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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Its been awhile since I have posted.  Not much shop time recently.

BUT...I did complete all of the drawers for the Greene and Greene desks and have installed the drawer rails for 4 of the 6 drawers so far, and fitted the drawers.   The drawer rails are made of rock maple that I had left over from making bed rails a few years ago.

Two more sets of rails to install, and then all I have left is making the wooden drawer pulls and sanding and finishing.   The drawer pulls should be fairly straight-forward to produce, so finishing will be the next big hurdle.

I still haven't settled on what kind of finish I want to use...

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.