Catherine had this to say about them: “I have 2 planes for sale: #3 Stanley for $400 and the LieNeilsen #62 Jack plane, inlaid with brass, bronze and copper, for $900. The lattter won the Artistic Uniqueness Award at the Firearms Engravers Guild of Americas show in Reno end of Jan. Quite the show piece!”

I heartily agrre. If anyone is serious about needing_ one of these, please send me a private message and I will put you together with her.

Whadda ya think, Wayne C. You should have one, IMHO

There you go, Charlie! :D

You spot the crate planked with 1/2˝ quartersawn, spalted sycamore.

As a side note, I took several of these down to level with the Veritas low-angle jack, which made quick work of it with thin full width shavings and no tear-out when used across the grain. I have not cambered it’s iron, as I use it for shooting primarily but it did the preliminary work handily and with minimal waste in thickness. All drum-sanded to 100 grit, jointed on one edge.
With cup and wind on some boards I ended up with thicknesses between 1/4 and 7/16th, and we’ll see what tomorrow will bring once things are rested, but at bottom line there will be some interesting shop-made veneer if nothing else. Thanks crate-makin’ guy wherever you are.

Steve loves to teach, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of turning and finishing techniques, good shop practice and what it takes to be a professional artisan. Much of the letter’s content can be used by any woodworker, not just those who specialize in lathe work. I highly recommend it.

originally posted on Facebook

So, here’s my hope. If you are of the mind that prayer helps, would you please join me in praying for Dennis’ return to health and resolution of his pain. If you have a different conception of things metaphysical, please send some good thoughts and wishes Dennis’ way. I hate to see his enormous talent and skill benched to this injury, and how do you expect this fine man to get hitched if he can’t stand in one place long enough…

Congrats Dennis and Patti. May you have a long and healthy life together, starting as soon as possible!

‘Nuff said.

You will note that my garment of choice hasn’t changed much over the years, except in the small matter of size (sigh).

Both photos circa 1974, Ellsworth Hall, sixth floor, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Brad builds furniture as an avocation. I don’t think he’s a lumberjock…yet. Can you say “new fish”?

This last Sunday, Dennis was down at the shop working on the parquetry project he is currently involved in. Since the largest part of his day is spent running autoCAD and planning/project managing, it struck me as not one bit odd that this Sunday – his birthday – was spent in the quiet pursuit of his craft with only the his thoughts and the shop cats in attendance. He offered to let me come down and make off with a horde of wood, much of it 8/4. Those of you who are familiar with the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkein know that Hobbits, the diminutive race of Middle Earth have the practice of giving away gifts on their birthday – rather than receiving them. Striped mahogany, beautiful walnut, cherry, yellow poplar, flame birch, ash, maple and purpleheart cast-offs were on the bill of fare at this quiet party. Since time was tight before he was off to the movies with his children, I had just enough time to stop at the Old Market in Omaha for a slice of chocolaty goodness from Delicé a European bakery a few blocks from the shop. Quite a haul in exchange for chocolate.

I’m already carving some up for use on a plane till project I’m working on, from this idea from Thos. Angle

Thanks again for the wood and the help out with it to the truck, Dennis. This is enough fodder for a year of small box work and shop fixtures. Happy Birthday to you!

The place was bustling with activity, with high-end work being done on conference tables for NASA and a big custom Chicago Bears bed. Dennis also showed me the window method work he recently posted. He does his homework, with several practice pieces and no stopping until the piece is right. I also got to sidle up to the astounding Griffin table. Dennis was down-to-earth and accessible to questions, and I was able to see the gleam in his eyes as he discussed his progress in the craft and his love of discovery as he follows his curiosity and perfects areas of embellishment (finishing, carving, marquetry). I recognize the fire that burns in this gentleman, and his desire for perfection that can be touched in the final piece.

I also got a signed copy of his recent publication in Wood Carving Illustrated. Before I even had a chance to get it up to the “reading room”, Pam had glommed onto it. This is good… I gave her a Flexcut set of interchangeable blades and a palm handle a few years back, and they have been idle. She needed a clue to the first steps, and there was plenty that fit right into that path in this fine magazine. He was also kind enough to offer up some short ends and hardwood scraps – just the sort of thing that makes this small box guy and notorious pack-rat drool…

Thanks Dennis for the invitation to visit. I hope that you won’t come to regret it. At least next time lunch will be on me!

