The Rational Artisan mind & body shaking hands with the created world

Toolchest of 2011

Tue, 6 Dec 2011 13:11:49 -0600

I was fortunate enough to aquire a chest of tools. It was local, but its owner lived in Connecticut, USA.

Old. Tool. Heaven.

I’ll start cataloging the contents, and if it’s not fun for both of us, at least it’s fun for one of us.

Here’s a short video-tour:

Snipe (bill) Hunt

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 14:29:50 -0500

Someone recently proposed that there were snipe-bill planes with a blade configured vertically. I had never seen one, but it could be a sort of snipe-bill scraper.

I have side rabbets that are configured with a vertical (or past vertical) blade, but they are angled to present a shaving and not a scraping surface on the side.

I have one pair of snipe-bill planes, which I thougth were for deepening or defining the quirks in a profile. They are bedded at the more traditional angle.

So, are there scraping snipe-bill planes with vertical blades? I see no reason why not. I’ll have to find me a pair...or two.

You’re kidding me

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:02:32 -0500

This year we put in a small 3x3 “square foot garden”. A popular gardening method, it uses grids of planted seeds instead of rows of planted seeds. This has the benefits of 1) keeping your water on your plants and not on areas that grow weeds, 2) keeping the weed growing area (typically between rows) to a minimum, as there are no rows. and 3) keeping you from trodding on the soil and compressing the roots.

Our goal? Daddy touches nothing, and the kids do everything. After using an old 12 foot pine board that was sticking oddly out of the pile anyway, we talked about perimeter, area, and the merits of a 5x1 garden verses a 4x2 or 3x3 garden.

Sawhorses and squares came next, followed by drills and lag bolts and ratchets.

Then we made the grid. It was the perfect opportunity to use measuring tapes, the miter box, and the router to waste the half lap joints. Everyone is happy. Time to plant.

Gallery Below.
http://gallery.me.com/mcgroves#100230

Rack ‘em

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:52:12 -0500

I don’t mind preferring one particular mortise gauge, the Stanley #77. I need a rack for them, and it’s high time I built one.

The beginnings of the rack involved an Ohio Tools #62 1/2 that ran a molding on what would become the front edge of the rack.

Now it’s time to cut the slots for the gauges. I like the rack to hold them by the head, and in close but not crowded conditions. It helps that they’re all basically the same size.

Here are the tools I’ll end up using. Backsaw in a small wooden miter box. Calipers to mark out the repetitive slots for the gauges. Small square to transfer lines around the stock, marking gauge to scribe depth-of-cut lines. Smoothing plane to....smooth, and block plane for some adjustments to the ogee. A chisel was used for clearing waste.

The wood is some soft mahogany type of wood, maybe even luan. The cutting of the profile is detailed here. After that, I mark out and saw the cheeks of the slots that will cradle each little rosewood gauge.

The chisel easily clears the waste.

A short test fit reveals...it’s going to work!

Now, on the back I was going to use some of the waste from the slots, utilizing the profile, but in the end I didn’t like the cross grain look. I wanted to have two protrusions on the back to house the mounting points for two reasons. #1 It beefs up the area around the mounting point, not that there’s much weight. #2 it allows me to mount the rack on a less than straight surface, or a surface with irregularities.

Here’s the added wood, and drilling.

Now, I see the perfect countersink in the bit block, and use it on the holes.

I used shellac to finish this rack, but mostly for practice, because it’s just some shop furniture. The gloss finish was knocked down to a duller luster, and the rack was mounted on the wall. Success.

I also used the occasion to learn more about using Sketchup, too: Marking Gauge Rack

Profiling

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:27:35 -0500

Not the terrorist kind, but the molding variety.

Reuminations on an Ohio Tool #62 1/2 molding plane have led me to show the process of using this plane to make a molding on a board. I’ll let the pictures tell the story, but this is a start to finish view on a board of some mahogany-esque wood. This piece will be used to make a storage rack for my favorite mortise gauge, the Stanley #77.