# Occasional Table Class (Hand Tool Build)



## RGtools

*The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *

Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.

But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?

The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.

The Full Monty.








The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now. 
Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.

Jack plane
Jointer plane
Smoother plane
Block Plane

1/4 inch mortise chisel
3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
wide chisel 1" or greater

Mallet
16 oz hammer

hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
Countersink
Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project

8tpi crosscut saw
4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
Tenon saw (more detail later)
15 TPI dovetail

12 combo square
marking knife
Marking gauge
dividers

clamps 
2 12" f style
4 long clamps for panel glue ups

This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
Router plane
Card scrapers

Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Thanks for doing this. I will be following along with a lot of interest…. Still have a couple of months off my leg I fear…..


----------



## ksSlim

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I'll be lurking and learning.


----------



## pbyrne

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I am looking forward to learning.


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


always willing to pick up some pointers.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Thanks Wayne, I am looking forward to seeing you mend and watching you work as well.

KsSlim: lurk away and please don't be afraid to ask question. Between myself and the other galoots on this site I am sure we can give you enough ideas to get out of just about any jam.

Pbyrn glad you are as excited as I am. I expect to learn quite a bit from the class myself.

Don, it would be nice to return the favor I am always picking up things from you.


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I'm up for it, count me in!


----------



## bhack

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


OK! you have me hooked! Can't wait.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Good to hear Smitty. You have to stare at Roubos ugly cousin for a bit when you come into my shop though.

Bhack, glad I got your attention. Now If I can just catch some fish (been on a long losing streak).

I will be going into more detail on the tools set soon. Stay tuned!!


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I just finished the 7 parts you have posted and can't wait for 8 through whatever. Your knowledge is invaluble to guys & gals like me out there. Your really helping me cut through all the bull … ... droppings. The box stores and many mags have a vested interest in selling tools that need replacement parts. It's getting harder and harder to find a tool that you can maintain yourself with skills learned and masterd over time (sharpening, flattening, custominzing a tool for comfort or a specific need)

I only have one issue, i can't help but click on every link you've posted. They're great i've never visited any of the blogs or sites that you have links to. The Saw blog and the japaneses woodworker are my favorite.

Thanks.


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## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I have a lot more of those links to share…they are dangerous. Thanks for the encouragement woodzy. I look forward to working my way through these posts. I too hate the replace-ability of modern tools.

Talk to you soon.

Ryan


----------



## johnnymo

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I'll give it a shot…lets do this


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Good John. The actual build starts in fall and is dependent on my harvest schedule but I am in the process of walking through the tools and how to sharpen them. Hope you have as much fun as I do with this.


----------



## MokkouJosh

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Looks great! Interested to see what the difference of your beginning tool kit suggestion is compared to others.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Thanks Josh. I think you'll find more similarities than differences to be honest. Because the basic kit for handwork has pretty much been the same for a LONG time. A few posts in I offered a barebones kit as well for those who are on the ultra tight budget (been there).

Really when you think about your initial kit you need to think about the work you want to do and whet you need to do it (boxbuilders really don't need jointer planes for instance), but this kit is fairly standard and should not have you buying tools you won't use again.

Hope you enjoy the class, I am trying to cover sharpening right now but harvest is in full swing and taking quite a bit of my time so I am getting things posted as quickly as I can. I may just break down and post some links for the sharpening stuff but that feels a bit like cheating.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## docholladay

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I have all of those tools including the router plane and scrapers. Cool. I will be following with interest. If only I had some interesting wood on hand at the moment.

Doc


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Isn't that always the problem….

I just talked my hay dealer out a gorgueous slab of English Brown oak for $10. Now I need to decide which project it's best suited for.

Nice to see you on this forum Doc you always have some useful advice.


----------



## Lumberzach12

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


I'll follow this If possible


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Big Announcement; And a Bit About The Tools. *
> 
> Recently I was contacted by MsDebbie to instruct a class on hand work (a big "thank you" to you and the person…you know who you are…who recommended me for the task). The focus is to be on someone who is getting into hand work or just starting and wants to use hand tools only. The whole point was to focus on the basic skills of calorie burning woodwork, quality and efficiency. I plan to start the class in late October which should help students scramble for tools if need be.
> 
> But what the heck do I build? It got my gears going, to say the least. I wanted nothing more than to dispel some of the myths about handwork but I did not want to intimidate my students with a daunting project or a bloated tool set…enter Robert Wearing. His guidance for a table cannot be improved upon, although it very fortunately leaves room for interpretation. The goal is to build an occasional table, be it a coffee table, or a side table, with simple clean lines using nothing but hand tools. But which hand tools?
> 
> The fun begins here, I decided after a lot of thought to go with two tool kits, one for the aspiring galoot who is just getting started in hand tool work, and the other for someone who may have a fully outfitted power shop but would like to try their hand with their hands but does not want to blow their money on a bunch of tools they don't know if they will use. First lets talk about the recommended kit for the fledgling galoot.
> 
> The Full Monty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bench the saw-bench and the tools on them are all you need for this project (and many others for the matter) Keep in mind that the bench and saw bench can (and probably should be) improvised for now.
> Later I would like to get into detail about each type of tool and I know I will not be able to tonight. Let me just give you the basic list for now.
> 
> Jack plane
> Jointer plane
> Smoother plane
> Block Plane
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel
> wide chisel 1" or greater
> 
> Mallet
> 16 oz hammer
> 
> hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 4 1/2 (or similar coarse toothed) rip saw
> Tenon saw (more detail later)
> 15 TPI dovetail
> 
> 12 combo square
> marking knife
> Marking gauge
> dividers
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> This last group is what I call the lifesaver category
> Router plane
> Card scrapers
> 
> Thanks for looking and let me know if you are interested.


Hey, Lumberzach12! The class is now complete so you can go through it at your own pace. Let me know if you have any questions.


----------



## RGtools

*The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*

Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.










Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.

We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.

My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.

The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).










Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…

The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.

Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.

Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


Half the job is the right tool we say in Denmark.
;-)
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


The other half is using it right.

I like this. My best to you and yours Mads.


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


Interesting. thanks


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


Thanks for dropping in woodzy.


----------



## ArlinEastman

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


That is the tools that I need most. I have been looking on Ebay and everything is so much money.
Arlin


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


True story Arlin. You don't need the Tite-mark the Veritas cost half as much and does the same thing with less bling. The Starrett on the other hand is worth the money because it helps so many other tools work. Most of the other tools you can make, but it takes time. Cash or time, spend the one you have more of.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


thank´s RG 
now there is a chance I can remember to catch up on this class as a newbie into woodworking 
with a low budget and less time :-( I think I can pick up a tip or ten 
looking forward to read about your tool surgesstions 
thank´s for taking the time to do it 

take care
Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


Thanks Dennis. It's always nice to see you around these forums. Hope you have a blast.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


thank´s RG I´m on night ********************ft so I think I can catch up on a great deal tonight 

I don´t know yet if you cover this aspect of it 
is it just me that think I realy can´t get started with out setting up a good 
utillitycorner´with metal and diy handtools and sharpening tools 
or is it just becourse I´m into restoring tools mode at the moment 
and now when I have to sort of rearange/rebuild my little shop after the water 
I thinking more and more to make this metal corner even though I don´t have the room for it 
since it will prevent metalshaves and dust to interfear with the wood area

maybee I just overthinking this as a fair DIY disastre maker 

Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


I won't be covering that in the class (tool restoration is a bit beyond the scope of the class). I will say that if you are flattening a lot of plane soles as separate metal working area is VERY nice to have. However, if you don't have a separate metal area covering your bench with newspaper or waxpaper is another way of keeping those filings at bay.

I don't have a dedicated metal working area just yet, and I have not had problems. it would be nice but you do not need it. I do have a dedicated sharpening area…but that is also a luxury that you can put off for now.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


thank´s RG as usual I just overthinking

Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


It pretty easy to do that. I worked without a bench for years because I thought it would be impossible to build one without one. In practice, I made a bench anyway.

Get to work and find the solution along the way…it's easier that way.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


I have officially begun my adventure, RG. This thing is too popular to review all the comments, so if any of mine are redundant, please do not be offended. I agree with this set wholeheartedly. I like fixed squares but I have a Starrett combo. Every once and a while I'll check him, and he's never been off. I bought three off fleabay before I found a good one (they'd simply been abused; one to drive in trim nails. For the price of the dozens I'd bought at the big box stores, I considered myself a winner. Most just buy these new for the reasons above.
.
Wheel marker: no brainer. I've got many of many varieties and yours is my favorite. I've considered dropping a ton of coin for the M/T knives and such, but never have. This is a purchase you'll never regret, no matter how much you spend.
.
Layout knife: you've described exactly what you want. Mine's a Czech but the Blue Spruce is on the top of the want list. I've got many pretty marking knives, so it's really the one I don't mind sharpening and feels good in my hand. 
.
Why do non-lathe guys avoid dividers? I mean, you can even get vintage ones! I'll have to take a picture of my collection one of these days. I've got some with razor sharp tips that you can use to enjoy a painful exercise. Check your rulers, tapes, etc. against an inch with your dividers. You won't be happy


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Recommended Tool Set, the Whys and Where's (part 1)*
> 
> Often when galoots get into discussions about tools, the focus is either on planes or saws…sometimes even chisels get some love. What seems to never get as much attention as they deserve are the layout tools. This point mystifies me, because one of the most important skills in handwork is being able to split a line, be it with a plane or a saw. Good layout tools, make sure that your line (and the cut it guides) ends up in the right place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shown here is a 12" combination square, a marking guage, a set of dividers, a resharpened steak knife that I use for layout (my marking knife from Blue Spruce will be on it's way shortly) and a pen…I forgot the pencil and the sharpener…see layout tools just never get the love they deserve.
> 
> We have all heard the old axiom "buy the best you can afford" or "the only time you will be disappointed with an expensive tool is when you pay for it". While these are both very good pieces of advice, very few of us have the cash to run out and buy a whole suite of Lie Nielsens. In the course of going through the tool set I will tell you where I think you can get away with vintage tools and where you probably should spend the money; layout tools are one of those places when it's a good time to crack the wallet open.
> 
> My combination square is a Starrett and it comes from the factory absolutely perfect. It may be a bit of shock but the combo squares you get at the hardware store are not flat, and they are not square, why we even allow them to be sold as "squares" mystifies me. Yes you can tune up a combination square, but it's a pain and you really should not support people who make crap tools, or they will just keep making them.
> 
> The Glen Drake Titemark is the finest marking gauge on the market today. You can get away with much cheaper gauges, but I reccomend you stay in the wheeled category, they leave really clean marks and are very easy to use. The micro adjust feature on any of these tools with worth the extra money if it's an option. The reason I like the Tite-mark, is it has one handed operation (a big plus when laying out a mark on an edge) and has some very well though out accessories. At the least, get the gauge. If you happen to have some extra cash, mortising heads and the reverse bevel marker are both very nice to have. In use make a habit of sticking it in a dog hole or tool well so it does not roll off of the bench (the single flaw of these gauges).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get a decent pen and pencil and go to an art supply store for a good solid aluminum sharpener to keep in your shop. Pencils need to be sharp to leave crisp lines and harder graphite is a good choice for erase-ability (carpenters pencils are WAY too soft), for rough stock cuts a pen holds up well, for finer layout the pencil, and of course…
> 
> The layout knife. The layout knife I have shown is not really ideal for this project but habits die hard. A dull edge leaves a good mark on end grain for dovetails, but a sharp edge works better for crossgrain work. I use a steak knife that I reworked the edge on to mark well in end grain, but if I am not careful it's really easy to miss a line. A better choice would be a chip carving knife or a double bevel knife like I have linked above. If you are short on cash grab a jack knife and take some time to practice making good marks with it (or just use the scribe in that Starrett combo square you bought). I recommend knives with a single flat side and a single beveled side, there is less of a learning curve. Find something that is comfortable to hold like a pencil and your fingers will thank you.
> 
> Dividers. These tools are so under-utilized. I have several sets which is nice for retaining several setting on complex projects. One will be a good start, get spring and screw dividers with sharp points. Starrett makes good ones I have heard; but I have been fortunate enough to get some no-name vintage ones that are perfect, and its good to mix and match a bit with these tools so you don't confuse one for another on a project. 6" should be good for this and other projects.
> 
> Once you start making good lines. You need to start cutting them…so in the next entry we will visit saws.


Glad to see you here. My wife recently bought me the Blue Spruce…yes I am that lucky.

Starrett has a remarkable reputation and they hold up quite well if they are not heavily abused. I have a vintage 6" that I got for $5 that is quite true, I reach for it often enought that it sits in the chisel rack at the bak of my bench. That was a risk but $5 is a gamble I can afford for a decent tool.

I have considered the M/T blades as well, but I see myself using a second gauge instead.

I will conduct the painful exercise tonigh…we will see if it's another argument I can make for the story stick (covered later in the series).


----------



## RGtools

*The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*

Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.










When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.

If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.

The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.

You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.

The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.

Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.

Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.

How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.

Are all the teeth there?

That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.

I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.

The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?

Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Great info. Do you have reccomendations for saw bench plans?


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


But be careful. Sometimes thay come min bundles. Here is my "need attention" saw box.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Wayne, yes I do. I really like the design for the 5.87 saw bench made by Cristopher Schwarz. Here is another one for a bit more beef (this guys blog is a great resource on sharpening and restoration as well). But truth be told a simple Ryczka at the right height would suffice (and get you working that much faster).

Don. I share your pain. I have quite a few restoration projects lurking in dark corners of my shop.


----------



## dkirtley

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Just don't forget there are other types of saws. I personally prefer frame saws and lots of people like the Japanese style saws. Both have one distinct advantage. The frame saws and Japanese saws both have replaceable blades. Someone just starting out with hand tools won't have the ability to tune up a panel saw and sharpen properly.

About the only decent saw that you will find in a big box store will be the carpenter grade replaceable blade Japanese style saw. They cut very well but be prepared to replace blades fairly often. The teeth will get bent, especially as you learn to use one. The high end Japanese saws can be resharpened but that is another world of skill.

Frame saws are pretty versatile. Just a bit different to use. You can sharpen frame saw blades but for the replacement price, I don't bother. I just cut them into pieces to make things like scrapers. Frame saws can be found online at places like traditionalwoodworker.com and highlandhardware.com.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I'll be going into the basics of tuning up a panel saw later in the class as I cover sharpening. It's not hard, but I can see it being a mental stumbling block for the beginner. I'll be going into frame saws as well, I decided to walk through the tool set by going through the process of working wood. The joinery saws come later and will definitely include the bow (I have always called frame saws bow saws and can't help it if that's correct or not) as I love this tool for joinery.

Adria also sells frame saws made by ECE. I don't recommend these saws for long rip cuts or cross cuts, because they function better at the workbench (something a beginner might not have) and there set up is just persnickety enough to add another caveat to learning to saw.

Japanese saws are wonderful tools if used correctly, but I hate the idea of disposable blades that I can't sharpen (good Japanese saws, not sold at home stores can be resharpened) and I am in no position to recommend Japanese saws because I don't use them. They are however a valid choice for someone who wants to pursue them, and they should be mentioned for the sheer reason that the work so well bench less. Thanks for throwing in your two cents, that's why I love it here!


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I just built a frame saw. It was an interesting project. I need to find a finer blade and I now understand the frame saw is meant to cut on the push stroke. I didn't know that, so the blades backward in the pictures.

I've sharpened a few saws, but can't wait for that blog to see if I can improve. I haven't used a japanese saw yet, but for all i've read, I need to try them.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I've used them, but I keep going back to my Disstons, I just like the feel of hardwood as opposed to rattan.


----------



## dkirtley

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I personally have a love hate relationship with the Japanese style saws. They are amazing when new. Then teeth start getting bent and they snag on everything. For me, this builds until I am really frustrated and get a new blade. The fine tooth joinery versions are different.

One that I would recommend for everyone is the small version that has no set in the teeth. There is nothing finer for flush trimming.

The frame saws have another drawback as well. They take up much more space and are a logistical nightmare to have around without a dedicated place to hang them. This goes up exponentially when you have several.

People tend to go for the Disstons for regular western saws but another brand to look for is Adkins. They made some quality saws as well. Whichever you would choose, this is one case where I would say that older is better almost universally as far as handles. The newer ones with the sharp edges on the handles will give you blisters faster than just about anything. The old ones, once you know what to look for will also cost *much* less than new ones of comparable quality.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Fine words.
I think it is a choice that need more thoughts, you need to really think of your need and desire.
If you are a weekend woodworker and just play to make things I would not recomend people to go into the vintage saws and do the sharpening them selfs, then I would say buy some fair quality hard point saws.
If you are into woodworking where the tools are a part of the hobby jump right in.
For the pro it is really a matter of choice at the end and a constrution worker better buy a bunch of crap saws, where a cabinet maker should take a different road.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I agree on the flush cut David. That is one place where the Japanese tooth design really can excel. I completely understand about the logistics of storing bow saws. There just is not a good way to keep them. I am designing my last tool chest right now and that darn 700mm rip saw is making it…interesting.

Mads, I have just about every end of the spectrum in my shop since I am as likely to build a nice cabinet as I am a house…or a hog feeder. It does certainly take all types. But of course you have stuck a very important point, get tools based upon the work you intend to do. My "complete" tool set is going to differ wildly from the next guys.

The point for the class is, you need to be able to rip and crosscut for this project, find something that fills that need. We will talk about joinery saws later.

Next up I will be talking about planes, an area where you can go just a bit crazy.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I'm reading The Anarchists tool chest and this guy starts to make me really tired, I do not remember when I read a so long book about so little (Unless one have a Chris fetish as he apears to have himself, then this book is pure porn… lol.). I think my advice will be 'look at LJ instead of buying this book', and your blog might be the place, but I will make a review when I finish the book, perhaps the good part comes after page 137 where I am now trying not to drown while I tread water with Mr. Schwarz. (I still love the book, because it was a gift from an LJ elf).
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Mads, RG just read the book so I think he will tell us all we need to know in this blog. Which is nice because I can buy a lot of old tools for $40…


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Smiles here. Yes I think so also. Sorry for my outburst on the book, it was just getting on my nerves. I will hold back my words until my review.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I'm smiling. It is good to have a another view point on the book…


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I agree about the middle portion of the book (I remember thinking good lord this section is long). Good advice but it could have been rendered differently and his points on saws bothered me because they left out a few key details (like the taper of the saw…a point that is corrected in the dvd thank god). However the construction of the tool chest and the points on anarchy are really interesting and I still love the book because it got me thinking differently on the way I purchase tools.

I differ from Schwarz on my chest, but I definitely have learned a thing or two from him as well.

Mochoa, $40 buck spends in a hurry. I would grab a jack plane (based on the wish list you shared with me.)


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Yes Wayne do not worry I will be good also, I think my 'problem' is I never heard about this guy until I came to LJ, and so I have not suffered from this 'hype' that seems to be arround him, I just looks what he says and writes and think books is not his strong side, but it appears that I'm not so easy to impress - lol. I do think it is a fun book to read for all of us that has taken the same trip, like a way to laugh about our self, I just wish he could do the same sometimes (or take a self confidence class so he dont need to tell how right he is on every page)... No I will stop and wait for my review, I need to finish it before so.
Like you RG I learned one or two things from this book…
So 'I'll be back'!
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


The opportunity to say, "been there done that" and chuckle about it was worth the price of admission.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


RG,

You underestimate my frugality my friend…

I bought my disston for about $3 bucks. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/52177
I could by a Frame saw blade for $10 and make it myself. I could buy old plane blades on ebay for a couple of bucks and then make any plane I wanted. I want a Jack and a Scrub plane. But for now I have a smoother a jointer and block that do the job.

The problem is time…. However even if time and money were no object I would love to make my own stuff rather than buying it.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


P.S. I have my eye on the book "The New Traditional Woodworker" that I hear is pretty good too. Its on amazon for like $17…..


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Mauricio, I am the same way. I enjoy making and restoring the tools as much as using them.

I was looking at The Anarchists tool chest, but will wait for Mads review.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Mauricio

WayneC has a lot of good things to say about that book. I flipped through it a bit, and it's on my wish list but I have made most of what is in the book and it can wait for a while.

I believe in the frugality. Panel saws are one of those areas you can get a stack for $40 (not that you need the whole pile) just don't forget to grab some nice files to sharpen the things (a saw set is nice investment too). I enjoy making tools myself, but please buy a good bow saw blade, bandsaw blades tooth pattern are all wrong for hand work.

It's great to see the difference of opinion from Mads on the book. I enjoyed it because it got me thinking about my own tool set, and what I want, but I look forward to the review to see what points bothered him, and I wonder if they will be about the same ones that bothered me.

I feel like crud today. The good news is I can blog about planes…


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Every one is waiting for the grupy old MaFe, so i'm busy reading. Lol.
Best thoughts to you my wonderful buddy's,
Mads


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Yeah, actually Wayne was the one to turned me onto that book but I haven't gotten it yet.

I'm set on the file and set. Although I bought a cheap "Sheffield" file that started losing its cut half way through the shaping process. I'll go through all 3 sides of the file and have to find a better one. Recommended brands are welcome.

Dan sent me a an old magazine pdf that's great: "How to make woodworking tools". It's got everything. If anybody wants it I can send it to you. Just be aware, I think Schwartz has the workbench in this book featured in his Workbench book as an example of what not to do. I saw it on the amazon preview.

It really gives you a sense that there was once upon a time where people routinely made their own tools.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I have the same magazine (thanks Dan). The bench in that book is not BAD, but it's not great. It's a bit too light, and I hate skirts on my benches, they really interfere with clamps.


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Charles Haward is a good author.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I'm a saw novice but I've bought a stack of Disstons for that day when I become a saw guy. And that day will inevitably come. No idea if they're gems or paperweights. I use Japanese pullsaws, so I should duck out of this now


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I don't judge people who use Japanese saws, but you should be ashamed none the less.


----------



## toddbeaulieu

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Hi all,

I just discovered these classes and I love this one. It's so helpful to have those in the know run down the essentials like this!

Wondering if someone could help me purchase saws. I have a couple of starter japanese saws that I like, but one is super flexible and cheapo and the other doesn't have much of a capacity, due to the "spine".

I have a "dovetail" saw that I got at Woodcraft, with about a million TPI and it involves quite a bit of labor to use. I think it's better cross cutting. Can't remember.

So the other night I pulled out my old Home Depot Buck Brothers "regular saw" and was so happy with being able to quickly cut through wide stock.

I think what I want is a new cross cut and rip saw. What I'm not clear about is whether I should be getting the "regular" style saw or those with spines. I'm thinking regular.

I found a Diston set for sale online. Ugh. Just so many options!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


Hey toddbeaulieu! Glad you are enjoying the class. Japanese saws are not exactly my forte, but I think what you would look for is a decent quality Ryoba saw (Lee Valley has a good range and the one I would buy if i went that route was about $40). There are plenty of guys on the site who could go into more detail though (try Mafe)

As for "regular" saws. Either you have to hunt vintage or pay out premuim for the new good ones. The best compromise I see would probably be a Pax saw, full size, decent price. I just don't like the handles…which is why I went with a vintage saw and learned how to tune them up. An eight point saw will serve well as an all around tool.

You can also go the bowsaw route, provided you have a bench. Get the turning saw and an extra tenon blade (they interchange) and that could cover your stock prep and joinery needs.

Lot's of options and just about all of them work. It's always just a matter of figuring out what works for you.


----------



## toddbeaulieu

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


This is a great, narrowed scope, which is what I need right now. I over think everything to the point of paralysis.

I'm intrigued by the bow saws. Do you use these? Would two of these take cover the spectrum for a while? Or, do you think it's safer to start with a pair of panel saws? Do you know why that site says you can't buy the blades alone? Why would I buy a saw that I can't get replacement blades for it?

I saw a Diston set for sale on ebay for $200. I suspect I should just stick with new for now. Especially on something I can't look at first.

Thanks for the help!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit Part 2, Saws.*
> 
> Now we get to start making waste in wood. The first tools in the shop to make big boards into smaller ones are the panel saws.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When choosing saws don't go to the home store…this goes for any of the tools in this kit, so in an effort to not repeat myself in every entry I will make this as clear as possible. *Do not buy your hand tools from the big box stores, they sell crap tools in the hopes that you will hate them and buy more crap tools to replace them.* Either buy vintage, and learn to repair and care for tools that were made in a time when they were made for use, or buy tools made by people you still care. Really with saws you can flip a coin on the vintage/new decision.
> 
> If you go the new route you can put off sharpening for a while and just focus on learning to saw. A year or so from now, when you need to sharpen you will have a good frame of reference for how a good sharp saw should cut. Few good makers of modern saws, Wenzloff & Sons, and of course Lie Nielsen. Mark Harrell also makes and restores some real gems.
> 
> The one obvious drawback of buying a new or professionally refurbished saw is the high cost. Very high indeed as these saws don't even get to leave their mark on a finished peice (if all goes well). For this reason I went the vintage route. Henry Disston Made the best saws ever, and then something terrible happened, they started making the worst saws too. So how do you tell the good from the bad? Look at the end of the saw, good saws are taper ground, meaning they are thicker at the teeth then they are on back, they also get slightly thicker from toe to heel. This is the first thing I look at when I pick up a saw, if its a wedge I will take a gander through the rest, if it is a line, I set it down and let some other fool take it home.
> 
> You have established that the saw was made right, but how has it fared over time? Here is what to look for in order.
> 
> The saw plate, is it covered in rust? How much? A highly corroded saw might be a paperweight or a gem depending on how much of the steel has been eaten away. If the price is low enough it might be worth the risk…but saws are common enough that you can afford to be choosey.
> 
> Take a look down the saw plate, is the blade straight, or curved…both are ok (straighter is better), if it's wavy set it down, it more work than you want.
> 
> Bend they saw and see if it springs back into place and recheck the straightness of the saw plate, if it doesn't go back to the way it was before set it down. For very obvious reasons you may want to ask the seller before your do this.
> 
> How the the handle feel in your hand? Get something comfortable, or your will have blisters (old Disstons REALLY excel in this category), Also check that it's tightly attached and that all the nuts still can move.
> 
> Are all the teeth there?
> 
> That's about it, the rest you can find out at home.
> 
> I chose an 8 tpi crosscut and a 4 1/2 tpi rip (a bit finer rip might be easier to start for a beginner but don't go much past 7tpi). Total investment on saws here, about $35, but that does not include time and materials spent fixing these guys up.
> 
> The choice is yours…money or time, which do you have more of?
> 
> Build a decent saw bench as soon as you can. You can live without a good bench for a while, but the saw bench is vital. It should be about the height of your knee, the rest is personal preference.


I don't know about the blades, that seems to be a recent addition. You could contact the seller and ask. He was pretty nice during my transaction. Highland woodworking also sells the bow saws.

If I could just have one saw in my shop I would have an 8 point panel saw, filed crosscut. You can rip with it (slower) and do passable crosscuts. Then a dovetail saw of some sort. After that I would look for a coarse rip saw. Then it's just a matter of the work you do and the saw that you end up wishing you had the most.

There are a lot of guys that but vintage online. I just have to see it in my two hands before I can be sure.


----------



## RGtools

*The tool kit part 3 Planes*

Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.










Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?

The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).

This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.









After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.

The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.

And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.

I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Thanks for posting RG. You mentioned you were going to discuss your preference for Stanley Jacks over a wood bodied Jack. I'd like to get your thoughts. Hope you feel better soon.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Your right. I like the Stanley's mostly because they can be put to service doing jointing and smoothing in a pinch (this is attributed to the adjustable frog), they are also common enough to find replacement parts for should something go wrong (or you just grind a blade into nothing over time).

