Return to Chicago- Hand Tool Event

 

In about three week Benchcrafted returns to Chicago for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event April 20-21.

We missed last year's event, and are really looking forward to seeing all our friends and fellow enthusiasts at Jeff's Miller's shop again.

This year promises to be memorable. We like this event because it combines some of the best exhibitors and attendees in one place. And one of those attendees we always like to see is Carl Bilderback, and old-school carpenter who almost always shows up with a new technique to teach us greenhorns. That's Carl showing Chris Schwarz some rope right there. 

Here's the lineup (besides us and L-N):

Daed Toolworks

Raney Nelson makes a mean infill plane.

Elkhead Tools

The guys with the fancy (and incredibly ergonomic) turnscrews.

Glen-Drake Toolworks

If you don't know about Kevin's work (and who doesn't?) click the link.

Lost Art Press

If you don't know about Chris Schwa....oh nevermind.

Jeff Miller

Ask Jeff Miller to demo his human-powered tenoning jig. It's incredible.

Make sure to stop by and see what we're bringing too. Oh, and free donuts at Raney's bench.

Contact Cement For Suede

What glue should I use to glue the suede to the jaws of my Glide/Tail/Moxon vise?

The answer is: contact cement.

Why? The suede will eventually wear out with use. It will take a while, but it will happen. And if you use yellow glue, the suede could be difficult to remove. Contact cement forms a rubbery film on the smooth wood, and to remove the suede you simply lift a corner and peel it off. Then rub the remaining rubbery spots off with your finger. Contact cement is more than strong enough to hold suede.

We like to use the DAP brand nonflammable cement. We buy ours at Menards, but Home Depot and other such stores should carry it. It doesn't melt your brain like the flammable stuff. In fact, you don't even need a respirator to use it. It has about the same amount of odor as latex paint. 

On Precise Work and MicroBrewed Furniture

Dovetailed box of oak and spalted beech by David Barron

I don't think I'm alone when I say much of modern furniture is designed with visible examples of precise craftsmanship as a statement of rejection of modern, mass-produced wares designed with profit as the driving force.

For me personally, two elements combine to make this statement powerfully: refined design, and wood selection.

Yes, furniture at the big stores is made of wood. But no thought past the bottom line goes into its selection. The furniture is designed around the machines, most often in a laughable manner: the Mission-style square peg glued into a round hole, with visible adhesive oozing out the four corners is perhaps the best example of furniture-making laziness and apathy.

Some may argue that we need huge factories cranking out junk to supply the larger population. But I would argue that point. As my friend and fellow craftsman Chris Schwarz likes to point out, not long ago we had only a handful of beers to choose from in America. All the same style beer to boot. Now there is a micro-brewery within a short drive of anyone. Does it work? Yes, new breweries are still popping up. There are hundreds of them. Could this work with furniture? Absolutely. All we need to do is keep making fine things and getting it into the hands of modern people who, like many of us, have forgotten what real things are. To that end, I make furniture for my extended family, and friends, and also for myself. And I try to promote hand-made items as much as I can.

But here's one key element that I've found makes this possible. Keep things simple. And that's where this idea keys in so well with today's tastes. People like modern furniture. The relatively simple and quick construction methods these pieces call for frees us up as craftsmen to focus on nailing the proportions and selecting the perfect wood.

Take David Barron's box above. An extremely simple piece, yet it oozes authenticity. No carving, no curves, no ornament. The design of the box itself makes this piece relatively quick and easy to build, but the proportions and meticulously intentional wood selection set this box apart from anything you'd remotely see in a furniture store. David's tool chest below is also a perfect example. A parlor trick? Maybe, but only to those who have been reared on factory pieces with tolerances of guaranteed slop.

Next time you're with friends who buy furniture from a chain store, show them something like David's box and ask them if they'd rather have something real like this in their home, something to cherish for several lifetimes, or poseur furniture.
   

The Three Best Woodworking Vises

"...Benchcrafted, a family company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa makes the three best woodworking vises I have ever used. And, just to be clear, Benchcrafted makes only three vises."

Chris Schwarz

in the Fine Tool Journal, Winter 2012

Winter Smoother - Done

A couple weeks ago I put the final coat of finish on the wood components of the Winter Smoother.

Instead of the usual french polish, I decided to try something new. I first sealed the wood with shellac to provide a barrier, then I padded on about seven whisper-thin coats of Tru-Oil over about three days. A week cure, and a light rubout with 0000 Liberon wool, a little wax, and I had the finish I was after: rich and deep to bring out the color of the wood and satiny and silky for a great feel. This finish does not have the chatoyance and depth that shellac provides. It has a more rudimentary appeal. And I think it goes well with this plane.

The plane performs extremely well, as do all of the Brese planes. In a short while, this plane will get shipped off to its new owner, a friend of mine who more than has it coming. Bon Appetit, Gaston.

Here is a short video slideshow of the Winter Smoother. Make sure you enlarge it, it's in HD.

Follow this link for a slideshow of the stills.

Update: Carver's Vise

We have several new ideas on the drawing board here at Benchcrafted, but the one that has been the focus of our attention lately has been the La Forge Royale Carver's Vise.

