Alright it appears there are quite a few of y’all that do some woodworking around here. Post up your projects!
I’ll start off with some cutting boards I did for Christmas.
I’ll start off with some cutting boards I did for Christmas.
Maggie’s The Wood Shop
- Thread starter TxWelder35
- Start date
Begone with that foul substance!
I rehandled my double bit axe last saturday.
I formed the walnut wedge with a hand plane.
I formed the walnut wedge with a hand plane.
Question to other wood workers. What is the correct profile/way to sharpen a draw knife? Flat back like chisel or plane blades or something else?
Have a cool old J.S. Cantelo folding draw knife that needs sharpened and no idea how its supposed to be done. Got it from my grandpa (1913-2008) who mightve got it from his dad or father in law. It's that old. Late 18 somethings patent date on it. Will try to remember to take good pictures of it later after work.
Have a cool old J.S. Cantelo folding draw knife that needs sharpened and no idea how its supposed to be done. Got it from my grandpa (1913-2008) who mightve got it from his dad or father in law. It's that old. Late 18 somethings patent date on it. Will try to remember to take good pictures of it later after work.
Coffee table I made a couple years ago out of oak my dad cut on his property in Missouri.
Chessboard out of oak and walnut. I poured the ceramic chess pieces in high school 30+ years ago, they are pretty big, so I made the board with 1 3/4" squares.
Chessboard out of oak and walnut. I poured the ceramic chess pieces in high school 30+ years ago, they are pretty big, so I made the board with 1 3/4" squares.
These slabs have been sitting in my backyard air drying since October. Hoping I get to use start playing with them this year but I doubt they will be dry enough. Saved them from the landfill
Interested to hear what glue and what finish you used on those cutting boards, please.
Built this boot bench recently -
Maple and walnut
Built this boot bench recently -
Maple and walnut
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Titebond 3 and mineral oil on the boards
I've got some teak pieces here from '83 that we're going to re-finish for our boat in the next few weeks. I'll put up pics when we get it all coordinated, as using the acid/base for stripping is definitely an 'interesting' method.
Works beautifully, just is completely opposite to any previous wood re-finishing I've ever done.
Works beautifully, just is completely opposite to any previous wood re-finishing I've ever done.
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Those cutting boards are really nice.
Half rotten piece of mesquite I found. Epoxy.
I want to make a chess set so bad, or at least a board. My grandmother made me a ceramic chess set when I was in middle school and the board sagged in the middle when it was fired
Black walnut desk top I finished for a customer
White oak dining table rough up, still have to trim up the length and I’m going to rip out the sapwood in the middle joint, just wanted to do a quick mock up and see where I was width wise.
Maple coffee table top I did for my eldest brother this past Christmas.
I’m not a legit wood worker but one day when I have some free time, I’ll get way more into it
LOVE the chess board!!! Very well done! I'm a big chess nerd and really enjoy playing. I've been wanting to make(and maybe sell?) some chessboards. The bishops & queen look very similar. I'd like to turn/spin up the pieces and carve out the knights to go with them.
I had a thread on it last year, the board, not the pieces. I think I was a sophomore in HS (so probably 35 years ago?) when I did the pieces, there was a board, checkers and case that all went with that project. If I had a lathe I'd spin up some wood pieces, that's a someday project.
ETA: My dad does a lot of wood projects now that he finally decided to retire (he's 76 now). He makes wine racks, jewelry boxes, cedar chests, Lazy Susans, end tables, night stands, etc...anyhow, he said he never uses biscuits anymore, just glue and clamps.
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Some of my folks' projects, dad does wood crafts, mom does quilting and crocheting. They are doing craft fair / flee market type sales, along with special orders and such for localish folks where they live.
This was forty years ago. Went to a Catholic HS, no shop class. So I signed up at a public school for woodshop for 4hrs/day for summer school. A very nice girl in the class spent the better part of three weeks meticulously cutting out and gluing up her chess board. (measuring with a dial micrometer). The corners were all perfect. Her's was going to be the nicest, we were happy for her.
So it's time to plane it and make it pretty and the idiot instructor runs it through the planer sideways - across the grain.
It shoots out like shrapnel in about 30 pcs. She's like "what happened"?
Just about every time I use my planer, I think of that poor girl.
So it's time to plane it and make it pretty and the idiot instructor runs it through the planer sideways - across the grain.
It shoots out like shrapnel in about 30 pcs. She's like "what happened"?
Just about every time I use my planer, I think of that poor girl.
With ceramics if the green ware isn’t dry when fired it will likely explode if fired too fast. Warping was likely caused by uneven drying.
Sounds like I cheated the way I did my chess board. I glued boards together, then crosscut with the table saw and glued them back together with colors alternating.
The only ceramics I did were my chess pieces. My wife did a "truck load" of flower pots when we were in Korea. I never saw the kiln she used, but it must have been at or near the nursery/greenhouses that she went to all the time. I know she had some that were destroyed in the kiln though.
We only used draw knives to flesh hides in the fur shed; since they never ran in to anything "hard" we would just use a sharpening steel, like you'd have in the kitchen. For wood draw knives, I think a fine cut file would be the way to go. You only want to use it on the angled side, and leave the flat side flat...otherwise it's not going to cut right without adding a sharper angle to get the edge to cut.
