Handcut Dovetail Success....Sorta

I am currently making a G&G table with the SEMIWW group and decided to deviate from the traditional G&G box joint drawer and attempt handcut dovetails. This is the first time that I will have actually used this in a real furniture project. I have been getting close to having them look somewhat respectable but have been missing a few things. I practiced prior to doing these and finally figured out a few tricks including making a mess.



First, being able to saw a straight line is critical. I do tails first and I just worry about cutting straight and square for the tails since they will be used to mark my pins. Once you have the saw kerf started, I found it best to keep the saw very loose in my hand so the kerf ends up acting like a guide for the saw. This worked great for cutting a straight line.

Next, I used to use a coping saw to cut out the waste but I find that I am always cutting into the side of a tail or pin. I decided to chop out instead and found that it did not take too much longer but left the tails and pins much nicer with fewer nicks left in the wood. I chopped in about half way on both sides until the waste popped out as follows.



I also used to cut the end waste for the tails. However, it seemed that I would never be square on the ends of the tail board. Instead, I decided to cut the end off but left some waste that I pared with the chisel. This worked much better at keeping the ends square.

Once the tails are chopped out and cleaned up comes the difficult part of marking the pins. This is one of the most critical steps in order to get tight fitting joints. I carefully lay the tail board over the pin board to mark the pins. Once lined up and both boards clamped down, I used a retractable razer blade to carefully cut a line tight to the tale. I did not mark the knife line with a pencil as I find it to be a great guide to saw tight to the knife line. I did mark pencil lines on the side of the board to use as a guide to cut straight.

Cutting the pins is where I had difficulties in the past. You hear from others that you should split the line or cut to the waste side or leave some waste and pare down......enough to get very confused. I have tried all and finally found that by marking the line from the tail with a knife (no pencil) and carefully starting the saw cut by cutting just to the waste side of the line so that the saw shaves through the line. This will remove the line but the saw kerf is thicker than the line so you want to be careful starting the cut to the waste side. Once the saw cut is started it is then easy to cut the rest.

Overall, I think the drawer came out good with a few mistakes that will give it character. It is by far the best set of dovetails I have done yet. It is also the first set of half blind dovetails for me. I actually found the half blind dovetails slightly easier than thru dovetails as you can pare back slightly in the "blind spots" to make them fit nicely. Here is a picture of the completed drawer.

Chris Schwarz Handplane Class

This weekend I was able to take a class on Handplaning with Chris Schwarz which was the best $100 I have spent in a long time. We covered the basics from sharpening to squaring and flattening lumber with a plane. In addition, he brought some amazing planes that we were able to put our hands on. Many of the items I have taught myself through reading books, magazines and forums but have not been able to perfect or get over the hump. The class was really beneficial to have an expert like Chris show the little tricks or items I was not seeing prior to the class. Not to mention that he is a great person and teacher.

We spent most of the day flattening and squaring a piece of lumber after we learned to sharpen and set up the plane. This was helpful as I have done this in the past but needed some clarification on the approach and what to look for. However, the one item I gained the most from was in the morning when we covered sharpening.

I have struggled with sharpening since I started woodworking and acquiring hand tools. I have read numerous articles on this topic and tried just about every method. I have come a long way with my sharpening skills but he gave me the final polish I have needed to be able to do it quickly and effectively.

The first item that was a huge help was using David Charlsworth ruler trick to flatten the back of the blade. Of course, I have read about this method but never gave it a try. Using your sharpening method, i.e. waterstones, you place a small thin metal ruler on the long edge of the stone to lift the blade a very small amount when you sharpen. You then place the blade onto the ruler with the sharpening edge at the opposite edge that the ruler is on. This will give a very small back bevel and focus on the end of the blade where you want to flatten. It only takes 6 to 12 passes on each stone to get a 1/8" to 1/4" flattened spot at the blade tip. Works great.

The second item that I have had a challenge with is putting a camber on my blades. I am not sure why I have had this problem after Chris explained it as it is a very methodical approach...and that is my entire brain. He uses a simple $10 honing guide and breaks down his blade into 5 different pressure zones as shown below on my personalized Sketchup software.



He will sharpen with pressure on each zone and form the camber by the number of strokes. He uses six strokes on zones 1 and 5, three strokes on zones 2 and 4, and finally one stroke on zone 3. If you want more of a camber then do more strokes on the outside zones. He will do this through all of the stone grits. Pretty simple....not sure why the camber scared me so much.

