Tools Series – Part 2 – Saws

Disston No. 43 Combination Saw

This week I’ll be talking saws. Besides the hammer and knife, the saw is one the oldest human-made tools. Saws come in such great diversity, with different shapes, sizes, type of cut, and tooth geometry. This will be a pretty long blog entry by necessity as I own quite a few different types of saws and they all deserve a explanation of use and a bit of history. I’ll be presenting my saws to you, explaining what I use them for and where I got them (if I can remember). Like other tools I own, my saws cover only a fraction of the saw types available. I tend to use the sharpest and fastest cutting saws of any particular type. Saws are only useful when they’re sharp. I’m not the best saw sharpener, but I do ok. I’d rather be cutting wood than sharpening saws. Rip saws are pretty easy to sharpen, but crosscut saws are a bit more of an art than science. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of science in saw geometry, but the actual sharpening is a lot more of a learned skill. Even so, it is one that is best learned if you plan to do any hand sawing of your work. I will include my saw sharpening tools in addition to my saws in this entry. So let’s get started.

Coping Saws

My newest acquisition is the Knew Concepts Coping Saw. Let me first say, I have a love-hate relationship with coping saws. I love how small, easy to wield and how quickly they cut and the fact you don’t need to sharpen them, you just replace the blade (they come in various size teeth for different applications). I do not like that they are fickle wondering beasts and impossible to tighten. That was until I got the Knew Concepts saw. These things are impressive. They tighten down to a crazy high tension and cut like butter. Let’s just say I’ve removed the hate part of the this equation. Some of the positive attributes of the Knew Concepts saw: 1) Easy to load and unload the blades; 2) Easy to adjust blade rotation (not so on other designs); 3) Tightens the blade quickly; 4) Lightweight, and 5) The build quality is second to none. They are a bit pricey, but worth every penny. They are great for smaller jobs like cleaning out waste between dovetail tails and intricate scroll work in thinner material.

Turning Saw

This saw is very similar to the Coping Saw but it does heavier work with its longer and thicker blade. If I need to do a lot of scroll work through thicker material I use the Turning Saw. This is a saw that I made from Gramercy Kit from Tools for Working Wood Turning Saw Parts (Pins and Blades). I used hickory for the frame, walnut for the tension adjuster and maple for the handles. I followed the plans provided by TFWW. One thing you may see on the handles I turned for this saw and tool handles I’ve made in general is the three adjacent lines (i do it more now than on my earlier turnings.) This is one way to show folks that I have made the turned part. If you have one of these saws, please un-tighten it after use so you do not weaken the wood.

Sawing is definitely a skill you can learn in a few minutes and spend a lifetime perfecting.

Panel Saws

The two saws here are new from Lie-Nielsen. They are the Rip Cut 7ppi and the Crosscut 12ppi. There is nothing wrong with the antique saws I own, but I love the way the Lie-Nielsen saws cut and these are my day-to-day panel saws. One warning though, they only cut as good as you do, so you may have issues cutting straight lines, but after practice sawing a dozen or more feet of board with these, you’ll be cutting like a pro. I spent a lot of time perfecting my cutting abilities and still screw up some times. Just allow plenty of adjustment space on your cuts (especially at first) and you’ll be fine.

Dovetail Saws

I love dovetail saws. There is something about the way they cut so precisely and quickly. I have two (three if you count the Veritas Crosscut Saw) dovetail saws. The top saw is one is a saw I made at Roy Underhill’s Woodwright School with Tom Callisto. It has 14tpi and has such a thin blade, I can’t even get my thin Blue Spruce marking knife in it’s kerf (I have to use my box cutter knife to mark dovetails in it’s kerf). But it’s a pleasure to use and beautiful to boot. The second saw is a Veritas Dovetail Saw 20tpi, that I bought in 2011 and I absolutely love this saw. It makes great dovetail cuts and is comfortable in the hand. The third saw is also a Veritas saw but it is filed Crosscut with 16tpi. It’s very nice to use for smaller precision crosscut pieces and makes a very clean cut. I got this from a friend and will treasure it always.

Tenon Saws

This saw is easy to sharpen and great to use. It does not see a lot of use in my shop, but it does get used. This saw is one I made on my own. I purchased the saw plate, nuts, handle blank and saw back from Tom Callisto. I shaped the handle and punched the holes in the blade and fitted the back. This saw has a beech handle and filed rip at 12tpi. It cuts great, but not so much in crosscut, but it’s not really designed for that.

