Tuesday, 31 October 2017

Scary Box for Halloween!

Anny sent me these pictures of some boxes she made with wood rescued from the firewood pile.
The lid on that big on is spooky!!

Monday, 30 October 2017

Sjobergs Elite Work Bench on E Bay

Here is a Sjobergs Elite workbench with 3 days to go on E Bay. It looks like the 1500 mm size which is great for the garage workshop and comes with a useful storage module. These sell for around £1,400 new so a starting price of £750 is very reasonable. This one has a proper tail vice which is better than the full width vice of the current model.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sjoberg-Carpenter-joiner-woodworking-bench/253228044636?hash=item3af591515c:g:~L4AAOSwIFtZ8jjG

Sunday, 29 October 2017

Dovetailing Plywood

Bernard from France sent me these pictures of a tool box he has made for his planes.
Plywood is an easy option in some respects, although dovetailing this brittle material cleanly, presents some challenges.

Not only has he dovetailed the sides but he has dovetailed the base as well, very impressive. Assembly has to be done in the right order to get all these parts together. Whatever material he chose for the sides, the base would have to have been man made to work successfully, due to seasonal wood movement.

Tuesday, 24 October 2017

Wonderful Spoke Shaves

Here's a post from the HNT Gordon Instagram page showing some beautiful spoke shaves.

They also work rather well too!

hntgordon

HNT Gordon Planes

#hntgordon ~ SHIPPING WORLDWIDE ~ Manufacturing 50 types of woodworking planes and vices in Australia since 1995 hntgordon.com.au

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First batch of front vices almost finished ready for shipping next week. Please email us at planemaker@hntgordon.com.au for more info or if you would like to put your name on the waiting list. #hntgordon #vice #benchvice #frontvice #australianmade #tools #workbench #woodworking #woodworkingtools #finewoodworking

Shoulder and rebate planes ready to be packed for their new homes #hntgordon #planemaker #handplane #shoulderplane #australianmade #woodworking #finewoodworking

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A well shaped handle makes all the difference. #hntgordon #handplane #australianmade #woodworking #woodworkingtools

For those of you who have purchased one of these scrapers, this is the easiest way to sharper it at approx 80 degrees. For best results you should sharpen regularly, but as you can see it is a very quick process. The sanding disk is a worn out piece of 150 grit aluminium oxide abrasive. ##hntgordon #australianmade #woodworking #woodworkingtools

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Fitting tapered handles to the tapered holes using specialty shaped handmade plane makers floats. #hntgordon #planemaking #australianmade #woodworking #woodwork #craftsmanship #wood #woodworkingtools

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Using the shoulder plane to trim up a large tenon. The block plane also came in handy as the tenons were so large. #hntgordon #shoulderplane #blockplane #woodworking #woodworkingtools #australianmade #finewoodworking #handtoolthursday

Tyler from @phoebeeverill School of Wood making a free standing lamp in NG rosewood using the HNT spoke shave.
#hntgordon #spokeshave #phoebeeverill #australianmade #woodworking #woodworkingtools

Using a flat scraper to do the final shaping on the front of this trying plane to ensure a tear out free surface. #hntgordon #wood #woodworking #tools #woodworkingtools #australianmade

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Thursday, 19 October 2017

Bill Carter Shows How to Make a Dovetailled Mitre Plane

Bill Carter has produced a whole series of videos on how to make his wonderful mitre planes. The pace is a little slow (he is nearly 80) but if you set the time aside there are some wonderful gems to be found and if you fancy having a go at making one of these planes then they are invaluable.

Sunday, 15 October 2017

Workshop Storage

Ian from Japan sent me these pictures of some drawers which provided him with much needed additional storage in his workshop. Such a level of organisation and tidiness is only something I can aspire to!
The drawers were all dovetailed by hand, front and back. To give the maximum amount of drawer depth, the bottoms were screwed on from underneath rather than slid into a groove. Making the bottoms with plywood avoided any issues with wood movement.

Friday, 13 October 2017

Customer Dovetails

Leo from the US sent me these shots of his good progress with hand cut dovetails using one of my guides. He's using coloured dots which is good to see, this simple highly visual aid tells you which board goes with which, where the outside is and also which is the top of each piece.
Leo also made an alignment board but says that the best tip is to wear his reading glasses and improve the lighting. He's also doing lots of practice which is the ultimate way to get good at anything.

Saturday, 7 October 2017

Nice Adjustable Shelves

Joe sent me these pictures of his latest project, walnut and ash adjustable shelves.

The brackets are attached with what appear to be sliding dovetails.

The rounded shelves have a nice retro look and all finished off with his trade mark signature, The Lucent Crow.

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

My Latest Project, a Chest with lots of Dovetails.

Just in case you wondered about my last post, this is the reason I was getting ready to cut dovetails. The picture above shows just one of four corners on these drawers.

It's a petit chest of drawers standing 23" high made in chestnut, a wood I've never used before. It is similar to oak in it's feel and open grain and I was lucky enough to have a large board which was quarter sawn with some nice ripple as well. An detailed article on this piece will be appearing in Furniture and Cabinetmaking magazine in due course.

Monday, 2 October 2017

Essential Tools for Dovetailing.

If you can't see what you are doing then you can't cut accurate dovetails. A good task light and reading glasses are essential for me. Even if you don't use reading glasses you should try some, the weakest lens no1 will give a small magnification which is very helpful.

Of course having good quality sharp tools is also very helpful!