Their weight is just right for roughing out wide boards without being awkward on narrower ones. Old wooden planes tend to be a bit longer and off balance for cross grain work. Also because I do reclamation work, I have to put some thought into what dirt and dust can do to a sole, the jack plane is the first to touch my work so it's going to take the most abuse. Steel holds up better than wood in that regard, the trade off is it's harder to flatten (a plus for corrugated soles, but that's about the only one with ANY credibility).

I know you want to make your jack, I did too. I decided when there are so many vintage planes out there that could be pressed into service for this task that I could just get a vintage and save my tool building time for finer tools. I like Krenov style planes for fine work, but for rough work, it's nice to have a handle and a sweet chunk of steel.


----------



## dkirtley

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


For the people new to hand tools:

There are differences in work flows that people use working with hand tools. They come from habit and are more style than hard and fast rules. The thing is not to get intimidated if you don't have a full stable of planes to draw from. You can do a passable job with just a block plane. A block plane and a jack plane will open up 80-85% of anything you can do with a plane. A block, jack, and jointer will hit about 95-97%. The specialty planes are for that 3% left over.

There are several schools of thought about plane flatness. The Japanese intentionally hollow parts of their planes to reduce contact surface. Some people prefer a plane to be sorta flat and will flatten if it isn't that flat. Then we have the ones who obsess over it. If you enjoy lapping planes, I will be the last one to say not to. I am in the "yeah, that is close enough" category personally.To each their own.

Metal or wooden planes. Well, honestly, until you are used to planes, go with the metal planes. They work just fine. The adjustment is a bit more mechanical and don't require having a "feel" for it. Both wooden and metal planes work and both can do the finest work. It is about feel and preference. Choose when you get used to how planes work and how they should feel. I personally prefer the wooden planes and other people wouldn't have them if you gave them one. The more expensive planes have tighter tolerances and fancier adjustments. Cheap ones can be tuned up to work well-assuming you know what to do to them. They can be an exercise in frustration if you don't.

Here is an explanation of some of those specialties:

A scrub plane is a wood eating monster. It is where you start if the wood is nowhere near flat. It is a half step away from a hatchet or adze.

Jack and fore planes: A fore plane is kind of a big jack plane. Maybe a bit coarser. Jack planes and fore planes are somewhat interchangeable. If you are working on big stuff, a fore plane is a good direction to go rather than a jack plane. They are you general purpose go-to planes.

Jointers and smoothers are your finishing planes. The only real difference is that shorter planes can take out little pockets of roughness and jointers really flatten stuff (like gluing up panels or big table tops.) The longer, the flatter. Coopers had jointers that would be 6-7 feet long.

The finest planes are scrapers. They don't really scrape, they cut. It is a skill to put a cutting edge on one. When you are sharpening a regular plane, you take the burr off when sharpening. With scrapers, you are cutting with that burr. They are the last thing you touch some wood with. They just take of microscopic wisps of wood.

Now you have a block plane. It can smooth but it is also just a handy plane to keep in your pocket to pull out when you need to trim stuff off.

The shortest planes are the spokeshaves. Great for curved stuff. Everyone should have at least a dozen. 

Stanley numbering system for beginners:

Stanley made bench planes numbered from #1 to #8. They are sorted by size. (Mostly) Unless you just enjoy collecting, the range is to give you a range to choose from to pick a smoother, jack, and jointer. Which one you choose for each role mainly depends on your size. I prefer a larger jack plane. I have a #5-1/2. They also have a small one, a #5-1/4. Most people are fine with a plain #5. Same between a #7 and #8 jointer. The #8 is the big manly plane. #7 is for those not big enough to wield a #8.  Same between the smoothers. #2 is dainty, #3 is smallish, #4 is a bit larger, #4-1/2 is a bruiser. #6 is either a big jack or a dainty jointer. #1 is basically a salesman's sample and only really usable by maybe a 7 year old's hands.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


RG,

I hear you on the Stanley, I have a Stanley #4 and it works ok but I suspect I haven't mastered tooning it up because I still get chatter some times. If I had better results I would be more into the stanley's. I havent given up though, I have some work to do on the frog.

On the other hand, with my kernov smoother I dont get any chatter, nor with my wooden Jointer… not much any way. Also, I like the laminated blades on the old Ohio Tools planes. I've seen some cheap ones one that have gone for $5 on ebay I might pop one of those instead of making it, If I do make it just for fun, I will use the same blade.

I think the "Hand Plane of your Dreams" and "Buying planes on ebay" threads ares jacking up the price of #5's, You cant get them for $25 these days, especially not a corrugated one like yours.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Thanks David for the insight. I will be covering scrapers in the last category of the hand tool kit (the "save your hind end" category). I am with you on the "close enough" decision on hand plane flatness. As long as the area in front of the mouth is flat the rest just needs to be good enough to get the job done.

I disagree with one point for the purposes this class though, you cannot build furniture using hand tools only with just a block plane (or more accurately you could but it would be zero fun), the jack plane would be a better candidate for the "one plane" hand tool shop. After I have went through all the tools for the kit I will do a brief entry on a "bare bones" kit, for someone who wants to give this a try without investing to heavily (in either time or money).

I should also state this is not a "complete" set of hand tools, but it's a solid start without anything unnecessary.

PS: What's your favorite spokeshave David?


----------



## dkirtley

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


The reason I put the block plane in there first is that it is the one plane that even someone that works almost exclusively with power tools should have. They are just so handy and easy to slip into a tool belt or pocket.

The one spokeshave I have that I use most is possibly the crappiest cheap one that I have. It is a Stanley made in Mexico that has zero adjustments. It is about as bare as you can get. I keep the blade in it skewed so one side of the mouth is pretty coarse and the other fine. I also have an old wooded shave that I use a lot. It is the equivalent of a low angle plane with the way the blade sets in it.

The other ones I have tend to just sift down to the bottom of the tool shelf under the bench.


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Great info. Probably some discussion of standard angle vs. low angle block planes…. I prefer low angle block planes with adjustable mouths. Stanley examples would be a 60 1/2 or a 65.

Standard angle adjustable mouth planes would be a #9 1/2 or a 18…


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I love it when you love a tool out of habit David.

The low angle standard angle thing…I am super not picky on this subject as long as the blade is kept VERY sharp end grain is not an issue with either. It's one of those areas that comes down to personal preference, and since low angle and standard are usually the same price on the new market it may be wise to grab the low since it can do any of the angles the standard can.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Thanks for the input Gary. When we get into using the tools I will cover the wonder that is paraffin, bees wax, and tallow. Veritas is a brand I have neglected, they are good tools. I am not a lover of low angle tools but that is a personal preference thing.

I have come to think that the Wood River planes just don't have good quality control. They can make a good plane, mine has none of the issues that some people have (although I did have to tinker wit the chip breaker a bit), but it seems for everyone who is happy with their tool there is another guy out there who is ticked off about it.

Don't worry, we will put the tools to use and explain the how and whys later.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I did however forget to mention that if you are going to get into wooden planes you are going to need to find or make a tiny hammer (2.5 oz is perfect). I like this one (jeweler's hammer that goes in an out of availability) because it has a nylon head that I use for the body of the plane, and a brass head for the iron.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I know you talk a little about the wooden Jack but that is the English type 
the Scandinavien/German type that is alot shorter around 9 to 10 inch 
like the smoother and is has a horn instead of a round nop do to they can
and does get pulled from time to time mostly the smoother though

Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


My wooden planes are all either American or Krenov style, they are just more comfortable for me to use on the pull stroke (or push… or side grip), so I favor them more, but if you have already fallen in love with your planes, great…that means they are getting the job done.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I was thinking more about the different in the lenght on the jacks 
I still have to find out why they developed differently back in the historic time

than the diffrent in the front nops


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Ah. That might have to do with the availability of large timbers in the old vs the new world. But that's just a shot in the dark from me.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I love your choices on the pic! I love that two woodies made it in there. I don't envy you here because right here is where you're torn because you're presumably advising those new to planes. A perfectly tuned woodbody smoother is something from the heavens, I can almost hear harps playing. However, it's not your first smoother. If it is, and you pull it off, my hat's off to you. 
.
I nearly gave up planes because I bought a crummy newer Stanley smoother as my first one. I don't know why I stuck through it all but the rewards are…well, they're hard to describe. This is one of those addictions that can be quite healthy in moderation, if there is such a thing
.
I could go on for pages here but there are much better authorities around here. Suffice it to say, I think these are solid recommendations above. 
.
Beware when tuning your first plane. You are in a precarious position


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Admitedly that was a tought call. I though about using the "best you can afford" line here but really who does that? I thought I would try to pick through a more realistic set for the intrepid luddite. That's how I ended up with the list of tools I did. I thought about the mistakes I made (many) and the things I got away with (also many) and pick a set that exemplifies the hight points.

Tuning planes can become a hobby unto itself. Don, Mafe, Dan, And Brandon are pretty good examples of that….and there is nothing wrong with that.


----------



## toddbeaulieu

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


Hello! It's the advice begging beginner again.

I spent a couple of hours last night trying to flatten an old oak timber that I ripped with a chainsaw. Wow! I used my 8" jointer on a couple, but believe me, that's not easy, either! Although, I did get less blisters with that approach.

This is my first real foray into this sort of work. I learned a lot last night, but I suspect I still don't "get it". I have a couple of old planes that I tuned up. A #3 and a #6. I started off with the #6 and spent quite a bit of time with that before deciding to try the #3.

With the #6 I could take shallow-medium bites and make long strokes, but it was difficult to get too aggressive with it. I do believe it's pretty sharp and I experimented with slicing at an angle, as opposed to head on.

I was able to get much more aggressive with the smaller plane and go much faster. I experimented with an arc motion of slicing - I could visibly see the material removed in an arc, which helped me move down the timber quickly. Considering the chain saw's delicate cutting nature … I had a lot of material to remove. When I was "done" I realized it looked nice, but it ain't flat. No problem … I just need to remove the bulge in the center. About 1/8 of an inch, maybe a bit more. So again, this is a lot of material.

Now that I've bored you with my Sunday night play time the real question:

How is the jack plane different from the #6? They appear to be similar in size, and they're only one number off in Stanley's system.  The "bible" lists the #6 as a "fore" plane, which is what you're calling the jack plane here.

Should I try to get a jack plane lickity split? Will I be amazed at how much better and faster it removes material?

And then the big question that possibly only I can answer … used or new? I like the old stuff, but finding them can be difficult. Maybe I should suck it up and buy something new that's not insanely priced? Like a Record?

Thanks!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I define my planes differently than Stanley did. When you look at books about planes predating the numbering system this is what you tend to find.

Fore planes are 12-18" long with a wide mouth and an aggressive camber. Think of the Fore plane as the plane you use be"Fore" the others. 
Smoothers are 6-9" long with a VERY light camber and a tight mouth. 
Try planes are 20-26" with a medium mouth opening, and camber.
Jointing planes are 20-26" with a medium mouth opening, no camber.

Nowadays a metal no 6 is a bit heavy for the task of flattening stock by planing across the grain, I own one but I use it as more of a small jointer. A number 5 with a heavy camber can remove a ton of material with ease when you go across the grain. Check out the sections of this class on Sharpening, and on making a set of Winding sticks that's a pretty good primer on stock prep.


----------



## toddbeaulieu

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


This is a great help. I can't thank you enough.

Except by asking another followup.

I found a No 5 1/2 on CL for $60. Waiting to hear back to see if they can ship it because it's HOURS away.

I also spent some time looking at new planes today. Like the Lie Nielsen LA 62 Jack and the Veritas LA jack 62 1/2. Either would be the most I've ever spent on a hand tool.

Do you think the 5 1/2 and one of those two jacks (assume it's a coin toss) would be money well spent?

Thanks again!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3 Planes*
> 
> Your have brought the wood over to your bench, it's rough and warped. It needs to be flat and square. This is the job of the planes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before I get started on planes, let's just make one point clear, you can REALLY go nuts on these tools…it's OK if you do, they are worth the money. Compare a Jointer, Jack, Smoother, Block set up from Lie Nielsen, to a 24" Jointer planer from Laguna and you will see the value in these tools. You are either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money on your planes, the choice is yours…but might I recommend a happy medium…?
> 
> The first plane you will pick up will be Jack. Jack's and interesting fella, he can do just about anything the other planes do even if he does not excel at it. Some guys prefer just jack, and they dispense with the rest. But planes work so much better as a system. A well set up jack plane is the beginning of that system. Traditionally speaking Jack used to be named Fore, because it was the plane used be"fore" the others. A fore plane was anywhere 14 and 18 inches and had wide mouth and a well cambered iron to allow it to take massive shavings (thickness of a dime to an 8th in some cases) when used across the grain….sounds a lot like the scrub plane huh? That's because we use a scrub in place of a fore these days based on working narrower material then we used to (bigger trees back then), but I think the scrub goes a bit too far, it's too short to effectively do the initial flattening of a board (you can use one, but it requires more thought) and an 18" fore can be very tiring to use for the initial scrubbing process. Jack fits in that "just right" category. We will talk about how to set the plane up later for now what do you look for? I don't recommend buying a brand new jack plane since it's going to do rough work, I prefer a per-war Bailey, but a wooden jack will do just as well (and will be easier to flatten the sole).
> 
> This one cost me $25 and required very little prep work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After the jack is done making a mess of your bench and your board, the jointer comes in to flatten it out. With its long body, it is able to ride the hilltops made by the jack, shearing them off until one flat surface remains. Two schools of thought on the jointer, one where you use a straight blade, and the other with a slightly curved one. They both work, and I suggest you get two blades so you can try both. For this project you can get away with just the straight blade since you will be gluing up a panel for the top. Metal jointers are a pain to flatten so if you are in love with Iron I recommend you buy new (unless you enjoy restoring tools). Wood on the other hand is rather simple to restore and a solid wood jointer with a history is a nice thing to use. As this is a smaller project you could get away with a fore size plane with a flat blade. I own one made by WoodRiver that I am fond of (this brand is what I consider to be the cheapest usable planes on the market), but a full size jointer is probably a better long term investment.
> 
> The Jointer will have left scars here and there. The smoother cleans them up. This is often the last tool to touch your work, so don't skimp here. You need a smoother with a sharp iron a flat sole and a VERY tight mouth. I made mine using mesquite and a blade from David Finck. It's my favorite tool because it fits me. whatever smoother you get make sure it's tuned to perfection and has a properly relaxed edge and you will have little need for sandpaper.
> 
> And finally the block. What a handy little guy this is. Handles end grain so well (in either low angle, or standard), makes chamfers. Used as a small smoother, one-handed, two-handed, forwards, backwards….in a word versatile. We will be using the block mostly help square edges in the even that you don't grab a curved iron for your jointer but it's useful enough to throw in the kit anyway. Get one with an adjustable mouth, and that feels good in your hands (both of them as well as one), this is a personal choice so I recommend going to the antique store and handling a few before you make your decision. They are of all the planes the easiest to tune up.
> 
> I am not one hundred percent today, so if I left anything unclear let me know and I will try and help.


I don't really like low angle planes…it's a personal thing. You can do great work with them and there are plenty of people who do. I just am not a fan. Same goes for the wider sized planes.

That being said a low angle jack can do a lot of work…smoothing, small parts jointing, end-grain shooting. So for a first high end tool…that's a pretty good bang for your buck. On the 5 1/2 I would pass unless it was pretty darn minty looking. Wait for a 5 that looks good (no rust, no cracks, all the parts, comfortable handles) in the $10-$25 range and figure out how to grind a camber into the original iron. That and a low angle plane could accomplish a ton of small work for a long time.

How are you planing to sharpen?


----------



## RGtools

*The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*

You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.










Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.

Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while. 









Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).

I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes. 
3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.

A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.

Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:

This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench. 

























Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I agree with everything here and will add, when you lower the stretchers (#2) make then low enough so when (notice the when not if) you decide to add drawers underneith you can.

I worked on 2 x framed 3/4 plywood benches forever. I Just built my real woodworking bench a while ago after finaly building my new shop. I never had a tool try but know RG is right, it would drive me nuts.

I like your smoother to.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


Your new bench is awesome Don. My smoother has changed it's shape a bit since then (I like to rough out my tools and shape them as I use them).


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


@Don - Ditto on the lower stretcher discussion. And I certainly won't argue with the "when" statement… ;-)


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


RG, how has the Southern Yellow Pine worked out for you?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


Very well so far. The first year had quite a bit of wood movement but it has gotten more stable since then (this could have been prevented by more down time in my shop when I got it). The pine is heavy enough to not move around the shop, and on those occasions when I mess up and ding the bench I don't want to cry.

I also like that the bench stays a bit "rough" during the course of working on it, this helps it grip the work better, slick-can be an issue on hardwood benches. My dream bench will most likely be a Douglas Fir base with an Oak top (both of these woods grow prolifically in my area) but if I had access to some good stock I would not be opposed to doing another out of the yellow pine.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I'm comtimplating going the same rout but I'm still in the planning fase. I still have a bunch of red oak that I'm tired of making furniture out of so I think I'll use it for either the legs or the tops. I need to make my plans first to see exactly how much wood is needed for each.

For now I have a 2×4 and OSB bench. It works ok becaus its against the wall, it is nice to be able to chop and drill into and not care about scratching it.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


P.S. whats up with all those gaps in your bench top? Did those glue joints open up after glue up or where they there to begin with?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


They were there to begin with. At the time I could not figure out a way to plane the faces of the bench dead smooth so I just glued them up an hoped for the best, If I had to do it over I would have used larger beams for the bench top (for the whole bench in fact) because the wood would have been more stable to plane on sawhorses and they would have been less work. Lamination in handwork should be avoided, use big components whenever possible, it's faster and stronger.

Other than the occasional hunt for a finish nail (and being uglier that sin) the gaps have not bothered me. My laminations (when I do them) have of course gotten tighter since I acquired a place to plane properly.

My "first" bench was total crap osb, my wife uses it has a potting bench now, It racked so badly that I decided to just build this bench on the ground it was easier that way.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


You know, I was thinking the same thing. All that glue up is tedious. Whats a good source for stuff like that. Reclaimed barn wood? What about railroad ties? You can get them at the big box stores, I know they are toxic but will they work for the legs? Might make for a nice look.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


Nevermind, I think they are toxic.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


As you stated it's nasty stuff. However you can get some big beams at your local big box store; I see 6×6's regularly, some of those and some 4×6's would make a beefy base. I would build the top first though since it will

a) help you build the rest of the bench. 
b) help you accuratly figure out the final height of your bench…

Crap, I totally forgot to discuss bench height.

So a good bench height for hand work finds good balance between muscle groups used for different tasks. When I finish a long day of material prep I am sore all over, (not too bad and only for a bit) that's good because I have used my muscles in my body evenly. If I had my bench too high I could only use my arms, if it was too low my legs and back would get all the abuse. There are quite a few rules for finding the right bench height for you, and a lot of variables, like what kind of planes you use (wood planes favor a bit lower bench because of their thickness and use). A good starting point is to measure from the floor to your wrist joint (if your arms are by your sides), this is about as high of a bench as I would ever build and it's fairly easy to shop an inch at a time off until you find the right height for you. The other good way to go is to make your bench the same height as your table saw since that tends to be at an appropriate height to the user (and you can use your bench as out feed…a nice plus).


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


good blog RG 
like your jointing setup on the plane 
cuold be used with a small thick tabletop to raise the bench 
for small fine work

the idea of going with a low bench isn´t so bad if you only flatten wood with planes 
since you need some downforce too when pushing the plane thrugh the wood 
adding your bodyweight do will ceep the arms from being abused too much 
think Swarhz had made a sceintific theory article about it …. lol

sounds like a workout in the gym …. no no there is talking about a lifestyle change here … lol
spare the money to the gym and buy handtools instead 
no more workout …. having fun instead and create things with value at the same time 

Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


It does not have to be a workout, but I will say…I really don't need a gym either.

Glad you are liking the class.


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I also made my bench from SYP, after two years both ends were cupped an 1/8" or more. I just flattened it, hopefully it will not move too much more. I laminated the legs too and they haven't moved at all.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


Tim, most SYP moves quite a bit at first (because it tends to be sold so green) and the mellows out. My bench has not moved very much since its first year flattening. It's good to hear that I am not the only one who noticed this.

The next bench I make will probably be out of the same material but I will let it air for quite some time before I build it…that gives me more time to plan I guess.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I've been kicking around the idea of using SYP for a bench, I found a place that has 4×6"x 15feet for only $16 and its kiln dried! You could make your whole top out of just 3 pieces of wood. I'm just not crazy about how the flat sawn side looks, the straight grain looks cool.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


Try looking 4×10s those tend to have clearer grain since they are needed to support major loads (also you could build your top with just 2). The hard part is that you want most of your bench to have the same grain direction (uphill from right to left) which makes surfacing the top easier. Material selection is half the battle in a really good bench….take your time.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I'll look into the 4×10's. I have to remember to keep grain direction in mind.

I hear you on the material selection. Design is another big part of it. It seems that if I think those strategies through well the build will go a lot smoother.


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


I'm quite happy with the SYP bench not sure I will ever build another. It may just be me but I do not worry about keeping the top pristine, just plan on flattening it about once a year.

@Mauricio You can make your top for $32? I would be all over that.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


Man, that's a handsome little plane. I really like the sawhook, too. I've been in the bench planning phase for going on 6 years now, so I'm not the one to ask on this one


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 3.5 (benches)*
> 
> You can't discuss handplanes without discussing the workbench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a workbench to do work by hand? No, what you need is a way to hold your work while you work on the face, edges and ends of various sized boards. Benches just so happen to fill that need VERY well. The problem with benches is that people convince themselves that they cant build a good bench without a bench, to an extent that's true but it does not have to be the stumbling block some people make it.
> 
> Shown here a set up for jointing my jointer plane, I would not have thought of this had I not worked bench-less for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people will suggest that you work on a solid core door that are placed on sawhorses that are weighted down with sand. Work on that for a while and figure out what you want. Others, like myself, suggest that you build yourself a good cheap bench and get to work. I feel that if you have a bench that does not piss you off you will be better at deciding what you want in your eventual "ULTIMATE BENCH". I don't think there is a lot of sense in buying or building the ultimate bench first, if I had done this I would have a European bench with a shoulder vise for dovetails…and I would hate it because I like making big projects (dining tables and what not). I would also have built my ultimate bench with a tool well (I hate tool wells with a passion).
> 
> I discovered little things like this after I built my first real bench and started working on it. My bench is built strongly on Bob and Dave's good fast and cheap bench and should you go this route I strongly suggest three alterations…
> 1. No tool well (personal preference I know, but I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose stuff in there under a pile of shavings), it complicates construction and reduces weight. Heavy benches are a good thing
> 2. Lower the big stretchers to give your knees a place to go when you plane across the grain…this will also give you room for a nice shelf for your bench fixtures and planes.
> 3. Get those dog holes within an inch or two from the front of the bench…you will thank yourself when you start using joinery planes.
> 
> A compromise on the build of a simple "starter" bench and get to work idea, and the solid core door idea would be to get the solid core door and the saw horses, but grab and nice 4×10 or 4×12 beam as well. Flatten the beam and attach it to the sawhorses so you can put dog holes in as well as clamp battens to it for cross grain planing. The beam will give you much better purchase to clamp to for edge and end work and the solid core door will give you a nice assembly area. If you lean more towards the sawhorse route grab a couple of Jorgenson stye handscrews, they are lifesavers when it comes to work holding.
> 
> Also when we are on the subject of work holding, there is one bench accessory that is really work having:
> 
> This saw hook, doubles as a planing stop and mortising clamp. But it does have one flaw, it does not protect my bench top from my saw. To correct this set the larger block back a bit from the edge on the right hand side (if you hare right handed), that way your saw scores your hook not your bench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that we have covered getting our work nice and flat and square, let's start putting it together…


It's kind of my ugly duckling plane, but it works marvelously.


----------



## RGtools

*The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*

The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.










There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).

The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.

Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)

With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…










I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.

A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.










You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).

One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Looking good.
I like your saw choice. 
(Is it a frame saw or a bow saw? When is it what? In Europe we call that a frame saw, but it seem in US it's not the same).
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


In America I think we interchange the two quite regularly because the tools just are not popular enough to get the terms right. A bow would be a single tensioned piece of wood, whereas this is the more complicated (and fine cutting) frame saw, but I never seem to describe it as such….to me a frame saw is a bow saw, and a bow saw is a buck. At least the tools speak the same language even if the users don't.

Have a wonderful day Mads.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I like the frame saw, I plan on buying a blade from Highlands Woodworking one day to make one.

Question, why would anyone chop out a mortice from scratch with a mortising chisel instead of drilling out most of the waste first?


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Another question on your Frame Saw, how long is the blade? The one at highlands is about 26", yours doesnt look that long. Also, at only about $10 a blade, do you resharpen yourself or buy new?

Thanks for all the info!


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I call it a bow saw, and a nice one at that!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Hello Mauricio!

Highlands Woodworking working sells the other modern frame saw I endorse Putchs, I use ECE (got to love German engineering), the blade is 600mm which is about 24 if I remember right and is just the right length. It looks like you have the choice between 700 and 400. I would grab the 400 for joinery in case I had my bench against the wall (these saws are longer than the average so you have to think about clearance). I resharpen the blades but the replaceablity of them should one become damaged is very nice indeed. If you go to the link in this email there is a useful "hidden discount": buy the turning saw and the tenon saw blade (the blades are interchangeable as long as the frames are the same length) this only costs $75 and gets you a curve cutter as well, if you just bought the tenon saw it would be $83. (shipping is included in this price which is nice for those of us who hate mental arithmatic).

As far a mortising with a chisel vs drilling out and paring. It's faster and cleaner (though you will not agree with me the first time you do it) and bashing out a mortise is a manly feeling and should not be missed.

Bertha, I wanted to make my own but someone talked me out of it…I am so glad they did, ECE's are one of those fine tools that are still marketed at reasonable prices…you can't beat that.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I almost forgot. If the teeth are impulse hardened you will not be able to sharpen them yourself. They last longer but you will have to replace them….I hate that.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Do you know if the ECE and Putchs are impulse hardened?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


The ECE is not. The blade Sold with the Putchs at Highlands appears to be impulse hardened (the advertisers usually list it as a "feature")...the extra blades on the other hand are the real deal.


----------



## Sylvain

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


For those of us who don't live in America,
The German web site and address of ECE (also with English version)
http://www.ecemmerich.de/

Interesting downloads
They produce various woodworking tools


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Thanks Sylvain!


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Thanks Sylvain! I'm checking out some of the downloads now. So cool to have lumber jock brothers all over the world sharing info. What magazine does that!


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Yes we are a lucky bunch.
Thank you all,
Mads


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


How did I miss that bow saw first time threw? I love that saw. More info?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Don, this one is made by ECE a wonderful German company. The link in one of my previous comments takes you to Adria tools where I purchased mine. Everything that is important on the tool is done perfectly and everything else has an appropriate lack of concern taken to it…I love that about this tool. It's also nice to have for REALLY deep joints as you can offset the blade and make unlimited depth cuts when needed.

Mads' you are so right. We are a lucky bunch.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


RG, I've always thought this would be an easy saw to make but this one seems to have more to it. I guess the devil is in the details. Whats the deal with the "Elegant bridge support of hornbeam for stability".


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I agree. I made this one, but I like the looks of RG's. Whats the chance we could get some close ups of the details. I might just order the blades and make the saw. I like the nice crisp metal tightener. Maybe its the bright shiny flaw in me.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I saw yours Don, I like it. I like how you made the metal parts and the handles. I would have to try and turn those on my drill press. I have some oak branches from my tree that I cut and saved that would be perfect.

I needed one of these when I made my kernov smoother but instead of making it I put a piece of bandsaw blade in my hacksaw frame. ha ha ha. I really wanted that smoother and didnt want to wait to make a saw. It cut pretty rough but it did the job in a pinch.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


P.S. I think the cord tensioner might still be better, less weight at the top of the saw. I read a thread somewhere of a guy who had this saw and swapped out the tensioner for that reason.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Your right. the devil is always in the details. I would love to take some close ups for the two of you guys so You can see what I mean. The hornbeam support is the crosspeice on the bridge on the right hand side of the saw (in th pic above) it adds stability to the frame on that side because that's where all the pushing and pulling comes from (the bridge support is on the side with the handle).