Carcase Saws

The two of these are nice vintage crosscut Carcase Saws. The first one was made by Simons and has 12tpi 12″ blade and cuts quickly and easily. The second saw is a nice Disston filed 16tpi with a 14″ blade. Both of these saw are fine examples of excellent vintage saw quality and craftsmanship. The steel is perfect and the handles fit human hands. I use both of these saws almost daily and I would not part with them for even really good money. I bought both of these saws at a Mid-West Tools Collectors Association or MWTCA Tool Meet in 2013. I do not remember exactly how much I paid for them, but it was about $80 and $60 respectively.

Flush Trim Saws

Used to trim flush. The first one is a cheap box store saw with a handle I turned (this was one of my first turning projects and I’ll probably turn a new one (with the three lines 🙂 ) to get rid of the plastic junk that came with it. The second saw is a Japanese Single Edge Flush-Cut Saw I recently purchased from Lee Valley to put in my tool chest.

Keyhole Saw

I don’t use it much, but when I need it, it’s very nice to have. This is a vintage saw that I got from a CraigsList purchase in 2013. The finish on the saw handle was in terrible condition and I just scraped of the old finish and put several coats of good ol’ Boiled Linseed Oil or BLO on it.

Saw Restoration

I’d like to take a minute to talk about saw restoration. I have purchased and acquired some vintage saws that were in a pretty sorry state, but had great potential. I don’t even consider restoration if the plate is deeply pitted or bent badly. I have an old and rare Disston and Morss #43 combination saw that I inherited from my father (if you haven’t guessed already, this is the saw in the first picture of the blog). It has A Straight Edge, Plum and Level Attachment, a Square, a Scratch Awe and Rule etched in the blade. I am in the process of restoring it to it’s former glory and I will reveal it in a future BLOG entry when done. It has a broken handle, a broken level vial and quite a bit a rust, but not too much, and is removable. I was able to salvage a replacement level vial glass the same size and the original from an old busted level. This should be a beautiful saw when I am through and I look forward to showing it in an upcoming blog.

Modern Saws

They have their place but I dislike the handles. I’d hate to see what the creature looks like, that had a hand that would fit these monstrosities. I mainly use these saws to cut stuff I’d never have my “good” saws cut. Like laminates and plywoods, etc. They do all my “dirty” work and I generally use gloves when using them…have I mentioned I don’t like the handles? The Craftsman pictured on top is about 35 years old and can be filed sharp again, so I’m contemplating making a decent handle for it. The Stanley is about 20 years old and has hardened teeth. When it gets dull, I’ll have a chunk of wood with a crappy design and soft tool steel only good for scrap use (not tool or scraper applications like the older saws). Nice features, right?

Vintage Panel Saws

I have been collecting panel saws for over a decade. I started looking in yard sales, estate sales, FreeCycle and Craigslist. I look for old saws with straight blades and brass saw nuts and handles shaped for the human hand, not like the modern saws with handles shaped by accountants (not to diss accountants, I know and love several, they’re just not really good at advising on manufacturing designs for tools used by humans).

Above are two saws I restored a few years ago. They are both Disstons; the top one is a course rip saw and the bottom one is a very fine crosscut saw. They work great and they’re very comfortable in the hand. I mainly use the my Lie-Nielsen Panel Saws, as I do not want to keep sharpening and therefore shortening the life of the vintage saws.

Saw Sharpening

Above is the kit for sharpening saws. It includes a Saw Vise, Saw Set (top), Veritas Saw File Holder, and various size triangular files. I bought the Saw Vise around 2012 at a MWTCA meet. I bought the Saw Set and Veritas File Holder from Lee Valley the same year. As you can see saw file handles art not a priority for me, l’ll probably turn a few in the future, who knows.

Well that’s all my saws. I hope you enjoyed seeing them and learning a little about them. Sawing is definitely a skill you can learn in a few minutes and spend a lifetime perfecting. There are a few tricks to sawing that makes it easer. I can cover these in a future blog entry if I get some requests for them. Until next time, keep making shavings and sawdust.

