Acornhouseworkshop

Yesterday was a long day at school so no activity in the shop at all. Today, however, started with a trip to Parkersburg; primarily to see if Lowe’s and Home Depot had any decent shrubbery (One that looks nice . . . and not too expensive . . .Ni! . . Ni!) – they didn’t. Guess it is too early still. Of course a trip to Parkersburg means a visit to Woodcraft.

O, vile Temptress.

Ok, not really vile, but I always end up spending much more than I had planned, especially since Saturday’s are when they haul out all of the returns and clearance items at really low discounts. (Parkersburg being the home of the chain, they get ALL of the mail order returns.) Today was no exception. I was just going to pick a couple of small things, honest. Then I noticed the nice, new, shiny wet sharpening machine – a TiGer – at over 60% off. This was not a return, they were clearing out a number of them. I tried to avert my gaze, went about the rest of my shopping, but at the checkout, the lure was too great; I put my stuff on the counter and grabbed one from the stack. I know it will make my sharpening chores much easier and faster, which will encourage me to do it more frequently, which means sharper tools, which means safer tools. See, it’s really a safety issue.

Back at the shop, this afternoon, I set about turning the bowl in the cutting board. (The glue up turned out ok.) After the initial roughing out, I had to turn the lathe off after each pass, to make sure I was conforming to the shape of the knife blade. Then sanding to 200 grit. (Of course, a couple of uses and all my sanding goes out the window, but at least I can deliver a smooth product.) Here’s a pic with just the bowl oiled. Tomorrow I will cut, fit and glue some more walnut to fill in the gaps and finish the baord.

This morning was fun (and I mean that in the most sarcastic tone I can muster). I jointed and ripped and cut to length all of yesterday’s glue-ups, as well as a few straight walnut pieces. After playing around a bit, I finally came up with a design that I liked. The problem was then how best to glue it up. Because of all of the interlocking pieces, I didn’t see a good way to make subassemblies, everything is oriented on everything else. So, a very frantic, manic glue up of 27 pieces, trying to get the glue spread before it sets up too much, and making sure everything is aligned, and clamped. Clamps, clamps and more clamps. Trying to find a way to get a clamp on every piece. I think I got every joint tight, only tomorrow will tell. That’s clamping pressure!

Got started on a new commission today after classes. I am making an endgrain cutting board with an integral bowl to match an Alaskan Ulu knife. I’m using walnut, sycamore and jatoba. After resawing, thickness sanding and cutting to length, I glued up the 11 layer sandwich. Tomorrow, I’ll joint the glued edges, cut it up, and reglue again, building up a mosaic pattern. Then, into a jig for some faceplate turning to create the bowl. Then, more glue up to form the rest of the board. (Hm, wonder if I can get sponsorship from Titebond?)

Here are the two mini-projects from the weekend. The pen/pencil holder needs a few more coats of shellac, but the temperature started dropping again, and, since both the workshop and the finishing area are unheated, it will have to wait. It was nice to get back into to the shop and create.

While I’m waiting for my order of Quartersawn White Oak for the dining table to get out of the kiln, I’m continuing readying the workshop. Got the lathe cleaned up and got some beech glued up ready to turn a new mallet tomorrow. 

Got some warming up done on a small project, making a pen/pencil holder for my office from some spalted maple and walnut scraps. Following Marc Spagnuolo‘s design with mitered corners and a base with a glue block to attach the top.

I’ve been having some discussions on the Fine Woodworking Knots forum about how to clean an antique Plow plane that I acquired. There are many debates in the collecting community about how to clean old tools, when to clean old tools, and IF you should clean old tools at all. I have read methods ranging from wax, mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, Murphy’s Oil Soap, etc……

One of the problems with this particular plane are that all of the screws are rusted and locked in place. I don’t want to risk breaking any of them (hard to find replacement 150 year old screws at Lowes!) so I may not be able to make this a user; it may just remain on display. (Hmmmm, guess that means I’ll have to build a display case. Yet another project to add to the list.)

This plow plane was made by J. Kellogg in Amhearst, Mass. c.1850s-1860s. Being originally from Massachusetts myself, I’m going to stick to collecting planes from Mass. makers.

Now that the weather has started to warm up, I’ve been cleaning up, trying to get rid of the accumulated cut-offs and scraps (hey, I’m originally from New England, throwing things away is alien to me) and organizing so I have room to, well, work!

I’ve gotten all of the stationary tools derusted from the winter’s damp and even got around to rebuilding my cutoff sled. (bigger isn’t ALWAYS better!)

One of the first major projects will be a commissioned dining table in quartersawn white oak. I’ll be creating a Greene & Greene inspired piece to compliment the buffet.

Next up, SHARPENING!