Lancelot Link - I mean that's a lot of links!

Over the years I’ve really come to appreciate the massive growth in woodworking information available online.  It’s so easy to reference several forums that have over a decade of history and an established membership of knowledgeable woodworkers to tap into.  There are thousands and thousands of hours of videos out there on You Tube or at dedicated woodworking sites.  (View with caution and use your best judgment in determining which of these videos are useful and credible.  Consider the source as well as the reputation and body of work of the presenter when accepting online instruction.)

For any of you newer woodworkers hunting around the web for some good online resources, allow me to share some of my favorites that have offered me good instruction, valuable advice and a lot of inspiration.

My favorite online forums include…

www.woodworkingtalk.com

www.woodtalkonline.com  The Wood Talk forum over at The Wood Whisperer’s site (Marc Spagnuolo)

www.lumberjocks.com  A real one stop shop for discussion, videos, blog posts and project portfolios, plus an entire online nation of really great folks.

www.sawmillcreek.org

I also like to check out what some of my fellow woodworkers are doing in other parts of the world.

www.ukworkshop.co.uk  The UK Workshop.  There’s some amazing work being done on the other side of the pond!  These guys are also very design-savvy and have a wicked sense of humor.

www.woodworkforums.com   Woodworking Australia’s online forum.  These guys have been around for a long time, and there is something for everyone.  Browse the different forums to key in on the type of woodworking or projects you’re most interested in.

For excellent video content be sure to check out…

www.thewoodwhisperer.com  Marc does a great job presenting on a wide variety of woodworking topics…and he has been known to wear some of his wife’s clothes from time to time.  He also offers a guild membership with tons of video content, instruction, live chats, interviews and the resources needed to build some pretty amazing projects.

www.finewoodworking.com  They’re not just a magazine anymore!  These guys offer tons of video content, free of charge as well as an expanded set of resources for online subscribers.

www.mattsbasementworkshop.com  Matt Vanderlist is considered the godfather of online woodworking podcast and videos.  Project builds, tool reviews, interviews…all kinds of great stuff can be found down in Matt’s basement in Michigan!

www.woodworkingformeremortals.com  One of my all-time faves!  Steve is a down-to-earth guy out in his garage shop building projects, trying new things and sharing his experiences in his own unique and entertaining style.  Danger Boy and I hit Steve’s site every Saturday morning to check out his latest offering.  We usually end up re-watching one or two of our past favorites as well.

For those of you who enjoy a good podcast, there are several strong offerings out there.  I really enjoy listening to these audio contributions down in my own shop.  They’re great to listen to after the boys have gone to bed and it’s too late to run any of the bigger machinery.

www.woodtalkshow.com  Just when you thought you couldn’t get enough Marc Spagnuolo and Matt Vaderlist…you’ve now got a weekly podcast with the guys every Wednesday.  Shannon Rogers of the Hand Tool School joins the guys to round out the crew, making them a team with incredibly comprehensive knowledge and a wide range of woodworking acumen.  Always a great show.

www.shoptalklive.com  Fine Woodworking’s bi-weekly podcast featuring several of the magazine’s editorial staff, plus a few highly respected guests from time to time.  The guys did an outstanding interview with Mira Nakashima (woodworking great George Nakashima’s daughter) a while back that is just outright fascinating.  Check them out online or on iTunes.

www.modernwoodworkersassociation.com  A great resource and podcast by a group of guys dedicated to expanding the woodworking community and spreading the love of this wonderful craft.  I’ve mentioned these guys in previous posts, and they’re a regular online visit for me.  I will rib them about not being as consistent with their podcasts, only because I want to hear more!  The guys all have day jobs and families, so we’ll try to cut them a little slack…only a little though!

So those are some of my favorite online haunts.  I could go on, but this is a great list to get started with.  From these sites you’ll find links to may other online resources as well as the websites and blogs of hundreds of other woodworkers out there publishing a plethora of fantastic content.  My mind is even racing right now…must…fight…urge to list…another…hundred or so links…in this post!

Now stop monkeying around!  Don't be a C.H.U.M.P. be a chimp...I mean champ!  Get out there and Get Woodworking!

Pete

 

The Breakfast Club

This morning Danger Boy and I filled out his application to participate in the school science fair.  We looked through some sample projects on the school’s website, but everything seemed so canned, or had already been done so many times before.  As we talked about the project it hit us…we should do something from the workshop.  After pondering a bit about what we could do that would involve a good exercise in practicing scientific methods we (OK I suggested) that we test different wood species’ reaction to water.  It’s a great subject that he’ll be able to do some reading on, build a presentation around, and we have at least a dozen different species to choose from down in our shop.

