This past week while camping I toured an authentic 1860’s pioneer village in the area. We camp in the same area each year and try to visit Upper Canada Village while there. With each visit I learn something new or pick out a detail I missed on previous visits. One favorite stop is the authentic sawmill which continues to produce boards to this day. Most of the wood is used within the village. Watching the water-powered bandsaw in operation continues to amaze me. The innovative features built-in to process logs into boards are nothing short of ingenious. There is also a system to use trucks on wheels to transport logs in , then roll them onto the bandsaw platform for ripping. The videos below shows the bandsaw in operation and water turbine at the lower level. Blade is stationary except for up and down movement. The log is advanced into the blade through a system of geared steel wheels and detents. The bandsaw is powered by a shaft driven by a turbine wheel. The water is piped in to the sawmill through a system of square wood pipes which increase the velocity of water to spin the turbine. Water begins at one height when entering the sawmill and exits at a lower level. This is what causes the water to increase in velocity. The bandsaw mill works well with old growth white pine brought in from another area.

Video here:  Water-Turbine
Video here:  Water-powered 1860 bandsaw

Another favorite stop is the authentic cabinetmaker shop where furniture is continually churned out, albeit at a much slower pace we are familiar with. Most of the furniture produced in the shop is used in the authentic pioneers village. All furniture is created with hand tools as relatively no woodworking machines existed in this era. The Industrial Age was just beginning. Watching the cabinetmaker (David Jones) and apprentice provided a real appreciation for a slower, manual form of woodworking.

So I had the opportunity to do a short film of David Jones (resident master cabinetmaker) and apprentice. I asked a few questions while filming. They are currently working on a side table with frame and panel doors and drawers. All joinery is either pinned mortise and tenon or dovetails.
I have probably visited this Cabinetmakers shop four times to date and continue to enjoy discussing with the resident cabinetmakers their work methods and current projects.

Video here:  1860 Cabinetmaker Shop

I then visited the blacksmith shop which also doubles as the ferrier shop for the horses in the village. Had a good talk with the blacksmith. At the time he was forging a keyway for a geared wheel in a piece of machinery used in the crop fields of the village.

In 2005, I developed this system of bench stops as a simple alternative to installing a tail vise on a workbench. So I’ve been using this system of bench stops for 12 years now, it will be the 12th anniversary shortly! The system is set up on one of my original workbenches which happened to be my main workbench at the time. This particular shop-made workbench did not lend itself well to incorporating a tail vise so I told myself there had to be a better way to hold boards firmly while hand planing. Apologies for the vintage photography, but I wanted to keep the article period correct 🙂

This alternative tail-vise setup is used when face planing boards. Most flat, regular benches can easily be modified to incorporate this hand planing setup using bench stops ( Roubo style). Photos below are of the bench stop setup on the workbench in my workshop. This bench has been modified for adapting the two bench stops. Adapting a bench can be expanded for longer bench stops, more holes for versatility, etc. I chose this particular hole spacing for the type of work I do. I am also left-handed and plane left to right, therefore I set this up on the back side of my bench which is unencumbered by a face vise ( the face vise at front of bench ).

It is critical to get the 3/4 in. dowel holes square to the bench and in-line with each other, to ensure that the 12 in. bench stops are perpendicular to each other. The side bench stop does a great job of preventing the board from rotating sideways while hand planing with diagonal strokes. It has a large bearing surface to keep any size board from rotating. The side bench stop is also movable within a 12 in. span on 3 sets of holes, allowing for narrow boards and wider boards (2 in. to 14 in.).

The side bench stop can be swung around towards the front bench stop with a parallel set of holes, this is to accommodate shorter boards. Pictures above and below provide a better explanation.

The wide front bench stop also serves to prevent the board from rotating or shifting sideways as it has a large bearing surface for the front edge of the board. Bench stops (front and side) are friction fit so they can be raised (1/4 in. to 3/4 in.)  to accommodate thicker boards, very much like a bench dog. Otherwise, the minimum height of the bench stops would be approximately 1/4 inch. The hole spacing is arbitrary and based on the type of board sizes I typically hand plane in my own furniture making. two inch long birch dowels are glued in the bench stops using ebony wedges. The wedges are inserted into kerfs created in the ends of the dowels for tightness. Kerfs at the ends of the dowels are cut on a bandsaw.