MrWoody got the wood bug at an early age, ”When I was 8 or 9 my dad brought home some packing crates, not sure why as he was not mechanically inclined. He had a hammer and an old handsaw that I now know was not sharp enough to cut butter. From them I made a ladder so my dog and I could get on the shed roof (I don’t know why) and some boats. I used my allowance to buy nails instead of candy.
When I was in grade 8 we had a shop class and I made a bed tray and a lamp. I think I’m going to try that bed tray again it was very handy.”

His interests run the gamut of woodworking with a career and advocation with steel as well, ”When I was first married we lived on 5th floor and I made a stereo stand and an aquarium stand with a portable jigsaw, drill, hammer, and nails. I’ll bet I was popular. Mid 20’s we bought a 75 year old fixer upper, had 2 kids (boy & girl), and no money. I did ALL the work because I couldn’t afford to hire anyone, so I became a Jack of all trades.
I finally bought a cheap tin top table saw, not for wood working but to cut steel as I was making knives, but because it was there I started making wood projects. I’ve tried most forms of woodworking and am passable at most. I’ve done some carving, made paddles using a draw knife and spoke shave, scroll saw work and bandsaw boxes. I have used dovetails and box joints.”

Although his hand tool skills are a source of relaxation, John admits…”but would never give up my power TOYS.”
There is a phrase dear to me! I still have a few yards to go on those hand tool skills. He also managed to have a side business doing remodeling, which paid for a next round of shop machinery.

And that brings us to his shop today…long removed from the kitchen table work of his honeymoon years and the tin top saw of his early adulthood. This shop is wired tight.

Here Deb inspects the heart of the shop, a combined TS – Router table set up (Is that a Veritas insert? I forgot to ask.) Everything in this shop makes intelligent use of space and is well organized. And there is task lighting and bright overhead ambient lighting as well. I hesitate to mention this to you younger woodworkers, but if you plan to keep at the craft into your late forties and beyond you will thank me for suggesting that you include good lighting in the plan for your ultimate shop. And there were extra points awarded for the prominently placed fire extinguisher.

Deb was impressed as well with the access to a phone in the shop should help be needed in an emergency. I as always was a sucker for the saw clock. More organzation is noted in the parts bins and tool racks over the great workbench.

I knew at a glance that this was one winner of a shop. MrWoody has a sweet set up, obviously the product of a lifetime’s working in wood (and more). If I ever set my ship in order there is much to be gleaned from this shop.
Thanks, John for the invitation to visit and the inestimable patience while waiting for me to get your visit posted.
You certainly deserve your certificate.

P.S. Check out these great workstation dollies!

Flooded with light fitting of an artist’s studio, Patrick has a tightly organized shop, with all the provisions for safety in the shop. Big points for eye and ear protection, fire prevention and safe stock handling. And he doesn’t have to resort to a shirt sleeve (or worse), should his nose get busy during a project. This is evolved woodworking.

I was particularly interested in the fine collection of planes and the designing station. And the clamp collection.
You owe it to yourself to wander over to lechevaldebois's project page for a view of the work coming from Le Ébénisterie.

But the real reason I lobbied hard for the visit was to get a load of the large piece of Texas ebony Patrick purchased from fellow LJ BlueStingrayBoots.

Get a load of that log! After all what is an Ébénisterie without ebony? From some of the comments of the LJs that have worked this timber (WayneC one), this is an exceptional purchase, and potentially a source of some excellent discussion of lumber seasoning. It certainly has interesting aspects of urban logging and international commerce. I can’t wait to see some of this put to masterful use.

Here is a shot with the proud owner, and Debbie who is preparing for the official assay of lumber assets.

We close out our visit with a family moment as L’Enfant De Bois visits the shop, and Debbie prepares for the final tabulations of the Inspection.

I could tell as soon as we saw the overhead extension cord reel how this was all going to come out, sadly remembering my own shop inspection failure (yes, the only one yet recorded in the shop visit annals).

In total, out visit to the Knight of Wood was great. You have one winner of a shop, Patrick. You may download your shop accreditation certificate here.

With the formalities aside, it’s on to the shop inspection of Joe Hanson, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Lumberjock.

I’m sure some cleaning up was done it anticipation of our visit, but this shop is surgically clean. And organized like a tray of instruments.

So much better than the usual “Where the heck did I lay that (insert name of missing tool) down.”

I asked Joe for a little background – “A little about me. Grew up as a cowboy on the family homestead in South Dakota – our Christmas tree was a tumble weed with cattle ear tags as ornaments – for real.
I am a small animal veterinary surgeon in Denver CO. I first got into woodworking 5 years ago. I am self taught with the help of the great publications out there and drawing on my high school shop classes. I guess the attention to detail I’ve learned with surgery helps when I work in my shop. One thing for sure wood is more forgiving than flesh lol. Hense my signature—Wood doesn’t bleed! I find I am challenged more by woodworking than medicine and may be making a career switch. I still have tons to learn, I guess I’m a professional student.