Not only will this be a great exercise to expose my budding seven year old woodworker to the mechanics of wood as a material, and in how to conduct scientific experiments, but I’ll also be able to show him (show him, not let him…yet) how we can size all of our samples to the same dimensions with the jointer, planer and table saw.  He’ll be able to check the lengths, check for square, observe the differences between the various wood types…all kinds of fun stuff!  Now I’m getting excited!  I’d better organize the shop this evening so that we can prepare all of our samples tomorrow after work.

For those of you who don’t have a science fair in which to participate and just can’t wait for the results of our own experiment, you can check out an outstanding resource on the properties of wood by R. Bruce Hoadley.  His book, “Understanding Wood” has been a go-to resource in the woodworking community for over a decade now.  It was one of our text books when I took a few classes at Santa Fe Community College back in New Mexico.  Bruce was also one of the wood properties experts writing for Fine Woodworking in the very early years of the magazine.  He does an excellent job laying out the various properties of wood and how they can impact or influence our use of this material in our work.

(shudder) I just had a nerd moment…remember The Breakfast Club? 

“And what do you do in the physics club?”   “Well, we talk about physics…and properties of physics…”

“Pete, what do you do in the wood club?”   “Well, we talk about wood…and properties of wood…”

 

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Wood-Craftsmans-Guide-Technology/dp/1561583588/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360029897&sr=8-1&keywords=understanding+wood

Be sure to check this great resource out at your local library, or pick up a copy for yourself.  I happen to like the technical side of things, so I’ll be hanging on to my copy for a long time…and it should come in quite handy for our, I mean the boy’s, science fair project.

Now shut down your computer and Get Woodworking!

Pete

 

Get Woodworking Week 2013 - Sunday

Boy, I’m just getting this entry in under the wire for Day 1 (Sunday) of Get Woodworking Week.  For more information on Get Woodworking Week and the genius behind the idea, hop on over to Tom’s Workbench at www.tomsworkbench.com.  This week devoted to getting folks out into the shop, encouraging those new to the craft and engaging the woodworking community, both locally and virtually, was the brain-child of Tom Iovino one year ago.  That officially makes this the Second Annual Get Woodworking Week.  When you’ve done something more than once, you can start calling it “Annual”…much like “Pete’s Fourth Annual Cholesterol Check-up” or the “Umpteenth Annual Disappointing Season for the Dallas Stars”…back off Red Wings fans!

The week also could not have started off on a better note for me woodworking-wise (say that ten times fast!)  We just wrapped up the Woodworking Show here in Denver!  I attended all three days and soaked up as many great presentations as I could.  I have many pages of notes…and a few less dollars.  The boys’ college funds are still intact though.  

This leads into my first recommendation to any beginning woodworkers out there.  Go to the show!  For any of you living in or near the cities hosting the next seven shows of the season, be sure to check the roster of instructors and classes and get yourselves out there.  (http://www.thewoodworkingshows.com/shows.htm)

Sure, there are a lot of product vendors, some with really good demos/instruction, and some that are a little more cheesy and sales-pitchy, but they’ve really stepped it up in the educational experience since my last show up in the Twin Cities a couple years ago.

One of the vendors you should make time for is Alex Snodgrass of Carter Tools.  He runs his band saw clinic and really sheds some light on how to best use this amazingly versatile tool.  He and his dad will answer questions all day long for you.  I had purchased a set of Carter guides at the last Minnesota show I attended, but never got around to installing them on my own saw.  Having been so inspired this weekend…my band saw is now torn apart to make way for these great guides.

 

You should also take some time to check out the Crazy Canadian…no spoilers, just check him out!

The highlights of the show for me were connecting with a few of the local woodworking clubs and sitting in on presentations by Jim Heavey (Wood Magazine) and Andy Chidwick (Chidwick School of Fine Woodworking.)  Jim taught a three-part series on finishing, and I left with a bunch of new ideas and things to try.  He’s also an excellent speaker and story-teller.  You can tell that he genuinely enjoys sharing the craft and teaching others.  Andy (The Woodworking Coach) is just one fired up individual with a real passion for sharing his vision and bringing out the vision and creativity in others.  His sessions covered a wide range of the craft from the technical to the philosophical.  I am very interested in making it up to his school in Montana some time for one of his week-long classes and trying out his new online extension of the school coming in May.  I was inspired!

