secure. I am sure it was fine for the original bubinga handles but some other handle materials, not so much. The Boggs shaves attach with a 1.5" long 1/4"-20 bolt with a hex head for an allen key. This put about 1-1/8" of material in the handle which was more like a tang and I felt added more strength. I bought some threaded rod and cut some for myself and inserted them into the wood with a double-bolt setup. Here's a few process shots on the LN ones, but I ended up using the same process for the LV ones.


Tapping the 7/32" hole for the 1/4"-20 threaded insert

The threaded inserts placed in the blocks. Important point here is that they
are not glued in place; once they are installed in the spokeshave and grain aligned,
they will be glued - we must align our grains...


Stage 1 of turning, setting length and diameter, before the final go

The finished Lee Valley Spokeshaves:

Honduras Rosewood and Cocobolo
I also received my newest plane from Konrad Sauer, its a K9 - that is Konrad-speak for 9" long plane. This plane is made from the most spectacular Desert Ironwood I have ever seen. Not much I can really say about this, the picture will just have to speak for itself:



Sauer and Steiner K9 in Desert Ironwood

Monday 7 October 2013

New Headboard for Oldest Son

The Finished Piece!
My oldest ask a while ago if I would build him a new headboard for his bed; he had an idea what he wanted, however was not entirely sure. There were many emails and sketches back and forth working out things until a final design was reached. He did not want it to look too "factory" made, so the challenge was adding an element to make it more casual without becoming too primitive. I tried various wood options for the slats which had to be horizontal and finally settled on some local cherry boards that came from my Dad's old homestead - these boards were just one step above firewood, and a small step at that! Careful thicknessing on the planar and then the thickness sander was the only way I could get usable boards without massive tear out and knots blowing up. The final product was worth the effort as these boards were a lighter colour and heavily figured with knots and lines which gave him the look he was after - relief!!

Here's a few build shots:

Cutting the mortises for the cross-members, 2" deep. My story stick
on the right and various chisels to get them perfect. Of course this is the most work
and is the most important part of the build - yet 100% invisible when complete.
Cutting shoulders on the bottom cross-member with my new Lie-Nielson
Tenon saw - like corn though a goose!!
Test fit of all the mortises and tenons to ensure its square and solid.