The Renaissance Woodworker

If you haven’t ever stopped by The Full Chisel blog written by Stephen Shepherd then you have missed out on a lot. Honestly I cannot recall how I came across this blog, but I know that it has been more than 6 months ago. I have been a devoted reader and commentor ever since. Stephen Shepherd is a period furniture maker and a devoted historical reinactor who has covered everything from old world furniture construction techniques and hand made finishes to hand tool refurbishment and of course workbenches. Stephen has spent the last 4 years working at the “This is the Place Heritage Park” in Salt Lake City where he has run the cabinetmaker’s shop. Using only hand tools and traditional techniques, Stephen has created some beautiful pieces. More impressive than the beauty of his work is his strict attention to detail and devotion to keeping true to the pieces and techniques of the period.

I particularly enjoyed his historical posts where he discusses the apprentice, journeyman, and master titles of the 17th century and a glimpse into the day to day life of a 17th century joiner or cabinetmaker. His series on saws was extremely illuminating and has given me a better understanding of hand saw construction and sharpening. Stephen’s writing style is witty, informative, and somewhat editorial. His blog is really nothing special in aesthetics (I hope he doesn’t take offense to that as I know he stops by here every so often), but rather, it is a straight Wordpress Kubrick standard theme. His blog is all about the content, and what a lot of content there is. Don’t try to get through all this in a weekend! So many blogs today are all about the widgets and the pictures and Stephen’s blog doesn’t need that. Although he does have some great pictures.

Today I read that Stephen will be moving on from his current post in Salt Lake City. I don’t know the details but he does mention the “fired” word in his blog. His latest post is filled with optimism and excitement for the future. Stephen, claiming that retirement is close at hand, posts that he will finally get to improving the site, finishing some books, writing a novel, teaching some workshops, and finishing some paintings. Is that all???!! Now that is a Renaissance woodworker if I have ever seen one. As I commented on his blog, I am sorry for his lost job but more excited by what we his readers may be now privy to as he will have more time to share his expansive knowledge.

Let me say that if these hinted at “workshops” do come to be that I will be he first name on the list! Stephen if you are reading this, keep up the great writing and keep up the craft. Now that you are going to retire, it sounds like you can finally get down to business.

In this week’s episode I discuss the principles of turning tool handling.

1. Match the speed of the lathe to the size of your work piece

-Under 2 1/2″ square: 2000 rpm, over 24″ long: 1500 rpm
-2 1/2″ - 4″: 1500 rpm, over 24″ long: 1000 rpm
-over 4″: 1000 rpm, over 24″ long: 750 rpm
-up to 8″:1000 rpm, over 2″ thick: 750 rpm
-8-12″: 750 rpm
-over 12″: as low as it goes.

2. Tool should be supported and resting on tool rest before it touches the workpiece

3. Rub the Bevel

-the bevel should be supporting the cut directly behind the cutting edge. In this photo (sorry for the focus here) you can see the bevel supporting the cut.

4. Scrapers should be used in a downward presentation or “tailing” mode.

-the bevel is so short due to the high angle (70-80 degrees) so the cutting edge should be presented first instead of the bevel.

5. The portion of the tool doing the cutting should have direct support from the tool rest
Here the roughing gouge is turned to engage the left side of the tool but that side is not supported by the tool rest.

In this photo the same left side of the gouge is presented to the wood, but the tool is rotated to support the cutting edge.

6. Always cut downhill

Finally, don’t forget safety. Exotic wood can be very irritating to the eyes, lungs, and skin. Wear a respirator and a turning jacket to keep the shavings out of your shirt and off your arms.

As always, please leave me a comment here or drop me a line at shannon@rogersfinewoodworking.com

Or follow me on Twitter, just click on the sidebar to the right.

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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their comments and just for stopping by. I had to upgrade to Photobucket Pro tonight to keep up with the bandwidth demands due to all the traffic the blog has been generating.

Thanks again to everyone, best 40 bucks I ever spent!

It’s late August and here I am at home while all the cool kids are off at IWF in Atlanta. I caught a few hours of Wood Whisperer Live at IWF this morning and a few minutes yesterday morning. Wasn’t a good idea since I was supposed to be working. All I succeeded in doing was pulling my focus from the tasks at hand and daydreaming about making some saw dust myself. I have to say though that I am still amazed at the technical capabilities presented to us today. At one point in the Wood Whisperer chat room today we had 4 continents represented watching live video of a wood show in Atlanta, GA. Very, very cool Marc and Nicole! Thank you both for bringing us along so we can live vicariously through you.

Anyway, I had several stops to make on the way home today and between cell phone calls and those stops I managed to listen to the latest episode of the Splintered Board podcast. I think I listened to the whole 45 minute episode over a period of 6 hours. When I Twittered this, Rick responded apologizing for his ramblings and tangents. First of all, no one can hold a candle to the tangent king, Matt Vanderlist. (and I say that with lots of love) Secondly, I think that is what I find so entertaining about podcasts is that somebody can just rattle off their thoughts and share them with the world.

I responded to Rick that his show didn’t sound like rambling at all but just the result of a sweet wood dust high. I know we can all relate to that. I cannot count the number of nights that I have lost sleep because I cannot get my brain to shut off after a great day in the shop. I’ll lie there in bed thinking about the next step in the project or designing the look of something too charged up to sleep. Sometimes, I rush in from the shop covered in dust holding up a random piece of joinery or a freshly planed board and babble excitedly to my wife about the wonders I have just created. She smiles and nods and sends me back to the shop.

Now with this incredible web 2.0, digital revolution we are seeing in the woodworking world you can take a little bit of that feeling with you throughout the day. Call it our way of keeping up a nice buzz.

So after a long day of work with some samplings of twitter chat, Wood Whisperer live, and woodworking podcasts, I came home with a healthy wood dust buzz ready for the real stuff. I quickly shed the suit and tie and headed to the shop. No real time to do much but just enough to get my brain sparking and the room to start spinning.

Ahhhhh! Now that is the good stuff!

OK now I am just plain baked on the wood dusty goodness. All is right with the world again.

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.

Per the request of a few viewers here is a picture of some of the tools I speak about in this episode.

From the top you see a spindle gouge, round edge scraper, roughing gouge, and a bowl gouge.

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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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