So there you have it!  Get out to the show!  If you’re not able to make it to one of the shows this year, be on the lookout for other opportunities to get plugged in with others around you.  Chances are there is a woodworking club or guild in your area filled with folks who love to share and teach.  Reach out and start making those connections that will move you along in your journey.

Be sure to hop on over to Tom’s Workbench to check out links to other blogs that are also participating in Get Woodworking Week - 2013.

Before I leave you, take a peek at these few links related to my own show experience. 

Jim Heavey’s blog of his experiences at the shows - http://www.woodmagazine.com/blogs/woodworking-blog/tag/jim-heavey/

Meet Jim – a great interview with the guys over at the Modern Woodworker’s Association (the first few minutes of the interview are lost, but it’s still a great intro to Jim!) - http://www.modernwoodworkersassociation.com/2012/10/mwa-podcast-episode-14-jim-heavey-of.html

Andy Chidwick’s School of Fine Woodworking - http://chidwickschool.com/

Meet Andy – another great interview by the guys at MWA - http://www.modernwoodworkersassociation.com/2012/12/mwa-podcast-episode-19-andy-chidwick-of.html

For my Colorado peeps…

www.coloradowoodworkersguild.org

www.frontrangewoodturners.org

www.comarquetry.org

So now you have a short list of links to get going after.  You have no excuses to not start digging in and getting engaged in your woodworking.  Now go Get Woodworking!

Pete

 

Marked for Death

OK, maybe not death, more like inconvenience…and Steven Seagal will not be featured anywhere in this blog entry.

It took a fair bit of time, but I’ve marked (for death) all of the dowel pin locations on each of the parts for the Rietveld Red Blue Chair.  I went over every piece, identifying the best surfaces and marked (for death), not only the dowel pin positions, but the orientation of each part as well…tops, backs, inside/outside, etc…

 

When it comes time to drill the holes for the dowel joinery I’ll be able to take advantage of Rietveld’s intention of making these chairs easy to mass produce.  Since most of the parts are 30mm X 30mm, the holes can be drilled with the same fence set-up on the drill press.  With that I reached for my trusty set of Forstner Bits and selected the 5/8 inch bit to match the dowel stock I picked up at Home Depot.

I marked (for death) the center, positioning line on a left-over piece of the Beech chair stock and aligned the bit and fence to drill the centered holes.

After drilling my first test hole I grabbed the dowel stock and tested the fit.  Uh oh…either this dowel is not 5/8 inch wide, or this is not a 5/8 inch Forstner bit!

I immediately began to curse Home Depot…those guys mis-marked (for death) these dowels!  A quick measurement of the hole’s diameter though revealed the true nature of the problem.  This is a 3/4 inch diameter hole!  I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before I started growling at Home Depot.  A trip over to the box of Forstner bits confused me even more, until it finally hit me…take a look at how these bits are marked (for death) in the box.  (Click to enlarge.)

That’s right…the 3/4 inch bit is sitting right smack-dab above the 5/8 inch marked (for death) slot!  Now in Craftsman’s defense, the bit sizes are clearly labeled on the shanks, and the plastic, protective covers for each bit are also labeled with the bit’s correct size, however the marking (for death) on the box is where my mind went when selecting the appropriate bit to use.  I sure hope I remember this the next time I pull this set out!

With the actual 5/8 inch bit set up and ready to go I drilled another hole in my scrap piece.  The test fit with the dowel stock was much better this time.  Funny what that extra 1/8 of an inch can do to mess things up.  Home Depot isn’t entirely off the hook though…their 5/8 inch marked (for death) dowel is just a hair under width, so the fit isn’t as tight as I’d like it to be.  I ran a caliper along the length of the dowel and the width does vary just a little as I worked my way down.  The kicker though…it’s never a full 5/8 inch wide anywhere along the length.  The dowel is Poplar, so it may swell a bit with glue, but I’ll definitely need to do a glue-up test to be sure.  If that test isn’t successful though, I’ll have to find another source for the dowels…and this time I’ll be packing my dial caliper to be sure I don’t fall prey to any more mis-markings (for death.)

On a less deadly note, I was able to find a picture of a Red Blue chair in the process of being built.  This fellow (G Najran) built several 1:20 scale models of the chair and made several jigs to aid in construction.  I would have to scale things back up to full size, but there may be some merit in the way he’s building these models that can translate to my full-sized reproductions.

 

I also found a great shot of the original prototype chair that led to the final Red Blue design.

Tune in next time to see if I can survive the continued construction of these “sillas de muerte!”

