Victory oak box

I couldn't resist making a little box from the Victory oak. It is dovetailed with discreet pivoting pins for opening the lid.

In order to add 'lightness' to the lid I created a taper that went from 8mm at the back (necessary for the pin) to just 3mm at the front. This was easiest and safest to achieve with a hand plane and I used my high angle smoother for the task. With the blade bedded at 57 degrees it guaranteed no tearout. Note the different type of shavings from a conventional 45 degree plane.

Here is the taper, I kept checking the front edge to make sure it stayed even.

A simple bench hook with a 2mm fence allowed plane the edge right down.
 The result was understated and pleasing. Now I must get back to my more urgent jobs!

Lefties!

Most of my tools are ambidextrous, but a few are handed. These knives have the thumb scallop on the right side for left handers. The scallop isn't just there for a comfortable hold but it also registers the blade at exactly 90 degrees, a very useful feature. The woods are snakewood, pink ivory and Brazilian tulipwood, I picked really nice blanks as the customers had to wait a while.

The finish is hand applied lacquer rubbed back to a flawless finish.

I also made a small batch of three jointer planes, these two are right handed and the left handed one was posted to the US earlier today. Soon after I shaped the fences and tapped the holes I had another order for a left handed version! That will have to wait until the next batch.

These are made in Goncalo Alves a hard and attractive timber which has turned out very well. I completed these 2 or 3 weeks ago but I like to leave them to settle before flattening the sole and opening the mouth. It also allowed me to build up a nice oil finish.

David Stanley Auction

I visited the David Stanley auctions for the first time, this wasn't the international auction but it was still well attended. I was gently reprimanded by the auctioneer  for taking this photo during proceedings!

I had arranged to meet Bill Carter, seen here holding one of his fine jointer planes.  The other gent in the picture is Richard Arnold who made the two planes below in the style of 18thC bench planes.

Richard did a very nice job, particularly the ornately shaped offset handles. The planes had already been sold to an American for several hundred pounds.

Here is Richards stamp, in keeping with the period.

On the subject of plane makers here is a fledgling maker Timothy Smith whose mitre planes really caught my eye. Everything about his little planes was right, the look, feel, size and balance was spot on. The finish he achieved was superb. Tims day job is with a very famous cabinet maker where he has been working for 26 years, this explains a lot. By the time I met him he had already sold his finished stock, so I bought the plane shown below right in bog oak. I'm very much looking forward to receiving the finished article in a few weeks.

Bog oak plane on the right and one in Laburnum on the left. The mouth closers are in holly and the blades are old cast steel.

Here is his name stamp. The plane cost a very reasonable £250 considering the workmanship and time taken to produce. Tim's next project will be an infill plane, watch this space. Tim can be contacted at timothy-m-smith@lineone.net

So back to the main reason for my visit, Bill Carters planes. This little grouping above is worth about £20,000! They are wonderful tools and work superbly.

Bill kindly gave me this little boxwood plane. It's very cute and amazingly works quite well. Bills wife Sarah also treated me to lunch, I was doing doing very well. Many thanks to you both.

Of all of the planes, this is the one I really would have liked, but I couldn't stretch the plane budget. I didn't leave without buying a plane however and I bought a really nice all bronze (that's not brass!)mitre.

Here are the cupids bow dovetails on both the sides and bottom, you can't do this in wood! I called them ducks feet and was gently reprimanded, again!
As far as the auction goes I never left Bills stand and missed the whole thing! But I met a lot of very nice and very talented people, an excellent day out.

Knew Concepts saws

I have been selling these saws for the last 2 years at woodworkers shows and although they are not cheap they are superb and sell very well! For dovetails they allow you to saw very close to the line with great control, saving you both time and effort. I have always sold the standard versions of 5 and 8"as the extra cost for the cam lever version is not really justified as the blades get changed so infrequently. However I've just added the 5" swivel version to my stock which will allow the waste to be cut with the frame at 45 degrees. This enables dovetails of any width to be cut, nice!
Lee has also added two of my You Tube films to his You Tube section. See the website here  http://knewconcepts.com/saws.php

You can see the saw in use on my video 'Hand cut dovetails made easy'

Benchcrafted Vices

A short while ago I sent Jameel Abraham from Benchcrafted one of my magnetic dovetail guides, here is a short You Tube video of the first joint he cut using it. These are utility dovetails cut for strength rather than looks but he's done a nice clean job in European beech. Whilst Jameel has ample skill to cut these without any assistance he said the guide worked quickly and without fuss.

Last week I received a Moxon vice from Benchcrafted in a very neat little box. This is a superb vice for dovetailing and I intend make a bench with this vice permanently installed rather than as a removable set up. I have one their Glide Vices installed on my main bench and it is a joy use.

Here are the contents, the wheels are heavy, the screws are precise and they spin beautifully!

The oak from HMS Victory yielded another surprise, there was a copper plate attached with copper tacks to one of the painted edges. It would be nice to incorporate this into the boxes I'm going to make.

Wood from HMS Victory

This week I called in to Nauticalia in Shepperton, Surrey and purchased some timber which was taken from HMS Victory during a restoration project a few years ago. The Victory was launched in 1765 and was most famous as Lord Nelsons flagship in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It took 6,000 oak trees to build her, much of which would have been planted in the reign of Elizabeth 1, 200 years earlier for just this purpose. These four small pieces cost £270, I've included my 17" jointer to give a sense of scale.

Each piece came with an official signed certificate, I should hope so at that price!

This piece particularly caught my eye as you can clearly see some very nice ripple where the wood had been split.

It was also bang on the quarter so there was the prospect of some very nice timber.
The number on the bottom indicates the exact position on the ship where the wood was removed.

The layers of paint were incredibly thick and I need to try and incorporate this in a piece.

Two large iron bolts went through this section and I would look to keep this as a handle on a box lid.

The wood was even nicer than expected with some very attractive mudullary rays as well as the ripple. These shots show the wood straight from the band saw.

This yielded enough for 7 box lids with a thickness of about 8mm. I will use the other wood for the box sides, watch this space!

Magazine article

 If anyone is interested I have an article featured in the current issue (193) of Furniture and Cabinetmaking magazine. I've written about 30 articles for F&C in the last 4 or 5 years, it's always nice to see them in print but they are very time consuming to produce!

This is an oriental DVD cabinet made from some lovely quarter sawn olive ash. The doors and the back were constructed from band sawn veneers on ply, for stability and the carcass is solid.