Peace,

Aaron

Tools Series – Part 1 – Marking and Measuring

I’m staring a new blog series about my tools, their use and origins. I’m kinda obsessed with my tools. They fascinate me and I just sometimes go into my shop to clean them and marvel at their beauty and design. I would like to say upfront, this is my choice of tools. You may agree or disagree with my choices, but ultimately the tools I choose are my decision and not really subject to anyone else’s opinion. I do listen to others about what tools they like and some people with lots of experience I listen very carefully, but I’m not bound to any one philosophy or system or cult of personality. I have made many tool choice mistakes and will make more in the future. But I try to stick to one maxim: “Buy the best and most appropriate tool you can.” If you can’t afford to purchase a particular tool, make something and sell it to get the money to buy the tool. Sometimes I get lucky and find just the right vintage tool at an estate sale or garage sale, but lately I have been buying new very high-quality tools as I am not necessarily a vintage tool collector.

The tools in this series are just a snapshot in time of the tools I have now and not a definitive list of “must-have tools”. I have arrived at this current set of tools over about 10-years time and have chosen these based on experience, mainly, and also how much I like/love using these particular tools. I also love making tools. It seems every tool I make fills me with so much satisfaction that I wonder how I got this far in my life without doing this all along; better late than never.

This first entry is about my marking and measuring tools. Like all tools presented in this series, I use some tools more than others, and I will try to point out my favorites.

Left to right – Homemade Scratch Awe. Czech Edge Bird Cage Awe, Czech Edge Scratch Awe. All three have Cocobolo handles

Awes

Awes are a group of tools that have a pretty wide variety of shapes, sizes and uses. I also dabble in leather work so I have a few more not pictured here. Here, I have a homemade scratch awe that I made from 1/4″ O1 tool steel, a brass pressure fitting and some cocobolo wood that I had on hand. This homemade awe (my new favorite) was inspired by one featured by Bob Emser from the “The Art of Boatbuilding“, but I made my own design and parts. It has the steel as a “full tang” construction, so it may be struck by a hammer; something I wouldn’t do for the other two Czech Edge awes. The middle awe is a “Bird Cage Awe” and is useful for “drilling” out a small starting hole for starting screws and also for my centers for my lathe. The awes on the right and left are considered “Scratch Awes”. They are for marking lines and puncturing holes. They are NOT for clearing out chips jammed on your plane mouth. Just one additional note about awes: Keep their points sharp.

Left to right, top to bottom: Vintage 6″ Compass (has insert that can double as a set of dividers) Modern 6″ Starrett, Vintage 6″ Unknown, and Vintage 4″ B&S Mfg. Co. (I’m looking for a knob for the top).

Dividers

Speaking of pointy tools, above is my collection of old and new dividers. I have been acquiring these for quite some time and the Starretts are my latest addition to the group. Dividers are awesome and have a variety of uses from drawing (scratching) arcs in wood to dividing up equal sections for dovetails to setting up drawer divisions. They can be used with a sector to scale measurement up or down. The new Starretts are my preferred dividers; very sharp and very smooth.

Left to right – 1-Tite Mark cutting gauge, 2-Veritas cutting gauge, 3 and 4-Vintage mortice gauges .

Marking Gauges

Marking Gauges are very handy for layout work. Having more than one is quite handy as you can leave them set during a project and keep your measurements accurate. If you only had only one, you would be changing it to different settings and you’d lose the exact setting of the previous measurement. The Tite Mark gauge is my favorite. This thing is silky smooth and dead accurate. It has a good weight in the hand and oozes quality; it’s a pleasure to use.

Left Veritas Angle Finder, 1, 2, 5, 6 Vintage Bevel Gauges, 3-Woodpeckers 7″ Bevel Gauge, 4-Stanley N0. 18 Bevel Gauge

Bevel Gauges

Bevel gauges help you reproduce an angle or cut a specific angle. I may have a bevel gauge problem as indicated by the the image above. My two favorite are the antique Stanley (4) and the new Woodpeckers (3). They both have the locking mechanism on the bottom that wedges the blade and hold them immovable until loosened. The other vintage ones are usable, but you need to take care not to bump them or your setting will move. I really wanted an angle finder for some time and just this year bought the very nice Veritas one in the image above. I have used it a lot and I consider this essential kit.

Top to Bottom – Homemade 9″ Try Square, Starrett 12″ 11H-12-4R Combination Square, Starrett 6″ 11H-6-4R Combination Square

Squares

What can I say about squares? They are great, especially the Starrett combination squares. They are so versatile and nice to use. I also love using the try square I made from beech and walnut. It is light weight, very accurate and easy to true. I made two of these squares about a year ago. I use them both. All three are my favorites. Don’t make me choose.

