The Renaissance Woodworker

So Roubo is not yet done, but I have been giving her a workout while blowing through a bunch of small projects. Since I don’t have my leg vises up and running I have been relying solely on my Benchcrafted end vise. Maybe I have been using it in a way that it was not intended for honestly (like edge planing 8″ wide board by standing them on edge on the benchtop) but I have been getting excellent results. I have been building small boxes a lot so my face planed stock all is in the 1/8 to 1/2″ thick range and I have covered it all using this vise.

Using the slot in the benchtop I have cut several tenons and a few sets of dovetails too. The quality of my dovetails is not the finest but trust me that has nothing to do with the vise holding ability.

I you remember I installed my vise in the late winter so it has experienced the full climate change of the mid atlantic now that we are in the summer heat and humidity. The hardware is stable and solid and I have seen no rust appear as to be expected. The only problem I have encountered was that I fit my dog block a bit too snug and now that the humidity is back the vise jammed as the dog block expanded. My tip is to remember the season when you fit the block and anticipate the movement. I made 2 or 3 passes with my smoothing plane and the block was gliding along smoothly once again.

Stay tuned for some more usage tips and photos of the vise in action as I work with it more closely. So far I give it an A++++!

So you thought I would never get back to Roubo eh? For all of those skeptics out there, this episode is for you. As you all know I had built my legs several months ago as well as my stretchers and they have been sitting off in a corner of my shop feeling lonely and unloved. This week I pulled them out and beat the heck out of them by drilling 8 monstrous mortises and stuffing them with tenons the size of a trashy paperback book. Soon it will be time to mount the top to the legs and not a moment too soon because my Twitter friend Pete Bretzke had a little mishap with his Roubo this weekend that gives me pause considering my bench top is sitting on cheap plastic sawhorses and I have been pounding away on the bench top for a solid 10 hours! Fortunately Pete wasn’t hurt but I am sure he had to take a break to change his shorts!

Anyway, on with the show.

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This may not be news to some of you galoots out there, but I recently stumbled across an outstanding blog called the Logan Cabinet Shoppe. Run by Bob Rozaieski, this blog focuses entirely on period furniture construction and hand tool only usage. What I like most is that there is a nice mixture of lofted formal furniture and “everyman” furniture seen in the more common homes of the 17th and 18th centuries. I think Bob pulls some strong influences from Roy Underhill and Adam Cherubini in his style of furniture. Bob also seems to be fearless with what he will take on and strict in sticking to traditional techniques to make it.

Lately, Bob has been working on building his own tenon saw and I have been fascinated with just how simple he makes it look. Moreover, many of the tools you see Bob working with have been built by him, illustrating that you don’t need to spend a fortune to do good work. I imagine this was just how it went for an 18th century joiner too. You have to start somewhere so build your own tools and tool chest and learn the craft along the way.

Most exciting is the fact that Bob just launched his very own podcast called Hand Tools and Techniques and he just released episode 3. I have to tell you that I am envious of his film quality and editing software because the production value of his show is through the roof and on par with The Wood Whisperer. I am a firm believer that content is the most important aspect of this web 2.0 podcasting revolution, but it sure makes it easier when the video is clear, the shots detailed, and the message well tuned.

If you haven’t picked up on the theme of this post yet, let me boil it down. I love this blog and podcast! Go over and check out Bob Rozaieski’s site and be prepared to spend some time there because there is so much to learn!

This week is the final installment of my desk organizer for The Sawdust Chronicles 30 Day Build Challenge. The judges results are in and your truly won 1st place in the amateur category. I am excited about this because I never win anything. 3 years of sitting in the schwag pile at Matt’s Basement Workshop and I haven’t won a thing!

This was a fun project for me and hopefully a turning point. I haven’t built a lot of designs directly out of my head. At most I can say that I embellished something I saw somewhere else. So with that being said I want to thank the judges over at TSDC for this opportunity to get outside of my woodworking box. I also want to thank the academy, my mom, my wife, and of course God. I remember when I was a young and naive woodworker trying to get by…

(Cue commercial music, ring the gong, and enter crook from stage right)

Enjoy the show and make sure to get over to The Sawdust Chronicles website to check out pictures from all of the entrants projects and the winners list.

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Registration for the October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Woodworking in America Hand Tools and Techniques conference in scenic Valley Forge, PA is now open. By now y’all have probably already learned this through the grapevine but I am going to add my two cents.

A lot of the criticisms from last year were that the classes were too short to cover the material and there were so many choices, you couldn’t help but feel you were missing out on something. Also there was a lot of wishing for more hands on clinics. Well it appears the WIA staff was listening because like the Design conference in August, the class offerings are such that everyone will get a chance to attend every class. Moreover, there are a lot more hands on clinics. Finally, it looks like the suject matter has been tightened up to focus on more specific elements and hopefully allowing a more comprehensive look at each topic in the short time alotted.

I for one will be at this event and I am looking forward to rubbing elbows with some big names and a lot of “friends I have never met” from the blogosphere and woodworking online community.

A word of warning, registration is open now and the conference filled up really quickly last year so get off the fence at head over to the site and get signed up!

