Zebrano Scraper Plane.

I recently did an article for F&C magazine on the making of my scraper plane. I supplied the 2" blade to a customer who did a fine job on reproducing the plane in Zebrano with a wedge and cross pin in Jarrah. If you look carefully you can see thin strips of rosewood glued in-between the laminated sides, a nice touch. Well done Phil.
I remember Alan Peters advising a young Jeremy Broun 'if you can't hide it, make a feature of it', great advice.

Here is Joe's first attempt with my dovetail guide and he's done a fine job with this chunky little box.
Keep the photos coming!

HNT Gordon Inset Vice and Other Tools.

 I recently ordered this inset tail vice from HNT Gordon in Australia. I don't have much use for a tail vice with the way I work but it is one of those things that is useful to have. If I used one more I would invest the money (and time fitting) in one of the lovely tail vices from Bench Crafted or Richard McGuire. Inset vices are much cheaper and easier to install. I don't which bench I'm going to fit it to yet or it may go into a bench yet to be made.

The brass dog is a beautiful fit gliding down on a cushion of air.

The handle is spun with the palm of your hand and is solid and very well machined. It is captured so that it doesn't extend outwards as it is retracted unlike the Veritas version. It also moves much faster.

The main shaft is circular, fits without any play and runs smoothly. This is a better shape to resist the pressures the vice will exert over time.

Here is the Veritas drop in version which can be used anywhere you have a 3/4" hole, it is fiddly to use and slow so I have hardly used it.

I also ordered this lovely little round soled spokeshave with handles in raindrop blackwood. It is ideal for delicate shaping work in tight corners. You can see the size of it compared to a full sized Gordon shave below.

I really like Gordon tools, they have much higher angles at 55 to 60 degrees which makes them harder to use but great where you need to avoid tearout. The blades are very hard at Rc 62 - 64 and take a wonderful edge. The wood is beautifully finished especially on the premium versions which use fine, rare timbers.

Antique Plane Blades for Mini Smoother

I recently bought 135 cast steel plane blades from G&M Tools at Ashington. That will keep me in blades for my mini smoothers for a while!
They are about 100 years old but were all unused, an extreme example of new old stock.

All were stamped Isaac Greaves and they are 1 1/4" wide.

Most had a good portion of surface rust.

My belt linisher made short work of removing the rust as well as flattening the back. This needs great care as it is so easy to round the edge of the back which would be disastrous. It helps that the blade is long at this stage.

Here's my old cast iron linisher, they don't make them like they used to!

The hard cast steel was laminated to softer unhardened steel which is handy as the unwanted upper part of the blade can be easily cut off with a hack saw.

The top is than rounded on the disc sander and all the edges softened. The whole process from rusty blade to the picture above takes about 4 minutes so overall they work out much cheaper than having them specially made. It is great to finally put these superb blades to good use 100 years after they were made.

Workshop Activity. Work Bench and Knives.

Here is one of the work benches I make, ready for collection tomorrow. The design has been refined over the years but the last few I've made have all been the same, except for the length. That's a good sign, it means I can't think how to make them any better. See picture at the bottom of this post for an assembled bench.

I like using a wooden screw for the leg vice, it's more work and cost than a simple metal screw but it has a much nicer feel and is less sloppy. I turn the 2 1/2" screw threads using a massive threading tool, it cost me £1,000 from Dieter Schmid in Germany.

I needed to make a left handed knife as part of a nice order for a customer in Northern Ireland, so I made a small batch to make it worth while. I posted the order yesterday in the normal first class post and it arrived today, how do they do that overseas so quickly and cheaply, I think our postal service is very under rated.
I am running low on snake wood and I can't get any more of good enough quality, so I may be replacing my premium knife stock with curly madrone, see the knife at the bottom. It didn't look much until I hit it with a finish and then wow!
You can see from this picture differences between the handles in length and ball size, they came from three different batches and just go to show it's all hand made!

I bought up the last of the Kingwood stocks at Yandles for my mini smoothers as well as some Brazilian Tulipwood which is also running very low. David can't get any more of either wood from any of his suppliers, so I may have to look at alternative woods. I bought the blanks below which were labelled 'wild olive', I don't whether that referred to the grain or the source of the wood. I chose blanks with the grain running roughly vertical and not too wild! I have learnt to treat olive wood with respect, it dries very slowly and has a tendency to check, so these blanks will be put into store for a year at least.It's a very beautiful timber and should make lovely little mini smoothers

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Customer Projects.

Richard has started a tool chest in cherry and is seen here cutting the dovetails with one of my magnetic guides. His Blog is well worth taking a look http://richard-wile.blogspot.co.uk/

The carcass assembled and below with the first coat of finish which really pops the grain.

I really like the use of the sap which is often discarded. The carcass is made from one long board so the grain is continuous.

I previously blogged on the cabinets above by Keith. Below is a bed to match!

The tops to the legs are African Blackwood which was finished on a buffing wheel using the oil in the wood to provide a lustrous shine.

Krenov Style Cabinet Finished!

Knife hinges get a bad press for being fiddly to fit, but if you work carefully they are no more difficult than any other hinge. Here is my method, I use a spacer to set the offset on both the cabinet and the door and I control the protrusion with a drill bit half the size of the hole. I don't make any allowance for the gap between carcass and door, if it binds a little I just trim the door where it touches.
This is a 1/4" wide knife hinge from Sanderson Hardware in California and it's beautifully made. Their hinges are smaller than the smallest ones Brusso make and ideal for petite cabinets like this one.

Here is the result. I always fit the door when I glue up the carcass and then adjust the carcass to make sure I have even reveals.

Here is the finished cabinet, it's 20" high x 8" wide x 5" deep.

I tiny finger scallop to open the door, which is held with tiny 3 mm magnets.

Wonderful grain!

The shelves were curved to match the curve of the door and were supported by 1/8" brass pins.

The cabinet interior.

The back was treated with the same respect as the rest of the cabinet. The solid panel of rippled ash was left to float in it's frame which was screwed neatly in place.
At 33 hours, it took longer to make than I had anticipated but I was pleased with the result.

Brian Boggs Chair

In 2008 Brian Boggs came to the UK to teach a chair making course at West Dean College. I didn't attend but wish I had. At the end of the course the chair he made was sold in a blind auction and I was lucky enough to win it.

It is one of the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in.

There are curves all round and it's the result of one very skilled man dedicating himself to building a specific style of chair for many years. All of the parts are left straight from the tool (draw knife and spoke shave) which is not immediately obvious until you run your fingers over the surfaces.

The pegs are tented using a chisel bevel side down and add a nice little touch.

The top of the legs are skilfully rounded, again by hand and the seat is woven with bark.
I think he normally oils his chairs but this was left unfinished and in my view all the better for it.
The underneath of the chair is signed and dated.