Full Chisel Blog

February 8, 2010

Working Black Palm

 

Most of my woodworking involves gymnosperms and occasionally angiosperms, both of which are dicots, but it is on rare occasion do I get to ‘work’ a monocot.   I have repaired bamboo, reed, rattan, cane, even Tonkin cane but this is my first time with this grass.  I own two artifacts made with palm wood, the large walking stick, a gift from a friend has a gilded brass knob, the tip is missing and the shaft is made of black palm.  The other is a letter opener/ink erasure and it has a red palm handle, the blade is marked MILLER BROS. CUT. CO. MERIDEN.  So the material was definitely used in the nineteenth century.

When  I saw this stuff on sale at Woodcraft, I went out and picked up a nice piece 1 ½” square by 18 inches long, they had stuff longer to 24 inches, but I didn’t like the ‘grain’.  Too bad they don’t offer it in 36 inch lengths for walking sticks.  They advertised it as black palm wood, made me snicker because it isn’t a wood but is technically a grass.  But it does work like any malicious wood.

Just handling the stuff is tricky; it tends to produce nasty slivers that catch on everything including skin.  It is very hard, contains high amounts of silica, dulls tools quickly but is very strong and flexible.  It has spots that are deadly hard next to spots that are not.  It can have interlocking grain with wild eyes that can predominate the wood.  Also the end grain has an unusual appearance in that it doesn’t have rings but bundles of ‘pores’ in uniform disbursement.

It does have a grain and it is possible to work against but it can cause some minor chipping, my limited experience is making the writing pen and I have roughed out some chopsticks after a recommendation from Mike Moore after he saw the pen.  I had first thought that it might be too rough for chopsticks, but after working the pen, I decided to give them a try.

Starting out with rough square blanks I did some creative ripping to get the pieces to the size I need.  After ripping down to near one end, I took the piece out of the vice, reversed the wood and saw and continued ripping up the piece until it was through.  For the writing pen, I then worried a hole in the end, drilling end grain of palm isn’t easy the drill will wonder, start with a smaller size to get close to the center then enlarge the hole to the size needed.

Once I smoothed it with a Moxon smoother, I easily scraped it smooth.  It was at that point that I knew the wood was tough as I could see chipping on the iron of the plane.  It also quickly removed the burr from steel scrapers, but finished up shiny.  I then burnished it with a bone burnisher, then finished with a couple of coats of linseed oil (waiting 24 hours between coats), then served the thread around the end.  This got a coat of spirit varnish followed by another coat of linseed oil.  I also stoved the pen to dry both the oil and spirit varnish.  It will get a couple more of coats of oil before I am done.

Before I applied any finish I decided to raise the grain as I do when I work all woods, being a small pen, I licked it, well that was a mistake, fortunately I could spit but it took me a couple of hours to get that horrible taste out of my mouth.  Very bitter, acrid and awful, don’t do this at home.  I also started washing my hands after touching the stuff.

I will find some more utilitarian uses for this material, small tool handles, etc.

Today is also the 2nd anniversary of the Full Chisel Blog.

Stephen

February 4, 2010

Shellac, one of the top three finishes

Filed under: Finishing, Historical Material, Of Interest, Restoration, Techniques, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 9:11 am

 

Shellac is a particularly unusual finish with ancient origins.  First used centuries ago, its initial use was as a dye stuff but then when mixed with alcohol made a fine spirit finish.  Used as a substitute for real oriental lacquer, it is also a thermoplastic cement used to hold stones while grinding or for stopping, an excellent finish called French polish is extremely high gloss, the first hair spray and a food grade called ‘confectioner’s glaze’ makes candy and pastries shiny.

