Hand Tools #2: The stud...

Hi John;
—-and what a great blog story you’ve got going here!

Talk about ‘hand tools’ or doing the working of wood ‘by hand’ and you’ll all-ways grab my attention. Ha!.....I do also like power tools, it’s just that often I leave them un-plugged and turned off.

I really liked what you said here; “So tonight I thought, Could I do it? Why not?”
—-I tell myself over and over, I can do, and then one day I heard the wood whispering back to me….”you can do.”

Thank you for sharing this, and posting pictures of the how to’s of those great cuts!!!
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

Alright. Your own resaw jig. Now on to logs.

Great blog.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Nice! Alot of what I learned about woodworking, I’ve learned from 2×4’s. I use them alot on the lathe. My first bowl was turned from a 2×4. I really like the statement, “Why not?” Exactly! Why not?! A few weeks ago, I was lacking motivation and inspiration…then I adopted a Mission Statement for my shop. “Why not?”

Cheers!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

It would have been a lot faster on the table saw with a good rip blade and fence. LOL. But, I guess the idea here was to do it by hand. I don’t know the length of those resawn boards… let’s see you do one 4’ long next time. LOL. It really came out well. I salute you for showing us that we can do whatever we put our minds to.

-- Jesus is Lord!

John -

This is a great blog entry! I really enjoy seeing entries with handtools. Thanks!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

I appreciate the feedback guys! I am having fun with this and I hope that others try some of these exercises.

-- John

you better be careful or you’ll end up selling all your power tools in exchange for a tidy Japanese workshop.

-- Steffen

Great blog John. More and more I find myself prefering handtools. I’m not about to give up any hp but you feel so much more connected to the piece when you focus on handwork.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

This is great, John. I’m building my bench right now and purposefully building it at a height to accommodate the comfortable use of hand tools. I can’t wait to actually have it finished so I can have good spot to hone and then turn around and use my freshly honed planes and chisels. Long time in the making. Bummed that I can be at the shop today milling more of the stock. Since I’m going to have some left over construction lumber I was thinking I would practice on it. I’ve heard a dovetail in Fir is pretty challenging and would make for a good skill builder…

I look forward to the next installment.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Nice cut! I can relate to you situation, since I don’t have a tablesaw (yet!). A good ryoba can do remarkable work. Remember, people were making furniture just fine before power tools came along.

One tool that will help greatly with layout is a marking gauge. There are simple models of beech available for under $20. These allow you to easily scribe a line relative to one face, and even go all the way around the stock much faster and more accurately than a chisel. More expensive (and complex) models are available, with the most common ones being made of rosewood and brass.

I personally use a Veritas wheel marking gauge, and can’t get by without it. It scribes a nice clean cut line either with or across the grain without wandering like some others. I even use it to mark shoulders when cutting tenons on the router table—the score reduces tear-out.

Keep on practicing—this skill will always stand you in good stead.

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

Robert,

I have an “heirloom” gauge that I use.

I had the $10 wheel gauge from a local woodworking store that I returned because the marking wheel was awful.

In this case I was thinking that the chisel would help the saw get started.

Thanks for your comments – I am finding this pretty enjoyable.

-- John

There is a variation of approach in this months Woodworker’s Journal (August Pg 14). Basically you use a table saw to make matching kerfs on each side and then you use a handsaw to complete the cut. This allows you to resaw a wider board than your saw would normally handle.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Thanks Wayne, I will try to spot that magazine on the news stand.

-- John

Sorry I have not added anything lately, I have been really busy and my digital camera is not working very well. I will post more as soon as I can.

-- John