I figure everyone should get a bit of a chuckle out of this project. My sister recently moved into a new apartment and for whatever strange reason she had somehow acquired a six foot long piece of bowling alley. Normally I would have just pitched it in the trash, but the grain caught my eye, birdseye! Upon further inspection it was a mix of birdseye, curly maple, regular maple and white oak. So it was acquired, and quickly moved home.

Upon closer inspection I notice a few things…

First off it is nailed, and screwed through with stretchers going across. Hmm, this may be interesting. Well, nothing to do but dive in!

It worked, if by diving in I meant smashing a gasket scraper in with a hammer. The first three are horrible, very tight, each squeaking and squawking as it is removed. I have to hammer a small block in between each, then slowly expand it out. After one hour…

And suddenly it hits me, they are threaded rod...

Yup, that’s right. My 19.2 volt craftsman drill is about to get the workout of a lifetime! I have to say I didn’t expect it to work, but it did! I had to spray each rod with a teflon lubricant otherwise it was burning when it finally threaded out. Ten minutes later…

All apart! It made the loudest most horrible screech, but damn it worked well. One battery too, I figured I’d have burned through both spares. The chuck jaws held up great, good thing it was hardened drill rod.

They seem to be random thicknesses so I will rip them down and try to get a common size. After that I’m not sure… anyone have any thoughts on the best way to go about sticking them back together? I’d like to avoid the threaded rod if possible.

The first thing I did was to extend the handle on the Triton through table adjuster. Well, extend isn’t the right word, fabricate anew would be better. I took some oak dowel, glued a handle and cut the appropriate size matching groove. So now I can adjust my router through the table, a very very nice feature. In all my cutting I’ve run into another conundrum.

Dust Collection. Yup. Evil indeed. So far I’m leaning towards a portable, sound insulated unit with a cyclone barrel for the heavy stuff. A fixed DC system doesn’t seem practical just yet, that and it is cost prohibitive. (And easier to talk the wife into letting me get something she can use on her car too)

Another addition I will be adding is a safety switch with a big paddle on it too. Nothing like having to get eye level with the router bit to shut off the router to make you question the safety level. I spend alot of time at work on safety issues and yet I’m stupid about it at home? Not this hombre!

So that brings me to my future plannings. I’ve decided to take the high road, do it right, and get the right tools and not skimp. It is so very tempting to get the cheapo stuff so I can just do it! But why buy crap twice when you can buy the right thing once. Plus this is a hobby, so no cost/profit justification for me. So here it is, the Plan.

Rouseau 3509 $40 (Ordered)
Incra Lite router System $140
Formica Sheet $20
Glue for said sheet $4
Safety Switch $14
1/2” Template Bit $14
1/2” Profile Bit $14

Shop Vac (Ridgid most likely) $80

Ridgid TS3650 $570
Good Blade $90

Dewalt 2 Speed Planer $520

Jointer (Unknown Yet) $450

So there is a total of approximately $2000. Pricey! This gets me most of what I want, I can function quite nicely at that point. Hell I used to spend that much on cigarettes in 6 months.

Bandsaw $400
Jigsaw $200-300
Spindle Sander $200

There is an additional $800-$900. This doesn’t include the hand tools I’ll be wanting either. My chisels, planes, and sharpening stuff can get me by for now as well. But clamps! The hidden woodworkers bane…

Clamps $300

So there we are, $3200. I have a few options, save, devote a portion of my budget to that. At the rate Im going I’ll get where I need to go in about 9 years. Since I’m salary working more hours doesn’t do much for me. So I’m left with augmenting my income with an additional source.

So, the question is, can I use my woodworking addiction to finance my woodworking addiction?

We’ll save that question for next time.

This is my first “major” project that is beyond anything small and simple. I had nothing but a circular saw, corded drill and hand tools to make it with and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

When I started I was stuck with a bit of a problem. I have no sawhorses or any other way to handle large stock such as 2X4s. I had to balance them on a small tool box and a beer cooler! To make sure the cuts were straight I clamped on a piece of maple for an edge guide for all my cuts. The process was tedious, but all my cuts turned out great. Cutting the MDF was a bit more troublesome, my blade had alot of tearout. If I foresee myself working more of that stuff I’ll definitely get a finer toothed blade.