Lac Bug

During the 17th century in Europe it became a popular finish and the first books on its use were published.  It was all imported from the east, mostly India, it is still being produced as it has been for millennia.  There have been attempts to synthesize shellac but to no avail.  A small [the size of an apple seed] female insect Lacca Lucifera, it flies to a fig or acacia tree, finds a suitable branch and settles in.  A small needle like mouth pierces the branch of the tree and sucks out sap.  It then exudes [read poops] a red sticky substance and gets stuck, where it sits and sucks and poops.  At the end of the cycle, the bug lays what is reportedly a thousand eggs and dies.  The youngsters hatch, dine on their dead mother then bore their way through the shellac and move on to another tree.  Trees are given a few years in between the infestation to allow the trees to recuperate.

At this point the shellac is harvested by cutting of the small branches and scraping away all of the residue, mostly shellac but with some twig parts and bug parts.  Stick-lac is the crudest [read unrefined] form of shellac followed by seed-lac (no stick, but still small woody parts).  It is then placed in cheesecloth bags and heated over a fire until it becomes slightly liquid, the bag is twisted and the shellac is squeezed out filtering out the bug parts and twigs.  It is formed into round drops called button-lac and sold in that form.  Further processing by heating the shellac and pouring it over a large pottery cylinder shaped jar, then warmed in front of a fire and stretched into large thin sheets, which is broken up to make flake shellac.  It can also be bleached to make a lighter colored shellac called blonde.

De-waxing shellac is a popular idea at the moment and it is suggested that the naturally occurring wax interferes with modern finishes.  It doesn’t seem to interfere with traditional finishes and there is little evidence that this was done traditionally.  I personally think this is a waste of time and shellac, the best parts are what settle out, I always mix it up before use.  I think it also contributes to a French polish finish, a simple method of applying shellac with a pad and produces an extremely high shine.

If you don’t mix up your own, which is very easy, you can also buy commercially available shellac in a can, it comes in orange or white [bleached] and is a fine finish providing it is thinned at least 50% with alcohol.  Alcohol is the only solvent for shellac, although it will melt at high temperature.  There is a standard called X pound cut, indicating the [X] number of pounds of shellac per gallon of alcohol.  Three pound cut being common, it is way too thick to use and must be thinned.  Several thinner coats are much better than one thick coat.  I have no idea of the pound cut of the shellac I use but I imagine it is around a quarter pound cut, meaning one quarter pound of shellac to one gallon of alcohol and this works fine for me.

Shellac is reversible, so it is great for restoration work, it is all natural and comes from a renewable resource and is non toxic, although the denatured alcohol is, I use pure straight grain alcohol, just in case.  It is easy to use and if you mess up it can be removed.  Pigments can be added to the shellac to make a glaze and I even make fast drying paint by adding more pigments. Shellac is a great finish for woodworking and among the top three woodworking finishes.

Stephen

February 2, 2010

Live Chat Tonight

Filed under: Historical Material, Of Interest, Proper Tools, Techniques, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 6:59 am

As some of you may know I host a Hand Tool chat over on WoodCentral on Tuesday evenings.  It all starts at 9:30 o’clock PM Eastern Time and runs for one scheduled hour.

It is an opportunity to ask questions about Hand Tools, their uses, maintaining, sharpening as well as other non-modern procedures.  There is usually a small learned group that appear regularly to help out with the discussion and those new to hand tools can get questions answered in a friendly and usually funny manner.

I plan on having Chris Gochnour on my chat again in the next few weeks and have other guest hosts occasionally.  Also some interesting people show up every once in a while which is always a pleasant surprise.

So if you have some time to spare this evening [or any Tuesday evening] and would like to talk traditional woodworking or hand tools, then show up, no registration needed, just follow the directions from my post there.

Hope to see some new faces, so to speak.

Stephen

January 31, 2010

An ink, a cordial, another pitcher, pearwood box, iron clamp and a dozen frogs

Filed under: Carving, Historical Material, Of Interest, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 12:00 pm

Went to the local flea market yesterday and spent $10.00 and got a good deal.

The pottery ink, looks like it fell over during the firing process leaving that mark along its cylinder.  The cordial is a very fine hand made goblet, the key was the color of the glass.

