Anarchist's Tool Chest

I know I'm probably the thousandth blogger to mention The Anarchist Tool Chest, but for me - living in England - it was a really decadent purchase to have it shipped from America.

I'll keep this short though so I don't repeat what other people have said.

This book is only for those that have a really keen interest in woodwork, like me, and I loved it. It focuses on furniture making tools mainly and how to choose and use them, with the last section dedicated on how to make a traditional tool chest. The section on Tool selection has already made me start looking a little differently at car boot sales and I might even venture into the world of wooden planes for a bit of fun as well as to start making items in the workshop that require a bit of hand preperation work first.

I realise one of the main principles of the book of keeping tools to minimum I already do. I only buy more when I can't progress further with what I have (unless its a chisel and then I buy everyone I see!). The hand tool only route is something I think a house carpenter like me would struggle with, at least to be productive enough on site (although after three O'clock I'm very reluctant to get more tools out of the van!)

A good read for anyone into their wood and a beautifully made book as well - I've already decided what book I'm next having from the Lost Art Press!

CSCS Test

Well this week I had to take my CSCS test again as my current card is going to expire.

To work on a building site (not on a private job) you now have to carry a CSCS card which is supposed to mean you have basic understanding of health and safety on site and the card also displays your trade and the level you are qualified to.

It's a funny test as most of the multiple choice questions are obvious but there are one or two to catch you out. A few half hours spent reading the book normally ensures that you wont fail but there are a few questions that raise a smile with there stupidity, like this one:

Q: To help keep rats away everyone on site should:

A: buy rat traps and put them around site

B: ask the local authority to put down rat poison

C: Bring a large cat to site

D: not leave scraps of food lying about

I think bringing a large cat to site would work best but I don't think its the answer they're looking for!

Anyway I passed so now I can renew my card for another 5 years (and my supervisors card next year) and keep working on the larger building sites.

How to Fit Skirting

Well the last two days have been spent on my knees.

I've not found a new religion- I've been fitting skirting board at Summerfield Park.

On an old property like this it can be a nightmare to fit. All the walls are out, nothing is square and the floor is as level as the Peak District! All this makes for some slow going if its to be done right, luckily I'm not on my own and another carpenter, "Rocket" is helping me and we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The skirting is fixed to the wall using a grab adhesive (like gripfill) and then screwed and plugged to the wall. All mitres are glued and pinned.

It's funny but its always easy to see when an amateur has fitted skirting (normally you notice this when your sat on someones toilet) and your see that an internal joint has been mitred instead of scribed. The scribe joint means that if the wood shrinks when it drys out the gap wont open whereas an internal mitre would open up leaving an unsightly gap (although I'm sure the spiders would love it).

To cut a scribe (in a modern "on site" sort of way) you first cut a 45 degree mitre on the skirting, sloping so that the end grain you see is where you want your waste to be. You then cut along the line left by the saw (see the picture above) with a jack saw (you can colour this line in with a pencil to make it easier to see). Undercutting this slightly makes it easier to fit the pieces of skirting together.

Next you take your copping saw and undercut round the detail at the top of the skirting (see above picture again).

This should leave you something like this.

Which will slot into another piece of skirting like this - Giving you the perfect scribe joint.

I can't tell you how many of these there are in this house - it seems to be the longest bit of skirting in some rooms it's 2' before you come to another corner! (although I'm probably exaggerating)

Iron Oxide Finish

I've been experimenting again with different finishes and I read in a book that you can make your own finish for oak by mixing vinegar with iron of some sort (I used iron wool and a jam jar full of malt vinegar).

I put this mixture together three weeks ago and I decided it was time to test it out. On a piece of oak I arboteched out I could see the oak change colour slowly in front of my eyes, it ends up almost being a petroleum blue - a really amazing colour.

I then experimented further by turning a strip of oak and leaving the middle its natural colour (finished with shellac) and texturing the rest, then adding the stain and rubbing on a light covering of liming wax, this gave it a nice contrast. In the end I textured it again after I added the liming wax and applied more of the stain as it only reacts with the bare oak and could fill in the gaps.

Does anyone else have recipes for stains and finishes I can try? I've really enjoyed this experiment and I can see me using it in my future work.

Woodturning Tote

Anyone who reads this blog knows how fussy I am about my tools and this extends to all my tools.
For my woodturning lessons it's advised that we bring our own tools in to use (so we can do the same thing when we get home), last term I used an old tool bag I had to take them in each week. Nothing makes me cringe more than to see my tools in this bag with the sharpened ends touching or coming near to touching - to me that's like dragging your fingernails down a chalk board.
So with some scraps of MDF and a length of oak I set about making myself a tote to carry my woodturning tools in before this term begins. I decided roughly on the shape and cut out the sides. I then laid out some of the tools I wanted to take to make sure they'd fit, with space to add more in the future. I turned a chunky handle out of oak and assembled with glue and screws (well it is only MDF!). I also made a tray in the bottom to carry my sandpaper, oils and other bits.
The only MDF I had big enough was 18mm so this does make it quite heavy but this will stop it tipping over in the van when I take it anywhere. I did cut a hole on each side to lighten it a bit.
When I was happy with it I sealed it with PVA and water and filled the screw holes. I then painted it black to try and hide the fact its MDF.