As far as the tensioner is concened I am not sure the weight difference would be a huge amount between the steel and the cord that is tensioned by a toggle but let's just say the toggle is lighter. The top heavyness of these tools is a real ASSET when cutting tenons as it allows you to maintain vertical more easily, this of course becomes an issue when you offset the blade as you have a tool pulling to one side on you (but you can get used to this). If you are making a lot of cuts that are curved or require the offset blade I would go with the lighter tool if you cut mostly joints I would go with the steel (which is less likely to break on you…but is also more likley to snap the frame do to overtension). So I think that brings us back to personal preference.

Bandsaw blades work for rough work but I would discourage there use for these saws since there tooth geometry is all wrong and the real thing is so cheap anyway (and pre drilled for tensioning and smoothed on the edges too…).

I have a bright and shiny flaw too sometimes. It's ok Don you have support here.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


Outstanding advice. That's a very handsome bowsaw. I have a chisel problem, a big one. I agree that a quality mortise chisel is just something you can't get around. You can make do with this or that but once you use a big pigsticker, you'll wonder why you bothered. I'm tenon first but tail first; takes all kinds


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Tool Kit part 4 (Joinery tools)*
> 
> The pieces are cut flat and square now it's time to start putting them together. The primary joint for this project is the mortise and tenon, the oldest joint around (and still one of the best). I like to cut my mortises first so let's start with chisels.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are only three chisels that you need for this project, first and foremost a 1/4 in mortising chisel. Mine is a Lie Nielsen but Ray Iles makes a fine tool as well, you can cut a mortise with a cheap chisel (I did for a VERY long time) but they tend to dull very quickly and because most chisels aren't truly flat on this sides they like to twist in the hole making it over large…point is if you plan to make mortises by hand a dedicated chisel for the job is worth the money. I would be remiss if I did not also throw in a link for Japanese chisels ...they are just awesome(that's for you Mads).
> 
> The other two chisels can be vintage tools or even Irwins (these are the tools that most users find to be usable without the flaws of most home store chisels…but you are going to have to flatten the backs). You need a chisel for cleaning up mis-sawn tenons, a 3/4 is good for this since it give you a lot of registration surface to work with but some prefer a smaller 3/8 chisel because they require less pressure to cut, anywhere in that range will work.
> 
> Then you need a big chisel 1 inch or greater. This is going to help you make score marks for tenon shoulders (if you go with the 3/4 inch chisel you really don't need this tool…but it's nice to have.)
> 
> With mortises made. Let's make the tenons. Traditionally speaking a carcase saw and a tenon saw did this job. I'm a bit unconventional here…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like a hand sharpened dovetail saw 15tpi for cutting shoulders. Mine is a supercharged Sears brand; I think of the ones you buy at Sears as saw kits really, but that's a great way to get started sharpening your own saws. Yes I am using a rip to make cross cuts, but because of the fine tooth pattern and the notch you make with a chisel for shoulder cuts there is not any tear-out.
> 
> A good back saw makes a great tenon saw but I just can't do it. For me I have a 9 TPI bow saw that I just can't part with. The high center of gravity and the tensioned long blade make for very fast and accurate cuts. These tools are finicky though so honestly the back saw might be a better bet until you have some experience cutting joints by hand. Any stiff saw between about 9 and 12 TPI will work but it should definitely be filed rip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will also need a hand drill a 1/8 bit and a 1/4 bit (brad points start the best but you can use twist if you use a awl to make a divot for your starting points). These as well as a counter sink and the screwdrivers will help you install the table top to the base. Just make sure that the action of the drill is smooth and keep it oiled. Mine was about $10 and I don't see any reason to pay much more than that (you find the things everywhere).
> 
> One last entry on tools. Last up, the safe your butt category…


I flip flop both directions dependant on what I am doing. Whatever gets the job done. I think this is where falling into a camp can hurt you. Knowing how to cut a joint in several orders can really increase your ability to solve different issues.

I love the bowsaw.


----------



## RGtools

*The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*

Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.

If not…










Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.

The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.

When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.

So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


What a beautiful old Stanley.
;-)


----------



## MsDebbieP

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


I chuckled at the "I hope you don't need these"  
good tip re: saw blade as well.


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


RG, I like your style of writing. I do agree with the optional part. But to add, I just recently bought a #71. I've always "just used a chisel". After buying it I'm not sure why i waited. I wish I'd either bought one or made one years ago. Same goes with the scraper. I found them a little hard to learn to sharpen and use, but wish I did it a very long time ago. I think of all the dust I would have kept out of my lungs.

Keep up the good work, and may I say, you've got some very nice tools. <wink>


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


This Stanly is an interesting mystery to me Mads, My memory is a bit hazy but I think is is a type 3 and was not made with the taped holes to attach a sole. The user must have added those when he saw his friends using the "new" Stanley type 4's. I like that there is no adjuster or depth stop…it makes me re-orient my workflow but I always like adjusting with a tiny hammer and making tiny shavings with it.

Thanks MsDebbie, it's true I hope everything goes perfect the first try…knowing that it rarely does, I recommend these in the kit.

Don. I am glad you pulled the trigger on both those tools, they are handy man. The scraper will save you a fortune in sandpaper too.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


Beautiful it is.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


That it is. Mads. I love every dent in the handles.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


All the cool kids have that exact same router plane.
Cool kid, Al.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


Stumpy too. But his does not have holes…shame really.

Even a "chisel holder" router plane is better than nothing.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?












Boo ya! Mine doesn't have holes either…boo hoo.
I want cutters for mine.


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


Here is mine…


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


^ Fancy. I don't know if I could operate one without using a hammer anymore. Depth stops and adjustments…too much from me to handle 

Al, the Veritas cutters will fit that plane. Not as pretty as an old hammer dinged one though.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The tool kit part 5 (lifesavers)*
> 
> Both of these tools are very optional for the build…in fact I hope you don't need these. I really do. I would love it if all your tenons come out perfect and that all of your planed surfaces come out gleaming and wonderful.
> 
> If not…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card Scrapers will remove tear-out from even the most persnickety woods. They are cheap tools (you can even use a sacrificed saw blade…I have, and they work fine if you pick one without pitting near the cutting edge) but if you grab one or more of these tools get a good burnisher to sharpen them. Smooth Carbide will really get the job done, don't get too much more particular than that.
> 
> The router plane (even a simple one like the one above) can work wonders when a project goes awry. Sure everything that a router plane can do a chisel can to…but the router does it more precisely. If you saw a tenon askew (out of parallel with the face of the joint) this tool will really prove its worth in correcting it. Make one if you feel that need they are simple tools and are worth the investment in time.
> 
> When I initially put this list together I had the intent of putting together a bare bones kit as well but I feel that the toos set I have put together is very capable and efficient (speed will be a big focus in the class) and I have not made up my mind as to if the bare bone kit would hinder or help.
> 
> So I leave it up to you. Do you want an entry on the bare bones kit for someone who is really strapped for cash (or wants to build one project by hand just to see if they will get a taste for it) or would you like me to go into sharpening?


^I've got my fancy LN now, lol. I never did get around to ordering/buying/making new cutters, so I guess it could wait, right?


----------



## RGtools

*The Bare Bones Tool kit. *

I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.

Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.

1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)

Mallet

Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
Countersink
Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project

8tpi crosscut saw
15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.

12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)

clamps
2 12" f style
4 long clamps for panel glue ups

Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…

How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


well at least your last question was the easy one, LOL.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


True, but at the same time one has options and the devil is in the details (thanks Mauricio for re-introducing me to the wonderful phrase)


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Some more cheapo tips:

You can make a mallet out of fire wood. I have one in my Projects list. I like it but I'm planning on making a proper one next time I have to chop out some mortises. They are easy to make.

If you dont have brad points you can start the whole with an awl for more accuracy with the twist bits. Most people already have twist bits.

For a really cheap and good starter dovetails saw that cuts great you can get a Zona saw for like $10bucks.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Embrace the Scrooge in you.

Everyone should build their own scrap-wood mallet.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Dont encourage me… Here is another one…

Peter Follansbee has this marking guage on his website. Its a piece of oak with two screws in it filed as cutters.










Should work perfectly for table appron mortices.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


I have done this. I lose them though.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


I have the wheel marker, got it on sale at rockler for a good price. The basic one but works great. Easy to lock in with one hand.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Nice. As long as it cuts well and holds a solid setting you have got what you need. The rest is icing on the cake.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


RG I think this is an important blog and a great resource for beginners. Thanks for doing it. I wish I would have had this info starting out.

This is a great antidote to the fine woodworking article that talks about "how to set up shop for under $5000. In fairness, they actually came out with an article with a lower price tag. How to "set up shop on a budget", they got it down to $2000. Whatever…. the second articles doesn't talk about dust collection, with a planner, table saw, and random orbit sander, you need dust collection….

EVERY BEGINNING WOODWORKER SHOULD READ THIS BLOG, here is how to set up shop for under $300. You will have more fun and get a little exercise. And you won't have to worry about your health. Losing fingers are inhaling harmful dust. (you do have to be carfull with the sharp chisels though).


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Thanks Mauricio. I have always hated the "tool list" in every book. I feel like it would be better to show what your needs are and how to fill them rather than giving me a bunch of tools and a price tag. This list (I know I made one myself…dangit) fills a pretty sizable chunk of your needs in the hand tool shop.

I like the safety of handwork but I will definitely say you can still take a trip to the hospital if you are not careful. Minor cuts and scrapes in a hand shop are VERY common as well, and as we use the tools I will explain how best to avoid them and where your big safety concerns are.

I have to go to work now and the coffee has not sunk in yet so if this sounds like random ramblings I apologize.

I am glad you like the blog.


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Great list. I have read too many of those atricals about multiple thousand dollar shop setups. They are a fun read but when i reach the end i never feel like i can apply any of there advise it to my needs.

This list is much different.

I find handwork to suit me better. My skill with many hand tools leaves much to be desired but I have more fun *not* worring my machines are running .005" off, and that my work will suffer becacues of this. The tools required to calibrate a machine can cost more as much as the tools themselves.

I also like the fact that if i slip or make a wrong move, my hand saw wont cut all my fingers off or horrible disfigure me with flying shrapnel. 
I feel comfortable with all my machines and practice every safety precausion out there and a few i pick up along the way, but a 1.5 hp or bigger motor with a blade/cuttrer head/ or grinding surface is a small war machine bent on chaos.

I'm really in to this series of blogs/classes. i hope you can keep them coming. They're great and your knowledge is much appreciated.


----------



## derosa

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


I like this list except for the number of 12" clamps. I just never seem to have enough of the small clamps, or any clamps for that matter and feel that 4-6 of the 12" would be more appropriate. I know you can get by using the longer clamps since this is what I have to do but it isn't really a good solution. Also by jumping to 4 smaller clamps you have a large enough number to probably be able to work on two glue ups at once.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Woodzy. I am really enjoying writing this blog, and I will keep them coming. The sharpening section should be interesting as that's a subject you can kind of go nuts on. I too hate the set up time and danger of my power tools. Practiced safely they are great tools but they just are not very fun for me, so I tend to break out power only when I need them for large scale production (not very often) and even then I always work in a hybridized shop.

Derosa, I agree on the number of clamps thing but you have to start somewhere and usually fewer tools means better ones, clamps just don't get enough consideration since you have usually spent your money elsewhere. You can make your own cam clamps…but I never get around to it. I definitely enjoy having enough clamps to have multiple components going at once but to be honest, because of the way I build I rarely utilize that feature of my shop…shame on me.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *The Bare Bones Tool kit. *
> 
> I thought long and hard about posting this at all, but I have finally decided to cave. While this kit will not work quickly as a set of properly set up tools, some of us are limited in the amount of tools we can get when we start out. For the ultra cheap (guilty by the way) here is the starter kit for you minus any frills, add the tools you need as you go.
> 
> Jack plane 3 blades (straight, light camber, heavy camber), If you go this route I really don't recommend wooden planes since you can't adjust the mount opening easily.
> 
> 1/4 inch mortise chisel (worth the stinking money…please trust me) however if you cannot afford it you can drill out the waste and pare out the rest, if you do this you cannot skimp on the brad point bits as they are the only way to get accurate holes)
> 3/4 or 3/8 bevel edge chisel (Since you are not grabbing a block plane I might recommend you snag a full set of Irwin chisels and tune them up, but the one should do.)
> 
> Mallet
> 
> Hand drill with 1/4 and 1/8 brad point bits (if you sprung for a good mortise chisel you can get by with twist bits…I do fyi)
> Countersink
> Slotted screwdrivers to fit screws on project
> 
> 8tpi crosscut saw
> 15 TPI dovetail saw (you can buy this from sears but you will have to tune it up) or a tenon saw.
> 
> 12 combo square (use the awl in the heel of the handle as your marking knife)
> Marking gauge (this tool can't be avoided but you can go with the cheaper pin style gauges…just get one that holds steady and file the pin so that it cuts rather than wedges the wood)
> 
> clamps
> 2 12" f style
> 4 long clamps for panel glue ups
> 
> Oh and for anyone getting into this you have to decide on one more thing…
> 
> How the heck are you going to keep all these tools sharp? (to be continued)


Agree totally with list. Get used to buying those clamps until you go handscrew with handmade wooden screws. Then you have reached Nirvana and really have no business building furniture anyway


----------



## RGtools

*A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*

Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.

In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.

First off let's dispel a few myths:

There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…

There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.

There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.

And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.










The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):

1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)

I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate










It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?

Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.

Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.

2.Water stones
From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.

Which Is why I opted for option 3.

3. Oilstones
I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.










Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.

All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.

Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


----------



## CharlesAuguste

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Ah the sharpening debate!!!!!! sandpaper water oil!!!!!!!! and no mention of diamond!!!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


I knew I would take crap for that. Diamond is a viable option as well (as are ceramics) but I left them out for the beginner class since I know less about them then I do waterstones. If you would like to go into your method I would appreciate it though is it will open another option.

No debate needed. Sharpen how you please.


----------



## Hayabusa

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Good class Ryan, it is very true it dosnt matter which way you choose it matters you get the best result and most convinient to everyone. As you know I use japanese waterstones combined with diamond stones, if I can say a word I would like to recommend to someone who like to use my method (if they still havent watched my sharpening vids  Not to go crazy with too many stones, to start just a DMT 120 grit dia-stone, and 1000, 4000 and 8000 grit KIng Jap waterstones
I have also liked you say there is no perfect edge, it´s true and neccesary because the nature of sharpening is to wear down metal, this always causes scrachtes on the bevels even though they were microscopic

Keep it up my friend !


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


It's good to here from you Julio. I had hoped you would chime in. I expect to hear from you when we start talking saws since you are a bit more scientific than I am on the subject.

When we actually sharpen that chisel I plan to go into the mechanics of grinding vs honing, which really despite having all the same motions are two very different beasts in my shop. You flat grind your chisels using the DMT and move to the stones for honing if I remember right. That's a good approach, when we get into it more it will be either that or hollow grinding (my preference…but I use both to be honest).

Hope all is well on your side of the world.


----------



## CharlesAuguste

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


RGtools diamond are just a newer method i find that to renew an edge they cant be beat but please dont do like i did and end up with oil stones waterstones and diamond for woodworking pick one stick with it and its all good!!!!


----------



## ksSlim

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Good session! I really enjoyed "there is no perfect edge" comment. Depending on the magnification, the best edges usually resemble a saw blade, somewhere between a hacksaw and a rip saw or maybe a two man crosscut.
I too use a combination of methods/stones, diamond and hard Arkansas with a charged strop during use to help maintain a smoother cut. Experience and manner of use will dictate angles. Somehere between a paring blade and a mortise pounder. Keep the info coming, I appreciate your efforts.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


No Charles. I am married to my system at this point.

Thanks KsSlim. I am glad you like the class.


----------



## Karson

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


I use diamond stones, diamond sandpaper (Used in the optical industry) The smallest is 0.1 Micron about 300,000 grit. I also hone with Chromium Oxide polishing on a piece of cherry wood as my strop.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Hey Ryan, just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to write this great blog series. I don't know how I missed it before, but I've just read all the way through from Part 1 (including the comments) whilst drinking my morning coffee. It only took 5 cups.  Can't wait for the next installments.


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


This is an area i'm really lacking skill and dilligence. I use one combo oil stone . Which i think is the start of my issues. I started off really enjoying the whole process. I was getting decent results but it was taking me forever to get an edge i was happy with.

I have been changing my method and am in the process of moving over to sandpaper but i don't trust my substrate. I can see you have sand paper adhered to MDF "stones". 
Do you then put those MDF "stones" on a flat substrate or is the MDF "stone" strong enough when placed in your sharpening jig? 
Do you prefer a specific substrate? (Glass, Granite or another?)

Thanks for your work on these classes i've enjoyed them all and am looking forward to anymore that come our way.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Holy heck Karson. That is some way to make a tool shiny.

Thanks Andy. I have enjoyed writing this series quite a bit so I am glad that you (who I often learn things from) have enjoyed reading it.

Woodzy. I place the MDF stones within a jig to hold them steady. The Idea came from Lie Nielsens sharpening jig. If I had a choice of substrate though it would be granite blocks cut to 3×8 stones, they would still be mountable in the jig and would be more resilient to the tool diving into the substrate and cutting up your sandpaper. I talked to a few guys in the granite business about this…they told me it would be VERY pricy. So MDF it was. Glass works for a lot of guys though.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


You are completely wrong!
A sharp edge is magic!!! Nothing more magic. Almost a miracle I feel.
But to make it sharp is not magic…
But I agree, the method is not so important, just choose one and learn it to perfection, the more you sharpen the better you get, just as with all the rest in woodworking.
What a wonderful little sharpening area you have made your self there.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Mads. That's basically what I meant. A sharp edge can perform miracles in your shop but their is nothing mystical, magical, or arcane about making steel sharp enough to defeat and enhance wood.

Wait until you see my next sharpening station. This one is just temporary. You told me that to draw is to sit on your ass and do it. Well, this is what happened.




























Thanks for the nudge. My best to you and yours,

Ryan


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Looking soooooo fine, a real dream station!
And yes you can draw also, so I was not all wrong - laugh.
Big smile,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Gary thanks for that comment. The technique you use puts a very good knife edge on a tool, but I will say that on more figured woods I avoid it because the trade off for durability is more wedging action (more tearout) for the blade. But I will have to try it on my mortise chisel since I hate jigging it and I don't want it hollow ground, and the edging action is actually desirable based on use…thanks for reminding me about this nice little trick.

I agree on the norton flattening stones (and most of the flattening gear out there), if it can be abraded out of true, it's a paperweight. Sandpaper and glass (or granite), or diamond plate for flattening stones is what I prefer.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Hey RG, at the risk of driving up the demand on ebay… Do you have any tips for choosing a good hand crank grinder?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Because of the moving parts I am not sure I would buy one on Ebay. (these tools are pretty common though)

However, I would look for one that bolts down to the bench as opposed clamps since that tends to be a bit more stable, if it does clamp make sure the clamp operates properly. When you look at one try spinning the wheel to check for run-out on the arbor, if it hops up and down you best pass on that one. Maker sure you can remove the wheel and replace it with a new one (the norton 3x wheels really are worth the cash.. I use a 6" 80 grit). Also you should have a fairly high gear ratio (for one rotation of the hand crank the grinding wheel should spin several times). Listen to the gearing, it should sound (and feel) smooth.

If it passes all those tests, take it home, oil it, and put it to work.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


I'm just here to oogle that hand cranked grinder. I really want one of those. Not to get off topic but I salvaged a 1hp Delta motor to power my "treadle powered" grinding stone. LOL.

I'm also here to support the Scary method. I use Lowes marble windowsill and the "good" 3M adhesive spray (one of those things worth buying the expensive variety). I've got waterstones but I don't have the full complement that I'd like. It's a more meditational method, old school, with soothing sounds. But it's a tad messy and the stones you really want are expensive. I go 1) Tormek, 2) Scary, 3) Strop. That's my method.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


What grit do you stop on scary? I always stopped at 2000 and did not bother with the strop. I am editing the freehand video now so you will get to see more of the grinder in action.

The windowsill is an AWESOME idea for the substrate. When I sharpened that way I wanted elevated "stones" but hated the way MDF got chewed up. I wanted to have granite cut to 8×3 but it was price prohibitive (then I blew my wad on oil stones…so I guess it a matter of where you want to spend your cash)

I won't make fun of your powered treadle whee, (that is funny though) as long as it get's the job done.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Great job on the video Ryan. I know what a pain in the butt they can be to do and get uploaded, so thank you for taking the time to share your skills with us.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Doh! I meant to post that on Part 11. LOL


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


HAHA!! I hate it when I choose the wrong tab like that. At least you were in the right blog if not the correct section. The upload is not so bad but editing the videos can be a real pain.

Glad you are enjoying the class Andy, it's been really fun for me thus far (and hard work too…also a good thing).


----------



## brazjuca

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


thank you friend, I started translating good book, here in Brazil we have no such tradition in woodworking as the United States, so we fail to learn from one of the main things, like sharpening, grateful for the considerations.

sorry for bad english


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


I have an extra hand powered grinder if anyone is interested. It needs some work on the crank/handle but nothing too much.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *A brief bit about sharpening (dont worry more detail will come)*
> 
> Now you have brought your tools home and maybe even gone to the effort of finding nice homes for them in your work space. You might even have started tuning them up and that good. The most important part of making a hand-tool work is getting and keeping the edge sharp. a planes sole can be flat as can be and still be a paperweight because the blade is dull or sharpened to a bad angle.
> 
> In the next section of this class I would like cover how to sharpen all of the edged tools in the kit.
> 
> First off let's dispel a few myths:
> 
> There is nothing magical about a sharp edge (though what you can do with it certainly feels that way) a sharp edge is the intersection of two highly polished surfaces at a near zero radius. I say near zero because…
> 
> There is no perfect edge. You will never see a 100% sharp edge; any surface looked at closely enough is going to have flaws. What's important is that you get a good enough edge to do the task at hand.
> 
> There is no right way to sharpen a tool. As long as your edge is sharp enough to do the work, how you got there does not matter. Sharpening, just like any other task in woodworking is a personalized decision. Your methods are going to vary from mine here and there, that's OK. If you see another woodworker doing something you like, try it, if not let them go about it their own way.
> 
> And lastly, it does not take years to learn how to sharpen. You can put a hair-shaving edge on a tool in a single afternoon. Your edges will only get better from that point, and you will get to that edge faster and with less thought…so maybe it does take years to learn how to sharpen…but it does not take years to start getting sharp tools.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The intricacies of sharpening tools are numerous and can be daunting so let's just start with the most basic question. What do I use to sharpen? As I see it you have three really viable options for putting a keen edge on your tools (for ease of reading we are just talking about tools in the category of planes and chisels…we'll talk saws later):
> 
> 1. Scary Sharp (sandpaper attached to any flat substrate material…usually glass)
> 
> I started with scary sharp. I used 400, 1500 and 2000 grit silicon carbide sandpaper attached to MDF "stones" as well as glass substrate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was easy for me to understand the concept of using sandpaper to polish steel…after all, as a jeweler I had used sandpaper thousands of times to polish metal. The introductory cost is cheaper than any of the systems: about $40 bucks worth of stuff and you are set to go. The system is adaptable since you can use so many different grits of sandpaper on so many different types and shapes of substrate. You can sharpen any tool to a highly keen edge using this system….So why in heavens name did I recently kick the system to the curb?
> 
> Because I am cheap and lazy. For all the benefits of scary sharp I hated having to replace the stones all the time because of wear and tear. The cost and the maintenance time add up making scary sharp the most expensive and maintenance intensive of the methods to sharpen your tools. The rule of thumb on changing the sandpaper I came up with…about half as often as you probably should.
> 
> Surely having read all the current literature on the subject I should have picked water-stones.
> 
> 2.Water stones
> From what I understand water stones have amazing polishing properties, they cut fast and they use water as a lubricant to sluice steel away to prevent it from clogging the stone. I have not used this system so I cannot personally recommend it. If i were to use this system I would grab a 1000, 5000 and 8000 grit stone (but if anyone who reads this blog and uses water-stones would like to add there two cents on them I would appreciate it.). When I decided to switch from scary sharp there were three very important reasons I did not choose water stones: 1. My shop is not insulated and if the stones are subjected to freezing temperatures they will crack. 2. The fast cutting speed is the result of the fast breakdown of the stone, they dish frequently requiring vigilant care. 3.Most water-stones need to be soaked before use…If I had to wait 10 minutes before I sharpened a tool, I would probably put off sharpening longer than I needed to.
> 
> Which Is why I opted for option 3.
> 
> 3. Oilstones
> I use a Medium India, a Soft Arkansas, and a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone along with an untreated leather strop. Here is a picture of my current sharpening set up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oilstones have been around a long time, they may not put the same polish on your tools that 3000 grit silicon carbide can, or do it as fast as a waterstone. But if you look at a lot of the furniture that was built in the last 300 years or so…you can bet the tools that built it were sharpened with a good ol oil stone. If it sounds like I am biased to these stones it's because I am. I found the system that works for me and the flaws in the system are not even flaws. Sure they cut slow, no problem, that helps me conserve steel. They may glaze from time to time (rare) but they stay flat. They are ready to go as soon as I am. My tools get free rust prevention every single time I sharpen them. With a bit of attention in stropping, the edge is plenty sharp for any task I would throw at it. One safety tip here, get a metal container you can keep oily rags in (yes, that's what the Altoids tin is for) so they don't burn the shop down.
> 
> All three systems work. Pick one and get to work. Use it for a long enough time that you can understand what you are going to like in the long term.
> 
> Next up we will actually put an edge on a chisel…If I can convince my wife to help take pictures for me.


Al this may be your chance.


----------



## RGtools

*Sharpening and a lesson in humility*

I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.

For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.










This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?

Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.










I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.










He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):










For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.

I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.

I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.

Let's talk Jigs for a minute. 









The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.

Lie Nielsens way

Mafe's way

I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).

When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.










30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.

It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


----------



## Hayabusa

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


How to sharpen small mortices chisels or shoulder plane blades wtih that kind of guide ?
It is the most convenient honing guide I adore it, I use it adjusting the projection with a small stainless steel rule instead of the wooden stops


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Laertes, I work with oilstones. If you go back in this series one chapter I talked about the three most common sharpening methods and why I chose what I did. They all work so find the one that fits your personality. But a word of caution on oilstones your finest one (either a hard black, or a hard translucent) should be a natural stone, the synthetic ones dish out quickly and do not give a great polish.

Julio. I have sharpening a mortise chisel in this guide, you just need to mount it low and keep it there (I'll do pics since we use a mortise chisel in the class), to do that you may need to take an auger bit file to the seam on the inside of the jig. It's not as convenient as sharpening it freehand though. The Stainless steel rule works fine too, but I find I get more consistent results with the stops (and it's a bit faster).


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


;-) looking good my friend.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Thanks my wife is helping with photography so you will see a bit of an improvement in the picture quality.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


It was the rack I meant.
But I have no doubt that wife is looking good too, but perhaps this is not what we talk about? 
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Big smile here Mads.


----------



## mgfranz

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Wow… Chapter 10 of a "Occasional Table" class build, and I haven't seen a single board get cut, planed, milled, sized or nothing, in fact I haven't even seen a single tool being demonstrated in it's use.