I learned of Lumberjocks thru The Wood Whisperer Marc Spagnuolo’s website. WWW.Thewoodwhisperer.com I am looking forward to learning how to blog – something they failed to teach you in Vet school. But.. if your pet needs major surgery—Gown Me Up! :-)”

His shop space is 1800 square feet, occupying the basement of the family home, and it is truly inviting, with great storage and lighting. I particularly liked the countertop, which practically screams “Steel City Granite Tool Upgrade Looming”.

Deb and I both had questions about Joe’s HVLP turbine set-up. Maybe we can prevail upon him for a review write-up.

Deb overcame her twin dislikes The Table Saw and the Router for a closer look at Joe’s shared fence set-up.
Safety points awarded for having the push stick/saw-aid readily at hand.

With the hard work done, it’s time for a cup of Leap Day tea and the final tally. Joe, your shop is a winner. Thanks for the invitation to visit. It was a joy to see such a well organized shop. Now go make some sawdust!

Here is your shop visit certificate.

This month’s visit is to Lebanon, New York, at the garage-shop-laboratory of Dadoo. In his own words, he is a; “Mad Scientist, creator, salvager, grandfather (Dadoo), husband, home builder/wrecker, sawdust and grease spreader, designer, dreamer, computer geek, photographer and Licensed Nurse. I’ve also been a volunteer Firefighter/EMT since ‘92.” And a slippery slope ridin’ Galoot. He’s pretty worked up about his recent reclamation project. a 1927 Sargent #714 Auto-set Jack Plane.

All business, Deb takes thorough notes on the process. That tote and knob look pretty great.

Assured of a claim to greatness for this (and so much more), here is a shot of Dadoo’s most excellent hinged sheet goods storage device. Apparently, Dadoo still has to get an automobile into his shop (on occasion), and with the winter weather upon us in North America, there’s the uncontrollable problem of the ingress of slush and moisture with the car. After putting on his thinking hat, he arrived at this elegant solution.

Debbie specs out the job. I desperately need one of these in my shop.

Hand in glove with the storage solution is the mobile assembly table work bench that Dadoo has fashioned, complete with jauntly purple paint job. At first blush I thought it was made of Purpleheart, but I suppose you’d have to be Warren Buffett to afford one of those.

Dadoo gets major points for overhead extension cord storage, and readily available hearing protection.

As our visit wound down, and the gloaming filtered through the shop window, we heard a high-pitched hum and the tinkling of tiny bells. Looking up at the picture of Norm Abrahms, we witnessed a mystical experience.

Apparently a new episode of The New Yankee Workshop was completed and in the can. It was like a trip to Lourdes. Fascinating.

Well, as you might guess, the innovative Dadoo passed his inspection with flying colors. Dadoo, your passed certificate, suitable for framing, awaits here.

Good show! Keep the not-so diabolical ideas coming!

JP has a tightly organized two-car garage shop, that rarely has the opportunity to house a vehicle. Here Ms. Deb has the opportunity to take some measurements of the drill press table and tool storage.

There are no shortage of saws in this small shop. Nice compound sliding miter here… as well as a scroll saw and a radial arm saw.

Add on a venerable Delta TS, and as you can see there are a plethora of projects nearly ready to post on Lumberjocks.

I forgot to get all the data on that window unit. Looks like just the ticket to keep the shop comfortable.

JP is a jig and fixture person, with a nice cut-off sled and miter fixtures ready to safely ease through the cuts.

Thanks for the invite JPW1995. Go get that shop inspection certificate!

Finally after using WayneC's citric acid technique, lapping the sole flat, grinding the sides square to the sole, and using David's modified Parkerization technique ; stripping the tote and knob and refinishing them with toned Danish oil and salad bowl finish and sharpening the blade with the scary sharp method it is a pleasure to introduce Sarge. If you missed the middle installments (2 and 3), I discovered that this rust bucket refugee is actually a #409. There isn’t a resource I could find like Patrick Leach's Blood and Gore for Sargent planes. so it is difficult to explain the extra length and width of the casting on this model.

Here is my “new” plane.

I decided to show this Sargent in direct comparison to a Stanley #4 I bought last year on eBay.

Sole to Sole

and side by side.

