A Little More Colonial Williamsburg Creeps Into My Backyard

This Friday I finally got my cresset put up that my wife had gotten me for Christmas. I put it at the beginning of the brick walk out to my shop. Loaded it up Saturday night with nothing but fat wood and lit it up for the first time. I don't know that I've ever felt a fire so intensely hot in such a small area. It burned really bright and hot, but it was done in about ten minutes. I can't find anything on-line about what or how you're supposed to burn a cresset so I'm just experimenting until I find a balance between a nice fire and one that last longer than a few minutes. Last night I split up a short piece of oak that I had on the firewood stack into pieces about 3/4" square or so and put a little fat wood in the cresset first and then the oak on top. It burned good and lasted longer, but still not long enough for my liking. Next time I'm going to start out pretty much the same, but I'm going to split some pieces of oak about  2" square, add those after the fire gets going good and see how long it burns with some larger pieces of wood. Eventually I'll find the right combination. Meanwhile, it's fun to experiment with it and it adds a pretty cool look to things out there after dark.

An Update on a Personal Note; And a Completed Project

Just figured I'd give everyone a health update. On March 19th I went and saw the doctor  from Mercy Medical in Baltimore that has been trying to keep by biliary drains free from the constrictions of the tumor below my liver. I was to go in to the hospital for an endoscopy and an ERCP and probably stay a night or two. Well, that turned into about 6 procedures and a 24 day hospital stay. Not at all what I expected. After about 18 days I think I lost my good patient status. I've never been so ready to get out of a hospital and get home. It really stinks when you're two hours away from everyone you love and the doctors won't let you leave and there's nothing you can do to get yourself out of there short of leaving Against Medical Advice in which case you run the risk of your insurance not paying for any of your stay. Anyway, they finally let me out 12 days ago. I immediately felt better just getting to sniff fresh air for the first time in almost a month and it really felt good to finally be home and in my own bed  and able to walk outside whenever I wanted. I ended up coming home with a pick line for IV antibiotics and two permanent external biliary drains. Not ideal, but the drains are helping me to feel better even though they are a PITA. Bottom line is that the doctors told me that there's really no more that they can medically do for me so I'm pretty much at the mercy of the tumor at this point. I'm feeling stronger every day since coming home though and I'll never quit fighting until I draw my last breath. Ok, enough of that. On to what this blog is supposed to be about; woodworking!

I finished this Roy Undrerhill inspired tool tote about a week before I went into the hospital. It was the first thing I've ever done with compound/slanted dovetails. I admit, I largely faked the layout but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and they add great strength as they are supposed to do. To make it easier to carry, in addition to the center divider/handle, I added a nice 1 1/2" leather strap to go around my neck and onto my opposite shoulder. This really makes carrying it much easier. The center divider/handle has a through tenon through the ends of the tote. Before I put everything together, I cut a square hole toward each end of the leather strap for the tenon to pass through and sandwiched the strap between the divider and the ends of the tote. Makes for a pretty secure connection.

My original purpose for making this tote was to carry some tools with me to the Fort Frederick 18th Century Market Fair this weekend. My friend, master windsor chairmaker Charles Boland of Storybook Joinery always demonstrates and sells chairs there and very generously offered that I come there as his guest as many days as I wanted and he would teach me some of the finer points of windsor chair making. Well, unfortunately it was just too close to me getting out of the hospital for doing any actual woodworking like draw knifing, etc. so I won't be able to take advantage of Charles' very generous offer. My wife is going to take me there for a few hours on Saturday though if I'm up for it. I'll be sure to visit Charles and hopefully get some pictures of his set-up and beautiful chairs as well as some of the other vendors. So much neat stuff there. I'll be going in full fledged Adam Cherubini style funny clothes; puffy shirt, waistcoat, buckle shoes, etc. If all goes as planned I'll try to do a blog post with lots of pictures and a full report.

The finished tool tote a couple coats of milk paint and a top coat of
Danish oil.

A view of the inside of the tote.

Close-up showing the detail of the through tenon and the strap emerging
from the slot in the end of the tote.

The tote hung up giving you a better idea of the length of the strap and
what it would look like slung over your shoulder for ease of carrying.