By now I’m sure many of you have read about the Hand Tool Olympics coming to Woodworking in America in August. If you haven’t, then head over to the Popular Woodworking blog and read all about it. Basically it is a series of events designed to test the woodworker’s ability to dimension and try a board all the way to cutting a dovetail joint. Here are the events taken directly from the Pop Wood blog.

1. One Meter Dash – Step away from your table saw and venture back into the 1800s. Each contestant is required to accurately rip a 36″ piece of 2 x 12 stock using a handsaw. We hope you practiced the pointers doled out in Popular Woodworking magazine’s “Arts & Mysteries” column. This event is judged mainly on time, with points deducted for going way off the line. (A kinked saw will result in immediate disqualification.)

2. Shooting Sports – Use a jointer plane to straighten and square the edge created during the One Meter Dash. That’s right – you have to do it completely by hand. Crazy. Judging, with a test bar of aluminum, a feeler gauge and an engineer’s square is for straightness and accuracy.

3. Crosscut Extravaganza – Hold your finger straight to sight down the saw (or simply channel your inner square) to accurately crosscut a piece of 2 x 12 lumber. This event is judged mainly for time with points deducted for going way off the line. (A kinked saw will result in immediate disqualification.)

4. Brace Yourself For a Hole in One – Before the advent of electric and battery-powered drill/drivers, carpenters and woodworkers used a brace and auger bits to bore holes. The challenge: Bore a 3/4″ hole in a plank, straight and square to surface of plank (no squares or other aids allowed). It’s not as boring as you might think! Judged for speed. Points off for major blowouts on the backside and any degrees out of square.

5. Pins First or Tails First – You make the call on which method you prefer; we’ll track the numbers to see which is more popular. Either way, you have to complete a well-fit three-pin dovetail joint on a 1×4, using hand tools. Goodbye jig. Judging is subjective – but we know it when we see it. If the competition gets close, we may call in a jury.

6. Greco-Roman Tenons – Produce a 3″-long, 3/4″-thick tenon on the end of a piece of 2×4 stock. Your attempt has to fit into a provided test mortise. This event is judged for time and quality – with some latitude allowed if the tenon is a bit tight, as most are hand planed to final fit.

So you can see that these games will test any galoot’s skills. There will be prizes for the medalists and grand prize winners and there has been mention of some “everyone gets a ribbon” prizes for participating too. I for one am very excited and plan to compete. Stay tuned to my podcast in the coming weeks for a look at my “training” program and I will see you all in August where we shall compete on the field of sawdust (and I don’t mean the local sawdust floor bar…well maybe that would be fun too)

This week I start on the joinery for my organizer. The biggest problem I faced was how to cut angled, stopped dados in my base. The orientation I need for the dividers is opposite from my right tilt saw so I have to improvise to get this cut done. Watch and see how I overcame this obstacle.

Enjoy the show!

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When you have lost your job that’s when. I put this out on Twitter last week, but my employer of almost 12 years will no longer be my employer in a month. Looks like the fumbling economy has taken another victim. Ironically, I am not at all despondant about this. My day job was in the IT sector working in program management with federal projects and a lot of staffing. I have long suspected that this would not be a final stop for me so this is the push I need to try something new.

No I am not ready to throw it all away and open a woodworking business. The craft shows and custom comissions I have landed have taught me that I have a lot more skill building to do before I try to make a living with my craft. I have also realized that the mass production that comes with the craft fair circuit is the quickest way to kill my love for a design or a build.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, I fully plan to keep The Renaissance Woodworker alive and well and I might even benefit from an upswing in my shop time and finally get this Roubo bench finished. However, my priorities need to focus on getting a new job and finding the best place for me to take my career so don’t be surprised if the regularity of posts falls off a little. I will still be at Woodworking in America in August and October so I want to know who else is going and we can all meet up and have an “adult beverage”

OK for a lot of my readers this will be no big deal. You know who you are, those people out there who whip out projects in a weekend or build whole pieces of furniture in just a few hours. I am not one of those woodworkers. I am slow and proud of it. I take great pride in my ability to stretch out a project until I am so tired of working on it that it just never gets completed!

You can imagine how concerned I was when a past customer called me to say that she was getting on a plane to France and needed another one of my Pagoda Boxes to give as a gift to someone. She has bought several of my box designs in the past and every time she did I happened to have one already made “in stock” so delivery was almost instananeous. This time…no dice. I told her I would do my best and at the outside be able to get it to her on Wednesday. I got into my shop at 4 PM yesterday and low and behold I was able to produce a box from scratch in 4.5 hours complete with 4 coats of lacquer.

I was stunned, but I guess I spend so much time multi-tasking that when I put my mind to one project it is surprising just how fast it came together. It probably helps that I have made over 30 of these too!

This week I show you all my design for the 30 day build challenge desk organizer. I will go over that form and the inspiration as well as the species of wood chosen and why. Then I’ll get into the milling.

Judging for this contest is going on right now with winners to be announced on or about June 15th. Stay tuned to TSDC for the results.

Enjoy the show.

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