It should be a better way to take my chisels to lessons and make them easier to use and find when I'm there.

Laying a Chipboard Floor

A bit of a different direction from the last post! Can't say I'm not varied even if it is all wood!

We finally managed to get the flooring down in the toilet area of Summerfield Park today. Feels like a complete relief, what with the copper being stolen in the past and having to raise the floor in the first place to avoid the cellar.

Anyhow we got it insulated (insulation held up with battens) and worked our way across the floor laying the boards as we went (I think it's the most pipes I've ever cut round on one floor - got through a whole pack of jigsaw blades).

All the pipe work was on the undersides of the joists so it makes you feel a little better when your nailing it down (we still play the game where you hiss like a leaking pipe when you put the first nail in! - Not good for those with a nervous disposition).

Even managed to get the layout for the studding marked out with the sole plates fixed to the new floor, which means I've got a nice Friday studding - seems like a good way to end the week.

Carved Box Top

Looking at blogs the other day I was inspired when I came across the carved top to an oil stone box on http://villagecarpenter.blogspot.com/.

Kari had made such a beautiful reproduction of the one she saw I decided that I would have my first attempt at carving by trying to make one to my own design (about time I used the 50 or so carving chisels I've collected over the years).

To start with I decided to relief carve a jack saw just to make sure it was within my abilities. This didn't come out too bad (maybe a little like a child had done it) so I decided to draw up a design that could be transferred to wood. I thought that if I used my name on the wood it would make it personal to me, I also chose four tools I use a lot - a mallet, jack saw, level & bevel (in case you couldn't tell!).

Using some spray adhesive I fixed it to the piece of beech I'd decided to use. I know beech isn't the ideal wood for carving (believe me I know now!) but it this has got to survive in the back of my van so needs to be hardwaring and pretty tough.

Happy with the layout I set about chopping round the design then removing the background. It's pretty difficult to get the background smooth (I'd imagine it would be easier with lime or a softer wood) and I got to a stage where I was going to do more harm than good if I carried on.

I then tried to make the tools look 3d and give them detail before giving it a coat of linseed oil.

I'm now going to buy a piece of walnut to make a box for a new(ish) oil stone I brought at a car boot and mount this in the top so it should contrast nicely.

It's never going to win any awards, with so many imperfections everywhere I look, but I'm quite pleased that I managed to have the patience to carve it (and I really enjoyed doing it)

Woodturners Bash

I had an email from my friend and tutor Chris Eagles about the Woodturners Bash the other day asking if I wanted to come along. As It was for UK workshop Forum members I was a bit worried as I hadn't joined, so the night before I quickly joined up and asked if it was OK if I came, I had plenty of replies and decided that it sounded like fun.

It was hosted at Peter Seftons Furniture School in what can only be described as an amazing workshop. Split into different sections (machine room, wood store, hand bench room, etc) I think that this is pretty much the ultimate workshop (Its going to make mine feel pretty small when I get back in there) and in a lovely setting - anyone thinking of doing a furniture course should check out his website http://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.com/.

Everyone was dead friendly, sharing workshop stories and ideas. Really nice to be in an environment where you can talk about woodwork all day and have no one groan!

Chris did some great demos, I never seem to get bored of watching him work and I always end up learning something new. His skew chisel demo is always good and its made me want to go make a jig so I can sharpen mine properly tomorrow. He also showed a new method of work holding to finish the underside of box lids as well as how to turn whilst pulling the work under tension - really interesting.

I think everyone was completly stuffed at the BBQ as well as being a group of men we'd all brought meat and bread- not a green leaf in site - and there was far too much! I dont think I was the only one to loosen my belt during the afternoon!

A great day in all (I'm afraid the pictures are a bit poor as I forgot to take any and when I did Chris had to pose- should do a caption competition for the first pic).

Sharpening A Gouge On A Felt Wheel

Well I've decided to make my first video (don't take the micky too much) on how I use a felt wheel to hone my gouges and other single bevel tools. I think that this is such a great and easy way of sharpening tools that more people should know about it.