Veritas Sliding Square, 1-35 year old Klein Tools 12″ tape measure, 2-General Rule 12″ center finding ruler, 3- 1 Meter plastic folding ruler, 4-Vintage Stanley folding ruler, 5-Generic 6″ ruler

Rules

Rules rule! I mean that. Some people do not see the the need to measure stuff and that’s ok. I may be doing it all wrong, but it’s my way and I love to measure. Mind you, I mostly take measurement right off the piece, but measuring is still necessary for rough stock breakdown and sometimes to make sure you have enough stock to finish a project. The Veritas Sliding Square is not, in my opinion, essential to the work that I do, but I sure do use it a lot. It has many uses and I would not want to do woodwork without it. I have had this square for over 20 years and it’s still going strong. I also want to mention number (3) above, it is plastic and cheap and not my first choice. I like that it is metric and is a folding meter ruler, but besides that fact, I can use this a my sector. With its 25cm ( 9.84″) length of it’s legs, it makes a halfway decent sector. It works and I have used it as such. At some point I’m either going to have to make a really nice sector or buy one (good luck doing that I say to myself). I wish someone (I’m looking at you Tools For Working Wood) would make a nice sector kit so you could make your own out of your own wood.

1-Blue Spruce Small Marking Knife, Ultra Thin Blade, 2-#8 Chip carving Knife, 3-Generic Box Cutter

Marking Knives

Marking knives are very personal and everyone I talk to has an opinion. I look for three qualities in my marking knives. 1) They must make accurate cuts in wood; 2) They must be easy to sharpen; and, 3) They must be comfortable to use. I love the Blue Spruce marking knife for marking out dovetails, I love the last two for general marking. I regularly use all three

1-Ticonderoga #2, 2-White Colored Pencil, 3-Pentel .5mm lead pencil 4-Fisher Space Pen, 5-Double-ended Black Sharpie, 6- Not Pictured – Mechanical Drafting Lead Holder

Writing Implements

I just like using a plain old #2 pencil; it’s what I mostly use. I use the white colored pencil for marking dark woods and the double-ended sharpie for thin and thick markings on my irons and metal bits and pieces. I love the Fisher Space pen for it’s resilience and that it just works. I do not user the pen on wood just notes and drawing on paper.

Top to bottom – English Layout Square made from Chris Schwarz’s plans, Straight Edge, Panel Gauge copied from the old Lie-Nielsen model

More Homemade Tools

I’ll say this again, I love making tools and I have used the three above extensively. Wood makes such a great Square and Straight Edge that I don’t like using the metal equivalents. I covered making the English Layout Square in a blog post “English Layout Square” in December 2012. The Panel Gauge is soooo nice! This design was inspired by the Lie Nielsen version and it is not wobbly and is very accurate; I would not change a thing about it.

Vintage Trammel Points and a Modern Dovetail Marker

Misc Tools

These trammel points are beautiful. I purchased these at an MWTCA tool event for $20 and they are awesome! I have created a split pointed beam for them so they can be used as pinch rods as well. Double duty! The Dovetail Marker is not necessary kit, but a quick fix for marking out this joint.

Conclusion

I love my tools, not as much or in the same way as I love my wife or kids. But they do allow me to manipulate wood to make useful and beautiful projects. They give me a sense of wonder at what humans can accomplish and give insight into our ingenuity. When I use them, I feel a close connection to my ancestors and feel how they felt when using them. I hope my kids or future grandkids find these posts useful if they choose to become woodworkers. I hope they can feel a connection to me when using my tools like I do when using my grandfather’s old tools. Tools, like music can connect people across the centuries and from different parts of the world.

Peace,

Aaron

Post Holiday Update 30-Dec-2020

My wonderful wife bought me this beautiful Acer-Ferrous Toolworks Sector from Red Rose Reproductions. This is a excellent addition to my measuring and marking kit. I have used it several times since receiving it and it works with precession and ease.

Roubo Workbench – Update 5 – The Home Stretch

Split-Top Roubo in all it's glory
Cat on Roubo Workbench

This project has taken way too long to finish (my first post was on Sep. 15, 2015). This bench deserved better from me. I am on the home stretch now and only have a few tasks left. I have made a commitment to myself to finish this project before the New Year (to be exact, New Year’s Day 2021, there are some members on my family that need that specific of a date declaration.) Here is a casual non-exhaustive, non-binding list of things to finish:

o Make and install deadman
o Level the tops, make sure they are shimmed and ready for mounting to base
o Install barrel nuts on the top slabs
o This is embarrassing, but put front dovetailed veneer piece to cover trim sawing disaster (more on this later)
o Install a Roubo-style bench stop made by Peter Ross. This was a late addition after careful consideration and desire to have more work holding options
o Pre-finish cleanup of all surfaces
o Make a new center board as the old one was just temporary  
o Finish the bench
o Enjoy!

