The Renaissance Woodworker

It’s been another month and it is time for another installment of Hoarded Treasures exposed. Last month I actually did something with the Lignum Vitae I posted, but this month I am at a loss for what to do with this fine specimen.

This is a 5×5x14 inch block of Grenadillo. It has been waxed hence the sheen to it. I have had this piece for almost two years and still am not sure what to do with it due to it’s odd size. At first glance it would make good turning stock, but I almost think that would be wasteful and veneer might be a better fate. Besides with it being so heavy and large, I am almost scared to chuck this baby up and set it spinning at high speed!

Grenadillo or Granadillo is a tropical hardwood in the Rosewood Dalbergia family from Central America. It is closely related to Cocobolo and is also called Nicaraguan Rosewood. It is very heavy, very hard, and has a tight interlocking grain. In other words all the same properties of Cocobolo. It’s primary uses are in cutlery handles and musical instruments as well as decorative inlays. Supply is limited and therefore very expensive. I feel very blessed to have this piece in my collection.

So what to do with this beautiful piece of hardwood? I have considered cutting it into smaller blocks for lathe work like pens or bottle stoppers, but I would still like to keep some of the width for slicing veneers for box lids. If I do any turning with it, I hope it goes without saying that a respirator is a necessity because the dust is very irritating. I even like to wear long sleeves as the dust has been known to cause a rash.

I really like the slice of sapwood in the corner of this piece too and that could make an interesting book match. Here is a closeup of the grain.

You have to admit that this is some beautiful and interesting wood. You can see why I have been hoarding it for a while and afraid to do something with it. Help me out, give me courage and direction so I can transform this piece into something even more beautiful.

This weekend was all about wrapping up some shop chores. I have several projects for the shop that need to get done before I embark on the Roubo bench project. First and foremost is a dedicate sharpening station. Right now my Tormek, stones, files, etc are kept in a wall cabinet. I have to lug them out everytime I need to freshen an edge. It probably goes without saying that because of that extra step I sometimes wait too long to sharpen and spend more time that I should working with dull tools. So I drew up a list of what I would need to store, how I wanted it organized, and then sketched out a simple cabinet on wheels design to meet those needs.

My philosophy on shop furniture varies depending on how anxious I am to get on to my next project. Most of the time I use these shop projects as a practice session to try out new techniques. My drill press cart that was completely recently was one example:

Here I cut all the tongue and groove joinery for the frame and panels using just a saw and shoulder plane. I cut all the panel grooves using a plow plane, and I hand cut the dovetails that connect the top stretchers to the carcass. It was a fun learning experience and only used scraps that were laying around the shop. In the instance of this sharpening station, I really want to bang it out and move on some other projects. So I decided to built the whole thing using frame and panel again to make use of some 2x construction lumber I have left over from an earlier demolition; however, this time I will use pocket holes for the joinery.

I have the Kreg master kit and I find it to be a great tool. When I first bought it about a year ago, the Woodcraft where I got it was having a special that got me the Bench Klamp system for 50% off when you buy the Master kit. Up until now I haven’t done anything with that bench clamp. Recently I ripped out my old countertops and put in laminate covered MDF for more weight and stability. Now that these are in, I decided it would be good to install the clamping plate. The added bonus being that with all the pocket holes in my sharpening station the assembly will be much faster.

(Are you starting to see where the woodworking A-D-D theme of this site comes from???)

So I built a frame that perfectly fits around the clamp plate and double stick taped the frame down to the countertop where I wanted to install the plate. Using a trim router, I hogged out the laminate and MDF to match the thickness of the plate. Then I used a forstner bit to hollow out the center of the inlay to allow for the bolt that the clamp travels on just like keyhole hanging hardware. Next I had to square up the rounded corners. Normally this is a simple process with a chisel but the added difficulty of laminate made things a little more interesting. That stuff is slick and tough, but eventually I was able to get through it and cleaned up the corners. I fitted the plate and coaxed it into place with a mallet and the fit was great all around the edges. It was a little shallow at the top so I pulled the plate back out and hit the inlay with my router plane to remove that little bit of extra material. Now the plate fits snugly and flush with the counter. I installed the four wood screws at the corners and the clamp was ready to go!

