LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Sauce's adventures in woodworking

6K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  Woodbutchery 
#1 ·
I may make 1000 dovetail joints in my lifetime

...but even if I make 1000 or 1000000 joints, this will always be my first one.

Made out of a couple of scraps of pine. Soft woods make for interesting chisel work across the grain.

It's not great, but it holds pretty tightly. I wonder if some wood glue will seal up a few of those gaps if the wood expands a little. I'll find out tomorrow when I glue it up.

In case you were wondering about that missing corner on the far end of the joint… I marked the wood wrong initially. I then flipped it over and worked on the other side. It doesn't count :)

Tools used:

  • Chisels
  • Hammer
  • Japanese Z saw
  • Combination square
  • Pencil
  • Utility knife

Sauce

Wood Rectangle Flooring Art Hardwood


Hand Wood Gesture Rectangle Finger


Wood Gesture Rectangle Wood stain Art


Wood Rectangle Gesture Hardwood Tints and shades
 

Attachments

See less See more
8
#2 ·
I may make 1000 dovetail joints in my lifetime

...but even if I make 1000 or 1000000 joints, this will always be my first one.

Made out of a couple of scraps of pine. Soft woods make for interesting chisel work across the grain.

It's not great, but it holds pretty tightly. I wonder if some wood glue will seal up a few of those gaps if the wood expands a little. I'll find out tomorrow when I glue it up.

In case you were wondering about that missing corner on the far end of the joint… I marked the wood wrong initially. I then flipped it over and worked on the other side. It doesn't count :)

Tools used:

  • Chisels
  • Hammer
  • Japanese Z saw
  • Combination square
  • Pencil
  • Utility knife

Sauce

Wood Rectangle Flooring Art Hardwood


Hand Wood Gesture Rectangle Finger


Wood Gesture Rectangle Wood stain Art


Wood Rectangle Gesture Hardwood Tints and shades
Sauceman, I like your style!
 

Attachments

#3 ·
I may make 1000 dovetail joints in my lifetime

...but even if I make 1000 or 1000000 joints, this will always be my first one.

Made out of a couple of scraps of pine. Soft woods make for interesting chisel work across the grain.

It's not great, but it holds pretty tightly. I wonder if some wood glue will seal up a few of those gaps if the wood expands a little. I'll find out tomorrow when I glue it up.

In case you were wondering about that missing corner on the far end of the joint… I marked the wood wrong initially. I then flipped it over and worked on the other side. It doesn't count :)

Tools used:

  • Chisels
  • Hammer
  • Japanese Z saw
  • Combination square
  • Pencil
  • Utility knife

Sauce

Wood Rectangle Flooring Art Hardwood


Hand Wood Gesture Rectangle Finger


Wood Gesture Rectangle Wood stain Art


Wood Rectangle Gesture Hardwood Tints and shades
They look good for first time. You definitely need sharp tools for soft woods.
 

Attachments

#4 ·
I may make 1000 dovetail joints in my lifetime

...but even if I make 1000 or 1000000 joints, this will always be my first one.

Made out of a couple of scraps of pine. Soft woods make for interesting chisel work across the grain.

It's not great, but it holds pretty tightly. I wonder if some wood glue will seal up a few of those gaps if the wood expands a little. I'll find out tomorrow when I glue it up.

In case you were wondering about that missing corner on the far end of the joint… I marked the wood wrong initially. I then flipped it over and worked on the other side. It doesn't count :)

Tools used:

  • Chisels
  • Hammer
  • Japanese Z saw
  • Combination square
  • Pencil
  • Utility knife

Sauce

Wood Rectangle Flooring Art Hardwood


Hand Wood Gesture Rectangle Finger


Wood Gesture Rectangle Wood stain Art


Wood Rectangle Gesture Hardwood Tints and shades
Sauceman, I like your style!

- Woodbutchery
Hey man, thanks! We all gotta start somewhere, right?

They look good for first time. You definitely need sharp tools for soft woods.