All in all, not that much work remaining considering all I have put into this project. I have used and continue to use this bench. I LOVE IT!  Best thing I have ever built by a long shot. My second workbench (if I build another) will not take nearly as long.

This is one of the truly good things to come out of the Covid-19 lockdown. 

I will write a lessons learned post after I have finished the workbench. I wish I had gotten a copy of the “Anarchists Workbench” (The PDF is free to download “And it’s covered by a creative commons license that allows you to use the material however you like for non-commercial purposes.”) before building this bench, but I am very happy with the workbench I have built and it will serve me well for the rest of my life. One thing I do regret is buying a commercial workbench for $500. I bought that bench before I “knew better” but that is a cop out. I should have done more research, even back then before laying out that much money. Also, I had seen Roy Underhill build his workbench on the “Woodwright’s Shop” years before, but did not think I had the skills to build one myself. 

Never underestimate your abilities! You can do it. Yes, you will make mistakes, I made LOTS of them.

Build
Fail
Try Again
Fail
Build Some More
SUCCEED!

This the way.

You will figure out how to fix mistakes and you can complete the project if you stick to it. I love to work on problems, and this build gave me no shortage of them. I love to innovate and my solution for the right front bench dog ejector “Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks” was  particularly satisfying. 

Here are some adjectives to describe this project in no particular order – Fun, Strenuous, Challenging, Frustrating, Satisfying, Educational, Joy, Sorrow, Ingenious.

Peace,

Aaron 

Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks

First dog closest to vise

During this stay at home time, I decided to finish my loooong term project, my Split Top Roubo Workbench (more on the actual workbench in a later entry). I was working on the legs and benchtop. With this design the dog hole closest to the end or wagon vise (BenchCrafted) is directly over my right leg. The plans call for a hole drilled vertically down the leg to allow for the dog to seat flush with the top. That’s all well and good but how do you get it out?

Bench dog down, how do you get it out when it’s down?

The BenchCrafted plans call for a largish hole to be drilled on the face of the leg to poke your finger into to prop it up.

Umm, yeah, this solution it’s not for me

This did not sit well with me for some reason. It’s not particularly that I have an issue with holes in my bench leg, per se (I don’t mind the dog holes for my holdfasts). it’s just this is a fairly large hole and I thought there should be a better way.

First Dog Hole Lever
I tried using Sketchup, but I’m busy working in my shop, drawing is much faster also the graph paper is scaled to 1/4″ imperial (6.35mm for metric) squares.

Enter the “1st Dog Hole Lever”, this handy contraption will sit on the left inside of the right leg and will extricate your flush bench dog with abandon. This takes some extra work to install, but not that much and I do not believe it will interfere with any clamping operations. As this is my idea and I have not seen anyone do this (every Split Top Roubo Workbench i’ve seen just drills the big hole) time will tell. If it does get in the way, you can simply remove the pivot nail and proceed with your clamping or other operations and replace it when you’re done.

  • Dog Lever

If any of you are building or planning on building this bench, you may want to add this little detail. I know I really like using it (and my cat does too).

Peace,
Aaron

Wonderful World of Vises and Their Vices

My old bench had a vise that would rack, so I cut out several pieces of 4″ X 1 1/2″ x 1/4″ popular that I had lying around and drilled a 3/4″ hole (you may have to sand the holes or the dowel little bit to get the pieces to rotate easily) in all of them and inserted a 3/4″ dowel with 2 scrap turned end pieces screwed and glued and presto a variable anti-rack block, It can go from 1/” to 2″. This is not an original idea, I have seen wooden versions of similar rack stops on the internet and there is a plastic version of this in a Lee Valley catalog. It’s just really easy to make and works great!

Here it is in action with the 1/2″ selection or 1/4″ + 1/4″
Another Shot

Peace

Tools, Tools, Tools

Stanley No. 6 Type 11 Fore Plane

Yes folks, I’m talking Hand Tools. Hand Tools are one of my favorite topics. If you live in the South East like I do, then you are privileged to have some wonderful tool resources to draw on to add metal pieces of industrial art to add to your toolbox.