As to assembly my clamp collection is limited to I had to get extra creative with workholding devices to keep everything square and stout. Much to my amazement it turned out square! For fasteners I used GRK fasteners. A bit on those babies, here’s a link to the media section on there website. These little babies are awesome. I could buy a box of 100 construction screws for $3.50, I bought a box of 100 2 1/2 inch GRK’s for $6.50. I knew I wanted something that I had more trust in and if I had to remove a panel I wanted a screw that wasn’t designed for a single use in. They pre drill themselves, have corrugated threads, cut there own counter sink and use a star drive. They lock down TIGHT!

Once I had the frame built I started in on the MDF. This stuff is a mess! My dust collection consists of a broom and a mini shop-vac. I had alot of cleaning to do at various stages. My cuts weren’t as nice as with the 2X4’s, but I didn’t have a fine tooth blade. I cut the top, put a 45 degree miter on the back, and cut a matching miter on another panel to go on the back. I used a few 2X4’s to square it up when glued, when it set it all got screwed to the frame.

The rear panel is for a horizontal router mounting carriage Mark Mclaughlin wrote into the plans. Once I get a good feel for it I’ll add that feature later. For the time being the router is mounted with cap screws to the top, once I get my insert plate in I’ll install that. (Rousseau)

I’ve done a few test cuts, really like it so far! I had to add the dust collection port that came with the router to the fence, this thing is messy! I’m really going to have to explore some new dust collection methods beyond my mini shop-vac.

All of my tools performed great except my jig saw. It is a Black and Decker so now I’m in the market for one of those puppies. It cuts compound angles right now, most frustrating. I’d love a Festool, but I’ll probably get a Freud or a Bosch. Anyone comment on that?

It’s snowing hard here, another 3-5 inches forecast tommorow. So here’s a little buddy my wife made in the backyard for those of you without snow! I can hear an ore boat on the bay sounding the fog horn, be one bad day to be on the lake today.

There you see a Stanley block plane, small Stanley hand saw, and a piece of granite. The block plane will be functional with some loving on the jig. The saw is to replace my japanese pull saw until my new one arrives from Woodcraft. The one I have now is losing teeth (an Irwin pullsaw), though I can’t fault the saw, it has done everything from treated lumber to hard maple and ironwood. The granite block is so I can try the scary sharp method. I like my waterstones, but a mans gotta keep an open mind! (The granite stone was in the seperates box and costed me $2.00, as far as my straight edge can tell it is perfectly flat)

This is the stool that I am refinishing for my wife. It has solid walnut legs with a veneered surface on the side panels. It has one coat of Zinnsers seal coat right now, quite shortly it will have a coat of polyurethane. I plan on two more coats of poly, and then a hand wax polished finish. My darling wife will be responsible for re-upholstering the seat. So I’l post one picture once it is back together, and a second once she has the top done. It will replace a hideously ugly painted floral metal chair in our bedroom. I can’t wait till that ghastly thing is gone to the scrapman!

After choosing a stain (no stain or dyes at all) I decided to try out the new foolproof finishing method they listed in FWW. It starts with shellac, then three coats of polyurethane (and two doesn’t cut it!) and a final coat of polished furniture wax. I split the veneer into two, one side got the shellac and three coats of poly. The other side got the full treatment with the polished wax as well. The end product ends up looking pretty much identical, the feel is just silkier with the waxed surface. (Any other benefits anyone can list?)

To make this more interesting, I got the two pieces mixed up when I put them onto my desk. To the naked eye they both look identical, they are too small to get a good smoothness test too. Let’s see if we can guess which is which!

One finished piece at 40X.

The same piece at 100X.

Now for the other piece at 40X. Talk about a huge difference!

And at 100X.

The second set of pictures almost look wet, so they get my vote for the ones without wax.

This is the unfinished side at 40X. Almost reminds me of beef jerky.

The unfinished side at 100X. The fibers stick out and appear as the unfocused squiggles you see.

There it is folks, one more batch under the scope!

I figured I would make a blog that gave one starting point for everything I’ve done so far with the microscope. I did some testing today and I think that I can make my metallurgical scope work for wood. So, as per Blakes request, I will try and get various stages under the scope.

But first, links to the first two in the saga.

Chisel before sharpening

Chisel after sharpening

I had to do some rework on the microscope during lunch today so that it would handle a surface that is mostly non-reflective. A traditional microscope passes light through a sample. A metallurgical microscope reflects light off of the metal, and that is what I see. So it works really good for a chisel, and not to shot for a rough cut piece of timber. Since I couldn’t use the internal light, I had to mount a LED luxeon lamp to the outside to give a “glancing” light which seems to pick up the wood quite well. Below are a few test pictures.

