The Renaissance Woodworker » Hand Tool Tips

RWW 91 Hand Tool Tips #3 Boring Straight and True

Shannon — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:56:52 +0000

I’ll bet you thought I forgot about the hand tool tip series. Nope just had some other things in the pipeline first. I’ll be getting back to the Queen Anne Table shortly too but I still have some editing to do on that footage. Let’s just say I’m happy with how it came out. Today I share a little tip on keeping your holes straight and square using a brace and bit.

Enjoy!

Hand Saws Can Maximize Stock Yield and Grain Flow

Shannon — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:27:39 +0000

I was breaking down a beautiful 12″ wide Walnut board for the Queen Anne side table I’m building for The Wood Whisperer Guild build. I got the wide board from the mill specifically for the top that will be 16 x 20. Once I removed the sap wood from both edges the 12″ board would yield about 9.5″ so I would do the top with a 2 board panel. This still leaves about half of the original 8 foot length left over to squeeze out the aprons. However the sapwood lines zig-zags about and limits my total width in a few places. If I were breaking down this stock on a table saw I would be hard pressed to maximize the yield and wouldn’t be able to get all of my aprons from this piece. I guess if I were to use a tapering jig or some way to secure the stock at an angle to the blade I could do it, but why bother when I have hand saws within reach.

Using a rip saw I was able to cut just outside the sapwood transition line that was really at an angle to the actual edge of the board. Then following a parallel line on the opposite sapwood transition I was able to remove a board wide enough to get my wide aprons and my narrower front apron pieces that go around the drawer. If I had run it across the table saw I would have lost about 2″ of heartwood stock.

This entire exercise just reminded me how much freedom you have with hand tools to work with the grain of your raw lumber. A little hand plane work and I have flat and parallel edges and now the grain is parallel to the edge of the board too for a better flow and visual effect around the table. I think I give the impression of being a hand tool purist in this blog and maybe I’m heading that direction, I do still work with my power tools. I think my point is that when I can work the wood by hand, I pay a little more attention to the grain direction and “story” that the tree is trying to tell me.

What A Difference 12 Degrees of Bevel Makes

Shannon — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:30:53 +0000

I have been using a Veritas bevel up smoother for a few years now with no complaints. The stock 25 degree blade was great but I switched over to a 38 degree for a combined 50 degree “York” pitch after a while and dedicated this plane to tough grain situations. I have a refurbished Stanley #4 that I used for everyday smoothing stuff, but as soon as I run into anything figured or with reversing grain I turn to my Veritas.

I just celebrated by 35th birthday this week and my lovely wife gave me a new 50 degree bevel replacement blade for the Veritas. This was something I was interested in trying ever since trying out some of the really premium planes like Brese and Sauer & Steiner while at Woodworking In America last year. These premium tools have their irons bedded at 55, 60, or sometimes higher for that tearout free cut. With this new 50 degree blade bedded bevel up at 12 degrees I now have a smoother set at 62 degrees.

A very little bit of honing and polishing of the primary and micro bevels and the iron was ready to work. I had just finished up a miter bench hook where I crafted the fence out of a scrap piece of maple turning stock that was 1.75″ thick. This particular piece was cut off a highly figured larger piece so while not heavily figured it had some curly grain nonetheless. I had secured the fence and cut the two 45 degree slots and a 90 degree slot. I secured the fence to the hook using glue and Miller dowels so while flushing the pegs to the surface I really began to uncover the wicked grain beneath. This was the perfect test for my new “premium” smoothing plane.

Schnick, schnick, schnick and with three short passes the pegs were flush with nary a torn grain and beautifully glowing curly maple appearing as if from no where. I immediately turned to the other bench hook I have just created. This one I call my low profile hook because the fence is only 1/4″ high and it is meant for working with small pieces. The fence was crafted from left over Bubinga that was already planed to 1/4″ thick. This stock has wicked hard grain with early and late growth rings intertwining throughout. The wood is hard and unforgiving. I had already planed the pegs flush using my old smoothing set up of 50 degrees and it smoothed it but left some tearout in the expected places. I ignored it because…well…it’s a bench appliance. Flush with success using my new 62 degree setup on the other hook I tried to tackle the beastly Bubinga.

Schnick, schnick, schnnnniiiick again and…WOW! What a difference 12 degrees makes!

RWW 83 Hand Tool Tip #2 Squaring End Grain

Shannon — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:14:02 +0000

It’s time for another hand tool tip. You have crosscut that board and now you notice it isn’t square or parallel to the opposite end. Yes you can use a shooting board to fix it, but this gets hard with larger boards. A shooting board is really just a jig that makes a fundamental skill easier. Isn’t it best to learn that fundamental before relying too much on the jig? Let’s show you how to do it the real way without the “crutch”

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RWW Episode 81, Hand Tool Tips # 1

Shannon — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:47:34 +0000

I am introducing a new segment this week called Hand Tool Tips. I capture a lot of footage when I’m working in my shop. A lot of it really isn’t relevant to an ongoing topic or a specific project so it just gets filed away under miscellaneous tips. Hence the birth of Hand Tool Tips. In each episode I will highlight a specific process or technique using only hand tools.

In this episode I demonstrate how you can add a bevel to the long edge of a board using only your hand planes. Doing this same task on a table saw can be dangerous if you’re not very careful and often results in unsightly burning no matter how sharp your blade. Those burns have to be cleaned up with sandpaper or a plane anyway so why not skip the table saw altogether. You might even get it done faster!

I’ll do my best to get out another episode of Hand Tool Tips soon and they may be great filler in between projects (or when I can’t get the video edited in time on an existing project). Please let me know what you think of these short format shows and please let me know if you would like to see a specific topic covered.

Click To Play