Unfortunately there is no way to show the glassy surface of the QS oak I shaved with this new incarnation of my Sargent. My wife was a test subject. Her verdict: ”Impressive”. With all the materials at hand, I may have to put the old Stanley into the process. It’s a user to me with no specific collector’s value. I will leave my Granddad’s #5 alone, happy with it’s already sharpened iron, and it’s new fence from Tom Angle.

Thanks for following along.

While waiting for the new iron to arrive, I decided to sharpen up the stock iron, using the scary sharp method, utilizing a flat reference surface and sandpaper. In order to keep a consistent angle for sharpening, I bought a Veritas sharpening guide and angle setter. This is the older incarnation of the MK II guide, still very functional, and well worth the investment. I doubt that I will attempt to stay current in the “Tool Arms Race” with this product until I wear this unit out.

I (long ago) purchased a piece of auto safety glass. The exact size escapes me at the moment, and indeed it’s not crucial. If I were doing it again I would likely get a tool grade slab of granite for this purpose, and use the capillary action of water to hold the paper in place. Much easier to clean than dowsing the whole thing in acetone and scraping off the spray adhesive used to hold the paper in place. The paper does last a while, so this relatively unpleasant cleaning experience doesn’t occur that often, and the whole thing is ready to pull out from beneath my bench when needed.

I started out defining a 25° bevel setting the length of iron extended beyond the guide with the Veritas angle setting fixture. Once that is done and a check is made to see that the blade is at 90° to the guide, we are ready to rumble. I had some 80 grit ready-to-wrap strips from my Performax 10-20 and some freebie 180 grit rolls from a 16-32 that I was given. There are at least two applications from each of these rolls. Other folks use PSA rolls, which are easier to mount to the glass than using spray adhesive, but the spray mount works okay for me.

Here is the coarse grinding side of the rig.

I ground the desired angle with the 80 grit, until a constant 25° bevel was established. You know you are done when a wire edge is felt across the backside of the bevel. Who ever butchered this iron originally did a magnificent job of boogering it up, setting a concave edge, rather than the desired very slightly convex edge.

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I ground and ground and ground some more until I could feel the wire edge across the whole backside of the bevel.
Then I switched to the 180 grit paper. Once a consistent scratch pattern was noted, I flipped over the glass and began to refine the bevel.

Then it was a simple matter of working through the grits, beginning at 400 and working my way through the grits to P3000. A brief sidebar is in order at this point to explain why the “P” is used to describe the paper’s grit grading.
There are two standards for abrasive paper. The American system is the CAMI grading standard. CAMI stands for Coated Abrasives Manufacturers’ Institute. The P designation is from the European standard, developed by the Federation of European Producers of Abrasives (FEPA). Above 220 grit there is a wider desparity between the two systems, with the FEPA standard being coarser than CAMI paper. The consistency of the FEPA standard is tighter than CAMI grit paper, and in truth it doesn’t matter that much here. I just can’t find CAMI graded paper locally above 600 grit, and my local supplier stocks Klingspor paper, which uses the FEPA “P” standard. The P2000 and P3000 grit paper is from Japan, and was purchased at a premium from a local Auto-body supplier.

I worked the bevel all the way through the P3000 grit until a mirror sheen was established. Then it was time to flatten the back of the iron. The same genius that worked the bevel side of the iron had his way with the back as well. The iron was actually dished, rather than flat, so considerable grinding was needed to get a flat back surface.

After flattening the back, I polished the back of the iron all the way through the grits.
The Veritas guide as an adjustment that allows the sharpener to establish a micro-bevel at up to 3° by turning a knob on the side of the guide. This is desirable, so that re-sharpening is easier. I set the micro bevel adjustment. Now for a new wrinkle. The newer Veritas sharpening guide has an optional camber wheel available that allows one to put a slightly convex bevel on the iron (Robin Lee and his crew of geniuses, at it again). The reason for this cambered edge is so that there is no digging in of the iron at the side of the cut when attempting to smooth plane the workpiece. There is no upgrade available for my older sharpening set, so I decided to put a piece of clear wrapping tape in the center of the roller on the bottom of the sharpening guide.

This allowed me to put a bit more pressure on each side of the iron as I worked (again) through the finer grits. Here is the result.