Pete

 

A Pile of Chairs

Check out the younger Mr. Rietveld (around 1916-17) in front of his furniture shop with his staff.  He’s sitting in his original, prototype design of the now iconic Red Blue Chair.  This is a few years before meeting Piet Mondrian and other members of the De Stijl movement.

My own red Blue chair build continues to move along.  Work time was curtailed a bit this week by some needed focus on clean-up and some shop organization though.  I was able to clear out some of the space at the back end of the workbench that will allow me to move the bench and table saw down a bit toward the back end of the shop.

While it hasn’t been a huge problem there have been a couple of times I’ve gone to battle with the support column that stands a couple of feet to the left of the table saw.  It doesn’t impede working on the saw so much as mobility around the shop.

Despite having to dance around the pole (whoa, whoa, whoa…don’t go there!  It wouldn’t be pretty!  J) I pressed forward on the final sizing of the chair parts.

I squared up the ends and then cut the arm rests to length.

Then it was on to the rail stock that will make up the framing of the chair.

Here we have two chairs, minus the seats and backs.  Sure they look like a pile of sticks now, but soon…the magic of Rietveld’s design!

One of Rietveld’s chief aims was to design furniture that pushed the envelope of modern design, that explored and presented new ideas in fresh ways, and above all made it accessible to the masses.  The key design feature of this, and many of his designs, was that they could be built with easily produced parts…in this case, a pile of sticks!

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Red Blue design, for me, is how bold the chair is in the way it occupies a space when viewed from the front or from a skewed angle.  Moving around the chair and observing it from the side makes the design as a chair almost disappear.  It becomes a collection of points and lines…a painting on an invisible canvas rather than a piece of furniture.

For almost 100 years now, this specific design has sparked many discussions on what modern design is, what is considered good design, and how accessible modern design should be to the masses.  Many times the Red Blue Chair elicits responses of “love it” or “hate it” which is exactly what Rietveld was trying to accomplish.  He was starting a conversation on design that is still in full swing today.  What are your thoughts…if you dare to share?  Be careful…people could be talking about your contributions to the conversation 100 years from now.

Pete

Rietveld Build Update

With all of the holiday and business travel out of the way I was able to get the Rietveld chairs back on track this past weekend. 

No this one isn’t mine! :)  It is a clever commentary on design and the type of process that folks will sometimes take to shake things up a bit.  (Thanks to new york new york over at the 207 – Play by Play forum on Tommy MacDonald’s site for the link!)

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662528/right-handed-designer-reinterprets-rietvelds-most-famous-chair-left-handed

I am, fortunately, relying on Mr. Rietveld’s original design and sketches, but that is no guarantee that mine won’t look like the “Left Handed” version!

I spent some time a couple weeks ago working on the stock preparation and yesterday I was able to finish a good portion of the final sizing work.  First up was to move all of my identifying markings to a non-jointed edge and face joint each of the boards.

Then it was on to the planer.  I took the rough blanks down to about 48 mm thickness.

After another quick trip to the jointer to square up one of the edges it was time to visit the band saw.  I decided to try and salvage as much of this Steamed European Beech ($) as possible, so I’ve resawn the boards to harvest some thin stock for use in future projects.

I utilized the same dust collection set-up that I did with the planer.  I’ve got a Craftsman tool switch that I use with my shop vac that makes things pretty easy.  I don’t know why most vacs just don’t have this kind of feature standard, or at least offer a model that does.  Both Ridgid and Craftsman had offered them many years ago.

I was shooting for a 30 mm thickness on the stock for the chair, so I scribed some cut lines at 32 mm on each piece.  I free-handed these boards on the band saw, staying just proud of my scribe line.

I achieved some pretty nice results using a half inch blade.

When all the boards were done, I ended up with a nice collection of thin stock.

I was able to plane all of these pieces down to 1/4 inch thick, and now have them stacked and stickered under weight.  This will be some nice stock for boxes, drawers or trays in the future.

The boards for the chair parts were then planed down to the desired 30 mm thickness and stacked…where they sat for a couple weeks.  I was pleased to see little or no movement in any of the boards when I went to work with them yesterday.

After a few light passes on the jointer to ensure good, square edges to reference on the table saw fence, I ripped all of the chair stock down to 30 mm, creating the “sticks” used to build the frames of the chairs.  I also ripped the armrests down to a 90 mm width, and then restacked all of the parts.