A benefit of having a board simply against bench stops is that you really cannot drag the plane back in your strokes since it would pull the board back. This trains you to lift the handplane instead of dragging it back. The only wear on the blade then is from the forward stroke. Also you eliminate the tendency of bowing a thinner board caused by clamping between bench dogs and tail-vise and distorting the board while planing. You also gain more tactile feedback and control of your planing and it becomes easy and quick to re-orientate the board end for end or flip it over, etc.

Typical bench stop setup to act as a tail vise.

More holes can be added to allow for very short boards as done in bottom pictures. It is then a matter of swinging the side bench stop around towards the front bench stop. The spacing and location I have selected is optimized for the length and width of boards I typically handplane in my furniture making.

The bored 3/4 in. holes can also be used for bench dogs and holdfasts for irregular sized pieces.

Align side bench stop to be perpendicular with face of front bench stop using a large square to mark holes. This will ensure the complete edge of the bench stop is against the board to be planed.

Side bench stop set to narrowest width, closest to edge of bench.

Bench stops can be raised or lowered as conventional bench stops for thinner or thicker boards.

A short, narrow piece of lacewood being planed.

Parallel set of holes bored to accommodate shorter and wider boards shown above. It is recommended to lay out all the holes you will need for this system and then drill them. This ensures that all holes are square and perpendicular to each other and the front bench stop.

A small, wide panel being face-planed.

Developing this alternative tail vise idea led to an article on bench stops and jigs I wrote for Fine Woodworking Magazine. The article 4 Bench Jigs for Handplanes was published in early 2009.

The concept of a maker’s mark is not a new one. It has been around for centuries. It is a means to distinguish one’s work from another maker. It also adds a personal touch to every piece created by a maker. I have incorporated maker’s marks in my own work for the past two decades and have had excellent feedback from clients. Clients love the fact that the furniture piece they purchase is created by an individual. It adds to the cachet of the piece and serves to provide identification of the origin of the piece. Decades from now, the maker’s mark instantly identifies the furniture piece as created by a particular maker with the location of its creation. The new maker’s mark designed for my studio captures the essence of my work and the detail I like to instill in my work.

So I also use the new maker’s mark for my other work, namely woodworking tools. I find a place on each tool to inlay the maker’s mark. In a strange way, adding a maker’s mark inspires me to do my best work. Attaching my name to a furniture piece or handmade tool makes me more conscious of how the tool or furniture will likely be passed on from generation to generation.

Furniture maker’s marks also provide a historical point of reference to a piece of furniture or tool. The maker and country of origin can then be traced back to a particular maker. Maker’s marks can be stamped on a furniture piece or hand tool or created as brass inlay similar to this new one applied to my work.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. It is my favourite time of year. I can shed the layers of clothing of other seasons and simply walk out the door. No complaints here about heat or humidity. This only really lasts a few weeks or months and the freezing cold alternative is always fresh on my mind 🙂

A while ago, I realized that my workflow would be more efficient if I had the means to cut long planks into manageable pieces. Longer planks ensure that wood graphics are consistent in the woods used in a particular furniture piece. The shorter pieces would, in turn, be processed on a jointer and thickness planer. In the case of highly figured tearout-prone woods, I would use a series of hand planes to achieve the desired board thickness.Until this time, I would crosscut large planks using a hand-held circular saw. If any precision was necessary at all, the circular saw left something to be desired. So enter the miter saw. I purchased a sliding miter saw and designed and built a stand for it. The criteria for the stand were that it be portable so I could move it around the shop if necessary. It was also important that it be designed to be folded up after use and placed along a wall. The intention was to have the miter saw available occasionally for cutting large planks down to size. I only ever work with one or two planks for a particular piece of furniture, so the miter saw could be put away between use. A few wide boards I use in my furniture can be seen against the wall at left.

I designed and built this miter stand for my particular miter saw, a Dewalt 10 in. model. The miter saw itself can easily be detached from the stand and the table surface folded onto the metal sawhorses below. Since this would be a custom build, I could make the miter stand as long as I like. I decided on a length of over 7 feet. The left and right tables each have a fence system aligned with the miter saw fence. The largest width of planks I could process is approximately 10 inches. This is as wide as most, if not all of the planks I ever use in my work. Anything wider I can either rip an edge off or find alternative means to cross-cut it.