Are you ever going to build anything or are you going to just keep professing the tools you own?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


MG, believe it or not I have the same complaint about the class as you do. As I said in the begining of the class, I would start the build in late october…the idea was to give beginers time to aquire any tools they needed and did not own (and give me time to bring in the harvest). I thought that would be ample time to explain a bit about tool selection and set up. Learning the tools is an unfortunate nessecaty to woodworking and I am trying to cover it well enough to move on and put the darn things to work.

Be patient, I am having to be too.


----------



## tomfidgen

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


great post and really nice project. makes me want to build some more like these.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Thanks Tom. As one of the people who can take personal credit for getting started on this weird path called hand work I really appreciate it.

Hope all is well in your world.

I still need to build a few of those bents…projects keep pushing them aside though.


----------



## brazjuca

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


muito bom, pena que aqui no Brasil nao encontra este jig. ops rsrsrs
very good, pity that here in Brazil do not find this jig.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Fortunately you do not need the jig to sharpen. Here is a link for how do do this free hand

Felizmente você não precisa o gabarito para afiar. Aqui está um link para como fazer isso a mão livre


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


I just re-read your article. First I agree The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking is a must read. Its probably one of the few woodworking books I've actually read cover to cover. Its a book where you learn how to think about how you're woodworking, not a "how to woodwork" book.

I've found if you want to learn to sharpen free hand, first the article that did it for me is the one you posted. The second part of that is start with thicker blades. Its much easier to feel the "click" mentioned in the article on thicker blades. Especially chisels. I always do chisels free hand now, they have gotten easy. Some days I can do the normal stanley blades, some days I still need the jig.

I also liked your statement about ideas being built off other ideas. Very good point.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Thanks Don. Hit hit two nails on the head. The thicker blades are a godsend when it comes to your initial efforts. As you progress you get a feel for the angle enough that a thinner blade is easier. there are one or two blades that I use the jig for, but slowly they are all getting hollow ground and my jig sees less and less use.

I had a history teacher who said that if you try to cross an ocean by building a bridge with small stones you will die before your reach the other side, Anyone who tries to build their own bridge will. The only way to progress over time is to build on someone elses bridge. This applies to just about anything.


----------



## brazjuca

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


thank you friend, I started translating good book, here in Brazil we have no such tradition in woodworking as the United States, so we fail to learn from one of the main things, like sharpening, grateful for the considerations.

sorry for bad english


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


I have plenty of friend around the globe who don't speak English. That's ok. Hope some of this helps. I will still be entering some text into the sharpening sections of this class (where I did video only). So you can translate some of the advice.


----------



## Manitario

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


I just stumbled onto this "class" I appreciate that you're spending so much time on sharpening; in my brief, novice experience this is what makes or breaks hand tool usage.
I'm also appreciative of what you said on furniture design; I feel sometimes that I need to make something original and out of an exotic wood in order to be a "real" woodworker, when what I really enjoy doing is making simple, rustic projects out of pine.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening and a lesson in humility*
> 
> I'll admit doing the sharpening section is a bit difficult for me. Not because I don't have anything to share but because so many people have taken the time to produce some really great material on the subject. I thought, what original material can I add to the subject? The answer is none…sort of.
> 
> For awhile I was not OK with that, until I saw something that put me right back on track.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture in my copy of The Pine Furniture of Early New England set a firework off in my brain…I don't have to be original, not even a little bit. Why not? Because some really smart people before me had to learn something somehow from someone to get anywhere. Take the picture above, the drying rack is simple elegant and useful but why did it set off that firework?
> 
> Because It made me realize that my current project has a heritage deeper than I originally thought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I modified this design from something that I had seen Tom Fidgen do in Made by Hand (one of the most beautiful books ever published on handwork…it even smells good). Here is the page.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He openly credited the design to James Krenov based on (I'm guessing) this picture found in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking (another must read):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason I had never considered that Krenov might not have come up with his "bents", but there it was slapping me in the face drying a set of britches out on a damp day, proof that good design just so happens to be simple. Good technique is the same, I can't show you some new flashy way to sharpen an edge that is going to work better than the way we have done in for the past several hundred years, but I can show what I know about sharpening to add to that heritage.
> 
> I learned to sharpen from several sources, combined with practice and a solid background in abrasives. I will link some of the sites I have learned a great deal from here. I have shot some video that I will be posting as soon as I edit it but I will also be posting a picture and text version of my instructions for those of you who have slow internet connections.
> 
> I use a combination of Jigs and Freehand techniques in my shop to keep my edges good to go. I prefer freehand though because it is quicker and more convenient allowing me to refresh and edge and get back to work.
> 
> Let's talk Jigs for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The best jig out there is probably the simplest. The eclipse side clamping guide is simple cheap and reliable, you really don't need anything more fancy. But it's also a jig that require a jig to use. You need to be able to set the projection of the blade consistently with this tool. Here are links for two ways to do that.
> 
> Lie Nielsens way
> 
> Mafe's way
> 
> I like both of these methods but in retrospect I would make one modification. Instead of using the shim to set the micro bevel (that does the cutting) I would use it to set up the primary bevel (by shimming the jig instead of the blade). This would mean that my stops could be at exactly the angles I wanted my final edges to be and I would not have to fiddle with the shim as often (because most of the time you are just expanding the micro bevel).
> 
> When I use these jigs I like to push them as opposed to pull since it makes a more efficient use of my muscles, but try both ways and see what you like. The push stroke also lets you use alternating thumb pressure to put a mild camber on a smoothing plane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 30 degrees is a good angle to start your tools at as it's the ideal balance between edge retention and keen cutting. If you are bashing out mortises in hickory 35 would be more advisable, and on the flip side of that, if you are paring pine end grain 25 would be better.
> 
> It's getting a bit late here so I will go into the rest later.


Thanks Rob. Truth be told I wanted to spend much more time on sharpening than I did. I just needed to get the actual class going. Building with clean and simple forms is a fairly infallible way to have your peices be appreciated in the long term. Some of my favorite things are pine.


----------



## RGtools

*Sharpening with Jigs Video*

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.

Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)

For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.

Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.

Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.

This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


----------



## Hayabusa

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Good tips Ryan, I enjoyed the vid, you are working hard on these classes, thanks for sharing


----------



## sbryan55

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Ryan, this was an interesting and informative video. I picked up quite a bit of useful information from watching it.


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Thanks for the new class. The video had a lot of good information, the link were great and all consuming like usual.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Thanks guys. I really apreciate it. I know I have been putting quite a bit into the tools section of this class but as I was discussing with my wife "they don't just plug in". They have to be sharpened and set up right to work at all (and then you have to use them right). I will put as much of my own content out there before the build starts in the second half of October but I wanted to make sure you had some resourses to draw from should we run out of time.

The freehand video is going much more quickly so I should have that posted within the next day or two.

I forgot to mention it since this function was added after my class started. If you go to the Class tab and hit the subscribe button you should not miss any installments of the class.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Thanks Gary. I am getting better at the software…thank goodness but I still have a lot to learn.

Like I said the jig is just one more think to fuss with. Freehand is nice just because you can grab the tool sharpen it and get back to work.

Are you talking about the Shapton 30k or something else? At this point I am married to my oil stones but I did certainly ponder those Shaptons.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


I could not agree more, even taking the $200 I did was painful (but worth it)


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Nice video.
Wonderful stop you have.
But why should you want to buy one of these cheramic stones if you have a strap? 
If you want a cheramic stone look at supplyers of shaving gear they sell them a lot cheaper.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Mads. The stones I use are natural Arkansas Noviculite (as least my two finest stones are), The polish on those is pretty impressive to me and for rough work I stop there. But for work that requires a bit more finesse, I like to strop my tools. When I do the edges last longer and perform better.

Ceramic's are a good way to go too. As long as your system gets you to a keen edge you are golden.

Best thoughts back at you,

Ryan


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Ryan it was not meant as a question for you but for Garypr, sorry to be 'unsharp'.
I just have the feeling that a strop can do it as fine as these cheramic stones.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


A hah! Thanks for the clarification. I just totally did not connect the dots. Sorry about that. I really would not be the person to ask on this as I have made my piece with the stop. Gary…any input on why you want those stones so badly…(other than the insane polish straight from the stone)


----------



## thedude50

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


nice class ! i prefer a machine though the tormek jet grizzly and work-sharp are in my shop now. i am working on a couple of more to test. i tested several stones as well, i don't think i can put a set of stones into the price of a tormek that can do so much more than hand stones like yours. they cant do planer blades drill bits shears loppers etc however i did like a hand stone though it was a diamond Wheatstone i loved the stone from trend and the ones from DMT they were both top shelf items. i also used the dmt disk for the work-sharp oh my god that thing is awesome it is fast and cool and cool is one advantage that hand work has say over a dry grinder the other thing is turning tools the systems do a faster better job than hand stones on all turning tools. another tool i liked a lot was the m power pss1 it was fast at putting a micro bevel and for the quick re honing of a blade it is very sweet it also uses diamonds from DMT again i liked the class it was fun to watch but i feel the methods are out dated IMHO


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


TheDude: glad you enjoyed flipping through the class. The Tormek style tools are a good investment if you work in a hybridized shop (the ease of sharpening your planer blades is worth the cost) however, I cannot justify their cost for my shop.

A hand cranked grinder (as shown in the next post) and a set of GOOD stones can do turning tools, chisels, planes, drawknives, axes, skew chisels…basically the scope of a hand tool arsenal is covered. (of course once you snag some molding planes and some carving tools you will need slip stones as well). Honestly I don't think a machine set up would be faster than free-handing a chisel on a good set of stones. In the videos I take a bit longer than I need to sharpen each tool in order to give me time to explain what I am doing, but when I am in the shop it takes me all of about 45 seconds to refresh an edge (no grinding) and about 3 minutes to re-stablish and grind/hone a tool….It's fast enough for me.

If you like your machines, great, whatever gets you to an edge, but they are just not my cup of tea. As far as my methods being out dated, I do hand tool work…I am already outdated, my shop just matches me .


----------



## thedude50

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


I don't mean to insult you. I use a mix of tools and methods. I agree hand stones have their place. i use them too i do so many tools that hand work is not the only method I use.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


No insult taken.

Happy shavings.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Sharpening with Jigs Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150385428240229
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can grind a heavy camber into you jack plane by rocking the jig side to side during the grinding process (80grit and 220 stage). All your other tools can have straight edges but you need a good camber on you jack plane (something that lets you take 16th-8th cuts without the corners digging in) or it just wont do it's job right.
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get posted but editing video is taking more time and brainpower than I can safely allot this time of year. I will be posting the second half of this video on freehand techniques as rapidly as time permits. However, realizing that I am human and October is looming nearer than I would like, I am going to go ahead and link some required reading/watching. This is a tough concession to make but quite frankly making sure all your tools are in great working order is a class in and of itself (that I quite frankly, don't have the time to teach…maybe a job for Gepetto?)
> 
> For sharpening with jigs:Deneb from Lie Nielsen using the same jig I did. Albeit with a much better film crew…you have to start somewhere.
> 
> Tools for working wood put out a wonderful guide for freehand techniques. This is the best resource I know of online.
> 
> Bob Rozieski Created a very comprehensive podcast (where you could honestly spend hours on end) that goes into sharpening everything under the sun as well as the proper use of hand-tools.
> 
> This is a very good manual for sharpening saws.


Video has been re-uploaded on this one.


----------



## RGtools

*Freehand Sharpening Video*

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229

Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


----------



## lysdexic

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


RG, thanks for the video. I currently use a jig with a water stone. I find the jig kind of a pain and I'm certain that free hand is where I will end up. Your video helps.

I know this may not be the right place But… I have just a cheap combo waterstone and piece of granite now. I need to commit to a sharpening "system. Thus, right now I am struggling between waterstones and oilstones. The Shaptons look nice but water and steel is just counter-intuitive.

Look forward to following along with the class. Keep it up.


----------



## lysdexic

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Also, I have been grinding my primary bevel on granite and sandpaper. I find the bevel hard to sense working freehand. Does the hollow grind really make that big of a difference?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Both of those are very good questions. As far as your first question on water vs oil, it's really up to you.

The waterstones cut faster and leave a brighter polish than the oilstones, but they dish out quickly and as you put it, introduce water to steel. The oilstones= dish out at a MUCH slower rate, but cut more slowly as well…to me that's not a big deal since I try to keep my tools sharp which reduces sharpening time anyway. Also the oil is a nice perk to the steel, but I have to be vigilant about not burning my shop down.

In other words pick a system that you can live with the drawbacks and you will fall in love with it.

As far as the second question is concerned…yes it really does make a big difference. The hollow grind lets the bevel rest on two points (the tip and the back) creating a consistent angled edge is easy this way. With a straight edge it's easier to round off the back and tip (because the center acts as a pivot) and lose your consistent angle. If I need to keep a straight bevel on a tool, such as a mortising chisel I grind the primary with a jig and either hone with the jig or occasionally touch up the micro bevel freehand.


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Thanks again. 
I think i have settled down with the scary sharp method (for now) Waterstones are intruiging but the dishing and flattening aspect along with the cost have held me off until i feel my skills warrent a superior system.
Your videos are excellent. The information is invaluable.


----------



## andy6601

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Cool video. I really apperciate what you are doing for all of us rookies.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Woodzy. Scary sharp is a good way to start out, since it will free up cash in the begining for tools and wood.

Thanks Andy, I hope to do combined picture and video entries as we go along so I can help hit the different styles of learners out their. It's quite a blast for me so I hope that LJ's might invite me to do another class some other time….for now this one is enought to keep me more than occupied.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


This is all very good advice for those who use water stones. I still think my oil stones are the right match for me, oil stones dish too but it takes a LOT longer for it to happen.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


RG, I'm leaning towards buying an Oil stone but what is stopping me is that I just read Leanard Lee's "The Complete Guide to Sharpening". He says that modern Arkansas stones are often contaminated with larger particle sizes. He recommends getting arkansas stones from an antique tool dealer.

Have you found this to be an issue with your Translucent Arkansas stone?

I have my eye on Pinnacle double sided Hard White/Hard Black arkansas stone at Woodcraft. It only $30 bucks for an 8"x2"x3/4" stone.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Not a one. The two companies I can see as being good investments are the Norton wide stones (tools for working wood…see the link in post 4), and the Best company. Both seem to get the stones right. I have no personal experience with the Pinnacles but they just did not look as "polished" as the other two. Having a wider stone is a real pluss when you use jigs, but if you stick to freehand you can use just about any stone effectivly.

Hope that helps.

PS I am working on the active lesson plan right now. So glad harvest is done…ish.


----------



## lysdexic

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


RG - I've got a couple more questions.

Although the Arkansas stones dish out slower, what technique do you use to flatten them? Diamond plate?

I gather that stripping is an interval part of sharpening with oil stones. Why is it not mentioned with wet stones?

Is there a basic guideline in translating different Arkansas stones to waterstones grit level?

Thanks


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


I have really appreciated your comments thus far on the class Gary. All roads do lead to Rome (or sharp). I would not say any one route is better than another, I would say that one is going to fit your personality better in the long haul. I was just saying why I prefer my oilstones and know more about them than the water…which is why I tend to steer the conversation that direction. Keep chiming in! It's appreciated….So with that said please tell me if I miss anything with Lysdexic…

Lysdexic, The good news is on an oil stone this flattening process is something you may have to do once every few years (some people never do, but I just don't believe that's a good idea). Diamond plate would be a GREAT way to do it, but I have a hard time spending over $100 on something I only use every couple years…if I owned water stones and was using it daily on the other hand, it would be a good investment. To flatten my stones I use Silicon carbide (wet dry) sandpaper attached to either plate glass or granite, depending one how fine my stone is I would use a grit in the range of 100-320, and I would use a little bit of kerosene to lubricate the process.

Stropping is key because oilstones don't give as refined of a polish as water stones do straight from the stone. This is one of the "drawbacks" of oilstones that I have learned to live with. You could still strop and edge that came off of waterstones, or scary sharp, but I think the benefit would be negligible.

I have not done a comparison on grit from oil to water since the quality of oilstones tends to vary quite a bit. I would just say that the system for oil stones you need a medium stone (medium India), semi fine stone (Soft Arkansas) and fine stone (Hard Translucent)..but systems vary based on the worker. You may want a coarser stone because you often work woods that chip your steal. You might want a finer system because you are dovetailing in white pine and you want your end grain to look perfect without sanding. Choose a method that fits you and stick to it…modify it until it suits you perfectly.

Hope this helps a bit.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


I've been doing some reading on the subject and the reason I am going to get an oils stone is that I dont like the constant faltening and disosablity of water stones. I know they cut faster and can be a lot finer than Arkansas stones. Some charts show a hard black AR stone to be equivalent to a 6000 grit Japanese stone but its a natural product so there is variablility. If you strop afterwards with Chromium Oxide compound or .5 micron lapping film that gets you to around 10,000 grit on the Japanese grading system.

Cheap harbor freight diamond plates are another way to flatten stones.

Here is a great conversion chart I found that show the US, Japanes, grit conversion and Micron size. It also relates them back to sharpening stones. http://www.evenfallstudios.com/metrology/grit_size_comparisons.html


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


I was trying to find that same chart this morning, Thanks Mauricio.

This weeking I will start posting the active lessons….really looking forward to it.


----------



## DylanC

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


I've only just started following this class tonight and am very interested. I've been leaning towards getting good with a few hand tools rather than fill my shop (and empty my checkbook) with power tools that are usually only really good at one task. So this series has really got me interested. The video above, though, make me a true believer in RG's "expertise." But it wasn't the sharpening technique, it was the coffee mug sitting on his bench. I took one just like this to Afghanistan and lost it after leaving it on the roof of a Humvee. I bought two more so I would have a spare.

Getting back on track, I've been looking at getting a set of chisels to get started. Now I'm thinking that a whole set might be overkill. On the flip side I just bought my first block plane, and am dreading buying anything larger. Mostly because the good ones cost so much.

Thanks for the time you've put in on this class. It's efforts like yours (and others) that help fill in the blanks for guys like me. Blanks that can really only be filled by folks who've built up years of experience.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Dylan. Hands down the most bulletproof design for a coffee mug ever. I broke several before I found this one… I beat the heck out of the thing.

Hand tools are a much cheaper route to woodworking (compare a top of the line shop to another and you will see what I mean), so I think you have the right idea. If you can afford the whole set of chisels go for it, you will need the all eventually…however to get started, a good 3/8" and 1" bevel edge chisel, and a good 1/4 inch mortice chisel are really worth the money. You can buy other chisels one size at a time as you need them.

Planes are pricey, just no getting around that. Either you spend a chunk of change or a chunk of time tuning them up (or a chunk of time to build). The being said, you can totally get away with a vintage plane for your jack, look for the cleanest heaviest Stanley 5 you can find. I paid $25 for mine and all I did was sharpen the thing and put it to work. Jointers and Smoothers are a bit more refind and require a good adjustment, flat beds and good irons. Get a premium jointer if you can afford it (flattening an old jointer bed is no fun), or find one that is a good wooden one that you can true up the sole easily. A smoother is pretty easy to clean up (still takes time though), grab the oldest best looking Stanley you can find and clean it up, buy a new blade for it and put it to work.

That's a full set of planes (including the block)...you don't need a lot of tools so if you can, grab good ones.

Glad you are enjoying the class.

Happy shavings,

Ryan


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Freehand Sharpening Video*
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150387696185229
> 
> Hope you enjoy this. By the way for those of you with slower internet connections I will be editing the video entries with written descriptions and pics so you can join the fun as well.


Video fixed. Sorry.


----------



## RGtools

*Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*

Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.

I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.

While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.

Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.

Layout
Hand Planing
sawing to a line
Drilling a square hole

Not bad for a lazy afternoon.

First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.

Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.

We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.

It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229

Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.

Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.

To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).

Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.

1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit. 
2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square. 
4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229

6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.

Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.

Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229

When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229

You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229

To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229

Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229

With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.










The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.










And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.

Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


----------



## Hayabusa

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Impressive work my friend ! so many things in this fantastic lesson I really enjoyed it, glad to see you, keep it up


----------



## ratchet

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Very nice. I thank you for your willingness to share your knowledge with us.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Thanks guys. This first entry in the active part of the class was pretty tough to write because there is just so darn much you need to learn. I did not want to leave anything out, but I also did not want to ramble on for several pages. I am still trying to select a practical project for mortice & tenon joints so the first one's we cut are not in our furniture, I have a few candidates but nothing I am in love with yet.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Wow! You're really raising the bar with this series. Great format with the text and the short vids to cement the techniques. Thank you so much for all the effort you're putting into this excellent instruction.


----------



## WayneC

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Great videos. Thanks for taking the time for this. : ^ )


----------



## woodzy

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Thanks for the new Class. I wasn't expecting this one. Each installment is stronger than the last. 
It's Thanksgiving here in Canada so i will be in the shop Monday night after all the fetivities. Hopefully working on these.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


I have got to say I am really relieved with the reception on this part of the class. I put a lot of thought into getting it right. I hope I can keep them coming.

If anyone runs into an issue on these (work-holding especially) don't be afraid to ask a question. Oh, and points (with no cash value whatsoever) will be awarded to the first person who gets pics of their winding sticks (or straightedge) posted here.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Really fine setup, no wonder you need a little time.
And you acually did make a straight hole, I was looking really careful - big smile.
Best thoughts,
mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


I used to drill all my mortises out and then come back and pare the walls…that get's you drilling straight in a hurry (otherwise your have a zigzagging mortice). I had a moment of terror when I thought that I was not drilling straight while demonstrating how to drill straight, funny how nervous you can make yourself about things you do naturally every day.

Happy thoughts to you and yous as always Mads.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


;-)


----------



## DallasBentley

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Great series. Really enjoying it. I agree on Tom Fidgen's book. Very, very cool and ignited my interest in hand tools.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Thanks Dallas. While it might not have ignited my interest, it certainly fanned the flames. Paul Sellers recently added a log or two.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


I just got back in the shop after a long down period 
still restoring handtools though I need that special flat spot to 
learn my planes the lapdance so they can find the soul
by having a flat true sole … I just had to start all over again 
with your class even though its the third time I still pick-up
some gold here and there I have forgotten … its so easy to forget
things you don´t use on a dayly base 
once again thanks for have taking the time to do it Ryan

take care
Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Thanks Dennis. The good thing is the class will always be here for your when you get back.

Hope all is well.


----------



## Robb

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Hi Ryan, and let me take this opportunity to thank you for posting this class. I'm just going through all the segments now. Unfortunately, it looks like some of the video has disappeared from this one. I really enjoyed watching you sharpen some tools! That's got to be the next best thing to being there. Thanks again for all the time and effort you put into making this series.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


And so say all of us Robb. Classic blog Ryan.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Sorry, I got sidetracked with a beetle problem. I will get the videos back up as soon as possible, so keep watching for them. (I will bump the post as they go in).

Thanks


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


OK I re-embedded all the video on this post and only one appeared WTH? Do any of you more tech savvy people know if there is a way to extract video from one site to another? (any reccomends on a video upload site would be appreciated)


