Blog for Wednesday, October 17th.

Only the Shadow Knows What Lurks

Below the Ninja Turtle Blankie !!

   

     The meeting started off with a mysterious looking object, front and center in Jamie's school/shop this Wednesday.  As you can see, most of the hardened woodworkers in attendance didn't seem to be overly concerned about it's presence and did what we usually do at the beginning of a meeting -- get caught up on the past month's activities.

We Ain't Askeerd!

     We started out with our traditional go around the room introductions and it was nice to see that we had 3 or 4 new faces, welcome to the group.  After the introductions Jamie mentioned that we're only a meeting away from our Christmas, end of the year event.  The third Wednesday of December is the 19th. so that probably wouldn't interfere with Christmas plans however; the third Wednesday of November is on the 21st. which is the day before Thanksgiving so that meeting will more than likely need to be changed.  Email either me or Jamie with your thoughts on that so we can re-schedule it.  On second thought, Jamie is probably the most important one to contact since she has to have her school schedule clear on whatever day we can have that meeting.
     Jamie asked Ted for a follow up to the complicated balusters for a stair job he's been working on in Sandy, Utah.  These are made of White Oak and featured a four sided taper.  You may recall he demonstrated how to do pattern sawing on the tablesaw to accomplish that.  He mentioned they're pretty much done but he's headed back to Utah mid-week to complete them.  In the meantime, he also mentioned the current job that consists of Baltic Birch countertops on three sides of a room.  Ted brought up the fact that although this is 13 ply, genuine (i.e. not Chinese Crap) the face ply is quite thin and tends to delaminate easily.  I helped him on the installation of this and he showed me how using Frog brand yellow tape does prevent a lot of chipping when we scribed the counters to the walls.

Ted Giving Us His Follow-up

     Another item Jamie asked for follow-up to was the box show that I had last month.  First off, I appreciate those of you that were able to come and support my work.  I know that several of you had other plans that evening but stopped by the Urban Ranch Store the following week to see it.   There were some sales so that was great but I also got some exposure to more local "potential clients"  which is always a good thing.  A goal I had was to establish an Etsy store with these boxes and eventually other items that are easier to ship than the furniture I'd prefer to make.
     This brought up a discussion of what the heck Etsy is.  It's a great place for gift shopping, you find all sorts of one of a kind, unique items made by genuine craftsman/artist folks.  Jamie is an Etsy Pro and has been on it for quite some time with lots of sales; me, I'm a novice and just keeping my fingers crossed!  Here are links to our shops:

• Jamie's Etsy Shop
• John's Etsy Shop

   

     Jeez, I'm getting too much ink this time but I wanted to bring in a marking gauge I recently made for Show & Tell.  No one else brought in something to share, next month okay?  Judging by the reactions from many of you who tried it as it was passed around, it's a success.  I know I really like the way it feels and handles.  A large part of that is due to the cutting blade I found on-line.

   
     A number of you expressed quite a bit of interest in the marking gauge I made and asked about its construction. Here is a LINK to the construction of it from my blog.  After all of the rains we had there was one tweak needed and that was to replace the wooden friction button I had made with one from UHMW polyethylene, here is the LINK to the blog showing how that was accomplished.  Should you want to make your own version of this and have some questions feel free to email or give me a call.

     Okay, on to the main event and to find out what was lurking under that Ninja Turtle Blanket.  Before all was revealed, Eric Felder gave us a history lesson about the Shakers but more about the school he went to in Kentucky.  This school is run by Kelly Mehler and here's a LINK to it if you're interested in finding out more.  It's located in Berea, Kentucky where you'll also find Berea College which is a work/study college.  What that means is that students receive tuition there but must qualify for placement by being in the lower 40% of the national income level.  Kelly was a product from that college and decided to set up his own school near by.