We've been working out the details for this vise since last October. We're still a few weeks away from the first production run, but here are a few details we can share.

We'll be offering this vise in various configurations (none of which we can guarantee):

1. Metal components only. You provide the wood and build the vise. So start looking for some nice 12/4 stock now. This would be the perfect project for that odd chunk you've had laying around waiting for the right project. Got any big lignum vitae offcuts?

2. Metal components and enough wood to build one vise. Right now we're looking into sourcing some 12/4 stock for the vise. We have a lead on some beech that would work perfectly.

3. A limited run of complete vises, ready to go out of the box, and sequentially numbered. This won't happen for a while, but if it does, they will be special. We're thinking sinker logs of Honduran Mahogany. Don't hold your breath.

Here are some details on the components. All parts will be made from carbon steel, with an oiled black oxide finish. This is the best way to get the hand-forged look without having to rob a bank. The only off the shelf parts will be the wood screws used to fasten the brackets to the wood, and four square nuts. All other parts we're machining from scratch. We're going to use a mix of quick, rudimentary fabrication methods to suggest the hand forged look, along with CNC to keep the cost down and precision where its needed.

These vises were widely used all over Europe (and especially France) before WWII. And for more than just carving.

Here's three men working with their vises, carving parts for furniture. c. 1931

And here's another gentleman working with his carver's vise. This is at L'Ecole Boulle. c. 1912

For more clever uses of this vise, take a look at these videos, both very interesting.

http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/vie-economique/video/VDD09005638/les-ecoles-nationales-professionnelles.fr.html



http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/education-et-enseignement/video/VDD10045545/la-fabrication-d-un-siege-a-l-ecole-boulle.fr.html

English Dovetails and a New Blog

English craftsman David Barron sent us an email a bit ago announcing his new blog, which you can see here.

David uses a Glide Leg Vise in his joinery bench, and in the video above to demonstrate his method for cutting through dovetails (which is simply fantastic in our opinion, especially for beginners). Our favorite moment is right at the 7:00 mark where he gives the wheel a little flick (chisel in hand no less!) to close the vise.

Make sure you check out the lovely tools David is making, here.

Jefferson Cases-Done

Last night I finished up the final, smallest case to top off my set of Thomas Jefferson book boxes.

This has been the largest single dovetailing project I've ever done. Well over 120 individual joints. All were cut by hand using the Lie-Nielsen thin plate dovetail saw. I'll say one thing. "Cut nail" joinery is looking mighty attractive right now.

Material is steamed beech, with three coats of Minwax Antique Oil. All surfaces are hand planed, followed up with paper to smooth the ends of the pins and tails.

The backs of the cases are 1/2" beech, with a beaded shiplap, just like in the article. I fastened the backs with clout nails. I imagine this case will be around for several hundred years.

I made a few changes to the design on the cases. First, on the base (plinth) I designed a cyma reversa with fillet profile instead of using the profile from Chris' cases. I thought the base needed a little beefing up, and this profile seemed to fit a little better to my eye. Next, I changed the dimensions of the cases slightly. The bottom case is the largest, with the case above a tad shorter. The rest of the cases are all from the plans. Thirdly, I changed the depth of the cases for two reason: to better fit the books I have, and so I could layout the dovetails so the spacing is consistent from case to case. I think this helps to unify the look of the piece, while still keeping the separate "book box" theme.

Here's what I like about this project.

1. The cases are all the same. Same layout, same marking gauge settings. I could get setup to build one, and then finish the rest without mental effort.

2. The 48" wide cases work well for wide uninterrupted spans. And this works because each shelf is in effect 1-1/2" thick, especially when the cases are assembled and screwed together from underneath each "shelf" pair. Couple this with the solid back nailed to the back of each horizontal member and you end up with a very rigid structure.

3. The cases do not dominate the shop. I milled all the wood for the entire project in one shot, then stickered it in the corner of the shop as I built each box one at a time. First I built the plinth and lowest case, finished it, took it in the house, and then moved onto the next box. I never had more than one box taking up shop space at a time.

4. Our Moxon vise was indispensable for this project. There are a few commercial versions of the Moxon vise available on the market now. And I've used a few of them, including a couple shop-made versions. I am absoltely spoiled on the handwheels. Their mass and virtually friction-free movement meant I could focus entirely on precision sawing. Frustrating workholding really disrupts my concentration. The Moxon has been wonderful.

Here are some more pics of the piece, in my office.

For Follansbee

Hey Peter, you want racing stripes? You got 'em!

Oh, (and I promise to never do this again) I shot this a few weeks ago out the kitchen window:

Winter Smoother - Tote Shaping

After returning from Brese Plane a couple weeks ago the Winter Smoother sat on the bookshelf in my office for over a week while I caught up from time away.

Then it happened. Sunday afternoon. The eternal day. That magical time when working in the shop  seems so right. It's unlike any other day.

I slung my camera bag over my shoulder, grabbed the tripod, and headed to the shop, Winter Smoother and tote in hand. I dusted off the bench, hit play on my Zune, and started making rosewood dust...