Detail of the leather strap. I had originally purchased a woven nylon strap
for this. So glad that I ordered a nice leather strap instead. 1 1/2" wide.

Detail of the strap with the tenon going through it and sandwiched
between the center divider and the end piece.

One of  the tools that was to go in the tote with a blade guard that I made
from walnut to protect the blade and my fingers. This is an Auriou
drawknife and is by far the nicest drawknife that I have ever personally
used. I know you can buy a vintage draw knife fairly inexpensively, but
I've never regretted buying this one. It's amazing how many uses you can
find for a nice, razor sharp drawknife.

Little better shot showing how the blade guard was made. Hole drilled
toward the bottom with leather lacing going through to tie the guard
on to the drawknife. I try to use materials that would have been
available in the 18th century whenever possible. Slot was made with
a plow plane and then pieces glued into the ends of the slot and
planed flush.

Just Too Good To Burn

My cousin Troy, who's been my best friend since we were kids, has been kind enough to keep me supplied in firewood all year, bringing me a load every 2 or 3 weeks in this colder than normal winter. Well, I haven't looked at firewood quite the same since taking Peter Follansbee's joint stool class down at Roy's last summer. As I've been bringing in armloads to put on the hearth, I couldn't help but notice some of the beautiful, straight-grained red oak that was mixed in there. I've already taken advantage of it and used it for the legs on both my new shave horses, and Sunday I found a piece long enough for a stile of a joined stool. Now I could only get one leg out of that piece, but I broke into another piece that I was able to get two aprons and two stretchers out of. Plenty of nice stuff around 20" long to get aprons, stretchers and chair legs out of, I've just gotta find a few more longer pieces for 3 more joint stool stiles. And I have to make sure Troy doesn't find out I'm turning all his firewood into furniture. ;-)

The extra added benefit to green woodworking is that the waste makes the best fire starter that money can't buy. And lots of it. And it's a heck of a lot of fun working that nice green stuff.

As a side note, my hatchet handle that I made last summer and thought I'd let dry out enough obviously didn't. It's progressively gotten more loose to the point where I finally got tired of wedging it a week or so ago and took the hatchet head off of it to make a new handle. So in being without a hewing hatchet, but armed with two new shave horses and a nice, sharp drawknife, ( the Auriou drawknife is a dream to use ), I've been doing what is normally hewing work at the shave horse. I gotta say, it works very well. I know it's not traditional and Roy would probably tell me that the ancient woodworkers would snicker at me for using the drawknife instead of the more noble axe, but it really is a viable alternative. Actually, now that I have a nice drawknife, I find myself using it a lot, for things I would never have thought to use it for previously. I guess that's what woodworking and life itself is all about. New discoveries and growth. 'Til next time...

A real nice pile of starter fuel for the wood stove.

Two aprons, two stretchers and one stile; sitting atop everything that
WASN'T an apron, a stretcher or a stile.

A Stable Full of Horses

Shaving horses that is. The bodgers' or English style shave horse is one I just kind of cobbled together about 4 years ago. Not my finest work by far, but it's done it's job well enough. However, in watching all the Curtis Buchanan videos on YouTube and seeing Elia Bizzarri on a past episode of The Woodwrights Shop, I decided I wanted to try a Continental or Dumb Head style horse. One of the main reasons was hearing Elia say that this style was better for shaving long parts like Windsor arms and bows because you can just slide the piece in from the side rather than having to pull it out and reinsert it from the front as on the English version. Plus I had enough southern yellow pine 2 x material laying around the shop that it wouldn't cost me anything but time.

After browsing over a bunch of shave horse pictures on Google Images ( a resource I use a lot for ideas on furniture and shop fixtures ) I decided on a close version of the model on Drew Langsner's Country Workshops site. A model he refers to as a Swiss shaving horse. About the only change I made was to make the bridge removable and pivoting, so I could change the slope of the bridge by inserting a different height riser. The riser is not attached in any way, just sitting in a shallow rabbet in the top of the bench and the bottom of the bridge. Everything is southern yellow pine with the exception of the wedges holding the head, the foot treadle, and the bridge pivot block. The wedges are cherry, the foot treadle is 1 x oak, and the legs are nice, straight grained red oak off my firewood pile. And just for some turning practice, I turned the legs in the style of Windsor chair bamboo style turnings. These were glued into 6 degree tapered holes and then wedged with walnut wedges. It was fun turning the legs and was really good practice, including tapering the tops of the legs to a 6 degree taper matching the reamed leg holes. The metal pins are half inch steel rod, easily bent after being heated in my paint can forge.