Each fence has its own track system with both shop-made wood stops and retail metal stops. I uses the torsion box principle to build the left and right tables. Even with the utmost design in mind, it was necessary to make changes. When wide miter cuts were necessary on large wood pieces, it would be convenient to use the miter saw. This hold more true if the cuts are repeatable as when working with multiples. Swinging the saw completely to the left or right was an issue. Hence the re-designed mitered corners in both the left and right tables. I can set the saw to extreme miter angles now, greater than I would normally use in my work. So after replacing the corner of either table with hardwood cherry blocks and trimming, the mitered corners can be seen below.

I have been using this miter saw and stand setup for a long while now. I never did fold and put it away. It is so convenient that I prefer it to remain set up. Soon after using it for the first few times, I realized dust control would be necessary. A dust port adapter was set up to connect the exhaust port to a dedicated shop vacuum. Still debating whether I need to make a dust shroud for it, but it works well as is and I like that the miter saw isn’t hidden in a shroud. Overall, a fun, exciting build and at times challenging!

I’ve been working on the components for a standalone cabinet lately. As well, working on the design of a second smaller cabinet with a unique focal point, to be discussed later. The cabinet on stand below features one of my favorite figured woods, domestic ambrosia maple. I have a small stash of this wood in planks so the decision was made to resaw the wide planks and create veneers. Veneers maximize the yield from the planks. The cabinet will have veneered front doors and side panels. The remainder of the cabinet, the top and bottom panels and back panel consist of conventional maple. Ambrosia maple, when finish is applied, exhibits a beautiful, warm color while accentuating the wild graphics it is renown for. The graphics are what draw me to ambrosia maple. Also, it is a member of the soft maple family, so not difficult to work with and to smooth the surfaces. One of the attached pics is an earlier cabinet I completed using ambrosia maple throughout.

I have yet to decide on the finish of the current cabinet build, definitely something that will highlight the wood graphics.The other pics are the almost completed panels I will be using in the build. The veneered panels are not exciting at this time, but application of a penetrating clear finish will pop the graphics, colors and grain. The frame and panel back is a work in progress at this time. The interior compartments will also be different but consist of dovetailed drawers in an unusual arrangement.

The dimensions in the current version will be close to that of the earlier version since the proportions appealed to me. I have not yet designed or created the components for the stand, so this might be different than the earlier version. What I typically do is build the cabinet, then begin work on the platform or stand. The process is not as overwhelming to me using this approach, as I prefer to work on a project in stages. The satisfaction of seeing tangible progress in the project motivates and excites me to continue 🙂  More details to follow on the individual components and joinery used.

I’ve been adding videos to my new YouTube Channel WoodSkills  for a few weeks now. Through the channel, I hope to convey my methods of work as well as enlightenment in the use of hand tools in woodworking. In the most recent series, I describe a shop-made slot mortiser. On the topic of furniture design, good design is essential in a quality furniture piece. Good design also minimizes wasted resources and provides a furniture maker with essential feedback and pause when creating furniture. Loosely translated, the design process keeps the maker from rushing into a potentially flawed furniture design. The checks and balances give pause to the process as well as streamlining the build.

Other videos discuss hand planes,shooting boards and bench hooks. These are essential tools I use in my own workshop. Once familiar with these tools, your woodworking will arrive at the next level. Feel free to subscribe to the YouTube channel  WoodSkills as I will be posting at least one new video per week. These past two weeks are the exception as I have been travelling. An overdue vacation in the Rocky Mountains of Canada 🙂

A few months ago I was notified that my entry had been selected for an upcoming book on contemporary furniture. I finally managed to get hold of the book and received it this week.

The Schiffer publication:   Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture  features a selection of contemporary furniture typically created in furniture studios by a single maker.

Quote from Amazon.com: “The movement to buy locally, which has gained momentum in the areas of produce and food, is now spreading to arts and crafts. Through the work of over seventy contemporary furniture makers, the role of place in the creative process is explored and celebrated. Whether in terms of materials, inspiration, or the interaction with customers, these artists are rooted in their surroundings. What springs from these roots is usually unique, often edgy, and always beautiful furniture and accessories.”