There are several places I search for these treasures of yesteryear. Two of my favorites are Craigslist and Marketplace. Sometimes they advertise rusty stuff other people just pass over, with patience, a keen eye and if you really look closely you can find some great deals.

Yard Sales are another place to find some really nice deals. People are generally unaware of the value of their old tools collecting dust in their garages. Also, most people are willing to negotiate price, so haggling is part of the fun.

Flea Markets, I love Flea Markets! But beware, dealers often know the eBay price of most of their items and have them priced pretty high. Look for the non-dealers and people that have boxes of rusty tools under the tables, that is where you’ll find a lot of great tool deals. That being said, if a dealer has a tool that you cannot find after lots of searching and it’s a reasonable price, it’s ok to pull the trigger and buy it. No guilt trip here.

Estate Sales, Estate sales are awesome and dangerous as you can get caught up and buy lots of stuff you don’t need. Go check out some near you and you will be rewarded by some really nice tools sometimes, and not have to pay lots of cash for them.

Thrift Shops are a good place to find tools. I found the plane pictured above at my local Habitat ReStore for $15. Yes, $15 although it was covered in rust and needed more work that I have ever had to do to any plane to get it in the pictured condition. Now, it’s a very nice tool and a valued addition to my tool inventory. Click here to see a picture of it before I cleaned it up.

The places I have mentioned up to now are really great and you can add lots of tools to your tool box from these sources without breaking the bank. As you get more experience and start to know what to look for in old tools, you’ll start seeing tools you may already have or do not use or need. That’s ok, because you can go ahead a buy them if they are a good deal, then resale them on eBay (tools sell really well on eBay) to help pay for you hobby, vocation, avocation or tool addiction. Keep in mind some of these tools may need some work if you plan to use them yourself, but a little effort will be rewarded by a lifetime of faithful service by these vintage beauties. I find that in getting them ready for use, you also learn a lot more about them and enhance your understanding and experience. I also consider it fun to see them emerge from the rust to become wonderful tools.

MWTCA or Mid West Tool Collectors Association. If you want to see a lot of tools, go to a local MWTCA tool meet. They have lots of vendors and regular tool owners selling (and buying) tools. You can learn a lot about tools from these vendors and the prices are usually pretty reasonable. They sometimes have estate sales at the tools meets and you can get some real bargains at those.

Last but not by any stretch least is Ed’s Tool Store over Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s School in Pittsboro NC. A better collection of reasonably priced vintage hand tools will not be found anywhere in the South East. Do yourself a favor and Email Ed Lebetkin to find out when he is open and plan a trip to Pittsboro to see this store. You can thank me later.

Now that you have a full set of tools, go ahead and make yourself a tool box https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest I can’t recommend this book enough. Chris Schwarz is an excellent writer and your whole concept of Hand Tools will be reset after reading this book. Just buy it! Get both the Hardbound and the PDF version if you can afford it. If not, At least get the Hardbound edition.

What tools do you need to start woodworking? Look here at a PDF I wrote to get a list of the tools I consider to be first in any beginners tool box.

May your shavings be thin and your joy abundant

-Aaron

Tool Chest Dump

Full Dutch Tool Chest Dump

It’s that time of year when the weather gets cooler and a young man’s thoughts turn to tools. Yes that’s right tools. I have been thinking a lot about tools lately.  But wait, you might say as you read this and possibly know how old I am, Aaron, your not a young man! Well everything has perspective and in the woodworking world, I am considered a young man 🙂  Any who, I have been thinking about tools for a few reasons;
1) I had a dear friend pass away not long ago and I have been helping his widow get the most value out of them by selling locally, online and at a recent vintage tool sale. (this is still ongoing and is likely going to take a few months to finish)
2) I have a very small shop, so I am very choosy about what tools go in there, so I have to sell tools all the time to keep from becoming a tool hoarder and being crushed by a falling stack of wooden planes or being sliced to death by improperly stored panel saws.
3) My dear long suffering wife has had to put up with my “hobbies” (too many to name here, it is a looooong list) and the attendant mess that comes along with said hobbies. I need to reorganize so that means optimizing the space I take up ( this is currently 2 complete rooms and part of our bedroom and part of our living room :-/ .)

