Wednesday 31 October 2012

Japanese Mallet Jig.
Came up with this idea, one side drills a 22mm hole (then I will taper it)
 
 
The other side drills 3 holes, 16mm, but the 2 outside taper inwards.

 
One Jig many mallets!
Just playing till I get the perfect design.
Will take along to next JTSG meeting for everyone to adjust planes with.
Get some proper feedback!

 
So just under 2 hours work and I have 4 finished heads.
2 yet to be turned and lots of handle material sectioned up ready to go.
I have decided to go with Yew and Hickory and Holm Oak for handle material.
I have plenty of Ash (your traditional choice) but like to experiment!

Tuesday 30 October 2012


Here I am mocking up some handles for my tool cabinet.
This is my version of a block plane.
It is Apple (from a somerset cider orchard collected myself of course) with a
Lignum Vitae Mouth insert and a Ron Hock 1" High carbon Blade and Chipbreaker.
Here I am roughing out hence thick shavings, but it will do gossamer...
 
 
Concave front and convex back - not sure about these..

 
Detail of mouth insert.

 
I love this chisel - had it over 20 years now, just found it again...
Note carbon paper on 25mm MDF as a flat surface marker.


My favourite bit - chisel out and clean up -
the laborious stuff is well, laborious I suppose.
Dai in Goncalo Alves - damm difficult grain.

Monday 29 October 2012

Jobs a good un.
 
Time for another apology about photo quality
I do this now and again
Sorry.
Its just so much easier doing it with the phone.
Speed at the expensive of quality.
 
I really must get some good shots, when its finished.
Still got no handles on it, ahhhhhhhhh....
 

Finished at last - well nearly...
Homemade Krenov knife and hammer at hand.
 

 
Fitted....

 
Filled - and some spare..

This is a mock up (or as a cool teacher I used to work with would say:
'A first best effort') of a Jig to hold a Japanese blade.
WHY?
Well of course I freehand sharpen - but when you get an old one....
That has a 23 degree bevel on it and you want to change it...
This just clamps into the honing guide.
Once you have enough flat you can stop using the jig of course.
 

 
Engineer's Scrapers detail.
 

£10 the lot, Car boot sales don't you just love them?
 
 
The engineers scrapers are Moore and Wright, been looking for some nice ones.
Going to try relieving the sole of my already flat steel planes.
Going to Japanese the Westernese.
I was wearing my honing guide out and ethe Eclipse copies have
a greater opening anyway.
Going to make some more saws, these are 1mm thick, the top one is a beauty.
Great solid laminated blade.
I burnt the knackered woodworm infested body on the fire.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Been on this on / off most of the day and one side finished.
But the only reason I bother is because I cannot let the cabinet down.
Really it just speeds up my work as it is all so near to hand.
I want to replace these someday anyway.
Had them since I was 19!
 
 
 
What is great is they don't make any noise when you close / open the door.
Everything stays in place and is only held with 2 little screws.
This means I can change them easily with minimal damage.
 
 
 
 
The actual chisel holder just sits onto the 2 triangles.




 
Just to prove I have hidden really strong magnets behind!
 
 

Cleaning up and making the supports.
 




These rare earth magnets are about £14 for 20 and have a 1.8kg pull - very strong!

 
I re-ground a drill bit so the centre spur was in line with the edge spurs.
This allows me to drill right up close to the edge without breaking through.






 

 
Glued up, time to clean up.

My last piece of this Brown Oak - hope I don't muck this up.
 
 
Met quite a few people who dislike A2 steel lately.
Personally I could not believe it the first time I got this Lie Nielson A2 in my 5 1/2.
But everyone has favourites and really who cares? It doesn't matter.
Don't judge a craftsman by his tools, but what he makes.
Mind you in Japan...
 


 
If only I had a thicknesser - next workshop!



 
I love this cheap mini brass Japanese clamps for jobs like this,
 



 
Got a lot of ends to plane square - can you believe I still do it like this?
I must be mad, why I am not using a shooting board is because I don't have one.
I have all the parts and designs to make the ultimate one - just never got round to it...