----------



## richardwootton

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


Ryan, great post! I have just started making a good pair of winding sticks and stumbled upon this blog. Have you posted the videos on youtube? They still aren't showing up in the post.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Using the tools: Lesson 1 the Winding sticks and Straightedge.*
> 
> Hello again, before we get started today, I just wanted to say thanks for all your patience during my busiest time of year. Today we are going to get started on our active lesson plan…in other words we are going to start using the tools we have discussed in the previous chapters.
> 
> I just thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I have been obsessed with building things since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had the opportunity for formally apprentice as a jeweler. That experience has heavily influenced the way I have approached cabinetmaking over the years. As an apprentice, you don't get a lot of what I would call practice, instead you are given "practical experience". You are given a task that needs to be done for the shop, but it's the kind of task that you can mess up a bit while you build your skills. Over time the tasks that are assigned to you become more and more complex as you build upon each lesson. That's the kind of learning curve I would like to emulate for the class.
> 
> While we are on the subject of class format….A bit about the way these classes will be laid out: up until now I have either done picture and text chapters for study, or long form video explaining what we are doing. The videos take quite a bit of time to produce and I would like to keep the class moving at a reasonable pace…however, I really think you need to see some of the things we talk about being done to understand them better. To this end the future classes will be picture and text like the majority before, but I will add in short video clips demonstrating techniques.
> 
> Now that we have got that out of the way, let's start making shavings. You need two more tools before we start building the table, the good news is you get to build them. A pare of winding sticks and a straightedge are essential when prepping work by hand…they also make good fodder to learn some of the fundamentals of woodworking.
> 
> Layout
> Hand Planing
> sawing to a line
> Drilling a square hole
> 
> Not bad for a lazy afternoon.
> 
> First things is first. You are going to need a piece of wood that you can plane flat. I found a really dense chunk of oak that has been in my shop for 4 years or so…the longer it's sat around and gotten used to it's environment the better. 1" thick 8" wide 38" long should give us plenty of material for the winding sticks and the straightedge. Try to select something with a straight grain pattern as any tear-out on these tools will give you a headache.
> 
> Winding sticks can work well anywhere in the realm of 14"-36" long. The set I use the most is about 15" and they work great since my bench is up against the wall. They also allow me to balance them on my bow saw blade to make sure I have it set up without any twist. A longer set is more accurate as well as being more appropriate for larger projects, so I will be making my second set about 36". If you feel confident hand-planing just stop at one, if not, the second set is valuable practical experience. Whatever your final dimension is give yourself and extra inch or so to remove after you have planed the wood…this helps eliminate snipe from poor planing technique, as well as giving you somewhere to goof up while starting your rip saw. The straight edge is best made from 30"-36" long.
> 
> We will start by ripping our stock to rough dimension. These tools work really well if they are in the neighborhood of 2" wide. So we will give ourselves some extra meat to work with and make our workpieces 2 1/2" wide (once your have become more proficient at sawing and hand planing this allowance of a 1/2" will shrink to 1/8" or less.). To make our mark we will set our combination squares blade to project 2 1/2" from the body. Set to body of the square on top of the workpiece, and the work piece on top of your bench. A bench-dog is really helpful to keep you work steady, you can also kneel on your work at the saw bench for the layout process. Place the tip of a pen or pencil on the end of the straight edge, now move both hands and tools as one, keeping the combination square against your stock and your pen against the blade…all moving down the stock to create your line.
> 
> It's harder to describe than to do…just watch (take note of the shape of the straight edge I forgot to take a picture)
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413086950229
> 
> Once you have your line on the face side of the board, it's a good idea to put one on the leading end. That makes life easier when you are starting your cut since it gives you the ability to visually determine square.
> 
> Let's take the board to our sawbench and start making sawdust. Learning how to use hand-tools is a lot like learning to dance. You start with a theory, learn a rhythm, memorize a step, and build on those previous lessons until you learn a waltz or a tango. The skills you learn while roughly ripping a board will translate to making the most complex joints later on. Starting a saw on the right location is how we will start this particular dance.
> 
> To start a saw at the saw-bench (or whatever you are using for a sawbench).
> 
> Kneel on the workpiece.Use the thumb of you non-sawing hand to guide the saw into place on your cut line. Try to keep your thumb an inch or higher so the teeth of the saw are not a threat to your fingers (kind of like dealing with a really sharp knife in the kitchen). Tilt the saw towards the heel of the saw a bit. (this helps the saw take less of a bite and makes it easier to start). Lightly pull the saw backward to start establishing your kerf, and then lightly push the saw forward. If you do this right it should just take one stroke to get a good start. Sight down the mark on the end of the board to make sure you make your cut is square (tilting the saw forward as you do this). If you start your saw right and hold it lightly then it should very easily do the rest for you…however here are a few helpful tips.
> 
> 1. Use the whole saw. It's really easy to use short strokes that use only the teeth in the middle of the saw…this slows things down quite a bit.
> 2. Tilting the saw forward makes it cut fast but makes it less accurate (this is why you hear the axiom of 45 degrees for crosscutting and 60 degrees for ripping thrown around a lot….if your saw is anywhere in that realm you are going to cut just fine.)
> 3. Keep your dominant eye over the saw plate. This seem weird at first but it really helps you saw square.
> 4. If you get off of you cut line don't try to twist the saw back onto the cut, it does not work, all it does is serve to take your cut out of plumb. Instead, pull the heel of the saw back towards the board as far as you can without leaving your kerf, use light pressure on the saw plate to push the teeth where they need to go and use light strokes until you have begun to establish a new kerf, past your previous error. Your saw will follow this new path.
> 5. Use different muscle groups…ripping is one of the most physically demanding tasks in hand tool work. Fortunately the simple demands of work holding provide us with a good opportunity to use different handholds. Once I am about halfway through a cut I like to sit the board and cut away from myself, using an overhand grip on the saw (sometimes called French Ripping). It's a bit more difficult to make full strokes but if you are doing a lot of ripping this will hep save your arms and back from imminent doom…take look at what a mean.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413104375229
> 
> 6. Use your head not your muscles. The saw is not going to run away from you, hold it gently and let it do it's thing. The more you try and force it to do it's job the less it's going to do what you want it to, take your time and use a light touch…it just goes smoother that way.
> 
> Now that we have our stock on the bench (2 pieces for the winding sticks and 1 for the straightedge), we need to true the useable surfaces on it. For the winding sticks we won't bother with the faces, just the edges. Set the piece for the straightedge aside so you don't confuse it as one of your winding sticks.
> 
> Use hand-screws, dogs, stops, or your vise to hold the work steady…any solution that holds your work steady while you hand-plane should work well. Take a wide stance, this lets you use your legs more than your arms when hand-planing, so you won't tire out so quickly (your arms should do the finesse work, while your legs do the grunt work). Make sure your plane is set up right before you get started. The arc of the blade on your jack should be in the center of the plane body and should project 1/16th of an inch, give or take a bit based on how hard the wood you are working with is. For the jointer (whatever you have the straight ground blade in) the set up is a bit more picky, here is how I like to set mine up.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413122580229
> 
> When planing stock by hand the most important thing to remember is to transition the pressure from your hands as you move the plane forward. in the beginning of the cut, you apply the most downward pressure to the knob (leading end) of the plane, as the back of the plane gains purchase to your workpiece you transition that downward force to your trailing hand, and continue that way through the cut. Put another way…try to make a bowl with the plane and the length of the plane will defeat you and cut straight as it was intended to.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> You can just plane both sides flat and even on both winding sticks (clamping them together on the bench to plane them is a great way to make sure the winding sticks are parallel to each other). As long as the winding sticks are parallel to each other they don't need to be of an even width (provided you mark them so you don't orient them wrong), but let's go ahead and plane these to proper width since it will help us understand how do do it when we need to on a component for furniture. Before we do that, put a squiggly mark on the planed edge as well as one face of each board. Good hand work recognizes that it's next to impossible to get anything "perfect" by hand, so these marks will always represent your "one true face and one true edge" (even though we have not touched the face this is good practice) lay out all your marks for stock prep and joinery from your "true" surfaces and you will avoid a ton of mistakes (you will also save time because for many components of handwork you don't need to true all six surfaces of a board). Next time saving tenant of hand work…remove the least amount of material necessary to complete a given task. Use your marking gauge to find the narrowest point of your two winding sticks, subtract a 16th of an inch or so (I use the word or so a lot with measurements because I mark more than measure), and use that setting to mark the second edge so you can plane to these marks giving yourself two parallel boards the same width. Go ahead and gang them up and take a few light passes on them when you are don just to make sure they are done right. Before moving them from this position make a mark in the center and at one end of each board (this way your can re-orient them later when we drill our "reference" holes).
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413129320229
> 
> To cut the pieces to length, cut one end square on each stick. Lay out your lines for the ends from your true face and edge, use a layout knife for this since it will help guide your saw as well as reduce tear-out, don't forget to support your off-cut or you will tear out the underside of your board. You can also chisel a small notch where you start your cut. Follow your cut line with the chisel into the corner of you cut then cut a v shaped chip out of the waste side of your cut, this guides the saw right into place and is a good habit when accuracy is critical. Make sure that your stock is firmly supported so you can use the chisel with both hands…BOTH hands control a chisel, this will save you a trip to the hospital for stitches, I promise.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?videoid=10150413184780229
> 
> Next you will drill holes where your made your reference marks earlier. This gives you a permanent reference for how to lay the sticks on the board you are checking as well as giving you a good way to hang them up in your shop.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150413188725229
> 
> With any luck at this means you have a set of the most valuable tools you can make for the hand tool shop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The straight edge is a similar process, only take the time to dress the faces and ONE edge with great care (plane to thickness the same way you plane to width), check for twis twith your new shiny winding sticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, one true face, one true edge. To make sure that the straight edge stays straight expose as much end-grain as you can by laying out a taper on the untrue face, (give yourself about an inch of room to re-surface the true edge over the years as well as a straight place to hold), just lay this out with a pencil and the edge of one of your winding sticks until it looks right. Use your jack plane to hog off the material at the thickest part of the taper (be sure to plane down the taper or you will go against the grain big-time and tear-out great chunks of wood) one hand-screw works great to hold your work at an appropriate angle when you do this. Ease any sharp edges on the untrue side with a block plane and your have got yourself another useful tool.
> 
> Go ahead and sweep up shop, you are done for the day…unless you are having too much fun.


At some point I need to repost the videos on you tube, I just have not got to it because the upload time from my location is pretty long (and I keep waiting for word that LJ's has fixed it's video upload…have they?), and I need to get the video's off of my old hard-drive.

Excuses excuses. I just need to get this done one thing at a time.


----------



## RGtools

*Mortise and Tenon*

Mortise and Tenon

Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.

I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)

Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.

We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.

Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.

To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)

Right










Wrong









Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229

Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)










Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229

For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.










Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.

Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.










On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229

Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)










Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229

Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).

I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.










http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229

Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.

My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.

Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)

Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.

Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.

I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.

Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.

When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.

You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.

To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.

For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.










http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229

For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229

When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


RG - Once again you amaze me. I always cut my joinery by hand simply because I enjoy the challenge and although I do a couple of the steps slightly different, I basically follow the same process. Like you, I've experimented with different methods and I'm now happy with my process and get repeatable results. My process varies from yours as follows:

1) I use the mortice wheels on my Titemark gauge and set them to the width of my chisel. Then mark my mortice and the tenon with the same setting. I saw to the line and strive for saw cut to saw cut joints.
2) Before I start chiselling my mortice, I drill a full depth hole about 1/8" in from one end with a bradpoint bit, then I chisel the waste into the hole. Using this method you can go full depth from the outset and it is significantly quicker when you have a number of mortices to do.
3) I chamfer the end of my tenons very slightly and also the top of the mortice with a file. The reason I chamfer the tenon is that when it comes to the glue up, it is much easier to start multiple tenons when putting a project together. It also creates a little space for the glue that gets pushed down into the mortice to accumulate. I chamfer the top of the mortice slightly so that if glue does squeeze out the top of the mortice, there is a place for it to collect and it doesn't squeeze out past the shoulders and prevent the joint from closing tightly or give me problems when I come to finish the piece.
4) You didn't mention applying glue to a mortise and tenon joint, but nowadays I only apply glue to the mortice. If you put glue on the tenon and then drive it in, you are bound to get messy shoulders.
5) When drilling the mortice for drawboring, sometimes I don't drill right the way through both mortice walls. Obviously you can only do this if you have enough thickness in the mortice walls, but there are times when I don't want the dowel to show on the face side of the component but still want the benefits that drawboring provides. If you look at my breakfast bar project, you will see an example of this.

Thank you for all the time you are putting into this great class. I really appreciate it.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Oh yeah, one other thing I do is put my dowels in an electric drill and lock it in the on position and use a file to chamfer the ends of the dowels.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


1. Do you use the fixed mortise wheels or the adjustable? I have been thinking about shelling out but can't decide which way to go. 
Love step 2. Will try that.
3. I do this as well on glue up. Missed it for this entry good catch. 
4. when we get to glue up was going to cover, VERY good advice though so it will be worth repeating. 
5. I will be doing this on my occasional table (mine is actually a simple desk) because I love drawbores, but the look just did not fit.

Thanks for these comments. There is so much to cover it's good to have someone with experience to watch your back.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


All I have at the moment are the adjustable ones. I would like to get the fixed ones too, but they are pretty pricey for what they are and not a priority for me at the moment. Worth getting though if you often chop mortices of a set width.

If you send me a PM with your email address, I'll forward a PDF of a great article I have on different ways to chop mortices where the drilling method is covered in detail. The article is well illustrated and looks at the pros and cons of each method.

I can't claim to be very experienced RG, just well-read.  However, I am someone who thinks about why things are done in a certain way and I'm always looking for little tweaks to make a process more accurate and quicker, which is why I'm enjoying this class so much. You seem to share that approach to working wood.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


This is true. I think that's one of the main things that attracted me to handwork. You can adjust on the fly.

I bet you could get away with just drilling one hole. I was thinking about it while I grabbed groceries. Can't wait to get home and play.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Definitely, one hole is all you need. Because the chips break off into the hole when you drive the chisel in, there is less resistance and it is less effort to chisel and easier on your tools. When the chisel reaches full depth there is a definite increase in resistance and you know to stop.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


You hear that everyone? Andy just struck on another salient point of handwork.

Listen to your tools, they tell you what to do. (that goes doubly for the wood)


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Another fine blog, once again you take us through the stages in a easy and pedagogic way.
I wish I had had your blog when I should make my first mortice and tennon, a picture says more than a thousand words and these little videos make it a lot easier also.
Way to go.
I am quite lazy, so I drill a series of holes on my drill press and basically pare out the waste when I do mortise.
For the tenon I saw app 1 mm on the good side of the line and pare the tenon clean after, this because I then am absoluteli sure to get a perfect fit (I have had my share of loose tenons due to my lack of saw skills).
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


I've never actually done a mortise and tenon completely with hand tools. The RAS just calls my name. My son also recently left his Delta mortising machine in my shop, so I "had" to try it out.

I agree with what you said "Listen to your tools, they tell you what to do. (that goes doubly for the wood)". We all handle tools just a little different, and tend to work a little different. There may be a wrong way, but there are also many different "right" ways.

Thanks once again for the time to show us your way. After reading your blogs (and others of course) I tend to try different ways. I don't typically completely change the way I do things, but will often modify some process as I learn new and different approaches. Its the beauty of woodworking. Maybe you can't teach an old dog a new trick, but if one of the tricks is to keep learning, your golden.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Thanks Mads, That's the general idea. I had a saw skills primer that I really need to post. It's one of those quick tip sort of things that really made a difference for me. I have had my fair share of loose joints too but it does not happen much any more (thank goodness). Later in the series I ought to go over some of the ways to fix your mistakes.

I could not agree more Don. I feel like I took a bit of "a my way is the right way" approach with GaryP, earlier in the series. I did not mean to but it was taken that way. I have since made it a point to change my tone. If I see something wrong I'll correct it but other than that. I am going to try to encourage people to develop their own system that works for them.


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


RG, what you are trying to do is difficult. Teaching is hard enough, but you don't know if your reader will be someone who's never touched a tool before, or an old timer that could cut circles around you. Its great that you can be flexible, but I've said it before, this is a great series. I've done my share of teaching (not woodworking, but still). You can't write for everyone 100% of the time.

Keep up the great work.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


;-)


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Thanks Don.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


*Mads* - Now you're teaching me English. I had to look up pedagogic.

Jeg er imponeret.


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Same here Andy.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Andy you are teaching me english too. I will be going through my blog and doing a s for c swap later. (I still need to research the regional difference thing)


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


A c for s would be better Ryan. LOL


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Just lookded up the spelling of mortise and you can spell it with a c too. Mortice would be better if you're playing Scrabble because you score two more points.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or should I say YEC!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Smiles.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


I am sorry to be a little late here RG but I had to take the lesson in small steps since I have 
a migraine a week now … not funny :-(
but I simply have cheat and jump forward to this lesson to see it. mortisse and tennon is just as tricky as dovetails
in the way you have to be very consentrated when you make them and I just wanted to see 
if I cuold learn a few new tricks before I go back and try to catch up 

thank you for taking the time to make this …. now I don´t feel soo dum using the mortisse cheisels 
they were a new thing for me to use the old English mortisse cheisels I got earlyer in the summer 
and is different to use than bench cheisels

great blog worth to see a few times more 

take care
Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


I used to get migraines. Runs in my family I so know how you feel. Get better.

Glad you are enjoying the class. Mortice chisels are a beautiful thing.

Happy chopping my friend.


----------



## duskyf

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


RGtools

I am so enjoying your series! I am just starting out with woodwork with a focus on handtools. 
Thanks for all the effort!

Brit
I am also interested in more information on the single hole mortise method you mentioned, if you are willing to send it on?

thanks


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Both Brit and I could send you what he is talking about. Just PM me with your email and I can get it to you.

Glad you are enjoying the class. The last two weeks (this one especially) have been a bit hectic. I will get the next entry on Joinery up soon, this expands on the simple joint we did in this chapter by laying it out with haunches and on a whole assembly.

Enjoy the journey. Working with your hands is one of the most satisfying things you can do with your time.


----------



## duskyf

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


I have to do 5 posts to be able to send a message


----------



## duskyf

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Does this count?


----------



## duskyf

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


And this?


----------



## duskyf

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


Am I there yet?


----------



## duskyf

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


I've made the 5 posting mark and sent a PM, apologies for all the dummy posts…


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Mortise and Tenon*
> 
> Mortise and Tenon
> 
> Before we start on our table, we need to take the time to make a few practice joints. The oldest and strongest joint out there is the mortise and tenon. It's also the only joint used in this occasional table.
> 
> I wanted to make a set of bents to show you this but the hickory I had on hand developed quite a few cracks that kind of killed that idea for this weekend (a total drag for me because I really wanted an excuse to make the bents). On the other hand it's good that I could not do that because it may force you to take a look around your shop to see what you need that may require mortise and tenon joinery (workbench, bents, a drafting square for drawing…something that you can evaluate)
> 
> Failing that…a practice piece is a good warm up.
> 
> We will start with a piece of easy working wood (pine, poplar, alder…anything soft). Your dimensions should be in the realm of 3/4", 2", 24" (keep in mind the exact measurements are not important, just get close while removing the lease amount of wood to get square stock). Flatten a face, checking for twist, bow, and cup (this will be your true face…mark it with a squiggly), square an edge to it (true edge, mark it as such), plane to width and then plane to depth.
> 
> Let's also cut the then ends off square so we can show you how to make accurate (and visually appealing) saw-cuts at the bench.
> 
> To cut the end of your board square, use a knife and a square to make a mark square all the way around the edge of your board (referencing the stock of your tool on you "true" face and edge…if it sounds like I have repeated that a lot it's because it's one of the most important things you can do to create decent handwork)
> 
> Right
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a wide chisel to deepen that line (wide chisels are easier to steer) and then make another cut on the waste side to create a "v". This "v" guides the saw and creates a cleaner cut since the outside of the work has been cut with a chisel instead of a saw…this is one way you can get away with a rip saw on a crosscut.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424386040229
> 
> Occasionally this will result in a saw whisker (yes I know the corners have the "v" notches in them…I did not cut them off on this one since I wanted to focus on the joint rather than the saw cuts)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take this whisker off with a sharp chisel and a light touch.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424399620229
> 
> For the ends of boards that need to be of an accurate length a simple knife line around the board and a notch to start your cut is plenty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this board in half on and square the ends for practice sake (make sure your have reference marks to denote your true face and edge on what will become your two boards). Today I'll be making a corner mortice that you would be likely to see in a door, rebated back in a cabinet, or…a table leg and rail.
> 
> Make a mark on the true faces as shown so you know how the joint goes together, on a full fledged assembly the mark would not be on the joint (and not it pen), but this simplifies things for this project quite a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the piece with the point we will make our mortice. To start, make a mark on the inside edge to designate where the bottom of the tenoned piece should fall, this is the only mark you should make…unlike some people.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424375350229
> 
> Use dividers to set the set back distance, this should be about a quarter inch to give strength to then end of the joint while not losing too much glue surface (set these dividers aside since you will need this measurement later). Make an indent with the dividers and extend that indent into a knife line (don't make these very deep, or stop a bit shy of the edges of the board since a deep score mark could show on the outside of the joint)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you can use your marking gauge to locate the sides of the mortice. In a closed mortice I only make one line with my gauge since, the chisel itself defines the other wall. On a through mortice, the extra line is worth the effort since in reduces the chance of tear-out on the show side.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424423820229
> 
> Once you have located the mortice, you can start cutting it out. I always make my first two chopping cuts about an 8th inch away from my scribe lines for the ends of the mortice. Because of the force of the wood on the bevel of the chisel, the tool will not drive straight down so excavating the depth of the mortice first then chopping the ends straight down at the last ensures accuracy (the 8th inch waste wood that you leave till the end also gives you a sacrificial leverage point to pull chips out).
> 
> I can also set a square next to my work to ensure I am cutting straight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150424805790229
> 
> Clamp the work to your bench so it cannot move from the force of your chisel. On narrow pieces make sure to arrange your work so it's supported enough to not fall over.
> 
> My procedure for getting a mortise excavated is as follows.
> 
> Make two initial cuts about an 8th from the ends, when doing this I tilt the chisel away from the joint a bit so it drives more straight. This cut never goes further than the bevel of the tool (trust me getting a chisel stuck in your work is not entertaining)
> 
> Lean on the chisel make light scoring cuts along the length of the mortise (minus the 8th inch on the ends that we will leave until the end). Clean these chips out to create a small (8th or so) trench, this is a great aid in locating the chisel during the "bash out" part of the mortise, and it reduces your chances of tear-out on the side of the joint.
> 
> Use the chisel with the bevel towards the higher side of the waste in the mortise and take small bites with the force of you mallet. The chisel will cut chips and because of the bevel will also break them into the empty part of the cut (waste you have already cut). Lift out these chips with the tool. As I get deeper into the cut I take bigger bites as I have past the worry of tear-out. Take care not to let the chisel twist during the process as this will create and over-sized mortise wall.
> 
> I make a mark on my chisel to give me an idea of how deep the mortise needs to be. A set of dividers and and combination square is useful to have on hand. Set the dividers to your tenon length and your combo square a bit longer so you can check that your mortise will receive your tenon without the tenon bottoming out. I tend to march back and forth across the mortise with my chisel until I am at depth but there are other ways to get to the same goal (aren't there always). Double check this carefully to make sure you have reached depth across the entire cut.
> 
> Shear off the ends of the mortise and remove those chips careful not to dent the ends of the mortise. Recheck to make sure the depth is consistent and deep enough.
> 
> When laying out the tenon you can use the mortise to directly gauge from one piece to the other. Set pieces flat on your bench and set the tenoned piece against the mortised piece so you can access the mortise from the outside. Use a scribing knife to make marks on the tenoned piece using the mortise wall as a guide. Extend these marks to around the outside of the joint. The ideal way to do this is to have a marking gauge set to one wall of your mortise, and another set to the other wall, (this assumes you are marking from the face side each time) these two gauges left untouched could mark all your mortise and tenon joints for an entire project.
> 
> You can use the dividers you used earlier to mark the marks for your setback (the smaller waste material section of the tenon) and then extend those lines. You can imagine that it is a good idea to either mark all your pieces in a project in series, or have a ton of layout gear.
> 
> To saw out the waste I have tried several different approaches and I am still experimenting. Woodwork is best experienced from multiple perspectives, the more workable methods you try out the more our craft will make sense to you on a whole. For now, let's saw the tenon cheeks first followed by the setbacks (the cheek is the part of the tenon that will slide into the mortise while the shoulder is the part that stops the work from sliding further into the joint). In the video I removed the cheeks first the cut the shoulders, then do the set-back cheek, main shoulder, then setback shoulders. This give you good viability and good registration surface with the saw. I switch up the order a bit in the video below but you get the idea..play around until you find something that makes sense to you.
> 
> For the cheeks I make a simple notch to start my cut, on my shoulders I cut the whole groove with a chisel before I start sawing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425529150229
> 
> For extra credit you can draw-bore the joint. Use a dowel (or even better whittle a peg to an even diameter) to force the joint tight and make in permanent. I wedge or draw-bore most of my joints because I don't trust glue, and I like the permanence of it. Draw-boring is also cool because you can create assemblies without clamps. To achieve this affect drill a hole through the mortise piece in what you estimate to be about the middle of the tenon (do not have the joint assembled), it's a good idea to have scrap in the mortise to prevent tear-out on the inside of the joint. Ice this hole is drilled assemble the joint and use your drill to mark the center of the joint on the tenon (the point on a brad point drill works well for this.). Teak the tenon out and drill a hole slightly more towards the shoulder of the tenon. When assembled the holes are slightly offset and the pin being driven through this hole forces the joint tight and makes and permanent. A few tips, take a pencil sharpener and ease the edges of the pin so it goes in more easily. Also when you are gluing up, make extra pins and put a bit of wax on them, this helps matters tremendously. Use a playing card with a hole in it to saw off the pin without scoring your work and then trim it flush with a chisel, or do the chisel trick as shown in the video (which works better on softwood pins than hardwood ones.)
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150425580265229
> 
> When you are done you can saw out everything but the joint (saving enough material that you can evaluate or even mark your mistakes) this way you can continue making practice mortices while only using a few inches of the wood each time. Practice makes perfect, applied practice teaches you more quickly…find something.


That is hysterical. That's a good rule since it keeps the spam count down.


----------



## RGtools

*Designing a table. *

Just a short entry today.

Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.










The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.










The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.

In my case I really need a simple desk.










You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.










As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).

When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.










Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.










Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.

For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).

I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.

To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.

Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Great post Ryan and just what I needed before getting ready to go to work. Story sticks are great, although I have to admit that my main reason for using them is because I don't trust myself with a tape measure (if I can find it ).


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Coming from a carpentry background, I tend to use a tape measure more often. I will often draw out the design with incremental measurements, so if a shelf is 7" from the bottom, the first measurement will be 6 1/4, then 7 etc. That way you will loose the "creep" from measuring individual sections. (yes a story pole may be better, but we learn how we learn)

I always try to buy to much lumber as well. Its wood, it NEVER goes to waste and there is nothing worse than wanting to finish a project and being a 1/2 board short.

Once again, great post.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Don, I still use a tape measure when I am in carpentry mode, but it does not see use in my shop during a furniture build…more or less of the same reason Andy said. I just hate dealing with the numbers. On my last project (which one day I will post here) I recorded a certain measurement as from the "tip of my finger to that mole", you use whatever method works and stick with it.

I can attest to how much it stinks to have that 1/2 board missing from your shop. It's worse when you think you have enough wood but some massive checks screw up your day)


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Great post, I'll try the story stick next time, I hate the numbers to and this seems more enjoyable.


----------



## Chips

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


I think you changed the way I work. Thanks


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Thanks guys, that made me smile. I forgot to mention as a convenience you can make different story sticks for vertical, horizontal and depth measurements. This is really a boon on more complex projects. For this one I might just recommend doing your measurements for the vertical, and long horizontal on one side of the stick and then doing the short horizontal later (that way you don't trip yourself up on the leg positions since the setback is different but the width of the leg with be the same)


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Story sticks are also great if you are making multiple copies of the same piece. ex: two bedside stands, 4 chairs, etc.


----------



## mainwoodworks

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Don't forget the golden dimension. Length is approximately 1.618 X Width. This is the most pleasing proportion.
It does not have to be exact but the closer the better. As far as buying lumber I also multiply the board feet by from 1.1 to 1.3 times what is needed from the drawing. The exact figure is dependent on the type of lumber I am buying. If there are a lot of knots or blemishes in the lumber use the higher figure, if it is clear use the lower figure.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Great tips Mainwoodworks.

As far as the golden dimension is concerned when designing by eye you will most likely find the dimension in your projects without having to do the math. If it looks good it is good, but knowing the math behind the visual qualities you are working with can serve to enhance your understanding of design.

I tend to add more waste than that (between 1.3 and 1.8) but that is based on working with reclaimed stock and being very persnickety when it comes to getting grain I want out of boards.


----------



## a1Jim

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


I agree with the concept of using story poles .A book by Jim Tolpin I read years ago was where I learned how valuable story poles can be. It really helps to prevent transposing numbers or other mistakes like forgetting about the inch you burned on your measuring tape. I also design by eye ,it may turn out or may not to be the same as the golden mean but if it looks good an is functional it is good.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Designing a table. *
> 
> Just a short entry today.
> 
> Since we are about ready to start with our build, I thinks it's well past time I let you know something important about the class. There will not be a measured drawing coming from me. Building by hand is very different than working with machines and as a result our approach to design must be different as well. I would rather encourage you to get a table out of your head than to copy one from paper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The goal of this class is to build an occasional table. An occasional table is just a name for a table that is an accessory to something else (usually a bed or a couch). The side table next to the couch and the coffee table in front of it would both qualify as an occasional(or accessory) table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole idea is that the piece of furniture is usually designed with another piece of furniture in mind. A coffee table needs to at a good height to rest your feet (even if your wife says that's not ok, it a comfortable height for your coffee to rest too). A side table for a couch should be comfortable to grasp for a book, drink, alarm clock or lamp. When you design around the human form and the other furniture in a room it's hard to fail. Think about your needs, and fill one.
> 
> In my case I really need a simple desk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might think that's pushing the occasional table theme a bit (it is), but my table is still an accessory to my computer chair as well as the armoire next to it. I prefer to design by feel more than numbers, a brief rough sketch, and a written outline of the requirements of the piece and I am on well on my way. I am not saying you can't draw a scale drawing or even a full scale one, if it helps you, do it. It just works better for me if I get a general idea and build on it piece by piece.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the table is very simple, a top, 4 legs joined by 4 stretchers (or rails).
> 
> When figuring out the dimensions of a project I prefer to use a story stick to capture anything critical. Just take a straight board (do I hear another excuse for planing practice) that is a bit longer than your project will be and take it to the area that you intend your furniture to go. Mark one end of the board as your reference end and make sure all your marks come from that end (this avoids mistakes when transferring these measurements later on). Any marks I make are in the corner of the stick with a knife.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I figure out the length of the table by going from the side of the armoire (minus an inch or so) to the edge of the current desk. I like the depth of the current desk so I copy that to the story stick as well. The height is usually the most important part of the table. I need it to be low enough to work a keyboard but still have room for my legs to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed I tick these marks off (my current desk is a bit high so I lower it a touch) and these distances give me the maximum "thickness" of the combined rail and top. The rest can be figured out in the shop.
> 
> For aesthetics the legs of the table should be inset a bit from the top (about 3" for my table, I might draw one side of the table full size to get this right), I will use dividers on my story stick to locate this setback. Take care to label the marks on your story stick carefully as you would not want to mistake what measurement is what. Next I will give the legs some thickness. I will be working with 8/4 stock for the legs so I go with a leg thickness that will work well for this…depending on the size of your table you may want to use 6/4 stock (the rest of the table can be made with 4/4 stock). I would not recommend laminating thinner stock for the legs since it tedious work by hand for a visually inferior product. Mark the thickness of the legs on the story stick in their locations from the set back. If you subtract 3/8-1/4 of an inch (use dividers not math) from both outside edges of the leg you should get the length of your long rails with the length of the joinery (the tenors) included. The short rails and setbacks can be figured in a similar way but should not be too large as making the table too narrow will make it unstable. You can then measure your story stick to obtain a cutting list for your parts (I only do this if I have to buy wood for a project so I know how much I am going to spend).
> 
> I strongly feel that you should design furniture with a certain sense of permanence. Part of making sound furniture is making it visually appealing enough to be kept around through the ages. Combine that with bombproof joinery and you really have got something. Make your legs from thick parts, and wide parts for the top, this speeds up construction and looks better. I usually try to have enough wood on hand that I can start a project without having to go to the lumberyard. This approach does not work for everyone (or even me all the time), so I think it's prudent to cover how to buy enough wood for an order.
> 
> To figure out the board feet you need for a project in take your components and use this formula, the inputs are thickness, width and length in inches: (TxWxL)/144 then add about 20 percent for waste. Seem complicated? Try rounding up to the nearest foot for the length and skip the division step, this is not as exact but a heck of a lot easier to do in your head at the lumberyard.
> 
> Now start drawing, and start figuring out your table. We are going to build it soon.