Next up…cut all of the chair parts to length and lay out the dowel positions on each piece.  The original design calls for 15 mm dowels to secure the joints.  I’ll be using 5/8 inch Poplar dowels…about 1/32 inch larger in diameter than Rietveld’s original specifications.  I’m guessing that Gerrit didn’t get his 15 mm Beech dowels at Home Depot...maybe Lowe's?

Pete

Day One Dovetails

Here we go fellow woodworkers!  I started up my Dovetail-a-day plan on 1/1/13…not so much as a New Year’s resolution, rather giving myself a clear run of non-travel days that should find me home and in the shop for the next few weeks.

This post is pretty picture-intensive to show the tact I’m starting with for cutting my dovetails.  Future posts will just include updates of my progress, and any changes I make to my technique…maybe driven by suggestions from any of you dovetail gurus out there (hint hint!)  J

The last time I attempted hand-cut dovetails was probably about seven or eight years ago when my Dad gave me a lesson during one of our trips back east.  I think I cut about a dozen joints during that visit and actually got some pretty good results.  I haven’t hand cut any since that trip, so this new venture is heavily laced with some very sweet memories of my Dad.

Earlier in December I picked up some 1X6 pine boards (3/4” X 5 1/2") from Home Depot to use as practice stock.  Yesterday morning I broke the boards down to one foot lengths.  Each pair of boards should allow me to make three or four practice joints each.

 

With my first pair of boards selected I laid out the tools I’ll need to get the action started.  I’ve got my Veritas Dovetail Saw (14 tpi) and the Crosscut Saw ready to go.  I’m using a round bladed marking gauge and my Dad’s old Lie-Nielsen dovetail marker for laying out the joints.  I’ll also be using my Stanley Sweetheart (750) chisels…a gift from my parents from a couple Christmases back.

 

My old vise did not survive the two moves we’ve made over the past couple years, so it’s been removed and I’m using two smaller, mobile, vises to hold my work pieces.

My first step is to lay out the tails.  I know that this will cause some immediate controversy, but it’s what made sense to me.  J  I set the marking gauge to the thickness of my boards.  Since both boards are the same thickness there will only be this one setting.

 

I then used that setting to mark a line that will denote the length of the tails.  I scribed this line all the way around the board.

I decided to cut a three tailed joint.  This gives me plenty of room to work around the tails while I’m rebuilding my “chops.”  I set a tail an inch in from both sides and centered the third.  Then I marked the waste to protect me from myself!

After the layout it was time to dig in and make some cuts.  My first attempts with Dad were with a Japanese style pull-saw, so this is my first time using the western style dovetail saws.  So far I like both methods.  Perhaps I’ll experiment with the Dozuki again in the future.

With the sides of the tails cut, it was time to go after removing the waste.  I know that quite a few folks will use a coping or fret saw here, but I’m going to chop out the waste with chisels.  This is a handy trick that Dad showed me all those years ago.  By using the chisel to pare out a small wedge, a little “wall” is created that gives the saw a guide to start making a straight cut.  The scribed line from the marking gauge does double duty here by providing a resting place for the chisel’s edge to sit in before striking it with the mallet.  The wedge is then removed with a light paring cut.

This technique worked really well for me.  It’s amazing how just a tiny, little shoulder is enough to guide the saw true when starting the cut.

I didn’t catch a photo, but did use this same technique to create those little “walls” when I started chopping out the waste from between the tails.

I alternated paring cuts and chopping cuts until I was about halfway through the board.  I then flipped the board over and worked from the other side.  Once most of the material was removed from around the base of the tails, the rest of the waste popped right out.

After a little clean-up with the chisels I used the tail board to mark the location of the pins on the second work piece.

I then followed all of the same procedures to cut the other half of the joint in the pin board…and here it is, my Day One efforts at hand cutting dovetails.

There are some gaps, and I can see where my saw cuts were not a true as I would have liked.  I was pleased with my layout though.  I can actually flip the tail board over and tails will match up with the pins.  It’s not a perfect fit because of the variations created by my sawing, but the joint will slide together about half way and the edges are still aligned.  One thing I did forget to do was time myself. I'll have to put a clock on my efforts going forward to measure any increase in efficiency as well as precision.

This was a great experience and I’m looking forward to practicing a lot more.  I thought about Dad and missed him a lot while working on these.  All that I remembered made me feel better and prouder than even the most perfect dovetail joints could.

I’d love to hear some feedback or input on my technique.  I know that there are many methods out there and that folks use all kinds of variations to produce amazing results.  Thanks for visiting, and come on back!

Pete