The final touch is to go back to the ruler trick and give the back of the blade one or two good strokes on the stone to remove the burr. I was amazed as I was able to fully tune up three blades in about 30 minutes. It greatly improved and quickened the process so I can be doing more woodworking and less sharpening...which I hate.

At the end of the day we ended up learning many great skills and went home with a shooting board. He is also doing a handsawing class which sounds like it is going to be a great class. I really wish I had signed up for both. Next time I will certainly sign up for that class as I would like to learn more about handsawing.

Bow Saw

Above is a bow saw I made this weekend with the kit from here. I had purchased these parts awhile back but never got around to making it. The saw is made out of hard maple with the toggle being out of cherry. The finish is Watco Danish Oil with a couple of coats of Shellac. The handles were the biggest challenge as I do not have a lathe so they were formed with the bandsaw and files. Hence, they are not perfectly round.

This will be functional as a coping saw. I will probably use it the most when I attempt handcut dovetails to cut the waste out. Regardless, it was fun to make and will be nice to have around the shop.

I also ordered the kit for a spokeshave from Lee Valley. I will hopefully be making this in the next few weekends. Although, next weekend will be very busy as I am taking a handplane class at Woodcraft with Chris Schwarz, the editor of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine. I have learned a lot already from reading his articles. It will be very exciting to meet him in person and learn some new skills.

Garage Cleaning and a few things

We are starting to do more workouts at home so I have been wanting to make plyo boxes. Some of the workouts we do incorporate them for jumping on. They are fairly simple to make and Home Depot had Birch Plywood on sale for $25. I bought two sheets and was able to make 3 boxes. Not the best plywood but it will work. I made a 20" tall one that can be used in conjunction with my saw bench and two 24" tall boxes. The taller ones will also be handy with woodworking as I can use them for assembling projects.

One tool that would be nice to have some day after cutting all of this plywood is a Festool saw with the shop vac attachment. Fairly pricey so that will have to wait. Here is a picture of the boxes stacked in the corner.




I also rearranged the garage and had a table sitting were the plyo boxes are above. The table was original made to be an outfeed table for the table saw but it never happened. I finally was able to get it set up to work which I think is going to be very nice. Here is a picture of the new setup.



The final item I made this weekend were two push sticks which I have needed. I had a poorly made one before that did not work that well. These I spent some time on forming with the bandsaw and a file. I also put a coat of Watco Danish Oil on them.



I spent the rest of the time cleaning and getting the garage better organized. I also completed the drawer in the cabinet which was nice to get that completed. Overall, it was a very busy weekend.

Sawbench

I read about this sawbench a few months ago and wanted to make one for the shop. It would be very helpful for various tasks that I can do with the handsaw vs. pulling out the big heavy miter saw. I can also use it as a stool for my tall cabinets or for chiseling pieces of wood.

Also, my wife wanted me to make plyo boxes for when we workout at home and this can function in that capacity also. Although, I think I will make an actual plyo box and then can use the two of them for assembling projects.

I did not sand it or clean up the wood so please ignore the glue drip on the leg.

Here are a few pictures.

Coffee Table for a Friend

A close friend of my wife is going through a split up with her significant other and has a 10 month old baby and no furniture. She recently moved into an apartment but has little furniture. I hate to see anyone going through this so I offered to make her a coffee table to help out during this difficult time.

I made it out of 2x4's and 2x10's from the depot and cost about $25 total. I just glued up the 2x4 to make the legs thicker. Did M&T for the apron's and glued up 3 2x10's cut down for the top. Finish is Amber Shellac and paste wax as I had some sitting around. Here are a couple of pictures before I deliver it.

Thanks for looking

Projects and more Projects

I have not posted in a bit as I have been busy making sawdust. I have a number of projects currently brewing in my garage shop.

First, the local woodworking group has set up three groups to make end tables. Our group is making a Greene & Greene style table...very cool. One of the members of my group was very nice to sell some cherry wood so that we can each make our own table. I have the pieces cut but no pictures yet.

Second, I am making a saw bench which is a handy tool in the shop. It is a small low bench that helps with using a handsaw (the kind with no electric cord), chiseling and a number of other items.

Third, our friendly lumber provider, Oakie, had a bunch of hard maple billets (2 5/8" x 1 1/2" x 8 ft) and the oak was finished drying. So last weekend I picked up more wood. The billets I will use for bench's, cutting boards and other items. The white oak may be used for book cases. It is quarter sawn and flat sawn showing off some beautiful grain.

I will try and post some pictures soon. I just have been very busy lately with work.