In a few weeks, I will post the Introduction to a series of videos on Furniture Design. Working and developing this project as we speak. It began as a small exercise but I’m adding material and more of my knowledge on furniture design principles to this topic.

With the experience of my first workshop in mind, dust control became a priority for me when designing my new workshop. I recall not only sweeping the floors in my previous shop but also sweeping the walls of dust. The dust was the flavour of the day, be it walnut, padauk, cherry, mahogany. The dark, exotic woods were the worst for dust. I installed some dust collection but it was never enough. At the time, my woodworking was more oriented towards the use of sanding in the final stages of a build, so this didn’t help. The dust collection I installed was to capture the dust at the source or as it was being generated. This worked to a degree but there would always be airborne dust floating around, a by-product of whatever wood processing I was performing at the time. This is the dust that collects on walls, stays in the air and is unfortunately breathed in.

To combat this I built a 3-stage air cleaner as there were next to no commercial units available at the time or they were expensive. This helped considerably in capturing the airborne dust and I immediately became a believer in effective dust control. The shop made air cleaner can be seen here as well as a 3-stage commercial unit just above it. The shop made air cleaner is now moved into my new workshop and together these units effectively clean and circulate the air. Both units are stack-mounted in an unused part of the shop above a stairwell. The air in the shop is recirculated from top to bottom many times per hour and in the process scrubbing the air of fine particulate dust. I use these air cleaners in conjunction with two large capacity DC systems with blast gates at each of the stationary machines in the workshop. So dust control is an important part of my woodworking now. My woodworking today also places much less emphasis on sanding and instead I use hand tools to smooth surfaces of wood.

The air cleaners are turned on using a hand-held remote control. The most recent addition is the large red neon pilot lamp which indicates that the air cleaners are running. When I am using a machine, it is difficult to tell if the air cleaners have been turned on since the machine noise exceeds that of the air cleaners. The newly-installed red pilot lamp is immediately noticeable. The air cleaners also have ducting at the rear to direct air downwards to create the recirculating pattern for the shop air.

Not the most exciting blog post but I finally got around to cleaning out the piles and piles of offcuts I had been storing throughout my workshop. What brought this about is I literally had run out of space, piles were brimming with wood offcuts of every size. It gets to a point where it doesn’t make sense to keep collecting the wood, I’ll only generate more anyway! So how to go about this task since the most difficult thing is parting with an offcut that might be of use in a future project as this is instilled in us as woodworkers. As we all know, hardwoods have become expensive so the offcuts become more precious as time goes on. After all, they have already been processed, planed, squared, etc. Pics reflect the post-tidying, uncluttered look.

I began by tackling two large grey bins that were literally overflowing. I could not place one more scrap piece in them. The laborious task of sifting through them began. It was much like an archaeological dig of past projects. Each layer reminded me of an earlier project and once I got to the bottom I could see some of my earlier work. I moved the larger pieces to two large cardboard boxes to be stored away in a completely different part of the building. The remainder I intend to use as fireplace kindling. Once I got through the first grey bin, the second one was easy. I conditioned myself to be discriminating and if I thought the offcut was not worth saving, it would become kindling. It has been at least 3 years since these bins have been completely emptied.

Next were 3 other wood piles that had grown to an unwieldy size. One pile in particular beneath my vacuum pump had become an eyesore. This had to get sorted out. I recently purchased a new shop vac and the box it came in was a large enough size for these longer offcuts. Next issue was where to place the box. If I kept it in plain view I would have accomplished nothing except move wood offcuts from one pile to another. I needed to find an unused space, preferably out of sight. The space behind a dust collector was not used and just the right size. The large box of offcuts was also placed on a small dolly with casters I had lying around. Now I can conveniently access these longer offcuts and if necessary easily move the box to a different location.

