A Learning Adventure in the Workshop

Workbench like a ship-in-a-bottle

Building my new workbench with a 8' laminated top in my tight, low-ceiling basement is a bit like building a ship-in-a-bottle.

Cutting, jointing and planing the 10' rough boards for the workbench's top within the low ceiling and vertical steel support posts ends up being a real dance (similar to my post about long clamps).

Funny how building this new bench that will allow me to use more hand-tool techniques has required more power tools than any project that I have done lately.  LOTS of ripping and planing.

I can't say that this project is a lot of fun (although it is not difficult or complex), but I look forward to the end result.

Disston No. 2 Saw Vise

A few weeks ago I purchased an old Disston No. 2 hand saw sharpening vise on eBay (circa 1890-ish, I think).   It was in reasonably good shape, but was rusted and had not been used in a long, long time.

I sanded and filed off the rust, repainted the vise and oiled the moving parts.  The photos below are the result.  Unfortunately I forgot to take any "before" photos.

 

I have never actually sharpened a hand saw yet...that is a skill that I intend to learn later this year.  In the meantime, the vise is now ready.

Shop Made Drawbore Pins

The laminated wood top for my new woodworking bench is coming along well (but slowly). 

In preparation for eventually joining the legs of the workbench to the top,  I made myself a set of drawboring pins this weekend.  I intend to experiment with drawboring these joints for maximum strength and durability.

My drawbore pins are based on Chris Schwarz's "Drawboring Resurrected" article on the WKFinetools website here:  http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/cSchwarz/z_art/drawBoring/drawBoring4.asp

As Chris recommended,  I bought a cheap set of  "alignment tools"  from Sears.  Sears sells an eight-piece set of punches and alignment tools under its "Companion” brand ($6 total).  Two of the eight tools are alignment pins that can be modified into drawbore pines.  The model number of the set was #30130.

I followed the directions in the article, and using some scrap mahogany from the desk project, I came up with these:

One small and one large.  Slight tapered and hex handles to make it easier to "torque" the tools when using them.

I'll try them out on the workbench in a week or two.

 

At last! Good hardwood charcoal is Pittsburgh!!!

Another BBQ post...

Pittsburghers rejoice!  GFS Marketplace in Robinson Town Center (next to Costco)  is carrying the USA-made version of Royal Oak brand hardwood lump charcoal!  Royal Oak is rated "highly recommeded" by the charcoal guru the Nakedwhiz.

I have not been able to find half-way decent hardwood charcoal in Pittsburgh anywhere till now.  All that we could get here is Kingsford (no thanks) and Cowboy (burns too hot for me, but OK for grilling - not smoking).  I was actually mail-ordering charcoal, which I think is ridiculous.

Everyone run out to GFS and buy the Royal Oak so that they continue to carry it.  I bought three 20 lb bags yesterday to get me through the next couple of months.

Building a Cold-Smoker for Cheese with a "Primo-Brand" Grill

This post will be a short departure from woodworking, and will be about my ongoing experiments with my "Primo-brand" smoker.

Last winter my son and I watched an Alton Brown "Good Eats" episode on Food Network TV that showed him making both a "hot" smoker and a "cold" smoker out of hardware-store parts and other misc junk.

A "cold" smoker is used to smoke things like cheese that cannot get hot during the smoking process or they will melt.  You want to smoke without cooking the food.  The temp needs to stay somewhere below 90-degrees (F)  while still providing a lot of smoke to the cheese. 

We wanted to try to build a cold-smoker by creating something that would mount on my Primo "hot" smoker rather than starting from scratch as Alton did in the show.   The goal is to pull the smoke away from the grill that has the fire and heat in it, while letting the heat escape elsewhere.

So, based on Alton's principals...this is what we came up with:

Our contraption  consists of a typical hardwood charcoal fire in the Primo grill (the large black thing built into the tabletop) with a quantity of apple wood on top of the coals to generate the smoke.   The internal temp of the Primo is stable at around 300-degrees for this experiment.

I then attached a 6 foot length of flexible aluminum dryer vent pipe to the top vent of the Primo's lid and roughly sealed the connection with some aluminum foil.

The dryer vent pipe then runs through a cooler that is full of water and ice to keep the pipe cool.  See below:

I used my charcoal chimney with a brick on it to weigh down the pipe into the water.

