Online Extras for the August 2010 issue include a free SketchUp model of the Step Stool project, our free video tour of the Roubo Workbench, a free SketchUp model of the workbench project, our free video demonstrating how to make 4° wedges, a free 3D SketchUp Model of the birdhouse project, a SketchUp model of the dining table project and more. Read more
Tag Archives: August 2010
End Grain: New Names for Old Tools
Just keep saying ‘micron.’
By Rob Porcaro
Page: 64
From the August 2010 issue #184
Buy this issue now
Woodworkers who use hand tools to lay the quality touch on their work know what can be accomplished with these wonderful inventions. Along with skill, supplied of course by you, a good hand tool is an exquisite blend of simplicity and sophistication that is capable of sweetening your work well beyond what machines alone can produce.
Despite this, I don’t think hand-tool woodworking gets enough respect in today’s world. For the record, sure, I use machinery in my woodworking. Yes, the machines are high quality, well-tuned, take plenty of skill to use and I wouldn’t be without them. Yet when I discuss the joys of our craft with folks not therein immersed, I am invariably asked which major power tools inhabit my shop. This is especially true of techies, but the same question comes from many woodworking beginners. I don’t seem to earn credibility as a serious woodworker until I’ve cataloged my cabinet saw, 16″ band saw, jointer and so forth. Otherwise, I sense I’m regarded as a dilettante who toys with the sort of quaint tools people used before there was indoor plumbing. Who could produce serious work with those things?
Blog: Read Rob Porcaro’s blog, Heartwood.
In our store: “Handplane Essentials.” Read more
Woodworking with Wee Ones
Kids’ imaginations are inversely proportional to their attention spans.
By David Ross Puls
Page: 58
From the August 2010 issue #184
Buy this issue now
Want to take up woodworking with your kids, but find it difficult to keep them in the shop? I share this desire and dilemma. I sheepishly admit that the diffi culties arise from my needs and notions, not those of my son. He is, of course, perfect in every way.
I believe that all of us old-fart woodworkers need to give up our foolish notions of design, technique, function and even completion if we are to encourage our kids to join us in our ligneous endeavors.
I learned quickly with my son that allowing him to follow his muse was utmost. It also took the pressure off me. He happily does as he pleases and I get to look brilliant with almost no effort. My son, Elvin, and I have clocked a gazillion hours (his count – it has only felt like a couple zillion to me) working on countless projects in my shop. And, I can honestly say that I have absolutely no idea what many of our creations are. They are of the highest caliber, however, and are of maximum coolness, according to Elvin.
Blog: Read Editor Chrispoher Schwarz’s adventures in the shop with his youngest daughter, Katy.
Web site: Our “I Can Do That” page features projects that are ideal for budding woodworkers (with adult supervision, of course).
To buy: One of our favorite collections of beginner projects is John Nelson’s “The Big Book of Weekend Woodworking.” Read more
Filling Pores for an Elegant Look
Two methods to create a mirror-flat surface.
By Bob Flexner
Page: 54
From the August 2010 issue #184
Buy this issue now
Very few woodworkers or refinishers fill the pores of wood anymore. The process is not well understood and it’s perceived to be difficult. So if the wood has large open pores, the pitting is usually allowed to show.
This open pored, “natural wood” look has even become quite popular and is often promoted in the woodworking literature.
But for some, the natural-wood look creates a less-than-elegant appearance. This is surely the view of companies that mass-produce high-end furniture and most people who buy this furniture. For at least 150 years, in fact, most better-quality, factory-produced furniture has had its pores filled to create a “mirror-flat” appearance.
Better-quality furniture in the past was made largely from mahogany, walnut or quarter- or rift-sawn oak. It’s these and other woods with similar pore structures that look better with their pores filled (in contrast to plain-sawn oak, for example, which is difficult to get flat because of the wide segments of deep grain.)
If you use these woods to make furniture or you restore old furniture and you want the wood to look its most elegant, you need to know how to fill pores.