Well put Jim.

I have burned enough inches to have made the switch.


----------



## RGtools

*Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*

We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).

A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229

I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.

1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.

If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.

1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
3. Scrap it and select better stock.

I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.

As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229

As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.

Wood warps in three ways.

Cup, which is warp across the grain.
Bow, which is warp with the grain.
Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.

All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.

Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229

I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*
> 
> We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).
> 
> A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229
> 
> I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
> 2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
> 3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.
> 
> If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.
> 
> 1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
> 2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
> 3. Scrap it and select better stock.
> 
> I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229
> 
> As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.
> 
> Wood warps in three ways.
> 
> Cup, which is warp across the grain.
> Bow, which is warp with the grain.
> Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.
> 
> All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.
> 
> Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229
> 
> I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


Beauty and Bones - Love that expression. It says it all really.

Great post Ryan. You pack so much good information into each episode. I particularly like your tip about using your coarsest rip saw to crosscut rough stock because it is the easiest to sharpen. I love your Diston saw too. They are sooooooooo expensive over here when a good one comes up on eBay. What is the PPI?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*
> 
> We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).
> 
> A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229
> 
> I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
> 2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
> 3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.
> 
> If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.
> 
> 1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
> 2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
> 3. Scrap it and select better stock.
> 
> I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229
> 
> As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.
> 
> Wood warps in three ways.
> 
> Cup, which is warp across the grain.
> Bow, which is warp with the grain.
> Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.
> 
> All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.
> 
> Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229
> 
> I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


4 1/2. I should not rub this in but it was $5. Love that saw.

If there are any in particular you are looking for I could most likely find and ship your way. Saws are one thing I have good luck on.


----------



## jorges

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*
> 
> We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).
> 
> A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229
> 
> I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
> 2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
> 3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.
> 
> If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.
> 
> 1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
> 2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
> 3. Scrap it and select better stock.
> 
> I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229
> 
> As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.
> 
> Wood warps in three ways.
> 
> Cup, which is warp across the grain.
> Bow, which is warp with the grain.
> Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.
> 
> All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.
> 
> Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229
> 
> I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


I know it's been ages since the original post, but I followed all the parts back in the day from start to finish and I loved it. Unfortunately, at that time I couldn't do more than watching. Today I came back here with the intention to review some (most?) parts of this class as I am building something right now, just to learn that all the original video content is gone! Is there a tiny chance you can re-upload them? 
Thanks, albeit a bit late, for this wonderful effort!,

Jorge


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*
> 
> We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).
> 
> A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229
> 
> I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
> 2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
> 3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.
> 
> If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.
> 
> 1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
> 2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
> 3. Scrap it and select better stock.
> 
> I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229
> 
> As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.
> 
> Wood warps in three ways.
> 
> Cup, which is warp across the grain.
> Bow, which is warp with the grain.
> Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.
> 
> All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.
> 
> Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229
> 
> I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


There is a REALLY good chance I will re-upoad, and remaster the content. I have been away for a while but I am back in the shop again and that also means spending some time getting my video's up and running. Glad you liked it.


----------



## jorges

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*
> 
> We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).
> 
> A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229
> 
> I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
> 2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
> 3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.
> 
> If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.
> 
> 1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
> 2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
> 3. Scrap it and select better stock.
> 
> I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229
> 
> As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.
> 
> Wood warps in three ways.
> 
> Cup, which is warp across the grain.
> Bow, which is warp with the grain.
> Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.
> 
> All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.
> 
> Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229
> 
> I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


That would be great! I'm looking forward to it.

Jorge


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Part One: Starting On The Base.*
> 
> We will start with the base. On this particular table it's wise to build the top last since it is the component that is most prone to warp. I took a reading with my dividers to figure out the likely thickness of the top and use that marking to figure out the width of the rail (based on the total height mark and bottom of rail mark we made before).
> 
> A quick note on material selection: This class being geared towards the beginner, I really recommend you take the time to find straight grained material. When selecting wood for hand tool work it helps to think of the wood like this: for any good piece of woodwork you need two things, beauty and bones. Without bones the furniture can't stand up, without beauty no one can fall in love with it. The base being the bones, you want the grain of a board to travel evenly in one direction from end to end. For the rails and legs if you can come by quartersawn stock you are really going to like it. The stock for the top can have some figure to give it beauty, but try to avoid reversing grain patterns and curly material if at all possible, since they are more difficult to deal with.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462331635229
> 
> I am not taking that advice…unfortunately. I use reclamation wood in my shop which requires some extra work to clean up…if you get into this invest in a scrub plane to remove the grit and grime so you don't mess up your nice tools. The quartersawn stock I am using for my rails has turned out to have an incredible curly figure (under all the grit and grime I did not see that coming). This means that the grain reversed directions on me every three inches or so causing a tremendous amount of tearout while prepping the board. If you run into a problem like this, you need to do three things.
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron and keep it that way. The biggest thing you can do to tear a board apart is to put a dull blade to it.
> 2. Take smaller bites, thinner shavings mean less leverage for the wood to tear itself out ahead of the cut. It also means more passes and more work to get where you need to go… Another reason why your first project should be in a very boring wood.
> 3. Adjust your mouth opening. Tightening your mouth allows the wood to be supported directly ahead of the cut; this last trick requires an adjustable mouth. A wooden plane can be adjusted slightly with a few sheets of carefully placed masking tape on the bed.
> 
> If you still run into trouble you have a few choices still.
> 
> 1. Use a higher angle plane. Easy to do with bevel up tools, on bevel down tools you would have to establish a small bevel on the back of the blade (10 degrees or so). This requires a second blade for your smoothing plane as you don't want to permanently alter the properties of this tool
> 2. Keep tearout to a minimum during stock prep scrape and sand out any irregularities you have left.
> 3. Scrap it and select better stock.
> 
> I'll be using a high bevel angle plane to smooth these pieces. 10 degrees of will hopefully make the difference that I need to happen….I'll let you know.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, you want to rip and crosscut your pieces a bit over long (an inch or even more in warped pieces) and a bit wide (1/4 to a half inch…again dependent on the amount of cleanup you think you will need). When four square you can go ahead and cut your rails to length, try to get them square on the ends but don't freak out it they are not they won't effect the joint and will be hidden in the mortise. Cut your legs about 2 inches overlong and leave an extra inch on them when you saw them "square". This will allow you to leave horns on your table legs when you make the mortices for the rails with less risk of damage to the legs. prep the stock for the top after the base is complete.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150462359585229
> 
> As far as prepping that stock you goal is to make everything nice and square by getting rid of warp.
> 
> Wood warps in three ways.
> 
> Cup, which is warp across the grain.
> Bow, which is warp with the grain.
> Twist…the board tries to corkscrew.
> 
> All of these problems can be corrected by planing across the grain or with the grain. I apologize because in the videos I mess up the term once or twice…cold day, the brain must have been frozen.
> 
> Cut your pieces to rough length ( an inch longer than you want them) and width (about a 1/4 wider) before you start to plane. This will really reduce the amount of waste you have to remove with your planes.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463008055229
> 
> I like to work across the grain first to correct major issues with big bites from the plane, and then finish by planing with the grain with light strokes. In other words start with a coarsely set jack plane, and finish with the finer tools. I have video of this filmed but am still trying to get it all uploaded so we will cover the planing step in the next entry hopefully tomorrow.


In the mean time if you need any help on something let me know.


----------



## RGtools

*Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *

Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:

Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.

The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.

Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229

Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.

EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229

Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.










http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229

Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Twist and shout, looking good.
Do you move your sticks don the board as you get closer to flat? 
When you have a board with this much twist, there is a good chance it will twist with the change of temperature and season so keep a eye on that one after, it might be that the frost sets in and you then have less moisture in the air.
Always a pleasure to see you work.
Best thoughts buddy,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Hey Mads. Yes I take a few different readings.

It is risky to use a board with this much twist in it, but I think that the twist has more to do with the way the board was dried than the way the tree grew. I have see some really twisty boards stay flat over time from this particular tree so I should be ok (though there is always that fear in the back of your mind…it's best to work with good stock).

Thanks and I hope that all is well on your side of the globe.

Ryan


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Ryan - I bet that warmed you up.  Thank you for sharing.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Weird… the videos got de-linked. I will have to look at that.

You are right Andy a few minutes of stock prep and I forget about the cold.


----------



## tomfidgen

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


great project and posts Ryan, thanks for sharing.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Glad you enjoyed it. I am having a blast with this particular opportunity.

Thanks,

Ryan


----------



## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Outstanding!

ALL of the planing tutorial footage I have come across goes something a bit like this …

"First you need to prepare the stock. To begin you flatten a reference face then joint the reference edge square to that face. Use winding sticks to identify where the stock needs to planed and a straightedge to check for flatness once complete. Once the reference face and edge are square use your marking gauge to mark the desired thickness and plane to the line."

This is then demonstrated by them placing a 8/4 piece of clear basswood, with grain straight as a string, on their bench. Now they may detour a moment and give an explanation on how to use the winding sticks to identify a twist in the board but not much more on how to remedy the twist (not even something as simple as "plane under the high side of the far stick until it is in line with the close stick" … nada). Then they proceed with a couple passes with a jackplane across grain and then smooth it in four passes with their #4. The stock is then flopped on edge so that it can be jointed. They effortlessly pass the jointer along the edge. And as they are pulling the four foot long, gossamer thin, unbroken shavings from their plane they say something to the effect of "Simple as that. Now that that the stock is ready we can start cutting the joint."

Alright I have to admit that for a knucklehead like me, who on most days still cannot produce a square/straight crosscut with a miter box let alone on a bench hook , it was inspiring at first to see these graceful efforts as the unruly stock is flattened and brought to dimension by these seasoned craftsmen. But when I grabbed some scrap and tried to get a few uniform pieces made so that I could practice saw cuts or constructing joints it did not play out like I had read or seen… imagine that. And that would be completely fine if I had more resources to look to in order to give some guidance on how to deal with imperfect stock, or what it can sometimes take to get an edge properly jointed, etc..

And that is the point I am trying to convey with this long-winded diatribe. You are providing a resource for me to use to better my skills and direct my efforts. You point out many things that veteran woodworkers probably take for granted but are not so obvious for a beginner like me. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to put this all together. I am learning lots.

Thank you Ryan.

~Tony


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


I get what you mean Tony. It seems like everything I read about hand planes early one was oversimplified, mechanical or just plain inaccurate. If you start diving into old woodwrking texts (pre 1900 at least) you start finding some very good advice about handwork. There are some modern authors how are putting good info out their again, but I think it's kind of a process of re-discovery. We don't have the community of knowledge that we do for power tools because let's face it…less people use them. I think we are building a good community though with a lot to offer. I just wanted to cover some of the pitfalls you may run into so you don't have to cuss like I did.

I am glad you are enjoying the class and I hope to keep the lessons coming at this same sort of level. One craftsman to another. Chatting at the bench about the ways of working wood.

Thanks,

Ryan


----------



## lysdexic

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Ryan,
Not much to say but just to llet you know that I am enjoying the class and following along.
Scott


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Stock Prep Continued: Planing Parts For the Base. *
> 
> Hand planing the parts for the base is a great intro into getting components ready for handwork. Here are a few hints:
> 
> Use the outside of the rails as your true faces since they will show and will be partially (or fully) smoothed from the prep process. The top of the rail should be the true edge. You will need to plane to width as well but this dimension can have an error or two in it and no one will know but you. I often leave a scrubbed surface on the interior rails…flattish is good enough, and it leaves and interesting texture to find when someone explores the piece in more detail in the future. The rails don't have to all be the same thickness either, as long as the are close to 3/4 inch you can make your joinery come out just fine.
> 
> The true face and edge on the legs should be the inside edges since they will be accepting the joinery. Try to pick the uglier parts of board for these faces putting the pretty parts of the board on the outside. Don't forget to leave the legs longer than your finished dimension. Make the cuts on the bottom and top as square as possible though since this will help with layout. You will need to surface all the legs. Take your time to make them as straight and square and even with as can be. True the face and edges of your legs first then go over the pieces to see if you can find the narrowest dimension of your square legs. This will allow you to keep your marking gauge on one setting and serve to simplify this chore.
> 
> Depending on how much work you need to do you may want to smooth your work after joinery or before. The heavier the material removal is going to be the more I lean towards before. As stated before select good stock and your smoothing stage should be pretty minimal and can be left till near the end of the project (which is nice since you are bound to dent or ding your project at least once between stock prep and assembly).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463774490229
> 
> Planes don't always do all the work for you when removing warp. Think about the material you need to remove and selectively focus on it. This is especially true on the convex side of the warp since the plane tends to just follow the crest. Planes really excel at correcting concave surfaces though so that's the good news, just plane until you start getting full length shavings and you are home free. On the convex side take aim at the highest spots and expand them until your board becomes flat.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention in the text that when you plane across the grain you are very likely to cause tearout on the exit edge of your cut. I deal with this in three ways, I chamfer that edge to give better support to the cut and to finish the cut before the edge. I then usually joint that exit edge as the true face to remove that chamfer and any light tearout. I use the opposite edge as my exit side when planing to thickness and tend to remove the section for my width last in those cases, this removes your last chamfer and any odd tearout that may have occurred.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150463808095229
> 
> Twist is it's own beast to remove. Plane across the high points and then finish with full length shavings. Fortunately I have a really good example for the class. I remove it at the end of this video.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150465065750229
> 
> Keep your tools sharp and start making some serious shavings.


Thanks Scott. Hope it's helpful.


----------



## RGtools

*One step back to take two steps forward. *

Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.

The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.

Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *One step back to take two steps forward. *
> 
> Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.
> 
> The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.
> 
> Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


Those boards are going to make a nice table Ryan. Definitely the right move to switch.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *One step back to take two steps forward. *
> 
> Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.
> 
> The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.
> 
> Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


Glad you agree. To say I went back and forth at first is a bit of an understatement. I hate switching gears after I have started cutting wood but I hate even more to work towards an unwanted result.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *One step back to take two steps forward. *
> 
> Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.
> 
> The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.
> 
> Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


Yes beautiful wood Ryan, I love that top piece.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *One step back to take two steps forward. *
> 
> Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.
> 
> The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.
> 
> Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


I have been saving that piece of beech for a long time. I love to find wood that inspires me. Color in a typically boring wood excites me.

Best thoughts to all. Happy Thanksgiving too.


----------



## jordanusmc

RGtools said:


> *One step back to take two steps forward. *
> 
> Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.
> 
> The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.
> 
> Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


I have been enjoying your post on the in and out of hand tools. Keep them coming.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *One step back to take two steps forward. *
> 
> Just a quick entry today before my wife kicks me off the computer.
> 
> The reclaimed walnut from heaven/hell, I ditched it. Not because of the figure being difficult to plane, but because when I opened up the two large slabs I saw the most GORGEOUS wavy figure. As I intended this to be used for the legs, the figure was compromising the integrity of the piece. No matter how many times I tried I could not get 4 legs with straight grain from end to end (or even close). Kept as larger pieces the walnut will be great for a trestle style base for my wife but the smaller legs were not happening. Fortunately I have a beautiful piece of beech and a piece of brown oak the likes of which you will not believe. I have laid out the cuts on these to slabs and wondering why in the heck I did not choose this wood in the first place.
> 
> Such is life. Take a look at what I mean.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150482167360229


Thanks, I am glad you are having fun.


----------



## RGtools

*Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*










I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).

However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229

Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).










When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229

Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.

As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229

I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.

Have fun making a pile of shavings.


----------



## skeeter

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


im curious if you wet the wood on either side before you resawed it, if it would help with the moisture problem on the inside. kind of like veneering with hide glue. wetting both sides to keep the veneer from warping. Has anyone tried this?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


No. That's an interesting idea though. I would like to hear from someone who has messed around with this option.

I typically just work with very dry stock and give resawn stock a week or two to figure out what shape it wants to be before I plane to thickness.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


Once again you are teasing me with that lovely saw. 

I love the smell of Sapele, but it can be a challenge to plane and finish. Are you going to fill the grain? I don't know what finish you have in mind RG, but I would strongly recommend going through your finishing process from start to finish on a test board. I built a garden gate out of Sapele which you can see in my projects. I filled the grain on the panels, but not on the frame and there is a stark difference as you can see in the photos. Obviously it doesn't matter on a gate, but it wouldn't look nice on a piece of furniture. It wouldn't be a problem if you were using an oil finish, but varnishing without filling the grain will look awful.

Great blog. The highlight of my week.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


thank you RG 
goood blog

funny to see you flip the board as you saw thrugh it with this big handsaw 
I know we do it when using framesaws but I have realy thought about this for some time 
without coming up with the answer to …... it shuold be possible to resaw from one side only
with the same good result ….. but in the last 4 years on the net I havn´t seen 
the right tecnic yet since they all have there drawbacks when using a handsaw 
little werd since doing it on a bandsaw they allways looked good when you compare it
to a handsawn piece 
have you thought about this .. if so …. have you any idea´s of where the big secret is hidden …. 
obvious a knowledge we have forgotten over the last 150 years

take care
Dennis


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


Resawing by hand? Calculate a galoot factor on that!


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


Andy, the first picture was purely for your benefit. I was thinking either oil or thin (very thin) shellac for the base, but you are right about doing a finish on a practice piece. That would be a very hard lesson to learn on wood so valuable.

Dennis, It;s true we have forgotten quite a bit. It's nice to be part of re-discovery though. I have a frame saw that I use for most re-saws, but I felt like showing you can do it with a panel (I kind of liked it better to be honest…don't tell my ECE)

Al….two points perhaps?


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


interesting. Think of the money we can save on gym memberships just by upping out galoot factor.


----------



## Dennisgrosen

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


naa …your ECE will first get blue and then purple if you get one of theese 
to resaw with ..










Dennis


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


Nice. I really want one of those…but my wife already says I have a saw problem.


----------



## superdav721

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


Very well written and detailed blog. I learned a few things. Thank you for your time and effort in your post.
Sapele when finished has a 3d look to the grain that I love. Your project should come out wonderful.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


I've really been enjoying the way the color changes with the direction you take it in. Subtle change too.

Thanks for the kind words, I will keep the series going until were are done.


----------



## Limerick

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


RG, I saw your blog awhile ago in progress, but have not had time to catch up. Unfortunately, I have been ill with a winter bug. Fortunately, I have had the time to read the blog over the past few days. I find it very informative and interesting. I expecially liked the information and videos on hand planing. I find it difficult to do, much less master. As others have mentioned, most of the descriptions I have read make it seem so easy. You are doing a wonderful job with this, and I know it is a ton of time and work. Thank you. I will be following along for all of the great information and demonstrations. Now, if only I could find great used tools for $5.00.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Resawing by hand, and some further stock prep*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend that you do a larger resaw for the top of your table. While doing this gives you the option to book-match figure, that invites two problems. One, the grain direction on a book matched table top reverses across the joint making the smoothing operation a more more careful process. Two, resawn stock always moves…no matter how dry it is, it is always more moist on the inside of a board than on the outside. As it equalizes it moves. This requires you to either re-saw your stock early in the project and let those components rest while you work on other parts (what I do), or to resaw, square and cut joints all in one day before the wood has a chance to move (a serious gamble and not a feasible option for a table top).
> 
> However the likelihood is you will have to resaw a board at some point (especially when you start building drawers). Since I ran into the need to do this for the stretchers in my desk (I only have the one slab of wood to work with) I think this is a good time to show you how to do it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511283145229
> 
> Careful layout is key to a good resaw, a deep scribe line and possibly a small knife cut along your layout line make a huge difference in starting your saw. If I am working with rough stock, or if I have to resaw a board other than in half this is what I do. If I am working with nearly dimensioned stock I can cheat a bit and use a marking guage to make a V groove for me (simply mark the center-line from both sides, the bevel of the gauge makes your V).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When starting a saw, use a light touch and a light angle to kerf in your work on the line, (an eighth inch groove is sufficient.) Do this from both side to make sure you don wander to much. Take you time. With you have a kerf around the initial part of your cut. You will use the heel of the saw mostly to do this. You can saw at an angle once this is done. Work at roughly a 45 degree angle to the work, and flip the work over often to ensure you don't go astray. This should be more monotonous than exhausting, use a light touch, whistle, and let the saw work for you. If the work is long enough sit on it and finish the saw cut using an overhand grip. If it is shorter clamp it in a vise and finish it from the other side (I hate the hump this creates so I present an alternate solution in the video).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150511329000229
> 
> Always give yourself extra thickness to deal with warp after resawing…it's a fact of life learn to cope with it.
> 
> As far as stock prep is concerned, I am starting (or re-starting) on the legs. Make your true faces the inside of the piece, they accept the joinery. Pick the two ugliest sides and make those flat. For a stock prep session like this what I like to do is get all of my true faces done for each leg and then use one setting on my marking gauge to plane to thickness and width on all the legs. This gives me very uniform looking stock as well as giving me the opportunity to modify my design a bit if the components need to come out slightly undersized do heavier than anticipated planing.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150512126350229
> 
> I should be able to post video of planing to thickness soon.
> 
> Have fun making a pile of shavings.


You just have to keep your eyes open on the tools, screamin' deals don't come by very often but they do happen, and are generally worth the wait.

Sorry to hear that you have been ill (tis the season) but I am glad you are on the mend. Working with hand planes is a bit like riding a bike, it takes the right phrase and practice before you have that "Ah ha" moment. It's not particularly difficult, it just requires you to be a little systematic. Keep at it and you get the skills you need.


----------



## RGtools

*Planing the legs to thickness (and width)*

If you have planed all your true faces and edges for the table legs, you can now set your marking gauge to the thickness of your legs (they are as wide as they are thick) and do your layout with one setting. Take a second to try a few spots on each board before you mark everything in earnest, find the thinnest spot on the thinnest board and subtract a hair from that…this should be your setting, it should also be fairly close to your story stick, if not, no worries, just get it close.

Mark around the entire piece and take a minute to look at how much material you have to take off. If you have the room remove any cup twist or bow before you try to make the surface parallel to it's opposing side (this simplifies the adjustment process). Make adjustments be taking selective shavings on the high parts of the board and check you work often. I am taking things pretty slow in the video because it's important to try to get this step right. My master used to say "accuracy first, speed later", he was right, get to the point that you can do something consistently then learn how to do it fast.

With any luck you will have one whisker left on both corners, with one final pass of a plane. If not you live in reality land and things are not always perfect, this is why you plan for imperfection. The face sides are on the inside of the board to accept the joinery, any inconsistency gets thrown to the outside where no one (not even you) should notice it. The whiskers come off later when you smooth your work and break your edges so leave them alone for now.

As far as the true face and edge for the rails, I would pick the pretty side to be true and put it on the outside, and the top to be true since it has to mate with the underside of the table top (a slight hollow is ok but avoid a hump on these edges like the plague), this way small inconsistencies are thrown to the bottom edge and the inside of the table where they will be almost impossible to detect.

Once all your stock is true, your are ready to for joinery. Don't rush this part though, it's the building block for everything else. Take your time and enjoy littering your shop with shavings.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150527976510229


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Planing the legs to thickness (and width)*
> 
> If you have planed all your true faces and edges for the table legs, you can now set your marking gauge to the thickness of your legs (they are as wide as they are thick) and do your layout with one setting. Take a second to try a few spots on each board before you mark everything in earnest, find the thinnest spot on the thinnest board and subtract a hair from that…this should be your setting, it should also be fairly close to your story stick, if not, no worries, just get it close.
> 
> Mark around the entire piece and take a minute to look at how much material you have to take off. If you have the room remove any cup twist or bow before you try to make the surface parallel to it's opposing side (this simplifies the adjustment process). Make adjustments be taking selective shavings on the high parts of the board and check you work often. I am taking things pretty slow in the video because it's important to try to get this step right. My master used to say "accuracy first, speed later", he was right, get to the point that you can do something consistently then learn how to do it fast.
> 
> With any luck you will have one whisker left on both corners, with one final pass of a plane. If not you live in reality land and things are not always perfect, this is why you plan for imperfection. The face sides are on the inside of the board to accept the joinery, any inconsistency gets thrown to the outside where no one (not even you) should notice it. The whiskers come off later when you smooth your work and break your edges so leave them alone for now.
> 
> As far as the true face and edge for the rails, I would pick the pretty side to be true and put it on the outside, and the top to be true since it has to mate with the underside of the table top (a slight hollow is ok but avoid a hump on these edges like the plague), this way small inconsistencies are thrown to the bottom edge and the inside of the table where they will be almost impossible to detect.
> 
> Once all your stock is true, your are ready to for joinery. Don't rush this part though, it's the building block for everything else. Take your time and enjoy littering your shop with shavings.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150527976510229


Another great video Ryan. I always look forward to watching them. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Planing the legs to thickness (and width)*
> 
> If you have planed all your true faces and edges for the table legs, you can now set your marking gauge to the thickness of your legs (they are as wide as they are thick) and do your layout with one setting. Take a second to try a few spots on each board before you mark everything in earnest, find the thinnest spot on the thinnest board and subtract a hair from that…this should be your setting, it should also be fairly close to your story stick, if not, no worries, just get it close.
> 
> Mark around the entire piece and take a minute to look at how much material you have to take off. If you have the room remove any cup twist or bow before you try to make the surface parallel to it's opposing side (this simplifies the adjustment process). Make adjustments be taking selective shavings on the high parts of the board and check you work often. I am taking things pretty slow in the video because it's important to try to get this step right. My master used to say "accuracy first, speed later", he was right, get to the point that you can do something consistently then learn how to do it fast.
> 
> With any luck you will have one whisker left on both corners, with one final pass of a plane. If not you live in reality land and things are not always perfect, this is why you plan for imperfection. The face sides are on the inside of the board to accept the joinery, any inconsistency gets thrown to the outside where no one (not even you) should notice it. The whiskers come off later when you smooth your work and break your edges so leave them alone for now.
> 
> As far as the true face and edge for the rails, I would pick the pretty side to be true and put it on the outside, and the top to be true since it has to mate with the underside of the table top (a slight hollow is ok but avoid a hump on these edges like the plague), this way small inconsistencies are thrown to the bottom edge and the inside of the table where they will be almost impossible to detect.
> 
> Once all your stock is true, your are ready to for joinery. Don't rush this part though, it's the building block for everything else. Take your time and enjoy littering your shop with shavings.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150527976510229


Thanks Andy, although I am not sure If I am old enough to be wise yet.


----------



## RGtools

*Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*

Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.

For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.

Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229

The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).

Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.

1. The shoulders for the rails. 
http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229

2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229

You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.










This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.

Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.










This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.



















Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.

Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.

1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.










2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.










Cheers


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


Just wanted to let you know I'm watching too, started a little late and still back on #2 or #3. Thanks for doing this, very informative. I just picked up an old 7tpi Disston saw today, made sure of the tapered blade thanks to you.
Tim


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


ok Ryan, I can't keep up watching. I watched earlier and didn't have time to post. Just trying to catch up. I need a set of mortise chisels, but not right now, I've spent to much on planes. I guess the Delta mortise machine will have to do for now 

Great post. I'd love to work with you in the shop for a while.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


Tim, congrats on the saw…that is a great all around tooth configuration. The difference on the tapered vs non tapered blades is night and day. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine. Did you go rip or xcut (if you file it by hand a rip saw performs pretty well in both circumstances based on the unintentional fleam created in the teeth)?