All are pieces I grabbed off of a few pallets, so oak, maple, and pine. The pieces were either cut with my pocket knife, or simply pulled off. The pine knot is interesting as one side was embedded in the wood, while the other was cut.

This is the maple at 40X. Unfinished piece, rough cut with a pocket knife.

And the maple at 100X, due to the iregularities in the surface I had a hard time getting a good focus.

The oak at 40X, no clue what type of oak.

The oak at 100X.

This is the back side of the pine knot. All that is visible appears to be sap!

The back side of the knot at 100X.

This is the front side of the knot at 40X. It looked perfectly smooth, almost a sanded look to the naked eye. Though microscopic tearing is noticable at this magnification. It became rather featureless at 100X magnification so I didn’t include it. The green is paint splatter from a marking operation.

There it is folks, more to come in the future.

C

Now I’m not saying that the education I’ve gained here passes up what I would get at Inside Passage, or College of the Redwoods, or the east coast equivalents. But, the exposure to methods, thoughts, ideas, styles, woods, and most of all the enthusiasm that a large group of people who truly enjoy what they do brings is priceless. I can read a post from Frank, see the beautiful prose and the passion of working wood. Then I can see a beautiful box from DocK. Then I can read a discussion about powered carving bits, something I know absolutely nothing about.

Now think how amazing it is to get this many views, to learn of so many techniques and methods to work the common denominator we all love. Wood.

Picture if you would an apprentice in a 17th century workshop. He will learn from a small, select, and extremely talented group of people. The styles will be limited to one particular area, the instructions and critiquing will come from a small group of people. He may hear of methods used in a far off land, or see some small pieces of tropical woods, but overall his work will be similiar to those who taught him.

Today the internet is part of my apprenticeship into woodworking. Instead of one or two guildmasters I have hundreds, thousands. I can be inspired by Frank, read the prose, feel the wood sing in my heart and yearn to hold it in my hands. I often times just click the “Roll the Dice” tab on the front page and see the beautfiul work before me. In those short few minutes I can be exposed to so many wonderful works of art that it is stunning. Especially interesting is MsDebbieP and her tours, travels and general happy thoughts.

Of course there are parts of the apprenticeship that are lacking, the hands on, right there beside you type learning. The critiquing, which is an essential thing in any work. As it stands I am my own worse critic, but when I do something wrong I don’t have that experienced master to scold, but also point out the deficiencies and provide the solutions. Our internet culture has a difficult time accentuating the nuances of conversation, the slight nod, or wink that can lighten a conversation. That essential of body language is difficult to get across on the net, so we strive for politeness to counter the far crossed emotions that can’t be portrayed.

So now I sit here, inspired, interested, and enjoying myself.

Thank you Lumberjocks and Lumberjockettes.

What do I need?

• What rate do you consume pads?

• How many tools can you sharpen per pad?

• What do you pay for your pad?

Of real interest would be how many inches of tools width you can sharpen per pad. So if you exclusively use 1 inch wide chisels, and you can sharpen the chisel ten times on an 8X11 sheet, that is what I need! That will allow us to get sharpening area per square inch. So if we use the 1” tool reference, 1 inch face depth, and ten repititions, we get 10 square inches of chisel sharpened on 88 square inches of pad, or 8.8 in2 of pad to sharpen one square inch of chisel.

On the flip side I need some more numbers on japanese water stones. Of real interest is how many times can you sharpen before you need to true the face, and how many times can you sharpen a chisel on a waterstone before you wear it out? For cost I am going to use Lee Valley prices, if all else I will do the same with pads.

So far here is how it is stacking up as a ballpark until I get some more info…

Micro Abarasives Corner, or… “Scary Sharp”

Veritas Sharpening Jig $58
Granite Plate $10 from the local big box
5 – 220 Grit 8X11 $10
5 – 15u (1000grit) $10
5 – 5u (2500 grit) $8.25
5 – .5u (9000 grit) $8.25

For a total of… $114.50

In the opposite corner in a kimono…

Veritas Sharpening Jig $58
220/800 Stone $30
1000/4000 Stone $28
8000 Stone $46.50
Sic Truing Plate $25

For a total of… $187.50

So we are left with Scary sharp being cheaper by $73 dollars, assuming pads on average including shipping cost $2 each, we can use another 36.5 pads before we price match, unless the waterstones have a life less than that.

