A Learning Adventure in the Workshop

Sawbench Complete

I completed construction of a traditional sawbench this weekend based on a plan from Chris Schwarz in the new "Popular Woodworking Hand Tool Essentials" book.   I made the bench out of scrap construction grade 2x10 material with plywood braces.   I drilled a hole in the top for my Gramercy Tools holdfast. It was a quick and easy project (except for cutting my thumb on my flush-cup handsaw while cutting the hardwood pegs...just because the saw is a hand tool does not mean that it is not really sharp!)

I like the design and utility of the bench.  Its primary feature is that it is 20" high,  a very good height for using traditional western saws.  Not too high, not too short.   The "V" in one end of the top allows a thin workpiece to be supported on both side of a cut.

I will be using this bench to experiment with a couple of old Disston saws that I recently purchased on eBay.    Eventually, I want to learn to sharpen hand saws, but that is a project for later.

New Rasp Handles

I took a short break from the desks this weekend to turn a couple of tool handles on the lathe.  The top one is an Auriou rasp and the bottom one is a Gramercy Tools rasp.

I used a piece of Tulipwood for the Auriou and some Osage Orange for the Gramercy.  I polished them on the buffer and put on a coat of wax for finish.

I could never understand why such high-end rasps as the Auriou rasps come with such crappy handles...it always bothered me.   I think that it looks better now.

The Gramercy handle was OK, but it also looks better now.

G&G Drawers - Two down and four to go

I completed the center drawers (one for each desk) this past weekend.  See below:

Note the traditional Greene and Greene exposed box joints on the drawer fronts.  The pins stand proud on the front of the drawers by about 1/8 of an inch. The drawer backs are installed with sliding dovetails.  The Incra LS router table jig made the construction of the drawers fast and easy.  I left the sides of the drawers long in the back so that they can be pulled out to expose the entire drawer contents without falling.

I began cutting the parts for the four side drawers also, and I hope to complete them this week.

BBQ Tools - Thermometers

I've been experimenting with my new Primo grill, and I love it.

But, I've learned a thing or two already, and bought a couple of "BBQ tools" (hey, any excuse to buy a tool).

First, I noticed that the built in analog thermometer in the lid of the Primo seemed to read about 25 degrees lower than my digital Polder probe thermometer when I hung the Polder's probe down through the top vent to a similar height as the built-in one.  The discrepancy had been causing me some problems in keeping an accurate temperature for "low and slow" cooking.

So, after some advice from the good folks on the Primo users forum, I re-calibrated the Primo's built in thermometer using the process on their website (click here).   It was, indeed, almost 30 degrees low.

The folks on the forum noted that the calculation on the Primo website did not properly correct for sea-level, so I used a different website this calculation (click here).

Soon after getting the Primo's thermometer re-calibrated, I "fried" my Polder thermometer (again).  I have killed three Polders in the last couple of years by placing them in environments that are too hot. I have read on the web that temperatures above 400 tend to kill the Polder's probes, and that seems to be correct from my experience.

So.....I invested in a Thermapen thermometer from ThermoWorks.  Too expensive?  Yes....but it works up to 572 degrees and reads in 4 seconds.  I love it.  Hey, Alton Brown says that it is #1 and I agree.

Polders are good for the kitchen, but don't work well for me on the grill.

Galootaclaus sighting in July

Earlier this year I posted photos of my "Galootaclaus 2006" gift from Derek Cohen from down-under (Perth, Australia to be exact). If you don't know what/who Galootaclaus is, I recommend that you join the OldTools email list and find out.

Anyway, I just noticed an article from Derek on the OldToolsShop website...and what do you know, its about the gift that he sent me!

See: http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/inTheShop/shopImpr/box/index.asp