The completed Swiss style horse.

Another view.

Close-up of the removable block and adjustable bridge.

Adjustable height head with home-made steel pin.

The walnut wedges driven into the tops of the legs.

My tapered reamer and a gauge block of a matching taper that allows me
to check my turning as I go to match the tapered holes in the bench.

Of course, after building the Swiss style horse, I got to thinking that maybe I should try a more traditional dumbhead style. And since I had enough material for everything but the bench part, why the heck not! I mean, if two horses are good, three must be better. Right? And they really don't eat much. Ok, that was easy enough to talk myself into. Time to get to work! This one I decided to make three legged, again with red oak legs off the firewood pile, but this time made somewhat in the fashion of welsh stick chair legs. I figured the three legs would be beneficial if I ever decided to take things outside on uneven ground. I also made the slope of the bridge more shallow, and fixed. I'm very happy with it. The lower angle of the bridge is quite comfortable when using the draw knife.

The more traditional dumbhead style horse.

Three legged for a steady stance even on uneven ground.

The bridge held firm with tapered oak pegs. I got a little
too aggressive driving in the right peg and split the bench
slightly. Bending a 1 1/4" piece of steel to fit tightly
around the front of the bench fixed that problem quite
nicely. Again, the paint can forge came in handy here.

Three horses, one old nag and a couple fresh young steeds, ready for action.

I love it when the natural light shines in from the front window and rakes
across a piece.

So now I have three horses and a steam box at the ready. Starting to look like I'm getting ramped up for some chair making. Or a school! Ha Ha

A Few Recent Acquisitions For The Shop

Just a couple pictures of some recent additions that I've acquired for the shop over the last few months.

Gramercy Tools dovetail saw. I had one before and sold it. They're great
saws, I just found myself using my Wenzloff Kenyon style dovetail saw
as my "go to". This was just too good of a deal to pass on though. Not
a mark on it, sharp as a tack, and $80 off the price of a new one. I'm quite
happy to have gotten one of these back in the fold.

Pierced tin lantern by Master Tinsmith James Glynn.
Again, just too good a deal to pass on. Found it on eBay.
Hung it between the double window above my bench on
a hand forge hanger I'd gotten at last years Fort Frederick
Market Fair.

Equipped with a beeswax candle. Really doesn't put out
a lot of light, but you can't beat the look.

Last but not least, a grindstone that I found at a local antique store. It's
missing the seat and the drip cup, but I plan on making a wooden stand
for it anyway. Debating between the style found in Roubo's plates or
something of similar style, but with a seat. Going to have a removable
water trough under the stone. The main thing is that the stone itself is
in great shape. Perfectly round with the only flaw being a small chip on
the opposite side of what is shown in the picture; and it only encroaches in
on the grinding surface of the stone about an eight of an inch or so.
I'm happy to have finally found one of these locally and in such good shape.

Maybe a New Hobby - Undertaker

My pet snake Reggie died unexpectedly while trying to dine on a porcupine, so I decided to make him a nice snake coffin; complete with a steamer to keep him cozy on those cold winter nights. I think he'll be very comfortable in his final resting place. Well shoot; now that I look at it, this would make a nice steamer for bending chair parts. Hmmm, sorry Reggie. Looks like a cardboard box will have to do for you.

Six feet long. About 4 1/2" square inside dimension.

Plenty of hose length. Eleven feet long.

3/4" dowels, 5" from the front and back and 9" between on the others. Eight
dowels total. About an inch and a half off the floor.

My steam source. Little wall paper steamer. Says it'll run for about 70
minutes on a tank full. Bought from Lowes with Christmas gift card from
my mother in law and father in law. Thanks guys!

The back cap piece, rabbeted on the inside to help keep the box square.
Need to drill a small hole or two back here near the bottom to let the water
that builds up from condensation run out.