Don. When you decide to make the plunge start with a 1/4 or 3/8. Those do very nicely. I really like the sash chisel style LN makes for the smaller sizes and the Ray Iles chisels are monsters at eating away large hulks of wood. If you are in Oregon at some point don't be shy. I would love to say hello, but bring a coat and a coffee mug, my shop is freezing this time of year.


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


Ryan, there is a sharpening service close by so I may have them sharpen it (rip) the first time as I have a xcut saw.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


Do they machine sharpen or hand sharpen? A machine filed rip saw does not handle crosscut that well because there is not any fleam to the teeth. Although you could always have them do the conversion and you could take it back and touch it up by hand to save some time (and file wear). A good crosscut saw in that range is nice to have too (8 tip Disston D23 is the perfect crosscut saw). I guess it just boils down to what you need more…and all around user (rip) or more of a finishing tool (xcut).

Post a pic of the new toy Tim.


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


Well OK Here is my cross cut, 10 tpi, its sharpened and returned to user status









and here is the new toy rip saw 7 tpi, I found a couple broken teeth so I will have re-tooth and sharpened. I guess it would be an option to change it to 8, any advantage over leaving it at 7?









The handle is a little rough and this is the good side.









but have no fear, a while back I found this hanging in an antique shop so looks like I will get some use out of it.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Laying Out the Joinery For Your Table*
> 
> Once your stock is at a working dimension (4 square and final length for the rails an inch overlong for the legs) it's time to start laying out the joints that will create the base for your table. The joinery used for a good table is a haunched mortise & tenon. There are several great alternatives…but this is a good starting point.
> 
> For furniture it is important to think of the end result early on. Take a moment to arrange the pieces on your bench so you know at a glance where the true faces and edges are. Find an orientation that allows you to have the true faces and edges of the legs on the inside (where the joinery hits), and the true faces and edges of the rails up and out (allowing a seamless mating between the top and presenting a better show face on the outside). Think about the way you want the grain to run based on the tapers (which will be on the inside of the leg not outside). I like to arrange the grain to follow the taper if I have a bit of runout to use, but this arrangement reverses the typical arrangement for planing the tapers because of the grain…not a big deal but something worth bearing in mind.
> 
> Once you are happy with an arrangement mark your rails and legs with a cabinetmakers triangle. This will really aid construction of your work in the next steps. Use one triangle mark on the four legs, one for each pair of rails (3 triangles in the end). I put mine on the top of the legs (which will get cut off) and the top of the rails (where the table top hides them). Pick a direction for your triangles and stick with it. That means that the point of the triangle should always point the same way on a component now matter where it is in the piece. A logical way to do this is to have the triangles point towards the back of the piece (I typically choose the left…don't ask why).
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571237610229
> 
> The layout process starts at the legs. Take your legs and make an even mark squared around the top about 3/4 of an inch from the end (this helps you mark out the horns that will aid in assembly as well as protect the piece from blowing out as you mortice near the end. The extra quarter inch on the bottom gets chewed up when you level the table after attaching the top. Next we do the most critical measurement in the whole piece…the shoulder cuts. These measurements are paramount the the final look of the piece and they are also what dictate the shape of the piece (rectangular, hopefully). Mark the shoulder length directly from your story stick, and don't worry if the overall length of your rails is a bit off. The shoulders matter, the length of the tenons can get adjustment within the leg…if your rail is a bit long of a bit short just split the difference in length on both ends of the piece to keep things close. Some people mark the shoulders with the individual rails clamped together, I have never had good luck with this. If you use a knife to make your story stick the layout from it to each rail is dead on, so I do mine one at a time. Square the shoulder line around the end of each rail with serious care to reference from the true face and edge (always important, but forgetting this here would be disastrous enough to mention it again again).
> 
> Once you have this done you can start laying out the rest of the joint. Let's start with the rails (tenons) since it's easier to superimpose those to the leg (the mortise). I mark all the rails at the same time for consistently.
> 
> 1. The shoulders for the rails.
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571309870229
> 
> 2. The setback at the bottom of the rail. This is about a quarter inch and is just there to hide the end of the mortise hole in case it's a bit irregular.
> 3. The Thickness of the mortice/tenon can be done and anytime. If you use a single guage, mark the thickness out one mark on all the rails, then a second mark that is taken from your chisel (I set my chisel on the rail against the first mark and made a second mark with a knife on the other side an lined my gauge up to that)
> 4. The haunch is about 1/4 quarter of the tenon width (from the setback to the edge use dividers to step four steps…when it lines up you have your measurement…make a tick in your work with the dividers and set your marking gauge to this setting.)
> 5. the haunch should only be 1/4 to 3/8th deep, mark this next. I just eyballed a divider seting and went with it.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150571412150229
> 
> You should end up with crisp lines that you can transfer to your mortice. Note the pencil lines where just to help show that structure of the joint but can be an aid in sawing later, since it will be your goal to remove one the half of the pencil mark that is on the waste side of the line leaving the other. Don't mark the shoulder this way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is where life can get tricky. You could cut the tenon first and super impose the joint to the other…but it's easier to fit a fat tenon to a mortise than to pare a mortice to fit a tenon. I lay everything out first but cut the mortise first. Line the edge of the rail up to the knife line at the top of the leg. The rail should set back from the leg about 1/8th of an inch. But the outside of the leg is not true. That's OK. Find a setback that looks right and mark the back of the joint (the inside of the table with either a pen or a light marking gauge mark (careful not to go below the rails width, not fun to fix). This mark only needs to be on one leg, since you use it to find where the mortise walls go (lining up the gauge with your tenon marks after lining up your rails to your top line an back placement line). Using a mortice gauge you can just line up the marks and be on your merry way (take a second to pencil the setback mark from your rail to your leg so your gauge marks don't go too far down the work). With one gauge I would use a different tack, I would make knife marks in the leg where the tenon cheeks are so I could drop my marking gauge into those to capture my settings…I would mark the legs with one setup of the gauge, switch set ups and mark the final marks…going back and forth with gauge settings can be bad for your health.
> 
> Finally you can take dimensions for the haunch and the setback and transfer those with a knife to your mortise. Dirty cheating trick…I only use one rail to do this on each leg, I square the other mortice dimensions by lining my square with my knife mark, nicking the inside corner of the leg, and flipping the leg over so I can use the nick mark to line the other horizontal marks up exactly the same as the other joint. The nick is on the inside of the leg so even if its too deep for a smoother to take it off no one knows it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the sloppiest of the four leg layouts I did but you will note I was careful not to allow any of the markings extend through the front of the work since this would be visible on the final piece. Some craftsmen layout there joints, cut them and then plane off the marks they left (Tom Fidgen does this to great effect). I prefer to be tidy with my initial layout instead. Both approaches work but I feel my way has less chance for error in effecting the squareness of the casework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crisp layout really helps the work come together well. Note that may lines will be covered when the joint is assembled, this is worth the extra time.
> 
> Now we can set down the knife and pick up a chisel…for those of you who like to skip ahead two key pieces of advice.
> 
> 1. Cut the full depth mortice before the haunch (think about what happens to your layout line if you got the other route). Note the bit of breakout I had on the first mortice, the rail covers it but the grain of this sapele will not be forgiving to more slip-ups on my part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut one mortice to a depth where it just touches the second mortice wall. Cut the second one to depth, this helps avoid breaking out the interior wall of the leg…saving valuable glue surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers


If you are keeping it as a rip I would stick to 7, that's a pretty good trade off between surface finish and speed in a rip saw…though my go to saw is a 4 1/2 TPI beast. Hard to top that.

There is a fair amount of plate left in that tool so I think you will have time to change your mind if needs be.


----------



## RGtools

*Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*

First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.

The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.










The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.

As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:

1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint. 









2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel. 
3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly. 
4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface. 
5. Cut the second haunch.

Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.

1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint. 
3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.


















6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel. 
7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.










Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.

Here is the video I shot for the process.

Cutting the mortices in the work.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229

Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


----------



## StumpyNubs

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


This is great! I love to see hand tools in action! Thanks for posting!

-Jim; aka "Stumpy Nubs" 
(The greatest woodworking show since the invention of wood is now online!)


----------



## BrandonW

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Great videos. Loved the card tip and the masking tape on the chisel.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Hey Stumpy. Glad you are enjoying it. It's fun to wander around your shop too.

Brandon (I love the new icon by the way). Thanks, I rarely work from plans and since I make so many aesthetic changes on the fly, I needed to figure out ways to make my joinery work out in the end. All in all it takes about as much time as doing a scale drawing and figuring out the math but it gives a bit more versatility.


----------



## Hayabusa

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


great class Ryan, you know I love this kind of joinery. I have just would go with a bevel haunch, but nevermind it works perfectly. Keep it up !


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Thanks Julio. The blind haunch is a fun joint to cut, this one will get covered by a table top so it may not be worth the extra effort.

What have you been building on your side of the world? I saw some lovely half blind dovetails of yours.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Looking good my friend, fine work, spot on.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## Sodabowski

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Do I spy a "I love you my handsome woodworker" note from your wife on picture #2? 

> keeps reading and enjoying the series <


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Hello Mads. Thanks I am glad you are enjoying the series. Your stuff lately has been fascinating.

Sodabowski. My wife occasionaly vandalizes my bench…I love it when she does. Usually after I flatten my bench the crisp blank canvas is too much for her to resist. I did not even notice it was in the picture. Glad you are enjoying the class.


----------



## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Another excellent class.

"A chisel no-no. Working parallel with my vice" ... i thought, what the hell? As you were shifting you work perpendicular to the vise it was clear to me.

I not only learn a lot about your focus subjects i take away a ton of subtle tips as well.

Thanks again Ryan.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Tony. The little things are the things I hope people pick up from the videos so thank you very much for saying so. Working perpendicular with your vise is a rock solid way to work…but just like anything else it has it's limitations. If I have to work in parallel with the jaws such as for a resaw it's a good idea to put a back stop behind you piece.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Loving it Ryan. Keep up the good work. I watched all the vids when you first posted it, but I see I neglected to comment at the time. Thanks for braving the cold for us.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Thanks Andy,

Soon as I am done with this table I have som insulation to do. I have 10 fluffy rolls of R-13 from a friend just waiting by my bench. I admit I am a bit behind this week, so my next entry should be in about 7-10 days, only five left and we have a table.


----------



## zewood

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


I need a basic 101 course starting from Tools and going from there. Been doing as much research online as possible. Going to build a 24×24 on wheels work table (for holding tools and manovering them while working) I don't even know how to start how do I even keep the wood together without anyone holding the frame up while I put on side rails? Pathetic case I am.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Cutting the Joinery for Your Table*
> 
> First off since you are working on furniture…clean up your bench. Sweep it off and put the tools away. This may seem odd since you are going to take the tools out again but it's not, you are going to pound on your work quite a bit during this process. Chips left on your bench get wedged under your work and dent it. Sweep your bench off and keep it clean. I put all my tools away after each joint is made to fit, this speeds things up because you are not fishing for tools you thought to put in one place or another, and it also helps make sure that you don't knock a tool off of your cluttered bench onto the floor. If you knock a chisel off of your bench let it hit the floor…even if it is a $100 Ray Iles and it snaps on concrete (unlikely) it will be cheaper to replace it then go to the hospital for stitches.
> 
> The haunched mortice and tenon has a few differences from a standard mortice & tenon, but it is still a simple joint to work with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first major difference that you need to cut two mortices in each leg. I suggest that you pick a leg, and drive the two mortices into that leg, then cut the matching tenons for those mortices. Repeat this order on the other 3 legs.
> 
> As to the actual driving and cutting of the joints here is the best way to go about it:
> 
> 1. Set your chisel to a depth that just licks the interior side of the second mortice that you will cut. (masking tape helps) This is fairly easy to figure out since you can see the final depth from the outside of the joint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Cut out the partial depth mortice, leaving the haunch alone. Check for depth with a square and check that your chisel is vertical often by placing a short ruler against the true face…you should be able to see that the ruler and your chisel are parallel.
> 3. cut the haunch using a new depth mark, My bevel happened to be just right so I did not need a second piece of tape. Be careful here…I drive the chisel to depth and come back from the mortice side to get under the chips and lift them out, this makes the interior of the joint a bit cleaner. I cut my haunch a tiny bit higher than the table height line (Robert wearing goes all the way to the end), this allows for some adjustment in the assembly.
> 4. Cut your full depth mortice on the other side (and the haunch too). The joints should meet, barely. By cutting the first mortice at partial depth you allow the second one to be cut while fully supported…this prevents breakout on the interior of the joint and saves valuable glue surface.
> 5. Cut the second haunch.
> 
> Now find the rails that would mate to the two mortices you cut. I like to keep the leg I am working on and one of the rails I am working on atop my bench while I work. The other parts I tend to keep on my saw bench. There are several ways to cut the tenon, I played around with the order quite a bit on a few that I have cut so far to see what works best and I can say that this is the order I think is the most efficient and clean.
> 
> 1. Cut the cheeks. This is the most critical part of the joint since it contains the long grain to long grain surfaces of the joint (joints have two kinds of strength, glue and mechanical interlock…maximize both wherever you can).
> 2. Make the rip cuts for the, setback and haunch. Be especially careful on the setback not to cut too deeply, this would show on the outside of the joint.
> 3. make the cross cut for the haunch.
> 4. chisel a v groove into the shoulders. Crosscut those (this includes the crosscut for the setback). Take care with your saw not to over cut the joint. You may have to break of the cheek waste piece since the cuts are sometimes made in an arcing motion leaving a hump in the middle of the cut…you will pare this out with a chisel later.
> 5. First test fit. If you are like me your joint length will not be perfectly designed and will most likely be a hair overlong (short happens too but is less common and should be avoided since it gives you less glue surface). The goal here is to get the joint to bottom out on the interior wall of the mortice (you can see this quite clearly if your mortices meet like they should). Once you hit bottom you should see that the shoulder has a pronounced gap to get to the leg. Measure this gap with playing cards and add one card to the deck, transfer the thickness of the playing cards to your marking gauge and scribe around the end of the tenon. Remove this this from the end of the tenon with a saw (if larger than 1/8th) or a chisel (if smaller than an 8th). Keep the gauge setting since it should be the same for all the joints. Playing cards are handy…the extra card we added gives just enough clearance for the glue to go somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 6. Second test fit. Assemble the joint making sure that the shoulders meet the leg. From the open mortice, scribe a line on the tenon with a chisel. Use the wall of the mortice that is closest to your rail shoulder (the inside of the table) to guide the chisel.
> 7. With this line you can use a chisel to miter the inside face of the mortice…get the scribe line and the back corner to meet and then take a bit more off the miter to avoid the two miters bottoming each other out. This is great practice with a chisel…your results don't have to be pretty, but aim for it anyway so you can learn control.
> 8. Do the other tenon and test fit the leg with both rails in it at once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Check for square on the joints often and early…Troubleshooting joints that are off is a pain but its worth taking the time to think out your adjustments before you make any cuts. If it takes more than a few tests to get everything fitting right that's fine, take your time and don't force things (my first tenon on this table made my bench look like a warzone FYI…the rest have fit pretty well from the saw). If the joint is fat in places when you try to assemble it you will see shiny spots where the grain gets compressed. Remove those lightly…I would rather take a lot of light cuts and get things right than remove to much and have to correct a sloppy fit.
> 
> Here is the video I shot for the process.
> 
> Cutting the mortices in the work.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150600360775229
> 
> Cutting the tenon took 3 videos.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601160635229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601617310229
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150601643805229


Hey Zewood, this class has a pretty decent bit about the tools starting early on. Here is the link the the first bit.

http://lumberjocks.com/RGtools/blog/24865

I went into some detail (not comprehensive by any means) about your needed tools and what you may or may not need to look for…hope that is helpful.

As far as the worktable, what kind of work do you plan on doing on it…are you carving and doing small boxes or do you have any full sized cabinets in mind? Think about it and the size of your work before you settle on a size of bench that works for you…I think I am safe to say that a cabinetmakers bench averages out at about 6ft-8ft long, 24" wide at a good height for working. Wheels are good for mobility but if you are thinking about doing any handwork on them I would reconsider them….your bench needs stability to resit moving when you apply the pressure of saws, planes, and chisels to your work. When it comes to assembling the frame take the legs and frame them together two at a time. Then attach those two assemblies together. you can use Jorgensen wooden jawed clamps at the bottom to stabilize the two assemblies while you work.

Clamps are you friends use as many as you need to get things right. If you post a picture of what you are trying to do, we may be able to get more specific…no need for anything fancy you can draw it on a napkin for all I care.


----------



## RGtools

*Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*

Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.

1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.

Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.










Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).










Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).

Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229

Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…

For Long narrow stock:

You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).

Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229

For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.

Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229

Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.














































Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.










Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.

Here are some random pics for this part.

The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:










Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.










Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:










Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


Sweetness. Loving the grain on that apron!


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


Thanks Ryan. There's some good tips there. That's going to be a nice table. I like the proportions.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


Finally got the third video to appear. Sorry about that.

Thanks Al and Andy.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


Things really start to take shape now.
What a nice table.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


Thanks Mads. Taking shape is exactly the way I feel this part is.


----------



## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


That table is really coming out beautiful.

In the still photo where you are marking up the taper layout; you would be viewing from the face that your fingers are on (face to the right in the photo) to tell if you like taper or not, correct?

A ripsaw, really? Tpi? Sorry a little bitter maybe, i cannot cut that square with my miter saw.

Thanks for a another great class Ryan.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Shrinkage Buttons, tapers, and glue up checks*
> 
> Now that you have the joints cut you are a bit closer to your glue up…but don't be too hasty. There are three things you need to do first.
> 
> 1. Do a test fit on the joints for the whole table. (well, at least the base)
> 2. Plane the tapers on the legs after cutting them to length.
> 3. Create the shrinkage buttons that are used to attach the top as well as the mortises in the rails that they join to.
> 
> Here I am just getting an idea of how the final product is going to look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really the order here is not super important…but I start with the test fit since I have all my joinery tools ready at this stage any way. I like to assemble the whole table and make sure that everything can be made square without the joints opening up. Check that your joints are tight, your legs parallel and that your corner measurements (diagonal from leg to leg and from top right to top left) are consistent for each dimension you check…these checks will really save your life in the glue up phase….that is not when you want to find problems. I test fit all my work this way, despite what some people say about gluing things up straight from the saw. To those people who say slap the glue on, I think you are either crazy or REALLY well practiced at cutting your joints (and I am sure that savants like Rob Cosman were test fitting their stuff when they were getting started).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you are satisfied with the fit of the joints go ahead and place a check mark on the ones you are happy with (on the interior of the rail is a nice way to go…that way you can leave the mark….or use chalk which cleans off easily). And make arrows pointing to the trouble spots you need to fix. Do the test fit gently as many times as you need until you are satisfied with everything (If you are doing draw-bores now is the time to get those drilled out).
> 
> Planing the tapers on the legs should be a fairly simple job if you have dog holes and a proper bench. Just make sure to cut your legs to length first so the tapers don't look wrong (and the tapers remove your true surface), I like use tape to lay out the taper so I can see what looks right to my eye and it also helps me tell which direction is going to be the right angle to plane by the time I reach the angle I am looking for. If however you do not have a good bench set up this is where Jorgenson hand screws will be a lifesaver. Use two to prop your work up at an angle and plane the whole works against a stop.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688717980229
> 
> Now on to the part of this that gave me a headache…. I have been busy and brain dead lately so bear with me…believe it or not this part is simple. The top is connected to the rails with buttons which can be purchased or can be made by the craftsman in a home shop with off-cut stock (a cheaper solution). This is because simply screwing the top to the rails would cause a serious wood movement issue (the rail does not move along the grain while the top moves across it)…you would either split the top or wear out your joints (which ever turns out to be weaker will fail). The buttons allow the top to "breath" with the seasons…there are other ways to do this, but for a small table I feel this is the best way. The buttons are hard to hold when they are finished size so it is best to produce them from larger stock that can be easily clamped to your vise, this can be done starting from either long narrow stock, or wide short stock…but these approaches require different approaches. Let's start with what is the SAME about the two approaches…your stock should be made flat and parallel on both faces (the actual thickness not being critical…just keep it even and in the realm of a half an inch), and one edge should be planed square and true. Also you should make a point to flatten enough stock to create all your buttons at once (this prevents going back and forth with your marking gauge)…. this is where the changes start in our two methods…
> 
> For Long narrow stock:
> 
> You will want to plane your stock accurately to width so all of your buttons come out the same width (or close enough). Then you will just need a set of dividers, A marking gauge a combo square and a saw. I like to scribe one line around the whole piece so I don't have to worry about that mark for depth of cut again. This line scribed on the edges of the work and on the end that you are cutting out first will allow you to stop your saw consistently. Basically, you are creating a Tenon with only one shoulder. For ease of cutting and marking I use the same gauge setting I used for depth of cut for the shoulder measurement. First, cut the shoulder, then the cheek from the end of our work piece to remove the waste…then drill the pilot whole in your first button chamfer both side of the pilot hole…one side to counter sink the screw that will go into the button and the other to remove any obstruction between the button and the table top. Cut this button squarely from your stock (I use dividers for consistency because I am OCD in that…but the actual length of the button does not matter.). You are at this point ready to mark the shoulder and cheek cuts again, saw out waste, drill, chamfer and cut way another button…repeat until you have enough buttons for your project (12 is usually plenty for a small table, I think I should need about 18).
> 
> Do yourself a favor and keep your marking gauge on the same setting since you will adjust it slightly to lay out the mortises in the rails that accept the buttons.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688379675229
> 
> For Wide short stock: This requires a rabbet plane, but is in my opinion faster because you don't have to do as much layout and sawing (one day I should time it over an average of 18 buttons…when I get some free time). Don't bother jointing both edges since one edge will be waste, just make sure the waste edge can be on the exit side of the rabbet planes cut. Lay out the shoulder and cheek of this joint as you would on the rabbet and cut it out. I use dividers in this case to lay out the widths of the buttons (a little over and inch seems to work out). I use a second marking gauge to layout the base line of the button (since I'm OCD) but you can use a combination square to accomplish the same feat. Mark square lines from your divider marks and use a dovetail saw to cut on one side of those lines to the baseline on each button. Then drill and chamfer the pilot holes as with the other method and crosscut the buttons from your stock…rinse and repeat.
> 
> Go ahead and chamfer the edges of the bottom part of your buttons just in case someone is running their hand underneath the piece….this is a good practice exercise for the bevel you will be doing on the table top. Cut the chamfers on the ends first with a block plane and remove any blowout this causes by going with the grain for the remaining chamfers. This is done best on a planning stop of some sort. Try the cut from a few different angles and see what kind of results you get. You will find an optimal angle to skew the plane to get clean controlled cuts on the ends…try and memorize this angle…it's going to be helpful when you create the top.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150688433600229
> 
> Adjust your marking gauge to create the mortices in your rails. You want to generate a little bit of pressure from the buttons to discourage any gaps from becoming evident between the top and the rails. To do this, the mortises need to be a little lower than the depth of the cheek we made before. Again out-come the playing cards; two cards set on the top of a button allow me to capture a new gauge setting from the button with just enough pull to keep everything where it should be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the mortises for the rails that go along the grain to fit…but make the ones that go across the grain a dimes' width too long in both directions to allow for seasonal movement. The other buttons simply move in and out of the mortise so a tolerance for those will be added when we install the top later. Cutting the mortises themselves should be child's play compared to the joints that went before it. Just take care not do dent the rails by sweeping off your bench carefully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop glue up…Unless you want to pre-finish your legs. If so the only real advice I can render is to tape off the mortises and the tenons in a way that the finishes will not interfere with your glue…but will fully finish the piece (you may have to cut special strips of tape tp accomplish this). This is a good route to go since any squeeze out will be easy to remove.
> 
> Here are some random pics for this part.
> 
> The one useful thing I have found for the bench cookie in a hand tool shop:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tore open a hangnail. Oh well the stain is on the bottom anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Masking tape is easier for that initial layout (then you just use the dimensions you captured from that on the other pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smooth crosscuts with a ripsaw? Yep.


Thanks Tony.

It was my dovetail saw (in the background on that pic) so the TPI is pretty fine at 15. You can still get pretty smooth cuts down to 12 or so but after that you need to do a bit of work to prevent too much tear-out (or adjust the filing on your saw).

As far as the taper. That is correct. The tape just gives you a clear visual as to how the taper looks…I start by marking my STOP line at the top of the taper (since there is not a lot of opportunity for play there) and I place one end of the tape on that….then I mess with it until I like what I see. Once that is done I use the marking gauge to make the second mark…connecting these two lines creates the taper.


----------



## RGtools

*Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*

The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.










Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.




























Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229

I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.

For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.

1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?

2. Is the joint closed?

3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.

4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)

Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)

On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things

1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.

2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.

3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.

Speaking of the top…

Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.

It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.




























I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:

1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)

2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)

Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).

One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.



















One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.



















I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:

1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.

2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.




























Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.

I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.





































Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


----------



## Kentuk55

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


this is gonna be real nice


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Thanks Roger. The top is almost smoothed (it's being a little cranky) and the texture of the wood is really exceeding my expectations.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Excellent lesson Ryan, thank you. One thing you didn't mention (which I know you're aware of) is the importance of grain direction when joining two or more boards together for a table top. The degree to which this is importand varies between woods, but it will make planing the surface easier if the grain of both boards runs in the same direction. Also, once a finish is applied and the light hits it, boards can appear different shades due to the refraction of the light off of the surface if the grain runs in different directions.

Just thought it was worth mentioning. Carry on sir!


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


I couldn't resist a quick peek


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Al - Take a looooong peek. I love how Ryan works and explains his thought processes. I'm saving the video until tonight though, as the sun is shining and I'm making a saw vise. Must dash, as I've still got some pontificating to do.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


THANK YOU ANDY!!!! I completly spaced mentioning that. This is why earlier in the series I say bookmatching your table top might not be the best way to go for your first table.

FYI…this slab of beech is making me pull out all the stops as far as smoothing is concerned, so many tiny knots that I did not see when I grabbed it. Beech has such a mellow grain pattern it's hard to see that kind of stuff in the rough. But that is another day and another lesson.

Al, you are going to have some catching up to do. I have one REALLY long post left in the class (possibly 2 if it gets too long winded) and I am done. Thanks for droppin in.


----------



## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Looking great Ryan. The check list will be particularity useful, for me.

I've said it before but i am really enjoying your class. It is great stuff. I have gone back and reviewed your posts on several occasions to double check proper technique/methods, as i practice. I am learning a ton from you. Thank you very much for taking the time to compose and post it.

I have used the steam iron/damp rag trick, you mentioned, when i was refurbishing a couple gun stocks. It can remove surprisingly deep dents. It is a very useful tip.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Tony, Thanks for droppin in, I am glad you have learned a bit and I look forward to seeing what you come up with over the years. The way I work is FAR from perfect, but it works for me, I think that is what is nice about htis place, you can learn how everone gets to their end goal and decide for yourself which is going to work best.

I try to prevent dents, but everyone screws up, so it's nice to know how to salvage your work.


----------



## Bertha

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Andy, I'm saving it up! I've got a big screen hooked up to a computer in my house. Once the last lesson is posted, I'm going to sit in front of the screen in my cozy chair, sketchbook in hand, and soak the whole thing up. It's already cleared with the missus. Not to be disturbed. I've been pretty good about it up to now; I'll just rapidly scroll past the working photos. Can't wait.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Well you're in for a treat Al. Rayn's blogs are great. As I read them, I swear I can hear the cogs turning in his head.


----------



## donwilwol

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


as always. Great Job Ryan


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


As long as the cogs don't need oil Andy.

Thanks Don, I'm near the finish line now.


----------



## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


It was a poor choice of words on my account. I should have said a proven technique/method not "proper".


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


I'll take proven. At any rate, I am glad I get get a few people to try this out. Working this way is a very good way to let off some steam at the end of the day.