All is Revealed

     Eric received the tuition needed to go there as a present from his mother-in-law.  He was duly impressed by the amount of greenery and humidity on arrival to Kentucky which plays a huge part to his presentation!  If you're unfamiliar with the furniture of the Shakers or their history they were what was referred to as a separatist community, in other words, they kept to themselves and lived by some pretty strict guidelines.  They were very practical, most of you are probably familiar with the Shaker Pegs.  These were a place to hang chairs on the wall so the entire floor could easily be swept.  Personally, I really like their style of furniture and incorporate it into my work, here is a LINK from Wikipedia to let you learn as much as you want about them on your own.
     According to Eric's talk, the shop was equipped with the most modern and up to date machinery available.  The instructor encouraged everyone to make the table using methods they were unfamiliar with rather than sticking to something you already know how to do.  The table is built using traditional joinery methods such as dovetails and mortise and tenons.  I thought it interesting that Kelly told the class he'd just as soon have an end of the class bon fire of the finished projects!  His emphasis was on them learning new skills rather than walking away with a completed project.
    Eric worked a different section of the table each day, basically, it was built from 4 pieces of wood. The problem arouse when the completed parts were shipped via UPS from humid Kentucky to arid Las Vegas.  Now we know why we design and build with humidity changes in mind!  That drawer that fit well during the dry fit in Kentucky now couldn't begin to slide into its space.  The once nicely tapered legs now splayed out and the top ----- forget about that, it turned into a nice board to hide the spot where the drawer was to go.  Eric's wife wants him to re-purpose the table into something  usable but he'd just as soon it self destructs and is hidden from view.
   

Construction Details

Here are some of the details found in this piece:

• Tapered Legs (2 sides)
• Half Blind Dovetails for Drawer Rails
• Wooden Blocks to attach the top that are set in a groove.   This allows the top to float with seasonal changes
• Mortised & Tenoned Legs/Aprons

Dovetail Project Pieces

     Eric brought in a few other pieces to show as well.  On the table here you see a pair of dovetailed boxes or drawers.  The one in the rear has a problem or two, I felt as if I were looking at a drawing made by one of my favorite artists M. C. Escher and I don't only like him because he's Dutch like me!  If you're interested in honing your skills, practice pieces like these are the way to go.
     Another item brought in was a School Box that Eric made while at the Marc Adams school in New York.   This is one of the projects that Christopher Schwartz encourages hand tool woodworkers to take on in one of his many books and blogs.

School Box

     It's good to see an interest in building with wood and taking account all of its properties.  The IKEA attitude and mass produced furniture prevalent today utilizes lots of sheet goods and some construction methods that are unconventional.  Unfortunately, we live in a "throw away" society so much of the mass produced stuff of today is yesterdays news.  Don't mean to get on a soap box but I like tradition and quality.
     So, next meetings date is up in the air.  Contact Jamie with any thoughts you have on that and let's see more of you bring in something for a show and tell session.

                                         

Wednesday, October the 17th. We Meet Again!

     Before I go into the meeting reminder I wanted to share this Shellac update with those of you that use it.  I shared the dating system that Zinsser uses to  show the manufacturing date of their products.  I also mentioned my belief that it was good for either 6 months or a year from that date -- WRONG!   Here's a response I got from them:


John,
Our Shellac finishes actually will have a shelf life of three years. The Sanding Sealer that you have mentioned, Lot # S16026D, would have been made in June of 2011.  This would make the expiration of the product in June of 2014.
If you have any additional questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Jason K.


     So, let's talk about the meeting.  You remember Eric Felber's presentation on sharpening techniques a few months back?  Well, even with all of the research he did on that he still found the time to make a side table in the Shaker Style.  There must have been some interesting developments during its construction because Jamie decided to title his presentation:

Disaster, Humiliation, and Redemption; 

The making of a Shaker Style Side Table

I don't know about you but that sure piques my curiosity!  Plan on being there to learn the back story, wonder if it has any resemblance to Hunter Thompson's  Fear & Loathing book?

See you Wednesday at 7:00 pm

Swap Meet Reminder

    As promised, here's a reminder about the swap meet that will be in the parking lot of Woodworkers Emporium.  Their address is 5461 Arville and phone is 871-0722.