With this all done, I tackled the shelves under two of my larger workbenches below. It is so true what they say that these shelves eventually become storage for anything and everything. By now I was merciless, I wanted clean surfaces free of clutter. This exercise also provided me the opportunity to get re-acquainted with some buried tools and hardware 🙂

The last task was to clean the tops of the two smaller, identical workbenches below. In one case, the workbench top had not been cleaned in maybe 3 years. Everything was removed from each of the two workbench tops and put back in its place, be it drawers or cabinets. From now on I will work hard at leaving workbench surfaces free of clutter and deal with offcuts as I work through a project. After all, I have enough offcuts already to last a lifetime. Will I ever use them all, probably not. Maybe donate them to woodworkers that create smaller objects?

Last but not least is a large beast of a workbench I made years ago (seen below). I had moved this workbench to an area of the lower level workshop and it has slowly become a storage area with occasional use as a workbench. I need to tackle this area next and cull some of the wood, tools and hardware accumulated over the years. I have always enjoyed using this workbench and want to make it available once again. So I will be cleaning and tidying up this area up tomorrow with the intent to have a usable workbench once again.

My process for creating and fitting drawer pulls is outlined here. This involves designing the pulls, selecting the preferred wood to use for the pulls, deciding on a size for the pulls, laying out the pulls, and shaping them. I need to admit this is one of my most enjoyable processes of a build. The build is at its final stages and this can be considered the “adding the icing” part. Pulls often add considerably to a cabinet both in aesthetics and design. The pulls are often a draw to the cabinet if they complement the cabinet yet impart a unique addition to the cabinet. In these photos, the pull design I is a rectangular one with a tenon extending out. The pulls are of mixed cocobolo so both heartwood and sapwood create an appealing contrast in colors. The tenon has shoulders on four sides to overlay the drawer front. This tenon fits into a matching mortise in the drawer front. The mortise is marked and created using hand tools, namely small, narrow chisels.

Creating the tenon is meticulous work and I used a small, fine saw to delineate the tenon from the actual pull area. Once this is done, I use a skew rabbet block plane and some small chisels to shape the sides of the tenon. The important part of this sequence is to accurately mark the mortise to fit the tenon. A mistake here could ruin the drawer front or involve a re-design of the pulls to correct the error. The tenons of the drawer pulls fit tightly into the mortise and then glued in. I also take some time to orient the drawer pull graphics and orientation to match each other.

After completing and installing the drawers pulls I proceed to adding a pull to the right door of this particular cabinet. This door pull is similar to the drawer pulls to maintain harmony in the design. This design involves one pull on this door to distinguish this door as the one to open first. I’ve always liked the idea of having a single pull on the cabinet front, it just looks like a clean, minimalist design. This door pull is also slightly offset towards the bottom of the door to minimize any impact it might have on the door graphics as more of the door graphics are now visible above the door pull.

Tech in wood joinery meets handcrafted design + build. Top is a mortising unit, below is a micro-adjust created using traditional methods. The story follows. I purchased this Jessem Mortise Mill unit a few years back and although I managed to produce some loose tenon slots successfully, it was not easy to set up. I can’t recall the issues exactly, but I was frustrated at times. So recently found the unit buried under a secondary workbench and decided I would make an effort at getting it to work successfully. I had always wanted a horizontal slot mortiser setup and thought why not set this up to create slots in the horizontal plane instead of the vertical plane. The unit was marketed to be installed vertically with board placement underneath. Notice the etchings on the Mill are upside down. I’m not sure if having boards hang below the unit contributed to the issues I had at the time, but nonetheless I wanted to mount it so loose tenon slots were created horizontally. First pic is before building the micro-adjust unit.

Next step was to find a suitable platform, i.e. workbench surface to be able to mount it. A rolling cart in my workshop was ideal since I could wheel the unit away when not in use and the footprint of the Mortise Mill was not large. The rolling cart has large locking casters which do a good job of keeping the cart immobile. Installed it so the surface of the base plate was even with the surface of the cart, this took some time. I used large enough 1/4-20 bolts to maintain rigidity and keep it from shifting.

Tested it afterwards and I was pleased with the results. The later addition of a L-shaped wood bracket to support stiles while they were being mortised worked well. The ends of rails to be mortised were easily supported by the wood surface of the rolling cart. Further testing with clamping of boards provided me with a repeatable setup. I liked the fact that I could permanently leave the Mortise Mill bolted to the rolling cart.