I know that sharpening is always a touchy subject as everyone has their own method but I've tried a lot of them (oil stone, water stone, diamond stones) and for speed and ease this wins hands down for me.
On this video I'm using a medium hardness felt wheel which is great for curved edged tools as it will give to the shape that you press into it. A felt wheel "polishes" the edge on your tool removing very little metal (so little that I normally remove the burr on the other side of the tool with the wheel rather than a slip stone).
Please bare in mind that the tool must be ground correctly first for it to have a good cutting angle when honed up.What method does everyone else use for honing their tools - curved edges in particular?

(also please excuse my t-shirt on the video - I've had people ask me if thats the company I work for in the past!)

Storage Problem

After a great 10 days holiday in Thailand I was dead keen to get back in the workshop before I went back to work. As I walk in I'm greeted by half sheets of ply everywhere and timber stood up as there's no where else to keep it in the dry. When you meet this mess it doesn't make you want to do anything!

I'm very sure that no matter how much space I have I'll fill it, but I do desperately need somewhere to store timber and sheet material. I decided that it was best to build a little lean to on the side of my workshop to house my ply off cuts and some of the hardwoods and softwoods I've got kicking around.

A simple construction of halving joints for the frame (cut on the mitre saw, then chiseled out and cleaned up with my no.778). I do think that I might have gone a little over the top on the sizes of the timbers though (4x2 and 3x2) but it's made it quite strong!

With the two sides made I added in the struts in the position where the lean-to will stay to save me having to carry anything heavier than it has to be! The rain yesterday and today hasn't helped my progress - nothing worse than working with wet wood!

Its not finished yet as the first bottom section it going to be covered in ply, to house more ply out of the rain. I've also got to properly sheet in the roof (bitumen sheets on top of the ply that I've got there already) as well as maybe add a gutter (which will help keep the rain off even more).

It wasn't up many minutes before I started loading timber into it! It's not massive but it should help for a while.

How does everyone else deal with there timber storage?

Not Pretty But Practical

A Little like me I guess...

I've been removing the handrail from the stairs at Summerfield Park and replacing it with something a little more solid (and something that meets building regs!).

The handrail at the top of the stairs was the harder job as I wanted to make sure it was solid as it will be used (hopefully) for years by lots of people. I decided that it was best to remove it all completely (turned out to be a great time for the health and safety man to turn up) and start again.

I started by sawing off the furthest post and using a halving joint to attached the new piece. The middle post need to be strong so I cut a hole in the floor and half lapped it to the joist beneath and the one against the wall was straight forward screw and plug although I had to scribe it in as the wall is an inch out of plumb!

I then ripped some 2x1 in half and used that fixed with screws and lots of glue to form the beading to hold in the infill of 12mm ply. As the title says not pretty....

Doing the handrail on the stairs was similar only there was little to fix the bottom newel post to, in the end I notched the concrete a little more (there was already a slight recess) and fixed timbers against the bottom riser to give me something to screw the newel post to.

The tenon on the string was none existent so I cut it off and used screws and glue again, by the time I added the handrail it was rock solid. Then just a case of cutting and fixing the beading and ply.

Just got to fill the screw holes and sand it now.

Tool Auction & Tool Making

Another busy weekend.
Yesterday I got up early and went to Ledbury Tool and Timber Auction with a pocket full of cash (and an uneasy wife left at home). In the end I didn't buy much just 4 large pieces of very twisted Apple, quite thick though so it should be alright for turning (probably as tough as old boots). There was a few things I should have bid higher on but you always think that on the drive home!
Today has been productive, as well as tackling the weeds at the allotment I've started to have a bit of a tidy up in the shed and I've come to the conclusion that I need to build an extension before I build my big extension. This is because I have nowhere to store any timber, but more on that in another post.
I also started to use my High Speed Steel (HSS) that I order from china (and some from Yandles) to make some more tools.
One I made using a square section of steel, ground so it forms a point. Before I could grind it I made a simple jig (in the picture above) to make sure it always went on the grinder the same way.
The other was made using round HHS bar and is basically a spindle gouge without the flute (called a "form tool" or somethimes a "cove tool" I think). I made beech handle for them both and although not identical handles they're starting to look like a set! I've got quite a few more bits of HSS so I'll be making some more woodturning tools over the next few months. anyone got any good ideas on what I can make?

Tulipwood platter

After all my experimenting last week I thought I'd just turn something a little more traditional this week. I brought a nice big plank of "tulipwood" (sounds so much nicer than poplar) as I know it's quite soft and would be good for me to practice on.
It's quite easy to turn although it does have a habit of tearing the grain if your tools aren't really sharp, the whole piece has a greenish tinge to it (my wife thought I'd added it) but I think its a good low cost wood to practice my skills on and make some quite nice pieces with in the process.
I finished the platter with a few coats of walnut oil but it will have a few more before I find it a new home.
You here so many people tell you poplar its good for nothing I'd love to hear what other people use it for as I think its quite an attractive wood.