    It's this Saturday (10/13) from 9-Noon.  Haven't been there before but you could call them about what you need to do if there's something you'd like to sell.  Ted tells me there are some tables and people sometimes will lay stuff out on the ground.  

     Okay, enough of this computer stuff -- I need to make some sawdust!

John

Tool Sharpening

    Good morning all, I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about a business I've been working with for my saw and other cutters sharpening for quite a while now.  They are located in Salt Lake City so the only downside is that you'll need to mail your blades, shaper cutters, and router bits to them.  The upside is that they do excellent work and if you have a question they will call you up to answer it.  It's been getting harder and harder to find a good source of sharpening here in Las Vegas.  Woodworkers Emporium used to send their blades to them but that's been years ago so not sure what happened.
     In any case, they are called Accurate Carbide and here is a LINK to their website.  Just to give you an idea of costs, I UPS'ed two blades to them for about $12.00.  For a typical carbide combo blade, 10" x 40 teeth they charge $16.40.  I had some concerns about them and Chuck called me personally to answer the questions I had.  Turn around time is about a week but you can plan around that.  What I do is rotate three blades, one is beyond sharpening so when the two good ones get dull I put it on the table saw and use is while the others are out.  I really dulled them for the box series where I used lots of exotic woods!  As I work in my shop I'll set aside any other cutters that need to be sharpened and send it all at one time to save on shipping.
     I learned about them at one of the big woodworking shows.  I use Tenryu blades and the factory reps in that booth recommended them for sharpening their blades.  Check them out, they may be just what you need.

Photo's, Video's, and The Meeting Blog

Waiting for the Main Event

     We had roughly 23 members at our meeting last Wednesday, September the nineteenth.  The weather is improving and so was the comfort level inside Jamie's shop which was perfect as we had lots of demonstrations and valuable information. These are things we can try in our own shops, seeing them demonstrated in person helps to understand what to do.  As is customary, we went around the room for our brief intro's and there were about 3-4 new faces -- welcome!
     Before the scheduled demonstrations we had our show and tell session.  Starting off with Ed, who brought in his latest lathe project, this segmented turning:

Ed's Segmented Bowl

     If you've ever used a lathe one of the important things is making sure your wood is securely fastened to the faceplate -- flying wood is never good!  Ed brought in an adjustable faceplate that he found plans for and made himself.  The rubber items that securely fasten the wood are bathtub stoppers.

Longworth Chuck

     For any of you that are interested in seeing how this chuck works and/or want to make your own, here's a LINK with plans for making it.
     In keeping with the wood turning theme, Don (president of the woodturners group)  brought in his latest bowl design which is really pretty amazing.

Don's Bowl

     To create this design he started out with a  3/4" x 7"  piece of Leopardwood.  This was cut into circles that were tapered and got progressively smaller.  The tool used for that is the bandsaw.  After cutting they were run through a sander to prepare them for the next step which was to glue them back together into a conical shape.  Finally, this is attached to a faceplate and Don worked his magic and skills to produce the bowl you see here:

Completed Bowl

     Quite often, the things we make in our shop reflects where we are in our life situation.  Some of us can look back on what Jonathan has been working on and remember doing that for our families and others of you may have this phase to look forward to.  He's been working on child related items like this neat Cow Jumped Over the Moon piece:

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the Cow jumped over the Moon ...

     Apparently what started out for his own kids ended up as a must have for neighbors, cousins, and so on.  That's the fun part of being able to create these things.  To help him create more efficiently and accurately, Jonathan also brought in his recently completed drill press table.  Jamie was quick to offer her drill press as a place to set it up and evaluate but he declined.
     Last of the show and tell session was the boxes that I brought to share.  I was asked to do a show of them and have been busy making 29 different examples.  This kept me pretty busy coming up with something different from what you usually find.  The show was last Thursday and will be up at the Urban Ranch General Store until the end of next week.  I really appreciate those of you that were able to come to by, check out all of the work, have some wine/beer and snacks, and just be supportive.  Thanks for that and the purchases some of you made as well.

One of the Gilded Dog Series

     Trying to get recognition and market your work is a pain for me but it was lots of fun to come up with the unique box designs.  Got to feed my wood addiction!