- johnstoneb
Thanks! I need to sharpen my tools. I did get a stone but I wanted to wait on getting one of those little jigs for my chisels. I know it can be done freehand, but I don't trust myself yet-I want to use as much help as I can get at first. As I hone my skills (pun intended), I'll be able to do the same to my blades freehand.

Sauce
 

Attachments

#5 ·
The plane! The plane!

I'll keep this short and sweet.

When people say brand new planes need a lot of work, they mean it.

For me, I had a small plane and bought a bigger (#4) one recently. The small one had suddenly "clicked" and started working for me. The #4 didn't work no matter how I adjusted the blades. I thought I went too cheap and bought junk. Turns out, I had a servicable plane, just needed to show it some love.

First, put the bevel of the iron (the iron is the blade) in the right place, and don't be a moron like me. Read the directions, line it up right, otherwise it will just wedge itself into the wood constantly and make you hate life.

Second, it really does help flatten the bottom of a plane. It seems a little counterintuitive, because you think you're buying a plane for being flat, but they just aren't so out of the box.

Take a look at the bottom of my plane after one hour on putting it across sandpaper:
Wood Rectangle Floor Audio equipment Wood stain


The rough looking part are high spots. High means if you put the plane right-side up on the ground, that part is too high to touch the ground (or your piece of wood). So as you can see in the case of my plane, it has a couple of high spots, with the outer edges all lower. So basically the whole thing is cup shaped. If it's not clear enough, the rougher part that is circled looks like that from the factory. The shinier part is the part that I actually sanded down.
Wood Audio equipment Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood


I stopped there after about an hour of work. I started with 220 grit sandpaper, but then actually dropped to 100 grit because I didn't want to be there all day. It seemed like with the 220 it was taking forever to smoothen, so I sped it up. I'm hoping someone will tell me that I did it wrong and explain why. I had watched a video of someone who set the same plane up (lucky!) and he used 320 grit. I'd be there ALL DAY if I used something that fine.

Also, the iron (blade) was just not sharp enough. So I took it to my polishing stones (3000 & 8000 grit) and tried to sharpen it a bit. I don't have super duper fine (> 8000) nor leather to do the finishing, but I left it at that. Then, I took some time to adjust the height of the blade on either side.

Here's a shaving that came out of my plane:

Automotive lighting Automotive tire Tire Tread Hood


I'm so much more satisfied with these results! Sure, the shaving isn't the width of the blade, but that's because the surface I was shaving wasn't completely flat. Now that I have a hand plane I can use to plane things down, I think I'm going to use that when jointing pieces that are slightly wider than my 6" jointer. I had pieces that were 6.5"-8" wide, and doing 6" on the jointer then hand planing the remaining part after every couple of passes made very quick work of the jointing process! No funny jigs or sleds needed to use my thickness planer to complete the jointing any more.

Sauce
 

Attachments

#6 ·
The plane! The plane!

I'll keep this short and sweet.

When people say brand new planes need a lot of work, they mean it.

For me, I had a small plane and bought a bigger (#4) one recently. The small one had suddenly "clicked" and started working for me. The #4 didn't work no matter how I adjusted the blades. I thought I went too cheap and bought junk. Turns out, I had a servicable plane, just needed to show it some love.

First, put the bevel of the iron (the iron is the blade) in the right place, and don't be a moron like me. Read the directions, line it up right, otherwise it will just wedge itself into the wood constantly and make you hate life.

Second, it really does help flatten the bottom of a plane. It seems a little counterintuitive, because you think you're buying a plane for being flat, but they just aren't so out of the box.