I did mine in the first post the same way. The top row slid about 1/16” on final glue up and I didn’t notice til after the glue dried
It takes a little while for the glue to "dry", but it gets to the point of not moving in just a couple minutes. Might have to do with how dry the wood is to start with, but from my experience you don't have much time to adjust before it's too late.I did mine in the first post the same way. The top row slid about 1/16” on final glue up and I didn’t notice til after the glue dried
No idea. It’s not unusable, it’s just sagging a bit but it is noticeable
I have this "thing" about safes -
and "mechanical things" -
and "thanks for being here" gifts -
(note the drawer "knobs" are uniform buttons)
(He owned a hardware store - and retired. His staff wanted something to give him. They worked at the cash register . . . so I made him a cash register.)
(They asked me to put together an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. I wanted to give them something to remember it.)
and "mechanical things" -
and "thanks for being here" gifts -
(note the drawer "knobs" are uniform buttons)
(He owned a hardware store - and retired. His staff wanted something to give him. They worked at the cash register . . . so I made him a cash register.)
(They asked me to put together an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. I wanted to give them something to remember it.)
I make "big" things -
and "little" things -
and "little" things -
You sir are talented. That safe is awesome. Construction equipment is super cool also
I feel like billy madison playing the clarinet next to you guys. Id be embarrassed to post my work bench. Beautiful work.
Nice work and see you are a fan of lie-Neisen tools as well. Over the years picked up many of the same tools shown in your cabinet and the quality is second to none with one of my favorites being the No. 51 Shoot Board Plane. Need to post a picture of my woodworking table I built many years ago.
With the cost of used tools today, Lie Nielsen are the best value in tools you can buy.
Mine are in constant use
Mine are in constant use
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Where are you finding deals on them? I’ve been looking for some good used planes and haven’t had much luck
Would love to see your bench. When you start buying Lie Nielsen it’s hard to be satisfied with anything else.
What I’m saying is, stop looking for used and buy direct from Lie Nielsen. The days of $5 barely used Stanley no4 planes at garage sales is long over.
This^^^ There was a time when you could find older Record and Stanley planes that were in decent shape. Over the years I collected complete set from No.1 to 8C with all the variants in between. Had the soles precision ground and lapped and installed Hock chip breakers and blades. They work beautifully but for the amount of work I had to put into them just more practical to go with LIe-Neilsen. When I got into woodworking many years ago the quality English tools were still available but those days are long gone.
Exactly. Plus the internet, lol. Rusted out planes are priced within spitting distance of new planes.
Every Lie Nielsen tool I own I could sell today for more than I paid for them, and that’s including the ones I’ve owned for over a decade and used a ton.
The only time you’ll regret purchasing a Lie Nielsen tool is at the time you pay for the very first one. Once you open the box, you’ll be happy. Once you use it you’ll understand that Lie Nielsen tools are incredibly cheap.
I do still buy big box store chisels as beater chisels though.
I prefer pig sticker mortise chisels. I had one set cut shorter and re-ground because I believe most mortise chisels are much longer than necessary. More control with shorter mortise chisels. I’ve been eyeing a set of the Ashley Iles butt chisels for the same reason.
For my bench planes, I settled on the 1/2 series (4 1/2, 5 1/2) because the blades are the same as the No 7 jointer. Streamlining, lol.
If you work with a lot of rough lumber and dimension by hand, I recommend your first plane be a 5 1/2 jack. Order an extra blade and grind a radius on it to use for scrubbing. Getting a beater number 4 to convert to a scrub is worthwhile. All you really need to do is grind a radius and open the mouth a bit.
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Scrub planes take a board from this: 
To this in fairly short order:
If I recall correctly, about 45 minutes to take out the twist and flatten that 65” board.
To this in fairly short order:
If I recall correctly, about 45 minutes to take out the twist and flatten that 65” board.
Good advice but I could never part with the No 8 Jointer plane. Awesome for table and bench tops! Ray Iles makes a nice set of mortise chisels as well. Also, for hand saws it’s hard to beat any of the saws from Bad Axe. The only tools I’ve regretted buying from Lie Nielsen are their saws.
I’m not happy with their tenon saw. All of my panel saws are old American saws. I refurbish, set, and sharpen them.
Panel saws in my stable:
5 TPI Disston rip
8 TPI Disston rip
8 TPI Disston cross cut
11 TPI Disston crosscut
12 TPI Craftsman Kromedge rip
PAX 4 TPI rip (required a resharpen and reset out of the box)
Favorite tenon saw: 12 TPI Disston
I do enjoy the Lie Nielsen carcass and dovetail saws.
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Gotcha, I’ve been eyeballing their stuff for a little while. Being that this is 100% a hobby and provides 0 $ for me it’s been hard to justify. Just need to bite the bullet and get one. Do you have an order you recommended getting planes?
Main needs would be to flatten table tops and one for general bench work.
Also, can someone recommend a good sharpening kit for chisels and planes?
Get a 5 1/2 Jack first, and if you flatten a lot of tops, a No7 or 8, but I prefer the No 7.
The 5 1/2 can get most done ( jack of all trades), but doesn’t excel at all. By setting the throat you can smooth with it or remove large bites, and it’ll reasonably flatten larger boards. My most used planes are the 5 1/2, 7, and 40 1/2 for dimensioning.
Block plane is nice to have. A shoulder plane or rabbet plane is nice to have.
A router plane is nice to have.
A plough plane is nice to have.
Lie Nielsen has a honing jig, but the Veritas is better.
I use Diamond stones from DMT. Whatever stones you get, ensure they’re 3 inches wide or more.
Get a block of paraffin wax too, lol.
If I could only have 3 planes they’d be a jack, a jointer, and a smoother. All 3 provide some overlap, and grinding a radius on a blade for the jack or smoother can do scrub work.
If you mainly use S4s lumber, then you don’t really need the scrub capability.
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