Jointer planes.

I've started a small batch of jointer planes, one of which will be for a left handed woodworker. The wood I'm using is Goncalo Alves which is a very hard, heavy and attractive timber.

 Here are some Lignum Vitae soles cut 3mm thick and left to dry for 3 years.

 The soles are glued on using Gorilla glue as the Lignum is so oily. I should get some commission from Bessey for this shot!!

I checked the flatness of my bench (which I should do more often!) and spent 15 minutes flattening it. This much easier planing across the grain for the most part. I remember visiting Alan Peters workshop and seeing his workbenches worn down to the bolts. Apparently his wife Laura said he was meticulous about having a flat bench.

Here are the blanks marked up ready for the dowle holes to be drilled prior to separating on the band saw.

I clean up the band saw marks with a Stanley No 81 scraper with a Ron Hock blade, a great tool!

Clamping up a plane with as many clamps as I could fit on.

Here is the glued up plane after rough shaping on the ban saw. James Krenov would have touched this up with a file and left it at that. It is surprising comfortable with good grip, but I don't think I would sell too many if I left them like this!

Dovetail boxes

I've been working on a batch of dovetailed boxes with pivot hinge lids. The  four smaller ones are complete. These are a good seller at galleries and shows and I love dovetailing!!

I used some really nice birds eye maple for the front back and top. The sides are  walnut for a nice contrast. I've not used this style of handle before and I'm very pleased with the result. The recess was drilled on the drill press taking care to hide the spur indent within the lid area and therefore hidden by the handle. The discs were turned to size on the disc sander with a little jig using a 2mm brass pin.

The disc is 1" diameter and was cut from some tight burr walnut .

Here is the lid open with the handle glued in place.

The finish I used was 6 coats of shellac, left overnight to harden and then cut back with  1,000 and 1,500 grit  micro mesh  abrasive. The matt surface was then lifted with a carnauba wax blend.

I aim to keep the reveals as tight as I can without binding. The shooting board is ideal for creeping up on a perfect fit.

You've probably noticed the protruding pins which will allow me to remove the lids to apply the pig skin lining. They will be cut to length and slightly recessed into a tiny chamfer for a neat finish.

Nice timber

I visited a luthier friend of mine today and bought some very nice  wood. This plank of mahogany was from an  antique dining table, I've cut the scalloped edges off. The wood is very heavy and hard, my friend suspects it might be Cuban Mahogany. 

The downside to reclaimed timber is that it often comes with holes! These are presumably the  holes which attached the top to the frame. I intend to use this plank to make a large box and I can cover the holes with the lining.

These are two 3" thick planks of  Brazilian Mahogany which again will make  some very nice boxes. They are considerable lighter than the mahogany above. 

This is a small board of very nicely figured Zirocote, it's mostly sapwood on the other side . The sap is almost white and very hard, it provides a nice contrast to the dark colour.

A close up of the Ziricote.

The last purchase was a lovely clear board of curly maple 8' 6" long by 12" wide and 1 " thick. I love buying wood  and I very I'm pleased with this little shopping trip. It cost me £500 in total but well worth it!

More customer work

 Here's some excellent work sent in by Berin of Somerset, the hallway mirror below is superb,

This 'pretzel' carving must have taken some real patience.

A very useful selection of knives, the top two were styled on my marking knife and the others are definitely Krenov inspired.

A serious selection of home made planes, mostly finished from the tool, again Krenov inspired.

Customer projects

 I've been sending a lot of tools across the pond in the last few months and it's always nice to hear how people are getting on. It's even nicer to see what they have made. Here is very nicely proportioned blanket chest made by John in Texas. He used my magnetic dovetail guide and mini smoother in the making of this piece.

That's a fine piece of curly maple for the lid panel.

Here's the box finished ready for the trays and lining to be fitted. The finish I used was 10 coats of thinned  melamine lacquer applied with a cloth. It dries almost instantly so it didn't take too long to apply. I then cut it back with 600 grit abranet followed by 1000 grit to leave a matt surface. An application of a strong carnauba wax blend left a nice sheen. 

The book matched spalted maple was very effective.

 

I bought these 90 degree hinges a while ago from box maker Ian Hawthorne, the grooves are cut on the  router table with an 8 mm bit as per the instructions. Unfortunately the the hinges were really tight and on checking them they were 8.25 mm wide which was a bit of a fiddle to fit. I suspect the chroming caused the size change.

I fitted a delicate handle from African black wood, it took a little while to shape and fit, but little details like this are worth the effort.

OOOPPS!!

The lid for the box ended up a fraction undersized. Rather than 'make do', I decided to make a new lid for the  box and a  new box for the undersized lid. The picture above shows the book matched panel being glued up using stretched masking tape on both sides to draw the joint tight.

Here are all the components for the second box. The coloured dots  keep  everything in the right place.

Here is the offending lid, it's only a tenth of a mil undersized but the hinge fitting method needs perfect alignment. 

The new box has conventional through dovetails and it's shown here being supported on a  notched planing board being planed smooth ready for final sanding. I'm not left handed but you need to come at this from both sides in order to avoid break out of the end grain.

Here's the new box assembled ready for the lid to be fitted.