Here it is with the clamp in place.

Finally I put it to the test. Normally when driving the pocket screws, Kreg supplies you with a clamp but you have to have the room to get the clamp under the workpiece and it makes it dicey to line up the pieces and keep them flush. In this instance, I was able to align my rail and stile perfectly and just drop the clamp and was ready to drive the screws.

This will save me a huge amount of time and I can already see other areas where this handy clamp will be very useful. Maybe I’ll buy one or two more now and sit on those for a year before installing them!

Feeling a little inspired after listening to Dave Noftz’s recent podcast: Watch Out for Falling Clamps, I started thinking about the non spinning blade dangers in my own shop. I have really good dust collection since it is a smaller shop and my 1.5 HP collector is only ever hooked up to one machine at a time. I have a Festool RO 150 sander and dust extractor for my sanding needs and that produces practically no dust, and I do a lot of hand tool work that makes shavings and not dust. However, I still find myself using the ShopVac to clean up the floors constantly.

I’m not cleaning up wood dust though, but something just as dangerous for the respiratory system, something that contributes to even more allergies, and something that is really slick on an epoxied concrete floor when it piles up. What is the vile substance you ask???

Golden Retriever hair!!! It is everywhere I look and all over my clothes. I find it statically attached to my chisels, clinging to the table saw rails, sticking to wet finishes, inside drawers, inside the mask of my respirator (yuck!), and constantly clogging the intake on the Jet air filter. So until the fine folks at Festool turn their brilliant dust collection minds to veterinary practice I think I am on my own in finding a solution for this one.

Anyone remember the Flowbee?

Maybe just a good haircut is all he needs.

Here is my best attempt at the solution. I have always embraced the dust collection at the source methodology. Now I just have to make sure the hose is long enough and can withstand excited 120lb Golden Retriever speeds and g forces!

**************DISCLAIMER************
No animals were harmed in the creation of this blog post. In fact in an illustration of karma, Alex shook off his dust collection rig and preceded to tackle me, drool on my face, and shove a sopping wet squeaky toy into my hand.

All is right with the balance of the universe now.

This is a first in a series of wood turning podcasts. In this episode I discuss gouges, parting tools, skew chisels, scrapers, and hollowing tools. Additionally I discuss what your first set of tools could look like and how to care for your tools.

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So last month in my Tales from the Hoard post I highlighted a chunk of Lignum Vitae. After my recent foray into carving I decided to put that particular piece to use and turn a new carving mallet.

I thought this might make a good post on typical spindle turning. Let me warn you though that there is nothing typical about Lignum Vitae. This stuff is ridiculously hard!! I must have hit the Tormek about 3 different times while turning this mallet.

Anyway, after cutting the block to an approximate length leaving about 1 inch on either end for mounting in the lathe, I marked the centers. Then I seated the drive center on one end with a good knock from a plastic tipped hammer.

Then I mounted the block in the lathe. You don’t need to apply too much pressure on the other end with the tail stock. Many people tighten this too much and it can damage the bearings on your head stock. I slide the tail stock close, lock it in place, and screw the live center over until it touches and then about 1/2 turn more to seat the piece. Just make sure you seat the tail stock on the center mark.

With the diameter of this piece being over 3 inches and the length just over 12″ I dropped the speed down to 1200 RPM. Using a 1″ roughing gouge I turned the whole block into a cylinder. Then I used a pencil to mark out the transition dimensions on the blank where the mallet tapers, transitions to the handle, the handle flares, and then finally terminates.

Using a 1/4 parting tool, I reduced the thickness at each point to my desired diameter using my Galbert caliper. The back to the roughing gouge I formed the gentle taper of the mallet head.

With the curves of this piece being so gentle I actually use the roughing gouge to do all the shaping with the exception of the sharp taper from the mallet head to the handle. Here I used a 1/2 spindle gouge.

Finally, I used my parting tool again to define the ends of the mallet but kept the material thick enough to support the sanding and finishing. I worked from 150 grit up to 400 grit and then put a single coat of shellawax on the mallet and it was good to go.