I already had the one on the left, nice mold blown with hand finished handle and spout, to my surprise I found another just slightly difference in height and slightly different hue, this made me happy.

I believe this to be pear-wood and for a buck, I couldn’t buy the wood, probably and export piece.

I can always use another clamp, this one was a bit dirty with a little surface rust, but most came off with hot water and soap, followed by some time near a heat source to dry out the water.

My niece collects frogs, I have given her several that I have run into and here are another dozen.

Fun time, will have to go again next weekend, today it is off to buy some black palm.

Stephen

January 27, 2010

Cleaning paint and varnish brushes.

Filed under: Finishing, Historical Material, Of Interest, Techniques, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 9:24 am

 

 

I wished I had learned this trick 40 years ago.  And now for a little rant; one of the selling points of latex paint [which I feel is an inferior product] is that it is easy to clean up with soap and water.  Professional painters will say that latex paint is better, but when cornered they admit that it is easy to clean up but that in almost all cases said that oil paint was in fact a better product.  I have always held that oil base paint is far superior to latex paint but there was the problem of cleaning oil paint brushes with solvents.

Well some research lead me to a startling find, well it was to me, it is easy to clean oil paint and oil based varnish from ordinary paintbrushes with      soap and water.  Yes folks, soap and water will clean your brushes of oil paint and varnish.  Doesn’t work on shellac, but I never clean my shellac brushes, just soak them in some alcohol prior to use and they are ready to go.

And cleaning oil paint from a brush with soap and water works.  I painted [with oil paint] a small piece the other day with a small round paintbrush and when I was finished, I wiped away most of the paint then took it to the sink, put some soap in the palm of my hand and proceeded to wash the brush.  It took a couple of applications of soap, rinsing with water in between and the brush came perfectly clean with no trace or residue of paint, the soap cuts it very nicely.

Maybe others know about this but for me it was astounding.  And the big selling point of latex, being easy to clean up, has lost much of its sizzle and is irrelevant as oil paint can be cleaned up using no solvents, except water and soap.

Stephen

January 26, 2010

1840’s Watercolor Box

Filed under: Finishing, Historical Material, Of Interest, Proper Tools, Techniques, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 4:54 pm

This is a watercolor box from a design from the 1840’s and was slightly altered to accept available cakes of watercolor.  It was made by Mr. Lelegren over at Hot Dip Tin and this is the prototype.

I have painted the inside of the two lids are painted with white oil based paint, after the tin was cleaned by washing with alcohol.  This is one coat, it may take two coats, I will see what it looks like when I get back to the shop.  I will then japan the outside of the box to match the original.  The auxiliary lid on the left is for water and mixing color, traditionally the colors were not used in the box, rather the cakes were removed a small bit of pigment scraped off and mixed with water to get the proper color.

The above set are close to the size of the original I had copied and the colors are all traditional and were used during the nineteenth century.

This is the original drawing for the 1840’s watercolor box.

I also need to find some squirrel hair to make some pencils (traditional term for small round paint brushes).  I am sure I can get some at a fly-tying supplier as it is used for artificial fishing flies and will make nice camel brushes.  I will show the process of making paint brushes as soon as I find some proper hair.

Stephen

January 25, 2010

Caned seat bottom

Filed under: Finishing, Historical Material, Of Interest, Restoration, Techniques, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 6:59 pm

I got the first couple of coats of pigmented shellac on the seat bottom.  Usually they are not finished but this one was, so I needed to match the original.

It is several different colors, red iron oxide, yellow ocher and burnt umber all in shellac.  I have to daub it on to match the original pattern, but it is easier to sneak up on it than to try and do it all at once.  By applying several coats, allowing them to dry in between, I can build up the overall look.

You also have to keep moving around and looking at it and working on it at different angles to make sure it looks good from all angles.  I back off and do the ‘if it looks good at six feet’ idea and get a different perspective.  I will do some more tomorrow and then it is on to other things.