The dryer-vent pipe then terminates between the lid and base of my small tabletop Weber grill that we use when we go to a park or somewhere that requires grill portability.  I then filled the rest of the gap between the base of the Weber grill and the lid of the Weber with a bent piece of aluminum roofing-flashing (the gold colored stuff).   It is plain aluminum on the inside so as to not contaminate the food with any chemicals.

The lid then sits on the aluminum gap filler as shown below.

There is no fire or charcoal of any type in the Weber grill.   The cheese (or other food for cold smoking) sits on the Weber's grate as normal, but the only thing happening inside of that grill is the delivery of smoke from the dryer vent-pipe.  The grill is otherwise empty (I forgot to take photos of this).

You can see the yellow thermometer on the lid of the Weber in the photo above.  It reads 63-degrees (F).  We never broke 71-degrees through the entire smoke!   The contraption worked great.

You can see the back of my son's head in this photo pushing air into the Primo with a small set of fireplace bellows.   Not sure that this was necessary, but it did increase the smoke volume from time to time (although there was plenty of smoke anyway).

For the first batch of cheese we smoke pieces of cheddar, provolone and mozzarella (all at the same time) for 45 minutes.  Wow, were they smoky!!  I think that 45 minutes was a bit too long and the cheese was a little harsh for me, but some tasters quite liked it.  Next run will be less than 30 minutes.

Note that cheese smoked in this way hardly changes color at all unlike the "smoked" cheese you get in the grocery store.  I am told that the color on the store bought smoked cheese is artificial.

All-in-all, this was a fun, easy and cheap (less than $20) experiment that mostly succeeded.  I would say that the device works well, and we just need to work on smoking time, recipe, etc.

A thought on clamps

When I first started buying "real" woodworking clamps a few years ago (like my Bessey clamps),  I went with the theory that since I was spending so much money on clamps, I should buy the longest ones that I could.  After all, you can clamp a small object with a 40" clamp, but you can't clamp a 36" piece with a small clamp.  Seemed to make sense.

So, I bought mostly long 40" Bessey clamps for a couple of years. 

The thing is, those clamps are REALLY long (and heavy).   Clamping a small object with a big clamp in a workshop with a low ceiling tends to be quite an effort.   After I poke the ceiling, knock stuff of the bench and drop everything on the floor, the long clamp works very well...

I now find that my small number of 24" and 30" clamps are my favorites. 

Another lesson learned.  Good clamps are expensive, but if you are like me, you will end up wanting both long and short clamps.

As a wise man once said, "you can never have enough clamps."   I will change that quote slightly.  You can never have enough GOOD clamps.

Ernie Conover Hand-Cut Dovetails Class

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a one day hand-cut dovetails class with Erie Conover at his shop in Ohio.

The class was excellent, and I met some interesting people.  I will take more classes from Ernie in the future.  He has a great classroom/shop with a teacher's bench for him and 8 full benches for the students (one each).  Lots of natural light.  A great environment.

His website is here: http://www.conoverworkshops.com/

I will post more later about the class, but one of the side-items  that I took away from the class is that I REALLY liked using a workbench with a tool tray after-all (or hamster run as Chris Schwarz calls it).   I've never worked for any period of time on a bench with a tray, and I had no intention of building one into my workbench project...but now I am reconsidering.  Having a place to put my tools where they will not roll onto the floor was very nice.

If I do install one in the bench, it will have a removable bottom.  At the end of only one day of class at Ernie's, mine was full of shavings.  So, Chris was right...but it may be worth it anyway.

By the way, Ernie let slip that he is in the final stages of writing a book on dovetails (including the history of their use and styles).   He says that it may be out by late 2008 or early 2009.

"Workbenches" by Christopher Schwarz

Chris Schwarz has done it again...inspired me to build a new workbench that is better suited to the "blended" style of  hand tool and power tool woodworking that I do these days.

My original bench has served me well, and will be passed on to my son, who needs to graduate from the very small bench that we made him when he was about 4 (he is 8 now).  My son's very small bench will be passed on to my daughter (now 4), who also loves to spend time in the shop. 

My slave labor woodworking gang is growing.  Plus,  its more justification for me to build myself an honest-to-goodness woodworking bench.

This project started when I bought Chris Schwarz's new book:

Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use

Click here to buy it from Lost Art Press (Chris' own store) and Chris will send a signed copy of the book and a CD containing an electronic copy.