During the final parting from the lathe I did taper slightly inward forming a slight concavity on both ends. This allows the mallet to stand on it’s end on the bench without rocking.

With about 30 minutes of work I now have a carving mallet to last through the ages!

Welcome to the very first episode of the Renaissance Woodworker podcast. This is just a short little intro to talk about some of my plans for future episodes. Thanks for listening and come back soon for more.

Questions or suggestions?

Email me at:
shannon@rogersfinewoodworking.com

Or leave a comment below.

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Many of you are probably wondering what happened to my Windsor. I had put up two posts detailing the sanding and dying but stopped there. I managed to get one coat of varnish on the chair before I left for vacation. This past weekend I applied three more coats of General Finishes Satin Arm-R-Seal. I continued to sand with 400 grit between coats as I wanted the smoothest possible finish on the final coat.

One thing that was gratifying was seeing how the wood soaked up the varnish and began to take on a nice warm glow. I wiped on the entire finish using a cotton rag. On the first coat I did get quite a bit of lint showing up, but I reused the same rag on the successive coats and had no problems from there on.

You can see that the seat really took on a nice glow and there is definate evidence of it being a hand rubbed finish. I particularly like this look since all the of spindles and bent pieces have the slightly faceted feel of a spokeshave as compared to the perfectly round spindles on a lathe, giving an overall “handmade the old fashioned way” character.

I am also quite pleased with how the maple legs came out. This being such a tight grain I wasn’t sure how they would blend after all the coats but they have that same glow throughout.

Finally, I did some extra sanding on the arms to give a bit more of a weathered feel to it and to expose some more of the wedged through tenon.

This was definately a labor of love and I wanted to make sure it came out just right. Sanding was extremely laborious and I want to thank Alex for his moral support and company while I sweat through it.

I know, I know, really bad pun. Shakespeare would be proud of me. You may remember that I mentioned I was going to take a crack at carving while on vacation in Maine last week. Our annual vacations to Maine are wonderful in that there is nothing to do on the small island where we stay. I know many of you can sympathize with the “I need a vacation from my vacation” syndrome that happen nowadays. We plan a family vacation and by the time you have gotten all the packing and house arrangements (dog sitting, mail stoppage, etc), and arrived at your destination you are exhausted. Then after a series of long days in Disneyworld, hot, sandy days on the beach, or getting lost in strange cities, you come home even more tired than when you left.

My family’s trip to Maine is nothing of the sort. Every year we stockpile our books and puzzles for our quiet and infinitely relaxing trip to Maine. An average day starts with a late rise from bed, leisurely breakfast, perhaps a walk around the island with the dogs, then back to the house to get lost in a good book. I came prepared with my sketch book prepared to put down on paper some of the furniture and box designs that have been kicking around my head, some great books, and a small selection of carving chisels and basswood. Inspired by T-Chisel’s period shell carvings and The Village Woodworker’s tusk tenons, I wanted to learn some basic carving as a way to differentiate some of my designs. I do several craft shows a year and I sell a lot of smaller items like keepsake boxes or bowls. I have this idea to add small relief carvings to them as a way to spice them up. (or perhaps to draw attention away from that gap in the dovetail on the back corner)

I got a few carving books out of the library and did some research. Then after a trip to Woodcraft I was prepared with a tool roll of chisels and 2 chip carving knives. This was surprisingly affordable because my local Woodcraft was having a clearance sale on selected overstocked Swiss made tools. (Finally they put something on sale BEFORE I buy it)

I wanted to try both relief carving and chip carving thinking that both would look pretty cool on a small box or as an accent to a drawer front or table top. I will put together a podcast in the future specific to carving and the different types out there and skip that today and just say that there are plenty of great books out there on carving. Check out your local library, bookstore, or Woodcraft/Rockler and you will be surprise just how many titles you can find.

So here is some of what I came up with in my practice. I started with some chip carving and found this to be a lot harder than I thought. Getting all the cuts at the same depth and the walls of the chips to line up takes a bit of practice. Getting the feel for the knives was hard too as it feels completely different from chisel work. Once you get comfortable though, you find it a little addicting as there is no end to the geometric designs and embellisments you can create. Here is a picture of some of the border designs I was playing with that include the traditional dreischnitt and sechsschnitt triangular cuts.