Take a look at the bottom of my plane after one hour on putting it across sandpaper:
Wood Rectangle Floor Audio equipment Wood stain


The rough looking part are high spots. High means if you put the plane right-side up on the ground, that part is too high to touch the ground (or your piece of wood). So as you can see in the case of my plane, it has a couple of high spots, with the outer edges all lower. So basically the whole thing is cup shaped. If it's not clear enough, the rougher part that is circled looks like that from the factory. The shinier part is the part that I actually sanded down.
Wood Audio equipment Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood


I stopped there after about an hour of work. I started with 220 grit sandpaper, but then actually dropped to 100 grit because I didn't want to be there all day. It seemed like with the 220 it was taking forever to smoothen, so I sped it up. I'm hoping someone will tell me that I did it wrong and explain why. I had watched a video of someone who set the same plane up (lucky!) and he used 320 grit. I'd be there ALL DAY if I used something that fine.

Also, the iron (blade) was just not sharp enough. So I took it to my polishing stones (3000 & 8000 grit) and tried to sharpen it a bit. I don't have super duper fine (> 8000) nor leather to do the finishing, but I left it at that. Then, I took some time to adjust the height of the blade on either side.

Here's a shaving that came out of my plane:

Automotive lighting Automotive tire Tire Tread Hood


I'm so much more satisfied with these results! Sure, the shaving isn't the width of the blade, but that's because the surface I was shaving wasn't completely flat. Now that I have a hand plane I can use to plane things down, I think I'm going to use that when jointing pieces that are slightly wider than my 6" jointer. I had pieces that were 6.5"-8" wide, and doing 6" on the jointer then hand planing the remaining part after every couple of passes made very quick work of the jointing process! No funny jigs or sleds needed to use my thickness planer to complete the jointing any more.

Sauce
Good stuff. Though you could use a #4 for some smaller projects I'd recommend a #5 at least.

A vintage 4 for the same price would be a drastic improvement I think. Without a tight mouth a cap iron is critical to prevent tearout. There are many other benefits as well.
 

Attachments

#9 ·
Harbor freight clamp retrofit

Hey,

This one goes out to Paul Sellers… He says he uses cheapo clamps that he strengthens by adding a piece of wood inside to make them sturdier. So I bought 10 HF clamps for $130, and tried it for myself…

Wood Workbench Engineering Machine tool Gas


Wood Gas Bumper Tool Engineering


Here you can see how easily these clamps bow and flex. In both cases I put very little pressure…

So I cut some long pieces of wood and cut a slot into then for the protruding notches on the aluminum. I used oak and hard maple because I had scraps of both on hand.

Wood Composite material Gas Hardwood Wood stain


Wood Gas Shipping box Window Automotive exterior


Wood Window Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Automotive exterior Gas Hardwood Machine


Put them in, and now I have 10 much more rigid clamps for cheap!

Hood Wood Musical instrument accessory Musical instrument Watercraft


And if you were curious:
The square is 0.7"x1.10" with a notch that is about 1/8" deep. Your mileage may vary slightly.

Sauce
 

Attachments

#10 ·
Harbor freight clamp retrofit

Hey,

This one goes out to Paul Sellers… He says he uses cheapo clamps that he strengthens by adding a piece of wood inside to make them sturdier. So I bought 10 HF clamps for $130, and tried it for myself…

Wood Workbench Engineering Machine tool Gas


Wood Gas Bumper Tool Engineering


Here you can see how easily these clamps bow and flex. In both cases I put very little pressure…

So I cut some long pieces of wood and cut a slot into then for the protruding notches on the aluminum. I used oak and hard maple because I had scraps of both on hand.

Wood Composite material Gas Hardwood Wood stain


Wood Gas Shipping box Window Automotive exterior


Wood Window Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Automotive exterior Gas Hardwood Machine


Put them in, and now I have 10 much more rigid clamps for cheap!

Hood Wood Musical instrument accessory Musical instrument Watercraft


And if you were curious:
The square is 0.7"x1.10" with a notch that is about 1/8" deep. Your mileage may vary slightly.

Sauce
Great How To!
I don't need long clamps much any more as I don't build a lot of large projects but at times do need some so really don't want to but the big $$$ in a set so these clamps work just right and with your tip they will work and last much longer.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top