Converted the end that was originally going to a wallpaper steamer head
to this garden hose type fitting for easy disconnect. 

Shot of the fitting disconnected. Just a few turns to disconnect.

Uh-Oh, I'm Afraid This Could Be Addicting.

A few months back, inspired by the many spoon carving blogs I'd been seeing and the spoons that Peter Follansbee post on his site from time to time, and Robin Wood's web site, I ordered a couple spoon carving knives. I bought 2 hook knives from Del Stubbs at Pinewood Forge in Minnesota (excellent quality knives) and an inexpensive "Sloyd" knife off of eBay. The Sloyd knife is ok, but I find it's 4" blade to be too long and I'd like to eventually get one of Del's in a 2 1/4" blade length.

Very few tools required for spoon carving.

Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago and with my 5th wedding anniversary fast approaching, I was looking for a woodworking project I felt up to handling. We try to do the traditional wedding gift thing based on  the years married, and the traditional 5th anniversary gift was wood. I wasn't really up for a furniture project, so I figured, what better time to give spoon carving a try. There's lots of good videos on the subject. One of the best I found on YouTube was one by Ben Orford. Also found some good ones from Barn Carder and I had gotten the Jogge Sundqvist DVD for Christmas. Now time to find some wood. From what I gathered, fruit woods make great spoons, as well as birch, rhododendron, holly I think; really just about any tight grained, closed cell wood I believe. I found something growing out by my wood shed. Kinda looked a little cherry-ish by the bark, but not exactly. But it was a great size for spoon blanks, was tight grained, and was available. We have a winner.

And you can't argue with the cost of material; whatever this is.

After cutting a few limbs off and cutting some sections around 16" or so in length, I was ready to give it a shot. I split a section in half, removed the pith with a hatchet, smoothed it out a little with a draw knife, and sketched out a spoon shaped object on the flat surface. I removed the bark from the sides and then rough shaped the outside of the branch, which is the back of the spoon, with a hatchet into what seemed like a good shape. Then I started rough shaping the sides of the spoon to my lines with the hatchet. I think this is what Pye refers to as the workmanship of risk in his book. It's pretty exhilarating seeing how close you can come to your lines with a hatchet without ruining your spoon. So after the hatchet work was done, I shaped it up a little better with the Sloyd knife, then went at the bowl with the hook knives. These came direct from Del surgically sharp and ready to use. I have a few "surgical" nicks on my right thumb that can attest to their level of sharpness.

Still had a nice amount of keel here. Somehow lost it in the shaping process

When I got the spoon shaped how I wanted it, I was ready to do a little decorative carving on the handle to snaz it up a little and I wanted to put our names and wedding date on it. I had planned on doing this with a chip carving knife I'd bought at a woodworking show about 25 years ago and never used. What a worthless hunk of steel and wood that turned out to be. Luckily, I tried it on a scrap piece first. So with no chip carving knife, I decided to go at it with my trusty Pfeil v-gouge. This worked well enough and I was pleased with the results. With the carving done, I hit a few spots with a scraper and then it was on to the finish. I didn't use any sandpaper on the spoon; I much prefer the look of spoons that show the facets of the carving knives rather than something that is sanded to the point of looking like something that came from Ikea or Bed Bath and Beyond. I used grape seed oil to finish this spoon. Just rubbed it on by hand, let it dry a while, rubbed it in a little more, and then wiped off the excess. I believe I ended up giving it 7 or 8 coats like this. Other than losing the keel a bit, I'm pretty happy with the results for a first effort and I think Jen was pleased with it. It was a very enjoyable project and I see more spoons in my future. This one is pretty much just decorative, but I'd like to do some cooking spoons, eating spoons, maybe some spatulas. I'd like to try some different woods also, maybe some apple or pear. Oh, and if your gonna eat with wooden spoons, it only make sense to eat out of wooden bowls. Oh boy, looks like yet another rabbit hole to fall down. Good thing I have a spring pole lathe.  :-)

Completed and oiled up.

Close-up of the carving.

The bowl.

Backside. Anyone have any guesses as to the type of wood?

As you can see, I lost that nice keel I had earlier.