The only small issue was the vertical adjustment of the slots on a board. Since the Mortise Mill was installed horizontally, the adjustment was not as smooth as I would like due to the weight of the sliding component of the unit. I decided to make a micro-adjust setup to alleviate the problem using some scrap walnut and maple. As can be seen in the pics, it is all wood construction with a 1/2 inch lead screw and wood handle. The end of the lead screw has a custom cradle contoured to fit the bottom edge of the sliding part of the Mortise Mill. Now I can precisely dial-in slot placements!

Since the micro-adjust was cantilevered off the vertical posts of the rolling cart, I beefed up the supports, it’s probably over-engineered now. Things to watch are the exact placement of the tip of the lead screw over the center of the edge of the Mortise Mill for smooth operation. A large paddle switch for the built-in Mortise Mill dust collection was installed for convenient access.

Completed and tested, works great!

Have a look.. 6 new hand tools!  Updated Tools section at Pirollo Design!  Performed the photography today.

This tool project was supposed to be completed a month ago but I had major issues (out of my control) to deal with in my small artisan business. So I was in suspense for a month waiting for things to settle. The Courses tab has also been beefed up with new photography and sub-categories as well as a more up to date Blog section. I will be creating short videos on each of the tool pages to demonstrate how to effectively use the tools. Two more tools are in the pipeline before the end of the year. I enjoy learning and challenges, so spent time designing and prototyping these tools. The design and prototyping stages were actually fun, but sourcing the hardware was at times frustrating. It’s all good now, I am significantly more knowledgeable in this space than only 3 months ago.

The hand tools are predominantly shaping and measuring tools. I made these to address processes I use in my own furniture making. For example, the depth gauge address the issue of determining the depth of holes or mortises. I would find myself using small bamboo sticks, pencils, etc. to perform this measurement. I knew there had to be a better way. Another example, the measuring tool helps considerably in transferring measurements from one board to another. This is a function I often use in my own furniture making and wanted to address it with a dedicated tool.

I was asked to make a traditional wood case for a replica of a WWII German Enigma encrypting machine. The modern-day version is mostly electronic but it performs the same functions. I would need to make it to scale and similar to the original in most ways. This Enigma is mostly electronic with large selector wheels, LED numbers, switches and a keyboard. As well, the front panel (Steckerbrett) contains jacks for plugs and wires. The front of the outer box (Klappe) is latched, but flips down for access to the Steckerbrett.

The build involved much research into existing Enigma wood cases and of course, the original version. I found out that the traditional wood used was oak so of course, it had to be made of oak. Next was sourcing the wood and unique hardware. There is also an inner box which houses the circuit boards and this fits into the outer box.

The design of the Enigma case call for locks, so I installed two locking latches and two inner catches for the Klappe flip-down front. I began the build. It went fairly smoothly except for one hangup. Installing lid stays would be a problem since there almost no clearance between the inner box and outer box edges. So mortises had to be created for the small lid stays. This worked out well. The circuit boards are currently bare and were only used for fitting.

Once complete, it will be a busy array of lights, switches, large selector wheels, keyboard, lights and jacks and cables. I’ll post a 100% completed photo of it with finish applied next week. Of course, I have my Maker’s Mark applied…lol

Two photos below of the completed Enigma wood case with the electronics, wheels, switches, keyboard and plugs installed. These photos were taken at a Maker Faire venue in Ottawa, Ontario. Peter Sjoberg, the designer of the Enigma machine itself, can be seen in one photo.

I have been successfully using these hardwood bench dogs in my furniture design+build studio for over 8 years. Why not make them available as a product. For most woodworkers, time is both limited and valuable. I have the setup and expertise to make these. The result is more free time for woodworkers to do what they love.

Hardwood bench dogs are better suited to working with wood than metal ones. This solid hardwood bench dog has a 3/4 inch diameter round profile. The round bench dog is intended for use in workbenches with 3/4 inch round holes. A spring-loaded bullet catch is press fit into the sliding part of the bench dog. This ensures that the bench dog makes a solid fit with the workbench hole.

The length of the bench dog is 4.00 inches which is ideally suited to most workbench thicknesses. To ensure positive clamping of thinner stock, a raked flat notch is recessed on one side of the bench dog. Leather is applied to the face of the raked flat face of the notch to prevent wear on furniture components clamped against the bench dog. The bench dog can easily be lowered into the dog hole when not in use, and raised for use.