Don't buy this book  if you don't want to build a new bench!!!! I guarantee that buying this book will force you to build a new bench, whether you want to or not.  It is that well researched and written, but that is what I have come to expect from Chris.

Right now, I am looking to build a blend of the French Roubo bench and the Dominy bench  at Winterthur.    I am still  working on my design.   

I am likely to go with some sort of twin-screw front vise and a metal tail vice.  I'm shooting for at least a 3.5" thick top.    I also want a sliding deadman.  Likely, I will not include a tool tray in the top, although I have been tempted to add one.

Idea for Planer Manufacturers

Quick idea for bench-top planer manufacturers...

Put a power switch on BOTH sides of the planer (or on the side).  In my one-man shop, I am always starting the board through my planer on one side and then walking around the planer to get it on the  other.  Then I want to shut off the machine, but the power switch is back on the front. 

Small thing, but annoying.

Newly turned woodcarver's mallet and pepper grinder

I've managed to spend a little time in the shop over the past two weeks and "turned" out a couple of small projects (pun intended).

First is a woodcarver's mallet.  I needed a traditional round faced woodcarver's mallet for an upcoming hand-cut dovetail class that I will be taking at Ernie Conover's wood shop in Ohio.  He recommends this style of mallet (rather than a square faced carpenter's mallet)  in his tool list for the class, and I just couldn't see buying a mallet when I could make one.  Besides, I wanted a tradition lignum vitae wood head, and you can't buy those easily now-a-days.  Hard maple seems to be norm for purchased mallets these days unless you get one with a man-made material wrapped head.  Ernie does not recommend those due to "bounce."

I turned this one with a hard maple handle attached to the head with a  wedged through tenon.  The head is made from Argentinian lignum vitae wood that I got from the local Rockler.  I was surprised to find a large enough block of the lignum for this project.

The wedge is a scrap of ebony, and then I buffed on a carnauba wax coating.

The mallet is about 10" long with a 3" radius at its widest point.  It weighs 20 ounces overall.

Turning the lignum was easier than I expected given its incredible density.   BUT....don't try and saw through it  with your delicate Japanese hand saw.  The teeth of the  saw with lose the battle with the wood.  Don't ask me how I know.

Below is my first attempt at a pepper grinder.  I turned it from Kingwood and then buffed on a carnauba wax coating.  I used a "crush grind" ceramic mechanism for the internals.  This type of mechanism allows for you to adjust the grind from the bottom of the mill, so that you do not have to have an adjustment know sticking through the cap.  I found the mechanism to be first-rate.

I enjoyed doing the mill, and will likely do more of these.  They are fast , fun and useful.

 

Not really woodworking

Well, this isn't quite a woodworking project, but...

My wife and I have a pine hutch that was used as display shelves in a store that she used to own.  The hutch isn't old, and it isn't well made.   It is mass-produced, about 10 years old and is made of "pallet" grade pine...ugly.   I'm not sure exactly where it came from, but it was called "French Country" in style.   It was bare pine with a very thin coat of some sort of clear finish. 

It made its way into our dining room a few years ago because we needed a piece like it, and it was to be  serviceable until I got around to making a better one.  I haven't  gotten around to making a better one yet, and likely won't for some time to come.

I have always hated that hutch...

So, my wife suggested that we paint it, and even though I am generally against painted furniture, I figured that it could only help this piece.  On Sunday, in one day, we put on a coat of thick primer and one coat of latex paint.  I then "weathered" it with a wash of dark brown latex paint that I quickly wiped off to give it an aged look.

I have to admit that I like it.  I won't be so embarrassed to have this piece in our dining  room now.  I still don't care for painted furniture, but this piece needed to be painted.   See finished pictures below.  I wish that I had a "before" picture to post also, but I don't.

Water-based vs. Oil-based Top Coats

Now that the dust is settling from completing the two G&G desks, I have been thinking through some of my experiences on this project.

I had noted in an earlier post that I had used a water-based finish for the first time on the first G&G desk and that I generally liked it (particularly the lack of smell).

I did the second desk with my old-faithful GF Arm-R-Seal oil-based finish that has long been my favorite.  When the desks are side by side there is no question in my mind...the oil finish is still better.  It has a more even satin finish, more even build, less grain-raising, etc.  The two finishes are not significantly different, but they are different enough for me to switch back to my old favorite oil finish from now on unless I really need to avoid the odor and fumes.

