Dovetail Course next week.

I'm teaching a 3 day dovetailing course at West Dean College next week and I've been preparing the stock  ( the course is for the new intake of diploma students on the year long course) .
The box components (minus the lid) are shown above, planed and dimensioned with a groove cut for the base.

Here are all the sets ready to be taped up and packed away.

The first project we will make is a dovetail alignment board, a very useful aid. These all needed preparing as well, the coloured tapes mean nothing more than I'm running desperately short of masking tape!
With all the preparation needed, I certainly don't do these courses for the money!

Here is my set up for routing the grooves for the box base. The walnut pin boards can be routed straight though as the groove falls in the waste, however the maple tail boards need stopped cuts. I have a false fence attached to my Veritas router table and I open this up with the T slots to provide the stops at both ends.
The router you can see peeping out is a large Triton which although being reasonably priced has proved to be very good.

Here are the finished grooves using a 4mm cutter to a depth of 3.5mm.

This is the base having the tongue cut using a Becksvoort designed rebate bit with a 22 1/2 degree angle which gives a much nicer finish than a square edge. This has seen a lot of use over the last 10 years or so http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=45095&cat=1,46168,46178
It would be easier to simply plane a 4mm base for my boxes but this 10mm stock (Indian rosewood) helps add some weight to balance the pivoting lid. Note the sprung arm which keeps the stock flat on the table for an even width tongue without getting your hands too near the cutter.

A picture of what the students will be making, if everything goes to plan!

This is my latest version of the handle design which I really like. A section of the lid extends through the front of the box with a gently protruding curve and a tapering chamfer on the top edge. It takes time to get a nice tight fit but worth it.

Largest Batch of Bench Planes!

Firstly I would like to apologise to those who have been waiting for their planes they will be posted tomorrow.
The batch is 17 in all, 4 x Jack planes, 6 x 9" smoothers and 7 x high angle smoothers, the most I've done in one go. They are pictured awaiting final finishing and blades sharpening.

I sharpen all my plane blades with a small curve, even my jointer. The Hock blades come beautifully ground and are thick enough to sharpen free hand using the heal and toe of the bevel to keep the angle straight. You can see the curve tapering away at each side, I dress my water stones on the Odate Dressing plate and it gives me a perfect curve every time. http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/odate60micdressingplate220x.aspx

Here is the batch finished, checked and ready for boxing.

The stock was nicely grained and bang on quarter sawn, which helps greatly with keeping the sole flat through changes in humidity.

The grain of the Jack plane and the 9" smoothers came from one large board and was particularly nice.

Two sides of a Jack plane shown above and below.

The resin glue used (see previous post) worked nicely and most of the planes had near invisible glue lines.
The rigidity of this glue will prevent any tiny creep over time.
I'm glad this batch is off my bench!

Customer Projects

Here is a dovetail alignment board made by Ed from the Netherlands, it looks a very good job. It is made from Siberian larch with an oak fence. The alignment board is a very useful jig and a great first project to get used to the magnetic guide. The dovetails are quite chunky in the American style, that's the beauty of my guide, you choose the spacing. Ed bought a few of my tools at the European Woodworking Show, it's great to see woodworkers from other countries.

I also met Christine at the European Show, there don't seem to be many female woodworkers so it was good to meet her. She is very pleased with her magnetic guide and has done a fine job with these two boxes. Christine said the dovetails took her half the normal time and turned out a lot better, which is great to hear.

 

Geoffrey Entwistle Planemaker RIP

I'm sad to report the death of plane maker Geoffrey Entwistle in a Hospice over the weekend, my condolences to his family. I came to Geoffrey's work late in his career and unfortunately we never actually met, although in our e mail exchanges he was very courteous and unassuming for one with such talent.
Geoffrey kept a lower profile than some of our other plane makers but was no less able than the very best. I know from conversation I have had with his contemporaries his work was universally admired.

I would appreciate it if you all could circulate this sad news around the wood working community.  

I will leave you with some pictures of his work which I think speak for themselves.

Dovetail Guide Review 'F&C Magazine'

This months Furniture and Cabinetmaking magazine carries a review of magnetic guides which includes a page on my Dovetail Jig written by John Bullar http://www.bullar.co.uk/index.htm

John used my guide with a narrow bladed English style saw, completing the cut by dropping the saw guide down so that the magnet was against the side instead of the top. This seemed to have worked very well and I'll add this technique to my repertoire.

The Veritas Dovetail guide was also reviewed and whilst considered accurate was also thought to be rather slow and rigid in the way it worked. It is also more than twice the price!

The review above speaks for itself, if you would like a PDF of the whole article please e mail the Editor Derek Jones at derekj@thegmcgroup.com

Boxwood Mitre Plane.

Berin sent me some pictures of this mitre plane he made from spalted boxwood and a fine job he has done too. Shown before being soaked in oil against a rather dramatic spalted beech cabinet.

Pictured here after oiling and a big change, really bringing out the splated colour.
He was inspired by the plane by Tim Smiths mitre plane http://davidbarronfurniture.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/tim-smith-mitre-plane.html
and of course Bill Carter http://www.billcarterwoodworkingplanemaker.co.uk/

End grain shavings on some yew seems to work well.

And here he is the man himself, in a well organised and cosy looking workshop. He has a very active and interesting blog which is well worth a look http://www.berinsblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Dream Workshop!

No it's not my workshop! It belongs to Kent Adkins and you can see a video of it here http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/european-dreaming-a-visit-to-kent-adkinss-shop
It's a lovely building with a huge amount of space and just look at that machinery!

I've had a few conversations with Kent recently and he sent me these pictures of a current project in butternut.  This is not a wood I'm familiar with in the UK but apparently it's a cousin of walnut.

Here is a magnificent figured board of butternut with some nice figuring for the top. It measures an impressive 82'' x 22'', well if you have that sort of machinery you might as well make the most of it!