This brings me to to the topic of todays blog. “Tool Chest Dump”

After a few years of using the Dutch Tools Chest, I love it even more today than when I finished it. It has stood the test of time and keeps my beloved tools safe and secure from dust and the ravages of the shop environment.  While usable I have not actually finished it. In my enthusiasm and need for the storage at the time, after paining it, I promptly loaded it with tools and and it has been there working every day but not yet complete. That changes now. That means I have to dump out the contents (read carefully place the contents on my bench) to proceed with the project below.

I have been mulling over the finishing touches and some upgrades and adding some features to my Dutch Tools Chest . I have never trimmed off the bolts that hold my handles and this makes me nervous when I moving my No. 4 in and out as it could damage the tote handle.  I would also like to install a holster for my nice block plane. I have added some additional tools to the chest and I would like to find or create a better solutions for them, namely some mortising chisels and a 1 1/4″ Firmer chisel. All the other tools have a “home” and are quite happy there.

First the block plane holster

Chris Schwarz put this one in his chest and I am going to do the same thing in mine. My block plane is very nice and I don’t need it knocking around the chest, but instead safe and sound in it’s own home. I have some scrap leather and it should not be an issue to create a holster.

Handle bolts

These are a bit trickier. I do not have a Dremel tool and cutting them with a hack saw is not ideal as there are 8 of them and I dislike using a hack saw. I believe I will use my grinder to grind down 1 bolt to see if that works. I need to remove about 3/16″ from each bolt and I can quench them in water to keep them from loosing their temper.  After shortening the bolts, I will recess the inside bolt holes to make the nuts more flush and then nail some light 1-2 lb. leather to cover it.

Additional Chisel Storage

I’ll have to get back to you later on this one. This chest is pretty packed as it is and I will really have to get creative. It can be done but it will take some soaking time to come up with a usable and practical solution.

The Dutch Tools Chest after 4 Years Use

The chest is in amazing shape. It has been rock solid and has survived a couple of trips to the Woodwright’s School. One aspect I love is the breadboard top. It was made to allow for the seasonal expansion and contraction of the large poplar board that makes up the bulk of the top. You can see in the winter that it contracts about 3/32″ and the side rail protrudes while the poplar board contracts and then in the summer (when I made the chest) it comes right back to flush. Wood movement in action boys and girls is a cool thing as long as you plan for it 🙂

-Aaron

P.S. If you have any questions about the tools listed in the top picture or anything else in this blog, just click the “CONTACT US” link in the menu and I will be glad to help you out.

Finished finishing

As promised, here is the finished cabinet. This was a fun and quick project to do and it was so needed in my shop. It was quick because milk paint dries crazy fast and the top coat is only paste wax.

“Happy Shavings”
-Aaron

Click HERE for my YouTube video of this project.

Cabinet Refinishing Project

 

 

Cabinet Before Painting

Sometimes a project just screams “You must complete me now!”. Well, that is what my latest project was saying to me. I was lucky and picked up a nice pine standing cabinet from Freecycle.org a while back and it looked like it only had one coat of polyurethane on it and the cabinet looked to be 15 or 20 years old. I knew it wold make a great addition to my shop as a paint and adhesives storage cabinet.

 

 

 

J.E. Moser’s Milk Paint

 

 

I removed all the hardware and sanded it with 280 grit sandpaper. My plan was to use Lexington Green milk paint from J.E. Moser’s as this is one of my favorite colors. But when I checked I only had enough for a small project. I did have quite a bit of the Salem Red.

Fortunately whoever originally finished this piece did not put many coats so the sanding went pretty smoothly. There were some dings and I had to set a few finish nails, but nothing major.

 

Cabinet with one coat of milk paint

I have to say, I am really starting to love milk paint. It is non-toxic, has no fumes, dries quickly, water soluble and it looks great.  Here is a good site with lots of information about milk paint if you have never used it before. The first and second coats do not usually look very good, but the third and fourth are really nice. This piece was an exception, It took the milk paint like it had been waiting for it. This piece has been an absolute pleasure to paint! New wood sometimes resists milk paint especially if it still has some moisture in it, but this cabinet is very dry and been really fun to paint. 

After I finish the painting, I will take some brown grocery bag and crumple it up and really give it a good buffing. this will burnish the surface and get it ready for the paste wax top coat.

Check back tomorrow to see how it turned out 🙂

Shop Cat helping paint dry

“Happy Shavings”
-Aaron

P.S. If you have not seen my YouTube channel click => Here to check it out or click on the YouTube link on the sidebar.