We will have to see if there is a discernible difference once the iron meets the workpiece. To test the sharpening, I was able to shave hair from the back of my arm with the newly sharpened iron. Photos omitted to spare the faint-hearted. Once the iron has the requisite 25° bevel, the adept galoot can alter the micro-bevel to a steeper angle, and tighten the throat by adjusting the frog. This helps in smoothing wood with difficult, reversing grain etc.
I will likely do this with the Hock iron so that I have my old Stanley #4 set for regular grain, and the new heavier Sargent at the ready for use with my beloved figured woods. And I still have Tom Angle’s gift smoother ready for work. Now I just have to practice my skills, and transform myself from ham-fisted amateur to experienced Galoot.

Here Deb takes a read on the great lighting provided by the windows and a skylight in the 14 foot ceiling.

We both liked the under-saw storage unit, based on the use of restaurant bus-trays. There is in-floor dust collection tubing and a novel blast gate configuration of Ray’s construction.

In the next photo Deb adds points to Ray’s tally for having fire extinguishers handy. The shelving unit is filled with hand tools, and the shelfs are labeled for ease of use.

Deb looks over the nice DeWalt lunchbox planer, sharpening station and Performax drum sander.

Ray has a plethora of unique ideas for efficient tool and lumber storage (and a sweet stash of Cherry lumber) in the “garage” next to the shop. He has a great video with a tour of the shop here.

All-in-all it’s a very unique shop, and it’s obvious Ray has put a great deal of thought into it’s layout. It’s a winner!

Thanks for the invitation, Dataman. Your shop certificate awaits.

Long story short, I have done a little side work on some photos for Thomas Angle, who is working up a web page for Owyhee Design, the woodworking arm of his two businesses (The other being Thos. Angle Saddlery). Now I’m not good at naming figures for my work, and I proposed that Tom make me something and we could swap time dollars. I admired his jointer plane fence and his Aspen doors project with it’s wonderful woodburnt scene.
With a slight sense that I was pushing my luck a bit, I asked him to make me one, and if it wasn’t too much to ask, could he wood-burn a Buffalo bull at the top where the curve echoes the curved top of the casting on Bailey pattern planes. And I asked him (pushing it a bit harder) to sign it. He readily agreed, and I made a joke that if he sent me a load more pictures I might be able to charge him the exact amount necessary to get a Hock Krenov style blade and chipbreaker for a homemade wooden plane. I think he had recently posted his first effort at this endeavor, and I thought I might like to give it a shot.

I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t encroaching on his time for his business and his kitchen remodeling at home, and all the sundry other things that suck the hours out of a week. No rush, by spring maybe. Well I got home today and my Sargent had showed up and there was a package from Jordan Valley, OR. Tom had called last night to tell me to keep an eye on the mail, so I had expected a package around Saturday. But this was a bigger box than I had anticipated. I took out my pocket knife, cutting the tape off carefully so I could keep the return address legible, pulled the lid back and caught a glimpse of reddish wood. I knew that the fence was to be in maple so I was a bit mystified. There was a card, but at this point I was getting a lump in my throat, so I went back into the package, and this is what I found…

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Thomas Angle, you old fox. Notice the smooth plane posting only shows one side. This is what was on the other side. I haven’t received so great and so wonderful a present since I was a five-year old. The significance is so much more than the wood and metal (it’s a Lie Nielson iron, heftier than a Hock), more than the time involved (he has about a gazillion hours of photo-editing on account at this point). This was handmade for me by a man I have come to respect immensely for his wisdom, common sense, experience, friendliness, and good will. I suspect that a few of you have the same impression.

I come from farm people and hung around with some grain elevator folks in my late teens. I did a summer harvest, got to beat out some burning cow manure with a wet burlap sack as part of the Lane Co., Kansas Volunteer Fire Department response to a house and range fire. I lived as a renter for 5 years on a cattle ranch (no chores involving the livestock). So I have a soft spot for, and some experience with ranchers and farmers (both lifestyles can stove you in, but they are different) and know a little about the Gypsies of the Plains – the custom cutters that follow the harvest of rice, oats, wheat and corn up from south to north each growing season. I married a cattle vet’s daughter.

But I’m a city boy and I don’t have touch with the field and the range much any more. I drive to work out of my way to watch the seasons advance, to note the crop rotation year by year in some gerrymandered fields in the midst of Omaha’s sprawl. So it has been a treat to meet my Cowboy friend on these pages, and shoot a few e-mails around. Now I’m forever indebted to him. And I couldn’t be more tickled about it. Thanks, Tom. There aren’t words enough…

As a parting shot, here I am – Two Gun Pete.

Better start learning to shoot (with shooting board). I promised Angle these would not become shelf dwellers.

Oh and that fence. Keep your eyes peeled. I think Tom will be showing the other magnificent gift on his own.
Boy, Howdy Bob! I’m one lucky man.