      We had two really informative demonstrations at this meeting.  The first was with Dennis who showed us how to make an Ogee, bracket foot.  As with all of these demonstrations he made it look pretty easy but that's only because of his experience in making these.  It is something that all of us can do, seeing it "up close and personal" is so much better than pictures in a book.




   
 Making the cove began with a piece of 8/4 stock and templates.

Template Drawn on End

Template for Side

     In actual practice Dennis would use one piece of wood for each pair of the feet.  You start with adjusting the height of the blade for the depth of cut needed.  He then counts the number of revolutions as he returns the blade below the table.  After setting up the fence, he'll return the blade to that height in small increments.

Double-Stick Tape to Secure Fence

     The fence used to guide your cut is attached to the tablesaw at an angle.  Different diameter blades will give you a larger or smaller radius on your coves which determines the size of your molding or, in this case, cabinet foot.  You could use clamps but Dennis's chose is this 3M brand tape he gets at CTI here in Las Vegas.  There was a lot of interest in this store and the tape so here's a LINK to them, they are located at Valley View and Hacienda.
     After making the required passes to achieve the depth of the cove, the next step is to cut the shape on the bandsaw.  This can then be sanded with either a spindle sander or by wrapping some sandpaper around a piece of dowel.

Refining the Curve

      By using a block plane the edges are chamfered and brought to the desired profiles.  The piece shown above is a sample, in practice it would have been long enough for both sides, mitered and joined to form the complete foot.
     Lupe did an outstanding video which can be seen on YouTube, here is a LINK to that video.  I'm somewhat computer challenged so let me know if this doesn't work for you and I'll try to figure it out.  The video is really informative and will show you much more than I could write.
     Next up was another outstanding demonstration from Ted.  He's doing a staircase up in Sandy, Utah out of rift sawn, white Oak.  The newel posts are made by having a four sided taper that starts at about 7"  wide and goes up to 4" or so.  The style of them is an Asian/Craftsman one and hopefully he'll take some pictures of the completed project to share when the job's done.  Since there were a number of posts to make it was well worth the time and effort for him to make a perfect template to follow.  I've enhanced this picture to try and clarify it so no, you don't need to adjust your set!

Template for Newel Posts

     The piece on top is the template and it is perfectly centered on the piece needing to be cut out.  You can see how the template piece has brackets screwed to it that go around the needed part.  These are screwed into the top and bottom of the post sides and will be capped over on top, bottom you won't see.  If you've ever done pattern routing with a hand held router or on a shaper, this is the same concept.  The first step is to clamp a T-shaped fence (called an Overshot Fence) to the tablesaw rip fence.

Installing the Overshot Fence

     There is ample space between the piece being cut off and the rip fence to insure nothing will bind and be shot back at you.  There's also space between the top of the piece being cut and the overshot fence.

Adjusting for the Cut

     The outer edge of the blade is in line with the fence.  As the template is guided against it the results will be a perfectly matching part.  Where a router or shaper uses a bearing, the edge of this fence serves the same purpose.  To assemble these parts the edges next had to be cut at an angle which was accomplished by tilting the blade.  Next up was to move the fence to the opposite side of the blade, lower the blade and cut a slot in each mitered edge to accept a spline for glue up.  Ted said that to hold these together for the glue up all he needed was masking tape across the edges.
     Once again, my words and Lupe's photographs aren't enough to really describe this process but Lupe has made another great video showing Ted in action on YouTube.  Here's the LINK to that one as well.  Lupe is doing a great job on these, if you agree tell her so next time you see her.
     Well, this one (or me!) got to be rather long winded but there were a lot of good things happening, shared, and discussed at this meeting.  Last thing I'll add is that there will be a swap meet in the parking lot of Woodworkers Emporium.  It'll be on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 9am to noon.  From what I understand you can bring in your stuff to sell without any charge or comission.  Until next month, or maybe sooner, that's all for now!
   

Coves on a Tablesaw !!!!

What the heck !!  

   Coves on a tablesaw?

'Ya been drinking or something??