I like the new water-based finishes, but for me, they are not quite there yet (but they are close).

G&G Desks...Finished at Last!

I have finally finished the "almost"  matching pair of Greene & Greene inspired desks for my wife and me.  The photos below are of my G&G desk #2, made based on the Aurora desk by Darrell Peart at www.furnituremaker.com.    Darrell sells the plans for this desk at American Furniture Design website.

My desks are made from African mahogany and ebony. I finished this one with General Finishes brand Arm-R-Seal that I tinted with a little General Finishes “warm cherry” stain.

These took almost 2 years to complete because other small projects kept intruding and I would get distracted away from the desks. I am very glad to be done!

I started these desks before Darrell had his plans for sale, so after emailing him for permission, I made my own drawings to build my desk. During the two long years of work, Darrell’s plans hit the market and I bought a set of the plans. Boy would I have saved time if I had those from the start!!

My drawings were very close to Darrell’s dimensions, but were off just enough to make it impossible for me to follow his plans exactly. Since I had already started cutting parts to my dimensions, I stuck with my plans and only used Darrell’s plans for reference.

My shop now looks huge without these two desks sitting in the middle of it as they have been for a long time now.

Photos below are of G&G desk #2.  As I said in my recent posts, G&G desk #1 came out darker than I'd like (it was done with aniline dye).  I will post photos of that desk soon.

Front

Front right

Front left

Top

Front

G&G drawer detail

G&G drawer joint

Worksharp 3000 - Repeatable Sharpening

I received a WorkSharp 3000 for Christmas, and so far I am very impressed.  Since the Worksharp has been reviewed to death in woodworking magazines, this will be a short post.

I've tried a number of sharpening methods and most recently converted from water stones to the "Scary Sharp" method.  I have been very happy with the Scary Sharp method (as well as the water stones before them), but both method methods required setup time and labor.

The Worksharp seems to be a good way to implement a Scary-Sharp-like method as a faster "power sharpening" method.  Because of its integral jig, it has a totally repeatable sharpening angle.  This makes it very, very fast.   You can quickly sharpen a chisel without setup, etc. 

I don't think that the Worksharp makes my tools quite as sharp as water stones, but they are very sharp, and more than sharp enough for general woodwork.

My only real complaint is that the Worksharp can only sharpen plane blades up to 2", so my larger plane blades will not fit in the jig.

For around $199, I think that this is a good machine at a good price.

2nd Desk Nearing Completion

I made progress this weekend toward finishing the 2nd desk.   I decided to do the 2nd desk with a different finish than the first one, since I was disappointed with how dark the first desk turned out.  I like the finish on the first desk, but it is too dark to really appreciate all of the ebony accents in the desk.

For the 2nd desk, I decided to try tinting General Finishes oil-based Arm-R-Seal with a General Finishes oil-based stain.  I used 0.75 ounce of  GF  "warm cherry" to one quart of Arm-R-Seal.  So far, I am VERY pleased with the results.

Two coats are complete and a few more to go.  Pictures coming soon.

Oh, I almost forgot,  the drawers for the first desk are now done and installed also, so the 1st desk is now fully complete.

Galootaclaus 2007 sighting in Sewickley, Pa

Galootaclaus (who is apparently from Armadillo Works in Texas), dropped a package off on my porch again this year....As I said last year,  if you don't know what/who Galootaclaus is, I recommend that you join the OldTools email list and find out.

When I opened the package, I found a plethora of galootish tools!  A very nicely made reproduction Stanley Odd-Job (gold thing with the ruler), a patented old-tool that looks like some sort of unusual screw driver made to look like Mickey Mouse (I will look up the patent to see the purpose), "The Handplane Book" by Garrett Hack (not shown) and a beautiful galoot-made router plane.  What a haul!

See below:

Thanks Galootaclaus!
Matt

PS...after further research....

Apparently, the unknown tool above is not a "Mickey Mouse" tool as I called it, but it is known as a "Snoopy Tool" or DZUS Tool and it is used to remove panels from aircraft.  This one appears to be fairly old.

Cool!