Here is another corner of the board where I was playing with some fan shapes and my first rosette. These were pretty hard because you have the stack the chips up against one another and the wood gets thin in between so I had some tear out in places.

Nest I turned to my chisels to try some relief carving. I wanted to stay away from the geometric stuff and try some more natural designs. I sketched a few things I saw around me on the board. One of which was a fern shape since I was surrounded by a forest full of them. I traced the lines with the V tool and then scooped out the fronds between the lines using a #9 gouge. I quickly discovered that I didn’t need to outline the fronds with the V tool but could scoop them better with just the 9 sweep. Here is the best one I did:

You’ll notice the little Japanese character next to it. I pulled this off one of my sister-in-law’s origami papers. I have no idea what it means. Anyone out there want to venture a guess? I just thought the fern came out with a certain Asian look to it. So next I tried some tall grasses thinking it would complement the design. This is just V tool work.

Finally I turned to one of my books to see if I could take a stab (the puns just keep on coming) at a more complicated design. So here is the main event:

I drew several concentric circles on the board and sketched the petals by hand. Then I outlined everything with the V tool. Next using a #7/12mm gouge I stabbed the outline around the petals severing the fibers around the flower. I relieved (or grounded out) the wood around the flower with a #7 fishtail gouge thereby “raising” the flower above the surrounding wood and bringing it into sharp relief. Next it was just a matter of rounding some edged and scooping out hollows in the petals to give it a 3D look. I carved the crisscross lines in the center using a V tool again.

I am really happy with how this last attempt came out. There is definately some chip out and areas that need to be cleaner but I know that will come with practice. The really shocking thing about this exercise is it was really easy. I think carving is one of those free form styles of woodworking that just scare us into not trying it because it involves artistry over machinery and straight lines. Once you actually put chisel to wood though, you start to have a lot of fun and the wood just peels away and starts to take shape. Even cooler is the fact that you can do this anywhere. I did bring along a couple of ceramic stones and a leather strop to keep the tools sharp, but the bulkiest item I had to bring along with me was the wood.

I hope to do some more of this work in the near future and soon plan to incorporate some simple designs into my work. I would love to hear anyone’s comments or suggestions of designs to take on next. If nothing else take a look around you and observe the shapes in your everyday. You might find yourself wondering how they look carved into the lid of your next box. I admit that my surroundings in Maine did offer up plenty of help in the inspiration department.

So as promised, I took a trip to the Lie Nielsen factory while vacationing in Maine.

We had less than perfect weather this year in Maine and while it made for bad kayaking and sun bathing, it was great for a pilgrimage to Warren, ME. Just up the road from the world famous Moody’s diner you see that telltale red roof come into view.

When you first step through the door into the showroom, you cannot help but take a deep breath and sigh. It is a beautiful showroom done in all hardwood floors, ceiling, and walls. It smells of wood shavings too. Arrayed around the room is a veritable museum of old Stanley tools. On the cases on the walls are all of the Lie Nielsen planes. What is most exciting is that you can walk up to any of these items, pick it up, and take it over to any number of the benches and go to work.

My wife accompanied me and I asked her later what she thought of it anxious to get the perspective of a non woodworker. Even she was taken aback by the quality of the tools. Heather will admit that she had no idea what each plane was or why you need so many, but I caught her picking up one or two and examining them closely with an impressed look on her face. I still don’t think she understands the reverence that I have for Lie Nielsen products, but at least she could understand the hard work that goes into all of their products. If nothing else she has plenty to make fun of me about as I raced around the showroom like a little kid in a candy store. I spent some time at the bench trying out the Scrub plane and Fore plane to reduce a rough board to approximately 7/8″ thick. I then went to town with the beautiful #7 jointer and the low angle Jack. The cool thing is that all of these showroom planes are tuned nicely and the shavings I was pulling off this curly maple stock were magnificent. Next, I pounded out a mortise using some of the socket mortise chisels, and finished it off using the little router plane. What a joy!!

I talked to Ted in the showroom and asked him about a tour of the factory and he was only happy to oblige. He took a quick poll of the 5 other guys there and of course everyone was interested in taking a peek behind the curtain. So we donned our safety goggles and tramped out into the rain and mud across the compound to one of the production shops.