Stephen

January 24, 2010

Alchemistry Set 2

Filed under: Carving, Drilling, Hide Glue, Historical Material, Of Interest, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 12:21 pm

I keep adding to my chemistry set, this may be from a traumatic event in the 3rd grade when I received on Christmas a Gilbert Chemistry set with two fold out doors and all kinds of good stuff inside.  We later visited some friends of my parents and their kid got one with 4 fold out doors and since then I have had a yearning.

Soon I will have a set that will put all of those to shame and mine are all based on nineteenth century or earlier styles and designs.  I have a nice ring stand, a test tube holder for the ring stand, a good alcohol lamp with wind screen, several mortar and pestles, crucibles, flasks, stoppered bottles, an assortment of chemicals, &c.

This is made entirely of pine, the dowels were made by Mr. Buss and the two pieces of wood are scraps, the base I showed when I use the ax to rough shape it for this project.  I drilled all the holes with twist augers, the drying pegs in front are 3/8″ in diameter, the struts for the superstructure are 1/2″.  I drilled the large holes 13/16″ and then used a tapered reamer to enlarge from both sides.  The front edges are made with a bead plane, the upper one planed thinner and the bead made smaller.  The bead continues around the side, by marking with a gauge, then carved with a quarter inch chisel to match the front profile.  I used a round rasp to shape the scallops on the ends and finished with a round file.

It is all glued together with fish glue and nothing was clamped.  I will give it a coat or two of shop made varnish to protect it from water and other chemicals.  The tube on the left is raw linseed oil, the larger one has boiled linseed oil.  The small fat glass object in the center front is not a test tube but rather used for ‘cupping’, a medicinal procedure.

Stephen

January 22, 2010

Polishing or Oiling Planes

Filed under: Finishing, Hand Planing, Historical Material, Of Interest, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 8:53 am

Planes made from naturally dried beechwood are much lighter in colour than those made from artificially dried or steamed beech.  For planes made of the first-named beech, use raw linseed oil, 1 gill; dragon’s blood, 1 pennyworth; yellow ochre, as much in bulk as dragon’s blood; mix these together, and rub the plane all over except the sole or bottom; let them remain about a week.  Take them and rub well all over with a clean soft rag; give one more coat of oil alone.  Let it dry for three or four days, then rub well with a clean rag; lay them by for a week or two; rub again with rag, and use them if wanted.  Let care be taken to keep them free from dust while the oil is wet, or they will be a dirty colour.  For steamed beech proceed the same, except not to use more than about half the quantity of dragon’s blood.

The above is from 1873.

Stephen

January 20, 2010

I had a feeling, and it wasn’t good.

Filed under: Hide Glue, Historical Material, Of Interest, Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 4:37 pm

The most difficult part of replacing a factory woven cane seat is removing the original, especially if they use modern glues, which was the case with this chair.  I won’t go into a tirade about how I dislike modern glues.  This chair was no exception and I worked long and hard to get the grooves clean. 

Now in most cases, I order the materials for the job, but in this case the client provided both the pre-woven cane and the spline and after I cut the spline, I began to suspect that it might be just a little too small.  I did a test and it held, but that was just a small test and as I would find out the next day, my premonition was right.

Here is the seat as it appeared yesterday after I had trimmed off the excess cane, I got the first feelings of doom when the spline went into the groove a little to easy.  But it appeared to be holding.  It is a darker color because it is still wet.

Then when I arrived in the shop this morning, the spline had popped up in the back left hand corner and was bulging in the back and in the front.  I attribute this to the grooves varying in width.  So I got some hot water and soaked the areas, added a little more warmed liquid hide glue to the one problem area, hot water worked on the rest and clamped down the plastic blocks.  I am glad I could borrow enough clamps to take care of the problem, thank you Mr. Moore.

Next time I am going to go with the feeling.

Stephen

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