Tablesaws cut square & straight,

   Coves are round & radiused -- 

       You are definitely confused.


     Yes, that's right and here's a picture to prove it.  Not to give away my age or anything but here is a sample of what we used to make in high school woodshop back in the day.  These skis weighed a ton but were almost always coved.  The guys who'd done them before claimed that the shape of the cove determined how good the ski rode through the water.  Based on my own experience though it didn't seem to matter much; my coordination couldn't get much of a ride no matter how the cove was cut!

     At our 7:00 pm  meeting tonight, Dennis Patchett will show us how to make some small, ogee cabinet feet that are destined for a cedar chest.  The process starts out with cove cuts made on the tablesaw.  You'll get to see first hand how to determine the size and depth of the cove and also how to locate the fence or fences to do this safely on your own tablesaw.
     This promises to be an interesting demonstration and something we can all use to enhance our own projects.  Feel free to bring in some of your latest work to share with the group but also take some notes on this really interesting process.

See you there

Jigs and Things Part II

      This is a continuation of the first part.  Not sure what happened but after sitting here composing the blog all of a sudden things froze up and I got an error message.  I eliminated some of the blog and attempted to save it but it wouldn't cooperate with me.  So, looking at my notes I really don't have too far to go so will do this before going out to the shop --- too early anyway for a Saturday and with the cloud cover today may be a little bit cooler!
     The seeds for this meeting about jigs were planted when Jamie blogged about the hassle of making tapered legs.  They're for the bed you'll see towards the end of the blog, it's beautiful!  In her blog she complained about that crappy, two legged, hinged fixture that rides along the rip fence, I'd bet that at least half of you reading this have used that one.  Seems as if it's darn near impossible to tighten it plus it just doesn't feel safe.  Here's the jig I've used for many years that works great:

Tablesaw Taper Jig

     Although it looks complicated and has a number of parts, if you frequently build chairs, tables, beds, etc. that call for a tapered leg this is worth building.  Instead of riding against the fence this jig rides in the miter gauge slot on the left side of the blade.  If you look closely you can see a white runner under the jig made of UHMW polyethylene.  Every time this comes up it raises interest so here's a LINK to Lee Valley about it, I've bought some of it at Woodworkers Emporium too. In use, here's how the sled will look:

Mock Up of Jig in Use

     You draw a line for the starting point of the taper and also a line on the end to indicate the size of the leg at the bottom.  Then you slide the guide piece so that the leg extends over the sled that amount and tighten the wing nuts.  The beauty of this jig is that you can cut 4 sided tapers too.  If you are a subscriber to Fine Woodworking on-line you'll be able to get the plans and see a video from this LINK.  If not the article was in Fine Woodworking #178  on pages. 46-49.  This was the August 2005 issue.  Also, the author is Richard W. Beebe II so a google search may turn him up too.
     Here's the bed that inspired the sharing of jigs and our very successful meeting.  I don't know how many of you follow Jamie's blogs but this has been the focus for some time.  Here's the headboard:

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

     Two things inspired the carving.  One was that Dennis was teaching his class on carving at the time so she thought, hey, why not carve this thing.  If you check her blog she also carved the footboard with the saying of "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie".  The way she colored the carving was to use milk paint.  The surrounding area was masked with rubber cement to protect it from the paint and then top coated with oil to really make it stand out.

Close Up View

The other inspiration came from an artist she knows by the name of Judy Kensley McKie.  If you do a google search on her you can see the influence of her work in Jamie's.  I found a cabinet she carved and  now I'm inspired!
     The meeting wrapped up with a drawing for some gift certificates Kate brought in from Timbers.  I was pretty hungry but not lucky enough to get one.  The winners were Leroy, Rich, and Lupe -- Thanks Kate!
     Another last minute item was Rick telling us about a website called Instructables.  It's a site that instructs you in all types of things.  I checked it out and here's a LINK to that site.  I looked at the opening page and although it looks interesting I'm pretty much computered out by now.  Time to get into the shop and work on boxes, hinges, and anything else that won't find me sitting at a keyboard!