This is the chisel line where the CNC routers are transforming bar stock steel into the socket chisels. Ted showed us the various stages of the steel from rough stock to finished chisel. What is fascinating is that the CNC machines really only do the rough phases and all the refinement is done by a human and a grinding wheel. In fact throughout the factory it was surprising just how hands on the production process is. I guess that is what quality is all about. In the picture you can see one of the chisels being lapped to 400 grit by hand.

Next we turned a corner and were standing in the plane blank area. Ted told us that all the blanks come from a quarry in New Hampshire. This is where both the bronze and iron casting is done. It was really interesting to see the rough blank as it shows up at Lie Nielsen and watch the various stages to take it to a shiny plane body. Most impressive were the boxes and boxes of plane bodies just waiting to be worked. Here is a box of edge trimming bronze planes.

The plane line was a mass of bodies and CNC machines. It was hard to really see what was going on at each stage but our guide Ted was kind enough to explain all the steps that these plane bodies go through. I took a bunch of pictures here, but upon examination they really don’t show anything and I deleted most of them due to poor quality. (I am inspired by the QC at Lie Nielsen I guess). One thing I thought was cool was the pile of shavings that they create in their shop. Just a little different from what I am used to in my own shop.

Next we tromped back out in the mud and crossed over to the blade room.
This was startling because it looked so familar. Granted the machines are bigger but the sharpening process is just the same as in any of our shops. Someone is grinding bevels on a grinding wheel, another person is lapping and honing using a scary sharp on steroids method. This is where the level of hand made quality really comes into play.

Just a short walk down the hall and into the assembly room. This was really cool as all you see are tubs and tubs of shiny parts. From knurled bronze knobs, to iron and bronze frogs and everything in between. Three people stood at a long table and were painstakingly assembling bench planes. While I was there, they were working on a batch of #4 bronze smoothers. I was once again struck by the meticulous nature of this work. A part would be added and it would be checked against a straight edge or checked for square. This was definately unlike any assembly line I had ever seen where mindless drones insert tab A into slot B. It was obvious how much care these workers put into their work. Across the room one worker was dong a final check on a run of inlay tools and the smell of Linseed oil permeated the room there.

That brought us back to the showroom. I played around with some of the tools some more, but that was it. My wife and I had agreed before the trip that we would just look and save our money for another time. (Woodworking In America in November!!!) Heather was nice enough to buy me a cool Lie Nielsen T shirt though and she now has a better idea why I am so taken with these tools. I have a strong suspicion that somehow something got bought while my back was turned and might show up on a future special ocassion though. The parting thought I had while driving away was how friendly everyone was in the factory. Many of the workers wanted to know where we were from and what we thought. Everyone knew everyone else’s name and they all appeared to be woodworkers themselves. The pride in their work is obvious in how they carry themselves and the products they create. All in all, I was so impressed. I couldn’t stop talking about it for days.

If you are in Maine, make a point to visit Lie Nielsen you won’t regret it. Oh and stop at Moody’s on the way back and get some pie: best stuff on the planet!!

So I lied, I had to get one more posting in before vacation. Remember a few posts ago when I was whining about different manufacturers requiring different bushing for their pen kits. I showed a picture of a prepared pen blank ready to turn. That blank was a piece of Buckeye Burl. I have heard people rave about this stuff for years but never got my hands on it. I couldn’t resist so I stopped at Woodcraft and picked up the proper bushings for the Euro Pencil kit and tonight at 11:30 I was in the shop getting one more fix before vacation.

Pardon the gratuitous pictures but this stuff is B-E-A-utiful!!!

Here is the other side. Check out that crazy grain!

This last shot I call the “Starry Night” because it looks just like Van Gogh’s painting.

Surprisingly the Buckeye turns much better than any other burl I have worked with. It is a very soft and light wood so the gouges just tear through it like butter. With other, denser burls you constantly have to be on the look out for tear out. Not so with this stuff. I highly recommend it. The finished product is outstanding and will garner oohs and ahhs for a long time.

See y’all after vacation!