Riverfront Park Website Upgrade

I maintain a website for a relatively new local Sewickley, Pa. Park called "Riverfront Park" that includes a few full-size railroad artifacts (including an H.K. Porter steam engine and a "bobber-style" caboose).   Its also a great place for the rail fan because it has an overlook for one of Norfolk and Southern's busiest current rail lines.

I have recently moved the park's website over to the same Typepad style blog/website that I use for this blog.   I like Typepad and it is easier for me to maintain the site through this interface.   Also, Typepad's recently added "pages" function makes it easier to set it up like a more traditional website rather than strictly a blog.

If you are interested in see the new site, click www.riverfrontpark.org .

First Desk Leaves the Shop

The first G&G desk carcass FINALLY made it out of the shop this past weekend and into our home office for my wife.   The desk is complete, minus the finish on the drawers, but she has pressed it into service while I finish the drawers.

The finish has turned out OK, but much darker than I would have liked (much darker than the samples that I did indicated).   I've had this problem with aniline dye before...I always make it too dark.  But, the dark looks pretty good anyway,  it just doesn't show off the ebony accents as much as I'd like.

I used a pre-mixed  Behlen Aniline Dye (alcohol based) in their "medium brown mahogany" color.  I did not dilute it (I should have).   I also used a water-based "General Finishes" brand Poly/Acrylic Satin finish as the topcoat (5 coats of it).   This was my first time using the newer water based varnishes, and I mostly was pleased with the result.  It was certainly nice to have less toxic smell in the basement.

I hope to finish the "finish" on the drawers for my wife's desk this weekend, and then move on to the finish on the 2nd desk.....after that, this project can finally be put to bed.

Overall, I like the design of the desks a lot.   I am relatively pleased with my woodwork on the desks (maybe an 8 out 10) and am much less pleased with my finish on the desks (maybe 6 out of 10)...but, these desks have been a great woodworking learning experience, and that was the point.  When I started the desks, they were somewhat beyond my ability, but I pushed through it and learned a lot, and my next projects will benefit from them mightily.

I will post pictures soon.

Pilliod Machinist's Tool Chest

I recently had the VERY good fortune to have an acquaintance "give" me a machinist's tool chest and tools that were his grandfather's.  He says that his grandfather was a machinist in Detroit, but that is all he knows.

The chest is marked "Pilliod Company, Swanton, Ohio" in gold lettering on the front of the bottom drawer. The chest is oak.  The finish appears to be original and is in very good condition. It had a leather handle on top that is almost completely worn away.  The chest has 5 drawers of varying sizes with green felt liners, and the entire chest has a removable wooden front with a lock.  The lock and key still work.  It also sits on a base, but I do not think that the base is original.  It appears to be poplar and pine and not oak.   A couple of the drawers have some separation/cracking at the joints, but I can fix those fairly easily.

The chest is "full" of L.S. Starrett tools.   The tools are in very good condition, but have obviously been well used and taken care of for many years.

My acquaintance says that he was told that the chest dates about 1915, but has no way of knowing.

Does anyone know anything about Pilliod?  I looked in the archive for the OldTools mailing list, and an email to the OldTools list in 1998 from Chris Berger had the following information about Pilliod:

"The letterhead contained the following:

Established 1896
THE PILLIOD CABINET COMPANY
Furniture Manufacturers
Swantown, Ohio  43558
Telephone 419-826-3540
(I tried this phone # for the heck of it and it is no longer in service)

The envelope also was stamped:

THE PILLIOD CABINET COMPANY
Pilliod of Alabama, Inc.
Pilliod of Carolina, Inc.
105 - 117 Woodland Ave.
Swantown, Ohio"

Not much else about this company seems to have been discussed on OldTools.

If anyone has any other information, please let me know.  I will post whatever I find about this company to the blog for others that may be looking for this company in the future.

Thanks for the help!

Above photo is the chest with the front cover open.

Cover closed (lock still works)

Logo on front of bottom drawer

Tools contained in drawer #3

#2

#1

#4

#5

Great Grill Covers

I bought a "custom-made" grill cover for my home-built Primo grill table project from Mel's BBQ Covers a couple of months back. I called her with the dimensions of my table, and the cover arrived in a little more than a week.  Excellent.

They are made-to-order (in the USA), are well-priced and are made of thicker, tougher material than any other grill cover that I have seen.

See:  http://www.mels-bbq-covers.com/

Highly recommended.