Articles: Visit the ‘Flexner on Finishing” archive.
In our store: Publisher Steve Shanesy’s new DVD, “The Ten Commandments of Finishing,” is now available.
To buy: Bob’s first book, “Understanding Wood Finishing, ” is available through Amazon.com.
In our store: Bob’s new book, “Flexner on Finishing,” will be available in mid-August –pre-order now! Read more
Old Plane Birdhouse
Every woodworker should spruce up the yard (or the shop) with this simple birdhouse.
By Christopher Schwarz
Page: 52
From the August 2010 issue #184
Buy this issue now
I’ve never been a fan of birdhouses. Why welcome something to your yard that really wants to poo on your head?
Yet, inspiration works in weird ways. While visiting Maine in February I saw an enormous birdhouse that looked like a jointer plane hanging outside Liberty Tool, an ironmonger. I just had to have one to hang above my shop door.
Blog: Read Chris’s blog, which gets updated five times a week.
Projects: Get more free outdoor projects from our web site.
Web site: View many of the common hole sizes for different species of birds.
To buy: More than a dozen instant down-loadable birdhouse plans are in our store.
In our store: Buy “Birdhouses You Can Build in a Day.”
Read more
Designing by Foot, Hand & Eye
Empirical, not Imperial, is the measure of the pre-industrial maker.
By Jim Tolpin
Page: 46
From the August 2010 issue #184
Buy this issue now
In this article I’m going to show how I design a simple piece of furniture whilst immersed in the mindset of the pre-industrial, hand-tool artisan. Because I’m not going to use power tools to build the piece, I can shelve my usual, machine-oriented design process to develop it. This means I won’t be bothering with drafting up (or SketchUp upping) numerically defined drawings in order to generate cutlists because, as you will see, I simply don’t need them. Machines need numbers – the hand-tool artisan doesn’t.
I start by roughing out concept sketches that satisfy the essential parameters of function and aesthetics that are the “givens” of the project. When I come to an iteration that looks good enough to pursue, I draw a full-scale rendering of it – and from there construct a cardboard mock-up that allows me to view the piece not only in three dimensions, but placed so I can look at it in the way it will be viewed in use. (Often, real-world views elongate or foreshorten planes and details in ways that are not obvious in drawing elevations.) Once satisfied with the mock-up, I commit the design to the traditional, analog recording system of tick sticks and templates. No tape measures or rulers of any kind are harmed in the creation of this design!
Blog: Visit Jim’s blog and read about the classes he offers at Port Townsend School of Woodworking.
Blog: Read more about the whole-number rations on George R. Walker’s “Design Matters” blog.
To buy: Get all the dividers you need on eBay. Use our custom search to find them.
In our store: Purchase Jim’s “Measure Twice, Cut Once” from our store.
Read more
Magobei’s Dining Table: Part 1
A table built for a ‘rags to riches’ patron becomes the perfect project for an accomplished protégé.
By Toshio Odate
Page: 40
From the August 2010 issue #184
Buy this issue now
All these years, my assistant, Laure Olender, has not only been working with me doing woodwork, she also takes photographs (including those in this article), edits my articles and assists me at lectures and demonstrations. I thought she was ready to do her own large project from beginning to end. I brought up several traditional Japanese woodworking projects, but every one of them had some small, complicated, technical detail that did not fit well for her first large project.
I came up with the dining table idea and thought this to be the perfect project for her, so we made a plan. I explained all the necessary concepts to her before she started on the project, as I have many wishes, thoughts, traditions and ideologies about this dining table.
Article: Christopher Schwarz takes Toshio Odate’s sharpening stones for a test drive.
Article: Build an Asian-inspired coffee table with step-by-step instructions.
Web site: Learn the history behind traditional Japanese woodworking techniques.
To buy: The best way to discover Japanese woodworking is with a Toshio Odate book.
In our store: Discover how to hand cut traditional woodworking joints. Read more