Magazine Review of Dovetail Guide and 372 Saw

I've been a subscriber of AWR (Australian Wood Review) for more than 12 years. It's a very good magazine released quarterly which helps keep the content of a high standard.

Raf Nathan did a full page review of my 1:7 dovetail guide and saw as well as the 90 degree guide. As you can see below he liked the way they worked and I've had a noticeable increase in orders from down under.

One of the highlights of this issue was an article by a very skilled Australian designer maker Neil Erasmus http://www.erasmusdesigns.com/
He showed an ingenious method of finger jointing dominoes to provide the strongest possible mitre joint.

Here is the retro styled sideboard he used them on.

Customer Dovetails

First up is a nice set of dry fitted dovetails by Barry from the UK. This will be a wall mounted tool cabinet, it has a pair of doors to the front but it will also have a second pair of doors. You can see a wider dovetail in the shot above which is where the separation cut will come. You can see more of Barry's work on his Blog http://barrylowis.co.uk/post/121937423658/american-white-ash-tool-cabinet-my-latest-project

Next is a well executed first set of dovetails from James from California in black walnut using the guide and 372 saw. He has found the kerf starter method very useful http://www.glen-drake.com/Kerf-Starters/

Next is a first set of dovetails by Nicolai from Maryland USA, he was very pleased with the results achieved with the 1:6 guide.

And lastly a very nice practice set of hounds tooth dovetails by Simon from the UK. He followed the procedure on my YouTube video and found them to be are lot easier than he imagined. 

New Batch of Bocote Awls.

I've just started a new batch of awls. Above is my set up for getting the hole centred and straight. The Flipstop system is so good and so secure.

The whole batch of 108 awls came from a single board of Bocote which I bought from a friend who had had it for 40 years, it should be dry!

The figuring of the grain was superb throughout, these will look great.

Below the spikes have been glued in with epoxy, they needed to be watched as the spikes on some kept rising up again due to the tight fit.

Here's a shot of the whole batch, a lot more work to do yet.
A finished awl can be seen on my website http://www.davidbarronfurniture.co.uk/david_barron_tools.asp?pg=2&id=35

Customer Roubo Workbench, Bench Crafted hardware.

Luke from the US has been keeping me updated with his Roubo workbench project. He followed my method of laminating both the top and the legs to create the joints. Instead of two tenons per leg he has gone with one which is plenty strong enough especially if it's a nice tight fit.

He did a practice run to check out the fit of the wedges which all looks good.

Below shows the legs being checked for a good fit and above is the assembled base ready for the top to go on.

And here is the completed bench complete with sliding dead man and a dog for each hole!
The Bench Crafted hardware has been nicely fitted and having used this set up at Handworks for two days I can assure you it works wonderfully. Note the depth between the bench top and the screw, looks to be about 12" which gives a lot more clamping flexibility than the normal 8".

To finish with a shot of Lukes workshop a row of wormy blue pine wall cupboards and burr elm veneer on the wall above the bench, very posh!

New Workshop Floor

Here's a shot of my workshop floor, uneven concrete and last painted 12 years ago. The sponge tiles around my workbench were getting really tatty and didn't give the coverage I wanted so I replaced them with some heavy duty interlocking tiles from Paf Systems www.pafsystem.com The cost is £32 per square metre inc vat.

They are 7 mm thick and click together with a bit of gentle persuasion!

After doing the work bench area, I was so pleased with them that I did the whole main workshop.
The tiles laid very quickly but moving the machinery around slowed things down somewhat. The planer and table saw weigh nearly 400 kg each!

The smooth surface is easy to sweep clean and the uneven surface has disappeared. They are much nicer to walk on and if I drop stuff anywhere in the workshop it should survive unscathed and if I ever move workshop they come apart really easily so I can take them with me.

Visit to Philip Koomen Show.

I was invited by famous furniture Philip Koomen http://www.philipkoomen.co.uk/ to a guided show of his 4 month exhibition at the River Rowing Museum in Henley on Thames. Sadly this fine show has now come to an end, ours was the last visit.

It was bigger than I imagined and must have taken some arranging and setting up. The photos here are a fraction of what was on display.

There were some classic Koomen designs and although he makes furniture costing large sums, Philip has also stayed in touch with more ordinary folk, with a range of very affordable pieces.

Here are some fine examples of working with the wood rather than making the wood fit the design.

He also had at the show a number of ideas still in the embryonic stage, which was interesting in itself, but also gave a glimpse into the designer mind, fascinating!

Band sawing wood to allows for a double curvature, ably demonstrated by Susan.

The one below was interesting, rearranging band saw cut pieces to create shadow effects, drawer fronts maybe?

I had a great day out with a nice lunch afterwards in the sunshine.

Website Site Updated With New Tools

I've been to my photographer to get some more shots done for my website http://www.davidbarronfurniture.co.uk/
The new squares are now listed and some more HNT Gordon planes have been added as a replacement for my planes, which I have now stopped producing.

All the HNT Gordon planes are superbly made and finished and they work very well, especially on cranky grain. The palm smoother above is a really handy little plane which can be pushed or pulled.

The Jack plane is an excellent all rounder and very comfortable to hold.
The unique Atoma diamond plate with it's aluminium body is great for flattening water stones without the fear of rusting as well as speedy back flattening of blade backs.

Scandinavian Workbench Article in F&C Magazine

In the latest issue there's an article on the making of my Scandinavian workbench for anyone who is interested. This includes detailed plans and measurements. It's a very good issue this month so well worth getting even if the work bench is not your thing.
Sorry about the pictures below, sometimes the Blog just does that! (probably me)

Craft Museum Part 2.

I found this interesting, it's a large draw knife anchored at one end so it can swivel to cut the curves on clogs. The slot is for the clog blank.

This looks like a pit saw arrangement above ground. There were lots of huge two man saws, see below.

This spinning wheel was actually is actually a treadle powered sharpening wheel. The whole thing is mounted on a hand cart and he must have wheeled this door to door.

This shop seemed to specialise in veneered work with a nice chess table on display.

Some of the large pile of walnut veneer on one of the shelves.

A saw clamped up ready for sharpening.

A lovely example of a book or nipping press, with a 3" diameter wooden screw.

The glaziers shop, this time with a leg vice.

A metal workers shop again with a leg vice. It was interesting that of the dozen or so bench on show only one had a tail vice. I don't find much use for them myself either.

Upstairs was a toy museum and even here there were plenty of woodworking trades on show. Here is a book binders with the edge trimmings from completed books.

And just when I thought the woodworking experience was over I spotted some old woodworking machines in the farm machinery display outside. A pair of old band saws from the 1850's.

An extremely solid surface planer.

A huge disc sander.

and finally a hand cranked grinding wheel. So all in all a great morning! Needless to say if you ever find yourself in the area I would highly recommend a visit.