Saturday 27 October 2012

I hate the fact we get 90% of the job done then move on to another...
I still have not got round to getting these doors filled up with chisels.
I mean I might change my mind later and put planes in them instead.
BUT they were designed exactly to fit 6 chisels across,
 so 6 x 4 is 24 chisels with my Kanna.
 
But I have been deliberating over this for literally years..
I just have not seen a satisfactory way of solving this problem
So today I decided to resolve it by virtue of the fact I have no distractions.
I am on my own, hence loads of posts on the blog and loads of woodwork.
 
 
 
 

Idea part 1 : use a a tapered reamed hole for them to wedge into.

 
Make a mock up, test and fit.


 
Idea part 2 - have a 10mm hole drilled in the back
with a rare earth magnet hidden inside
 

From the front you will never know about the magnets,
but they will align the chisels and keep them from not being PERFECTLY
straight up and down which could possibly bug me.
I mean it might.
So there is a wedge and a magnet - so they should be ok I think?
Time to machine up the Brown Oak.
 
By this I mean do it all by hand, for it has come to my attention
that some of you woodworkers out there have machines.
You just pop over to the planer / thicknesser and circular saw...
I have to do it all with a bandsaw and plane!
 
 
 

A quick bit of Kanna Maintenance along the way is essential.
It is almost one of my favourite therapy's...
 
 

I have a half finished proper square for doing this - but hey we all have loads of
half finished projects so I won't give myself a hard time about it.


To save cash I made my own scraper plane for relieving the soles.
Beech with an A2 Lie Nielson blade, pitched at 95 degrees.
It stayed still for too long so got stamped twice -
it keeps out my way now.
Learnt its lesson.

The received knowledge btw is you are not supposed to wedge wood
 against a bar as it will compress and eventually lose its bite.
I personally like to test out the conventional knowledge.
I have found no problems here.
Would I sell it as a product mind you?

No I would cover myself with a piece that fits onto the bar,
this distributes the forces and provides more 'bite' for the wedge.
For me however simplicity is the key, less components is good.
Less glue lines = less problems.

Kanna - one block of wood and one blade.
you do not need anything else.
(well a plane adjusting hammer helps,
or a selction of hammers...dammm it...its getting complicated again)


Got this idea from Chris Hall and his brilliant Blog :
It is a tripod chip breaker.
 
 
You see I am really after getting the best for the least.
Using the best of British with the best of Japanese...
Made by me in the best way I can, or just quickly if I want.
So what I thought was - why can I not use the Plane iron off cut?
its great steel - got a cool stamp on it?
Worth a go - I will gain lots of knowledge and experience on this journey me thinks.
 
So yes it is an ugly blade - but honestly don't waste your time worrying about it.
I am fine with it - I have tapped it out (Ura - Dashi) Ground it on a dry grinder..
(you can dry grind Kanna blades contrary to some beliefs)
Had it over a 13,000 Sigma ceramic select 2 stone....
Its good enough to learn with!
 
 
A couple of screws and some sellotape held it in place while I ground it down.
 
 

Thought I would make a quick Dai in Goncalo Alves.
Never worked it before - but David Barron has used it and recommended it for a number of reasons, not least density and wear resistance.
I have used it for Krenov planes but this will be my first Dai.
i like the streaks in it - it was a bowl blank, I cut it into 3 plane Dai blanks
and have been letting it settle for quite a while now.
 

 
 I will be using a second hand 'beat up' Japanese blade I have restored 
and a special chip breaker I have made.


 
Here I am using the legendary chisel made by Master Stanley San.
It uses a rare unbreakable wood for the handle called 'plastic'
I paid a little extra and got this special figuring in the handle.
(I just stuck a 35 degree bevel on it and smacked the hell out it actually)

 
I can see daylight - I like this bit - like when the Euro tunnel met in the middle.
Just a little bit smaller and not such a great engineering feat I suppose.
I didn't use a laser either by the way.