The bench dog can be raised to match the thickness of the stock that is being hand-planed, assuming there is a 3/4 inch through-hole in the workbench surface. The hardwood bench dog eliminates the risk of marring the metal sole or blade of a metal-bodied handplane. The hardwood used in the bench dog design is oak.

Handcrafted bench dog  $12.00

Over the years I have amassed quite a few hand planes in my shop. The hand planes range from early wood and transitional planes to specialty rabbeting planes, block planes, bench planes and jointer sized planes. For a time, I enjoyed restoring old wood and transitional hand planes and would often re-sole the transitional planes with new hardwood soles. I replaced cracked handles with newly crafted ones. I soon found that these early versions of hand planes did not perform as well as modern hand planes even with considerable fettling and tuning. For a period of time, I was crafting my own wood bodied hand planes with modern thick blade assemblies and these performed considerably better as the mouths were tighter.

On to the modern steel-bodied planes. I currently own an assortment of these hand planes primarily from two or three manufacturers and they tend to perform very well as long as the blades are kept sharp. Regular sharpening is key to the performance of a hand plane. Also, adjustments are much more precise on the newer hand planes with either Norris type or Bedrock type setups.

With the considerable assortment of hand planes in my shop, I find I that I tend to reach for the same four planes, These are a No. 4.5, No. 7, Standard angle Block and Lo-angle Block. I very often grab the Standard angle block plane as a small smoother when working on small parts. It works well, is light and easy to maneuver. The bench smoother is a Bedrock type No. 4.5 and is my most frequently used hand plane. The longer No.7 is used to work long edges and flatten boards. The Lo-angle block plane is used primarily for planing across short edges and ends of boards. I reach for some of the other specialty planes when the need arises. The conclusion to all this is that more often than not I find myself reaching for these four hand planes. It is easier to keep these hand planes blades sharp and thus maintain fewer tools. This was not planned but a method of work developed over the years for reasons of efficiency, versatility and speed.

All for now…

Techniques from the build process of a display cabinet design. After completing the main case of a display cabinet, work began to create the inner drawer case. The first step in the sequence was to get the proportions correct using a cardboard mock up of the drawer case. After a few iterations, the mock up in the photo was the preferred layout. The design considerations which used are as follows:

The height of the drawer case, number of drawers, the width and height of individual drawers.

 

A cardboard mock-up is a very important step in my opinion, as it serves to both provide a visual image of the drawer case and to point out any possible subtle issues with the layout. The drawer case is set back from the edge of the main case to allow for drawer handles and a little extra for the door stops. The drawers can be removed and individually placed on the top of the drawer case for better viewing. I debated whether to overlay the horizontal drawer dividers with the door fronts, but since all the wood is uniform and of the same species ( cherry), I would have the horizontal dividers visible. The components of the drawer case are for the most part dadoed and rabbeted together and the horizontal dividers each slide in between two grooves. The center vertical divider will be permanently attached to the drawer case.

The rabbeted sides will also have a couple of dowels in each of four edges for reinforcement. Since the cardboard mock-up is sized exactly to scale, I have the benefit of using it to size the components of the drawer case for milling and dimensioning. At this point, the boards used for the drawer case are sawn and they are allowed to stabilize before any further processing. This is to remove any inner stresses in the wood. The individual drawers have dovetailed drawer fronts and rabbeted backs and the bottom panel are floating in a small groove on all four sides of the drawer.

Interesting facts about using hand tools. Hand tool use usually requires harder physical work than power tools, but they offer a higher degree of skill and concentration in achieving accuracy. Hand tools will always be ensured a place in the workshop due to their compactness and relative economy. In many cases, they provide the quickest solution since they require little or no setup time. Some cabinet making still calls for many operations which machines cannot tackle. The other main advantage to using hand tools is the pure enjoyment derived from them. Hand tools operate in relative quiet, therefore not creating the noisy distractions that power tools can sometimes produce. Hand tools such as chisels and hand planes require sharpening occasionally, which is another skill that needs to be developed.