----------



## steliart

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Nice video, very informative.
Thanks


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Nice RG that is going to be so elegant.
Best thoughts,
Mads


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Steliart, thank you very much. I liked your quote for your signature. That is so true.

Mads, it's always nice to here from your side of the world. I am glad you are like what you see so far.


----------



## Brit

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Ryan - Are you saying Mads looks like an occasional table or was that a typo?


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


LOL. Total failure to communicate…oh well.


----------



## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


Big time LOL.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
> 
> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
> 
> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
> 
> 2. Is the joint closed?
> 
> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
> 
> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
> 
> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
> 
> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
> 
> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
> 
> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
> 
> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
> 
> Speaking of the top…
> 
> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
> 
> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
> 
> 1. If your joint planed far out of square it will try to creep on you when you apply pressure from clamps (so the more square you are the better)
> 
> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
> 
> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
> 
> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
> 
> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
> 
> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
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> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


For the record I meant to type "are liking what you see so far"


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## mafe

RGtools said:


> *Drawbore, Glue Up, and Starting on the Tabletop*
> 
> The process of drawboring has been mostly covered but I felt like giving a few tips in case this is in your mind to do on your table. The main thing is to make sure that the holes are spaced so they miss each other and are close to the middle of the tenon (mine could have been closer). Also make sure that the hole you drill is not going to be under the shoulder of one of your rails…simple mistake that makes assembly kind of hard. Your holes should be as close to the rails as they can be without being under them. I used blind drawbores…take care if you do this not to drill through the leg, the tip of the bradpoint goes farther than you think. I used a brad point to start the hole and a twist drill to finish it to get as deep as I could in the leg without poking through the other side.
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> Give yourself 3/16ths of clearance in case you need to clean the outside of the leg after assembly. To create several drawbore pins I took ¼ inch poplar doweling rod and cut several pieces to length on my bench hook (a small pencil mark on my hook to get the length consistent helped), and lightly chamfered the leading edge with a pencil sharpener. MAKE EXTRAS!!! You don't want to scramble for more during a glue up, I typically make 5 pins for each 4 I need.
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> Glue up was…interesting. The filming did not go well so rather than show my blurry, out of frame, frantic attempts to glue up the entire assembly in one shot (against my typical recommendations…I screwed up of course) I thought it would be more beneficial to show what needs to be done for the successful glue up of this table. In short. Glue this up in three sessions; one for each of the short rail assemblies (one short rail two legs) and one gluing the longer rails into the two sub assemblies to complete the base. This means at max you only have to glue up 4 joints at a time…as opposed to 8. This will really help both your stress level and your chances of success.
> My apologies for the poor editing on this clip. I tried to get the full length video (12 minutes) up several times before I chopped it down to under 10 for upload.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150738347300229
> 
> I go through this in the video, but in case I missed something or you want a list to take into the shop.
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> For the small rail assemblies here are the checks you need to run.
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> 1. Does the top of the rail meet up with the legs eventual top line?
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> 2. Is the joint closed?
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> 3. Is the measurement from the corner of the bottom of the leg to top of the opposite leg (it's final height, not the height of the horn) the same from corner to corner…if so the sub-assembly is square.
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> 4. Check that the legs are not twisting from one to another (sight across the straight sides as though it were winding sticks)
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> Tweak the joints on these sub-assemblies until you are happy. Double check that large gobs of glue don't end up in the mortises that the longer rails will go into as those will require clean up or they will interfere with your fit. I pound the drawbores in once everything looks right (note, during test fit, I had to modify the fit of one drawbore hole with a rat-tail rasp in order to have the joint come together correctly…take your time with drawbore joints since they are permanent)
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> On the final glue up, you will need to do these same checks (on 4 joints as opposed to two). You will also need to check for a few more things
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> 1. Are the corner measurements from the top of the left front leg to the top of the right back leg the same as the measurement from the top of the right front leg to the top of the left back leg? Use a clamp from corner to corner on the longer measurement to squeeze this into alignment.
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> 2. Check the rails for twist with winding sticks. Tweak the fame to avoid any twist hear since it will interfere with the top.
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> 3. Set the who assembly on a flat surface (table saw in my case…but a well flattened workbench works too) to dry nice and flat…this saves time later when you go to level the table. If it dries a little off resist the urge to fix it now as attaching the table top may reintroduce (or fix) the issue.
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> Speaking of the top…
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> Starting the table top is very exciting to me. I have had this slab of beech waiting patiently for some time. I just needed the right project to come along. I did my layout on the table top before but left the cuts for after the base was complete…giving me time to meditate on my decisions. Invariably I change just a little bit when I do this and this top is no exception.
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> It's a point of pride to show a top that looks seamless, when I looked at my layout lines a second time I realized that one of my cuts was going to fall in the smoky colored section on the beech…if I joined this to the other board as I had originally planned then I would create a line where the seam hits and the color stops. As a result I decided that it would be better to miss the smoke color completely since the creamy parts' grain pattern is so subdued and easy to match.
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> I made this rip cut first and lightly jointed the edges with the stock clamped face to face, this is a nice tactic on longer pieces since any variation from square is cancelled out by orientation of the wood (if you are 5 degrees off square, one board will be 95 degrees and the other will be 85 degrees). Be careful with this technique though as it can lead to two problems:
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> 2. While this technique solve minor lateral problems, it doubles any lengthwise imperfections, so take care that any lengthwise hump or hollow is removed to the point that you can press the joint together with hand pressure (a very slight hollow on the joint is OK and even aimed for by some craftsman, but avoid a hump at all costs)
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> Obviously, your jointer should have a straight blade if you intend to do this (any edge to edge glue joint should be done with a flat blade really).
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> One orientation with the grain looked great and I used big triangles to mark how I wanted to glue up the joint…then I remembered about the big crack in the bottom of one of the boards, and I rethought things a bit…the small triangles became my permanent decision for how the joint goes together. Take your time with difficult and precious wood; you can rethink a cut several times but you can only execute it once.
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> One change always leads to others.…by adding an extra inch to the center of the top my new cut line (marked out using two marks with a story stick then connected by chalk line) fell directly across some of the pattern I wanted to keep.
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> I decided here that the best approach would be to decide where the front of the desktop should be to look right and to make that cut first. I had room to play around on the back end without messing up the feel of the piece. I made my rip cut and I jointed that edge…the smoke pattern falls around the left front of the top, I did this for two reasons:
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> 1. It looks cool and it is a clue to someone looking at this piece that this is not veneer.
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> 2. I wanted to know about how far the color goes into the wood since it has completely disappeared on the other side.
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> Knowing that the pattern seems to be halfway into the board gives me some confidence but I still want to be careful and not take off too much material. When gluing up panels and working them by hand you have two choices; glue up rough material and surface/square it as one piece, or square the individual boards that make up the panel and glue those together. Both ways work if you are careful of the pitfalls that they present. The later can get you into trouble if you are not very careful aligning your glue up (some people resort to using dowels in the joint to be certain). The former presents a different challenge, if the panel is not glued up "as flat as it can be glued up" you may have to remove too much material to get the wider panel flat. This is the other reason I joint the seam with the faces clamped together…it finds the flattest configuration for you.
> 
> I decided to leave the last rip cut until after the top was glued up and flattened. This is not the best habit of mine since I will have to remove a touch more material to flatten the board. It's pretty flat to begin with so I am not too worried, and this approach lets me test fit the top on the base to see if I like the look before I am totally committed to it. The extra few inches gives me the option to make last minute changes and I can use it as means to control tearout on the back of the cut when I traverse the top.
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> Next stop, getting the base in order to attach to the top, flatting smoothing, and shaping the top…and a tiny bit about finishing. We are in the home stretch…keep your tools sharp.


As long as you did not mean: 'licking what see so far'...
Smiles my friends.


----------



## RGtools

*The Home Stretch*

Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.

Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229



















From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).

This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.

First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).

Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).

I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229

Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.

I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:

1. Sharpen your iron

2. Check that you are planing with the grain

3. Tighten the mouth on your plane

4. Take a thinner shaving

5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.

6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.

The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.

7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane

8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.

9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)

I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229

Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.

Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.



















Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!

Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229

After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.










http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229

I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).

Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.

I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.










Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.

That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.

Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.

Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.

And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


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## GrandpaLen

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
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> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Wow!
Great tutorial, thanks for posting.
Gonna' be a great looking table. - Len


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thanks Len, you can see for yourself here.


----------



## mochoa

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Great class RG, I picked up a lot of little tips along the way. Great looking table too.


----------



## Timbo

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thanks for this blog RG it will be a reference in the future I am sure.

I have not been able to keep up with the entire blog but will definitely go back and view them all when I have the time to digest.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thanks Mauricio I am very glad that you have enjoyed it and learned something along the way.

Tim, thank so you as well, I hope it's helpful to you…like you said it will be waiting there should you need it.


----------



## Sylvain

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


I have enjoyed looking at every episode of this class.
It will certainly be a reference for me :

Starting with the list of necessary tools, demonstrating various techniques in a real project; showing also what to look for such that it is not only how to do a collection of parts but that it will assemble in a nice piece of furniture.

Excellent class.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thank you Sylvain. That made my day.


----------



## steliart

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Fantastic tutorial, thanks for sharing


----------



## TechRedneck

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


RG

Just went through this blog. Great job! You covered every detail and I know it was a lot of work. I've added this to my favorites.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thanks Steliart I am glad you liked it.

Tech, it was a chunk of time to be certain but I am glad I had the chance and the motivation to do it… I ended up learning quite a bit along the way.


----------



## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


The chamfer used on the exit side of the board to prevent spelching can be slight and still effective? While practicing i had been making a fairly large one. 
I see that, with the oil, you first spot treated the trouble areas then later covered the entire surface. Covering the surface was done to get it to a suitable condition to use your smoothing plane or were those your finishing passes? Noting your preference of grain alcohol for its ease of application and safety benefits, does it surpass oil in effectiveness too?
I can not make out what the book is that is between:
Made by Hand: Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop by Tom Fidgen
&
Making & Mastering Wood Planes by David Finck

NIN

A heartfelt thanks goes to you for producing this class Ryan. I have learned so much from your instruction. One thing in particular, you have put to picture and video many things i have read about but could not quite get pictured in my mind and, in that, furthered my understanding of several different techniques. The enormous amount of time and effort you expended to make this series is much appreciated. It is a resource i have and will continue to use as i attempt to delve into woodworking.

You guys make LJ's the wonderful place it is.

Thanks,


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


I am glad someone caught the NIN thing. Everybody else uses fiddles…I decided to be odd. OK what really happened was I only had 3 albums on my PC that were in the right format to port into the editor….it was either NIN, Maralyn Manson, or the Dresden dolls…

Anyway. the chamfer can be pretty slight but it all depends on how heavy of a cut you are taking the heavier the cut and the more perpendicular you are working with the grain the heavier it needs to be. A good rule of thumb here is to use one or two passes of whatever cut you are taking and refresh the chamfer as you go. It also depends on how brittle your wood is…beech let's you get away with almost nothing on the back end, sapele on the other hand needs a more careful approach. This is why I say that your best teacher for wood identification is working wood by hand. You will know the species of wood you have worked almost like you know and old friend.

The Pine Furniture of Early New England by Russel Hawes Kettel. Mostly pictures but it is a nice book to have on hand for inspiration…as well as having a few exploded diagrams of simple furniture.

Re Oil: the biggest reason I used the oil was the simple fact that I had no alcohol on hand. Alcohol dries quickly and does not interfere with a surface finish as well as being safer so it's really the superior choice (they work equally well). I started by spot treating until I realize just how many small knots this damn top had. The soak is more to prevent tearout from the heavy cuts than to help with the smoother (the set up of the smoother does wonders…but admittedly I needed help with this piece)...what you don't see in the video is that I soaked the top once and hit it with a very light traversing stroke to get down to the tear-out I had caused on the first pass. What you see is the next day.

I use grain alcohol because it's food safe a pretty darn cheap.

Or you could be rational and use a card scraper on your trouble spots and sand the thing lightly to even out the finish (the texture from a card scraper and a hand plane is just different enough to be bothersome). This is what I do most of the time when I have an evil board sitting on my bench but for some reason I wanted the handplaned texture on this surface come hell or high water.

I love this desk as a result of this class am am certain it's the nicest thing I have ever made.

I am very glad you enjoyed the class Tony. People like you have made this a real treat for me.

Thanks again.

Ryan


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## AnthonyReed

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


I might add a thanks for taking the time to answer the ridiculous amount of questions i submit


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Always a pleasure.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


I was just curious. Is anyone working on a table by hand?


----------



## kiddr

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Ryan,
I came across your project a little while back, but after you had completed it. There is a lot of great information that a neophyte as myself to learn from, but by the time I came across it the photo's and video's had been removed. Is there any way these can be reposted?

I am becoming better every day at making wood shavings, and look forward to the day to completing a project descent enough to let others see. This class has helped a lot.

Thanks


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thanks for letting me know that the video went down. I did not notice, Sorry. I will say this, sometimes the video comes back if you reload the page on a different day (the links are there and they are sound). If I can't get the links rebuilt, I will bite the bullet and rebuild using a you tube account wich seems to be more stable than facebook for embedding a video.

This is a great site to share projects on (even the bad ones) as you will get a ton of helpful advice.


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Nope those are all totally screwed up. I wil try to correct this, but it will take some time, please be patient.


----------



## kiddr

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Thank you for looking into this. I will keep an eye out for it; will go through some of the other projects & classes in the mean time


----------



## RGtools

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
> 
> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
> 
> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
> 
> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
> 
> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
> 
> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
> 
> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
> 
> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
> 
> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
> 
> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
> 
> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
> 
> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


*Kiddr*, I started making corrections in the sharpening section first (and I re embedded one video here).

Any requests on sections you would like to see first?


----------



## kiddr

RGtools said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> Once you have taken the clamps off of your base and your top you are in that dangerous period I think of as the home stretch. It's easy to want to run into it. Stop. Sharpen all your tools. Breath. Think…then get back to work. Trust me, if all your tools are sharp and you are in the right mindset this phase of your work will be the most uplifting in your shop; it will be the time you breathe life into your furniture. If you are ill prepared for it you can make frustrating mistakes.
> 
> Start by getting the base ready. Remove the horns carefully by either chiseling a v-cut to the line, or sawing away from the line and cleaning the area up with a plane. If you plane to the line, make sure to chisel a light chamfer on the inside of the table assembly and plane into that…this prevents splintering on the back side of the cut while maintaining your fit and finish on the outside of the table. Remove the drawbore pins that are protruding at this point…I used playing cards to keep from scuffing my work with the saw and then trimmed the pins flush with a paring cut with my chisel…a bit overkill for hidden drawbores, but it's nice to know how to clean up exposed ones so they look neat. Use a straightedge to make sure that your leg tops are parallel to the tops of the rails…this is key to the top joining to the base well. Take your time planing the tops of the legs and check often, if you go to low you have to plane the whole top of the base into alignment to fix it…a bit of a headache.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803442150229
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From a standpoint of work you are in the home stretch once you get around to working on the top…think about it like this: The base has about 24 components (I count the shrinkage buttons as part of the base), and 24 joints-give or take. The top on the other hand has 2 or three parts if you work with wide stock, 1 or two joints and then one final joint to meet with the base. Not bad really, but there is one thing I forgot: if you are anything like me you will have chosen a really pretty piece of wood for the top irrespective of its suitability for handwork. This is fine, after all it's just a few pieces (this is why I think of the top as the beauty of a piece and the base as the bones).
> 
> This top was no exception….I have never worked with beech before and I got a really rough lesson in detecting enclosed knots in stock selection (I would have bought this piece of wood anyway, but I would have approached it differently to begin with). I did not bother to count the small knots…but there were quite a few…this means dealing with tear-out. This is my table not someone else's, so I had some liberties that I would not normally take. I would rather have a hand-planed surface with a tiny bit of tear-out here and there than die-flat surface that has been scraped and sanded, it's a texture thing, and I can't defend it logically…nor would I care to try. That being said, I considered card scraping light areas of tear-out a non option for this table. This may seem like I am getting ahead of myself, this is about smoothing the table…first we need to get it flat and square, right? As it might have appeared earlier when I talked about gluing the top together it pays to have the end result in mind in the beginning. Knowing that this was going to be a cantankerous table to smooth early on would have kept me from cutting too deeply in the beginning, and I would have done my work more across the grain…both methods of reducing tearout. However I realized how gnarly this was going to be during the top (I had some suspicion that it would be ugly…but not quite that ugly). As a result of this I caused myself some extra work to remove tear-out that could have easily been prevented. First rule for tear-out prevention: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for the sake of narrative let's take this from the beginning.
> 
> First I recommend crosscutting the top and cutting it to width…you can cut it an inch over long and a ½ inch too wide, this will help deal with any snipe that your planing might cause, but if you go this route you will have to crosscut and rip again before going scribing your thickness. I just cut my board to finished length and width (this meant I had to be careful to plane a chamfer on the exit side of my cut to prevent splintering while planning across the grain). Also this is a good time to take a card scarper and remove any squeeze-out from the joints (the hardened glue can kill an edge on a handplane in an eyeblink).
> 
> Obviously you need to start with a straight edge (square is irrelevant at this point, but try to get it close). Before you make your cuts, set your rough top on your base first and see if you want to make things wider/longer than you planned at first…now is the time to change your mind (I made mine a bit wider for aesthetic reasons).
> 
> I cheated a bit here, I used a panel gauge to mark out the width and a framing square to lay out the crosscuts; neither of which are in the recommended tool kit. Since there is no joinery involved on the edges of the table top you can get away with a few tricks to lay out a square to eye crosscut, and a parallel to the eye rip cut (eventually a framing square and a panel gauge will be on your list of needed tools though). Use your combination square do draw thin pencil line as far across the table as you can, Then use your story stick (which should have one true edge), to extend the line through the end of the table top, take your time and mark things out neatly…even though it does not have to be perfect you can still aim for that. By a similar token, you can gang the story stick up with your combination square to make multiple marks at the same distance from the true edge of your top…connect the dots to mark out the width of your top. This won't be perfect, but unless someone inspects your furniture with dial calipers, they are probably not going to notice.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150802020695229
> 
> Normally I flatten the bottom of a table top first, then thickness the top, this way your true face connects well with the base and if the top is a little of in thickness here and there, it's not a big deal. The other advantage to this is you get a great idea of how the wood is going to respond to your hand-planes before you are dealing with a show surface. I could not do that on this table; the color did not go very deep, if I used the underside as my thickness judge I risked losing the color in thicknessing the top (not an acceptable loss). For this reason I had to surface the top of the top first. The best way to do this would be to, flatten the top, using a jack across the grain, and a jointer on diagonals and with the grain. This gets the top flat if not smooth, NOW is the time to transfer the thickness of the wood around the work piece…that way you can break the smoother out without messing up your reference surface for thickness…for those of you who watch the video closely, yes I did forget that piece of sage advice. As a result I had to mark my thickness, and then make the bottom flat to the average thickness of the piece (in other words not %100 percent accurate). I took one pass traversing the top (across the grain) with a very light cut for a jack plane, this gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to remove (this method saves time on the cupped side of the board but can get you into trouble on the crowned face, use a straightedge there). I eased my blade forward and traversed the top, if you have knots in your board, soak those with a bit of denatured or %95 grain alcohol, your work will be cleaner, easier and the alcohol does not interfere with surface finish…you can use oil instead if you intend to use an oil finish, but I recommend the grain alcohol as the safest option. I mention this now because had I realized how many knots were in this table I would have bought some before I even got started on this top…I found out about all the knots once I started cutting on diagonal. What I should have done was back off my blade a tad from my traversing cut, and then take my diagonal cuts, this would have helped decrease any additional tear-out that occurs while working more along the grain. I left my plane as is and got a few gnarly patches, too gnarly to want to clean up with a smoother and a jointer (at least quickly). For this reason, I opted to totally soak the top and take a ginger pass across the grain with the jack (cross grain cuts have little to no tear-out), use a finely set jointer on diagonal and with the grain, and to switch to a smoother before I had removed all of the traversing marks completely.
> 
> I also used a scraper on the worst patch of tear-out…not for final surface finish but to lower the area and keep it from getting hit with the jointer or jack. That way I could flatten the top without worrying about causing more damage. I came in and cleaned that area up with a smoother once I was done. This is pretty extreme, but my desire to have a handplane only surface led me to this approach. If you are having issues with tear-out here is a decent list of remedies:
> 
> 1. Sharpen your iron
> 
> 2. Check that you are planing with the grain
> 
> 3. Tighten the mouth on your plane
> 
> 4. Take a thinner shaving
> 
> 5. Use a circular motion while pushing through the area of heavy tearout…kind of odd but it works.
> 
> 6. Use a higher angle of attack (My wooden smoother is set of 45 degree cuts. I have set up my metal smoother with a 10 degree bevel on the back of the blade and a 20 degree primary bevel to make it a dedicated 55 degree smoother). I like standard angle planes for this because you can change the angle of attack without changing the wedge angle, low angle planes don't have this kind of luxury in my mind. If you just have one smoother I recommend grabbing an extra blade for this purpose since switching back and forth is a quick way to grind and iron into filings.
> 
> The above remedies should solve most issues with tear-out. However there are some more extreme methods.
> 
> 7. Use a toothing plane to do the rough work, and remove the toothing marks with a finely set plane
> 
> 8. Wet plane using alcohol or oil (keep in mind alcohol is safer). Since making the table I have had a chance to experiment a bit and I think that 95% grain alcohol is the best tool to moisten grain for this technique (it also help shear through end grain), it's food safe, easy to apply, does not interfere with a finish and it drys quickly. It also bears less risk of burning the shop down.
> 
> 9. Scrape the areas of heavy tear-out and sand the top lightly to even out the finish (scrapers and planes leave a slightly different surface)
> 
> I went to 8 (skipping 7 since I don't own a toothing plane) and left one or two areas of very light tear-out…for personal reasons that I can't scientifically defend I would rather have a handplaned surface with a little tear-out, than a pristine surface with a sanded finish…it just seems dull to my fingers and my eye. Find what finish you prefer and aim for perfection…even if you can't hit it. Keep in mind that if you are removing spots of tear out you cant just hit the spot itself; this would create a dished effect. What you should do is work the areas around the tear-out and then hit your trouble spot; this still creates a dish but the transition is light enough that no one will notice.
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> https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150802066505229
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> Once the top is smooth you can plane the bottom flat…the good news here is you really don't have to care about tear out. Get the bottom flat and to and even thickness and call it a day. Use a jointer to smooth out the remaining edge and plane it the table with width if you have not already. Now you are about ready to shape your top. I love this part. You can do just about anything, study tables you see in antique stores or in museums. Look at the nice pieces around your house. The variation in curvature in the top and edge profiles you can use is almost infinite. I kept things pretty simple because I wanted the focus of the piece to be the grain of the top so my top is a simple rectangle with a bevel on the bottom to make the top look lighter in appearance and a light curvature around all the edges to soften any sharp aris and give a subtle detail for someone to explore later on.
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> Since the bevel dictates the curved edge we need to do that first. I set the table upside down on my bench and took the time to center the base on the top using a combination square as a depth gauge from both sides of the top to the base…front to back and left to right. This is a good time to trace a line on the interior of top where the base goes so you can line in back up again quickly. Once I did that I use my combination square to trace a pencil line that was 1/8th shy of hitting the base on the front and back and I used this same measurement for the ends. This makes sure you get a gap free joint despite seasonal shrinkage. I like a 1/6 taper for this and have a dovetail marker I use to figure out where the other line for the taper will be (you can do this by eye with masking tape like we did on the legs). I then use a marking gauge to scribe that line all the way around the top. You can scribe or mark both, but I have found this combination works well because a scribe line in the face is hard to remove.
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> Look at that Marker…Thanks Julio!!!
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> Planing the bevel is a simple matter, and there are numerous ways to hold your work and accomplish the task. I just worked almost to my lines with a jack and then finished to them with a smoother…but there are a lot of ways to work. For instance, Tom Fidgen cuts a score mark with a fine saw every six inches or so that just licks both lines, he works with a jack until the lines are just visible and then removes them with a smoother. The big thing is when you shape any type of profile with hand tools you want to work the end grain first. That way you will clean up the inevitable splintering you will cause when you shape the long grain edges. Skew your tool towards the end of the board, this will give you a much better cut when working the ends.
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> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150803352645229
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> After the bevels are done you can work the edges. I went for a simple section of a circle…a full round over looks too mechanical to my eye. I did this by feel and by eye, using a smoother and a block. Contrary to what you might hear you can shape end grain with a high angle tool…it just needs to be sharp. Again, do the end grain first. This is a good time to start finishing your project.
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> http://www.facebook.com/v/10150804431925229
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> I am going to tell you right now I have nothing to say about finishes that is going to help you tremendously…I just have not used them enough to develop any sort of "extra" knowledge. I used an oil finish for the top (Boiled linseed oil…which I recommend you read up on the hazards of before you use so you don't burn your shop down), and a beeswax concoction for the base (don't ask me for the recipe…I don't know it, my wife makes it for me and it works wonders on open pored woods like walnut, oak and sapele).
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> Once this shaping/finishing is complete you have to attach the base to the top. Center the top as you did before and clamp the base to your top on your bench. This makes life really easy when it comes to fitting and drilling the holes for the shrinkage buttons. This also takes any slop that might be in the joint between the top and the base away (the tension of the buttons will keep it that way). I like to "click" fit the buttons to the base. I set a button in it's mortice and press it against the top as I slide it out of its mortise, if I hear a click when I do this the fit is right, if not I take a shaving off of the top of the button (meets with the top) and try again. I mark where I need to drill the pilot hole with the button inserted in the mortise (an Awl is great for this and the point creates a nice spot to start your drill). Keep in mind that the button needs to be centered in an overlong mortise on the ends (where they will move side to side) and set halfway into the mortise on the sides (where they will move in and out). High on this list of things that would make a grown man cry is drilling a hole all the way through your top…use masking tape and 10 extra seconds to prevent this from happening. Fit, Mark, Drill, and Screw in, the buttons one at a time, this will make sure that minor inconsistencies in your buttons don't translate to a poor fit when you mark with one button and install another in its place.
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> I carve my initials, stamp a year date, and write the species of wood I used on the interior of my work…I hope one day when I am gone it gets somebody to think about the person who made this piece. I left tool marks here and there for the person to follow, fingerprints of the maker…leave those for posterity sake.
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> Last but not least, level the table by checking for any rock and removing a shaving from the longest leg that is throwing things off…I have no video of this because for the first time in my life the base came out perfect after being attached. Go figure.
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> That's all folks. I can't wait to see your tables. If you make one based on this class please tag it with "class011" and your project should be viewable through this link. Thanks to everyone that participated and commented on the class. I could not have put this together without your help. A few of you need your names called out.
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> Debbie, Thanks for contacting me and giving me a chance.
> Wayne…wherever you are. Thanks for telling Debbie I would be able to do this. I hope you are well.
> Tony, you really helped me keep the right mindset during this project, and you made me laugh when I needed it.
> Andy, thanks for watching my back and for entertaining me with the mortise/mortice debate.
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> Last but not least, Jillian. You are the love of my life. Thanks for understanding while I snuck off to the shop and when I hijacked the computer for hours on end. I love the finish that you made me and the companionship that you give me. No, I will not be doing one of these classes for a very long time.
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> And Because I loved the way Tom Fidgen did his bibliography in his book I though I would go ahead and steal the style…here is some recommended reading.


Finally got some free time to see the video you re embedded. Really appreciate it. Any of the sections would be wonderful to see.

For something that may be basic and simple to the more experience woodworker, the material I am learning from your project here has been a great help for someone like myself. From past learning experiences, knowing the basics always has helped me understand the more advanced material. Also, for someone at my level, with the bare essentials in his wood shop, knowing hand tool techniques & methods is a must. Thank you for the instructions you provide here.


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