Anyone want to chime in with some numbers?

I spent about 35 minutes with the Veritas Mk2 jig. I started with the 1000 grit side and moved to the 4000 grit side. At the end I’ll post some pictures of the factory finish that came on the chisels.

This is the blade edge at 40X, notice that even when cleaned up there is still some rough edges?

Here it is at 100X, the rough edge becomes much more evident.

And finally at 400X, due to the light the rough edge appears slightly better, but it is only from the fact that we can see the rounding, or rather can’t, my scope only shows reflective surfaces, and since a radius isn’t reflective I may or may not pick it up, in this case I can’t without rotating the chisel.

This is the bottom side showing a corner (40X), notice the “frosting” on the edge? I think it is either from the slurry building on the edges, or me placing uneven pressure on the front/back strokes slightly chamfering the edges.

Here is the bottom at 100X. If you look close you can see ghosting of where I haven’t fully cleaned up the old grinding marks, even though with the naked eye it looks perfect. The speckles might be corrosion or dried on grinding agent.

Bottom of the chisel at 400X. Multiple directions of grind evident.

A side view at 40X, a fine point is evident though barely.

Factory bottom at 40X, much closer and it lost any definition of size.

Factory edge at 40X. So rough it was actually difficult to focus on it, plus the reflection was too low for any good detail.

I didn’t get the opportunity to put it onto the comparator but for measurement our machinery is only good to +/- 2 minutes, so we are within the range of the machine tolerance. I would have to send it to a metrology lab to get exact results. However I did put the face of the chisel on a profilometer which registered as 1.8 Ra. Or, .0000018 inches (Ra is the arithmetic average of the absolute values of the profile height deviations from the mean line, recorded within the evaluation length).

As I add more stones and chisels I plan on comparing them and will post results.

C

In case you aren’t familiar with the Veritas Mk2 gauge (see here for blog entry). It clamps the blade and adjusts both the angle of the main workhead and uses a colored sliding gauge to set the angle. Now I was fairly skeptical of the ability of this blade to hold the advertised angle. So I magnetically clamped my chisel into the optical comparator and, with a preliminary check, it appears to be with 2 minutes of 25 degrees. What does that mean in english? .03 degrees, and also the capability of the optical comparator! Or, .0002 over a 3/8 face. So in a perfect world you have to hone .0002 of material off each time you clamp up the chisel. Not too shabby, I’ve seen far more expensive machine tool equipment be more out of whack than that little dandy, very nice Lee Valley!

But on to my main point, the pictures! I used this chisel for about 20 minutes last night to pare some end grain. There was some pushing, a few whacks with a mallet, but mostly light use. The wood was hard maple, or as I come to like to call it, rock maple.

First a few reference photos to put it into perspective. This is the lettering on the top that says “Made in Sheffield England.” (The HE in Sheffield more particularly)

That is at 40 times magnification.

100 times magnification

400 times magnification

Now the chisel itself, I did the back, the cutting edge and the side.

Chisel and micro bevel at 40X

Chisel and micro bevel at 100X

Micro bevel at 400X

Bottom of the chisel near the cutting edge at 40X

Bottom of chisel at 100X

Bottom of chisel at 400X

Side view of the tip at 40X

Side view of the tip at 100X

The 400X of the side did not turn out, the edges had too much light and I believe I didnt have it perfectly square as I had some ghosting on the image.

So what does it all mean? First off you’ll notice that this looks horrible, like a glacier went through. With the naked eye you can see your reflection on the chisel with no discernible scratches. I start using a 1000 grit water stone and move to a 4000 grit waterstone, no nagure stone though once I get it I’ll try it. Slight rollover is noticable in the photos as well, a knot strike maybe?

As a comparison I’m going to sharpen the chisel tonight using my normal method and then put it back on the microscope so we can get a before and after photo. I’ll also put one my Irwin chisels that I haven’t sharpened yet on there to show the “factory” edge.

I also plan on doing a repeatability study with a chisel in the future. I’ll sharpen it, then remove it from the fixture and resharpen it, see how well it repeats. If how it did this time is any indicator, it is a beautifully accurate piece of equipment.

I’d also like to do an econometric study on using the scary sharp method versus waterstones. So, if you have use the scary sharp method (I don’t) and would like to give me some info, please pipe up!

Enjoy folks, if you folks like stuff like this I’ll try and post more in the future.

C