Hand tools have evolved over the past centuries, and today’s tools are vastly superior in both quality of metal, and manufacturing accuracy. The hand tools of yesteryear remain treasured items though, since there is almost always a story behind a particular tool. Here in my furniture studio I use hand tools as much as possible, due to the benefits of reduced dust and noise levels and the higher degree of fine craftsmanship possible. Most educational programs in woodworking begin by teaching the use and virtues of hand tools. This is done because hand tools are almost essential, and will be needed at some phase of a project. Projects can be built exclusively with hand tools or a combination of hand tools and machine tools.

I’ve spent time recently sketching some new designs for furniture. What I like to do is put pencil to paper and just let the creative juices flow. Ideas beget ideas and the iterative process of fleshing out an appealing furniture design begins. Some of these ideas will be technically challenging but I don’t let these details get in the way of the initial sketching. The existing skill set of a furniture maker can influence the designs they create. I strive to avoid this influence and instead concentrate on the design aspect. The skills and knowledge needed can be seen as a challenge, but maybe this is what drives us to be better furniture makers. Staying in the comfort zone of creating work you are technically familiar can keep you from developing new skills and knowledge.

I’m not going to get into these particular designs as I have yet to draw them in both orthographic and perspective views. I’ll pick and choose from the sketches and continue to render the designs into drawings. Of course, the material comes into play and this can influence the design somewhat. For example, if I intend to use wood with particular graphics on a cabinet door, the dimensions of the material (wood) can limit the size of the door(s) especially if the door is a frameless design. Door size then impacts the width and height of a cabinet.

This brings up the debate about beginning a design with particular wood(s) in mind or to focus purely on the design and worry about materials afterwards. In reality, it is a bit of both. I design with material in mind but somehow work the proportions of the furniture around the availability of this wood. The primary objective, however, is the implementation of the design. Substitute woods can always be acquired if necessary.

Once I’ve finalized a design, I move on to creating a maquette for the design.  A maquette is the miniature rendering or scale model of the furniture. This part is actually fun and gives a better idea of the proportions and how the individual components of the furniture piece work with and are scaled to one another. In the end, the design of the furniture needs to be in harmony and balanced although not necessarily symmetric in form. With the price of wood nowadays, it becomes increasingly important to get these designs right. Efficient use of wood or acquiring the most yield from boards is a criteria in my furniture making. The resawing of wood boards into veneer slices is often use to acquire maximum yield for hard to come by figured woods.

Over the past two years, I have come to use a new term in my design philosophy. The term, “dynamic design”, allows me to modify a design to adapt to circumstances, for either technical considerations, or for purely aesthetic reasons. This is a term I have coined to describe how design doesn’t necessarily need to be cast in stone and can instead be modified as a project progresses. The changes I refer to can be either subtle changes or large scale changes. One of the meanings for the word “dynamic” from the American Heritage Dictionary.

dy·nam·ic – Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress. As my studio furniture is being created, sometimes the design I originally envisioned can be improved at different stages, or the original design can remain as is. Having this flexibility provides a continuous excitement for the  studio furniture maker along with the benefit of improvising on the original design after seeing the wood art at various intermediary stages. An excellent example is a console table design I worked on over a year ago. I had chosen to invert the base of the table for both aesthetic and technical reasons. This isn’t to say that the original design of the maquette would not have worked. Inverting it simplifies a design dilemma for me and introduces a new aesthetic to the piece. After creating the maquette, I realize I needed to have a fairly stable, strong sub-base to be able to support the V-shaped arch, whereas inverting the base utilizes the points of the arches as legs. Often, we become fixated on a particular design and don’t bother seeking out alternatives which often stare us right in the face.

Case in point, I have been creating a new design for a smaller piece of furniture, and as part of my philosophy I strive to use as many materials in my possession as possible, without continuously sourcing new material for the components. Working with material at hand sometimes limits what I can do, but on the other hand challenges me to work within certain constraints, in this case certain materials. This is an instance of what I like to call “dynamic design”, often the beauty of a design is also in its simplicity. Simplicity is one of the tenets of the minimalism philosophy. I have to admit that I am a fan of “minimalism”, and have read one book on the subject so far. You tend to gain a different perspective on design after being exposed to the philosophy of minimalism.