Sawing « Full Chisel Blog

June 17, 2013

Blow Pipe Bellows

Filed under: For Sale or Trade,Hand Planing,Hide Glue,Historical Material,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Sawing,Techniques,Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 8:06 am

This has been on my list for a while and now I can cross it off. It is based on a traditional design and is a typical two chambered bellows powered by a foot treadle. I over thought the design and got retentive about vortices and valve placement, but was told not to worry about those things by a physicist.

I had some 1″+ thick pine, I used one piece of full thickness for the center board then had my apprentice re-saw the other board into two 1/2″ boards, one for each chamber. Also had him hand plane the surfaces smooth [again worried about the smoothness and air currents].

The leather for the bellows is oak tanned and quite thin, the pattern for the bellows needs to be offset to account for the fact that when it is open the moving boards are shorter than when closed, typical of bellows construction.

I used the same leather for the main hinge and for the internal valves. The center valve is inset in a rectangular shallow mortise to give more room in the upper chamber. The entrance valve is mounted flush as the board is only 1/2″ thick.

I used an old piece of flat spring steel that I fashioned into a spring to push the lower chamber back open after the foot pedal is pressed. The weight of the lower board will also help open the chamber as the leather softens up a bit after use. In my too-much-attention-to-detail, I inadvertently mortised the space for the spring on the wrong side, fortunately the center board was thick enough to accommodate the mortise on the correct side.

I glued a small piece of leather on the hinge end to hold things together and eventually with both side leathers become the bellows hinges.

The first side I glued and tacked on by myself, it was such a gluing frenzy that I ended up with glue in my beard. I used Lee Valley Fish Glue because of its aggressive tack to glue the leather to the board. All edges of the boards were smoothed and toothed with a toothing plane, glue applied to both leather and boards.

The second side I had help from my apprentice and it went much more smoothly and after 226 tacks [total for both chambers] it was complete. I then went on and made the base which consists of a board for the bottom and three uprights mortised and tenoned into the base and glued in place. I then began on the treadle.

Once again I was over-thinking the foot treadle design trying to come up with a mechanism that would push up on the bellows when the foot treadle was pressed. I looked through 507 Mechanical Movements from Tools for Working Wood for inspiration. One of those slap my forehead moments when I saw an illustration of a see-saw, teeter totter. Push down on one side and the other goes up.

A metal hinge simply would not work for the fulcrum of the treadle so I settled on leather held in place with round head screws and glue. The end of the treadle that pushes against the bellows, I inserted a wooden wheel in a slot to reduce friction.

I hooked it up to a hose and blow pipe and it works as advertised. Fun project now to find a buyer.

Stephen

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May 14, 2013

Double Hacksaw – 1749

Filed under: Historical Material,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Sawing,Techniques,Turning,Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 7:56 am

I have posted about this hacksaw before during a workshop with the Nevada WoodChucks, and thought I would post the original influence. Charles Plummier’s L’art de Tourner published in 1749, this is a photograph of an original edition in the collection of Ray Wilson of Indianapolis. I shot the photograph in 1977.

I have made and sold several of these including a couple of replacement arms, it is remarkably easy to break the end by overtightening the tension. An iron version would not have this problem. Very handy tool which I find I use on a regular basis.

I used the shape of the iron version on the upper left as I liked the looks of the arms, the wooden version is on the upper right. Did you know the paint on hacksaw blades is actually a lubricant?

Stephen

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May 3, 2013

The Complete Cabinet Maker And Upholsterer’s Guide – J. Stokes 1829

Filed under: Alchemy,Clamping,Dovetails,Drilling,Finishing,Furniture,Hand Planing,Hardware,Hide Glue,Historical Material,Instruments,Layout Tools,Mortice & Tenon,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Publications,Reviews,Sawing,Scrapers,Sharpening,Techniques,The Trade,Uncategorized,Veneer,Wood,Workbench — Stephen Shepherd @ 10:24 am

Gary Roberts over at Toolemera has done it again and reproduced a fine tome from the nineteenth century. The book has many full color plates, hand colored engravings and Mr. Roberts has reproduced the entire book in color, so the pages appear as they would in an original edition.

Mr. Stokes has done an excellent job at assembling material from his peers and predecessors, which I won’t call plagiarism as it was common practice. Some of the engravings have the long f for the s, indicating an earlier time.

The book is however full of very useful information about lay out, perspective, drawing, design and construction of furniture, with an emphasis on finishing, which I found fascinating. This is a great hardbound edition of an historical work that is a pleasure to hold in ones hand and read about the past and the ways of old. Add this one to your bibliotheque.

Stephen

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January 11, 2013

Shepherds’ Compleat Early Nineteenth Century Woodworker – First Review

This is the first book review of my first book that was originally published in hardbound in 1981. This review appeared in Smithsonian Magazine April 1982.

I found this while doing research at the University of Nevada, Reno at their excellent library.

Now I need to find the reviews in Workbench Magazine, Soldier of Fortune Magazine and Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly.

Available at Tools for Working Wood

and The Full Chisel Store or from Amazon. Amazon also has original hardbound editions for sale.

Stephen

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October 1, 2012

Hand Saw Season

Filed under: Drilling,Finishing,Moses T's,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Sawing,Scrapers,Techniques — Stephen Shepherd @ 3:46 pm

It must be hand saw season as two handsaws have occupied my time recently. I made a small unbacked handsaw for a luthier friend as a prop to replace his plastic handle version that ruins otherwise nice photographs. I don’t care if he uses it, but it must be in his photographs.

Simple version like my others I have made with square tapered octagonal curly maple handle; the nib on the end is for starting saw kerfs and is somewhat shaped like a violin scroll. The tooth guard is aspen.

I shape the curly maple to rough shape with spokeshaves and hand planes but there is usually a bunch of tear out, so I go over the surfaces with a toothing plane, then using a card scraper removed all of the toothing marks leaving a smooth surface. I then cut the kerf for the saw blade with a smaller saw for a tight fit. I drilled two holes for the rivets through the handle, then marking the position of the holes on the saw plate, I drilled two holes through the metal.

That took some time, I had to use a punch to get a deep enough hole for the small drill bit to catch and start cutting. I also drilled a hole for the nib/scroll, then used a jeweler’s saw and files to finish the shape of the pierced hole. The outside shape of the nib was filed with a triangular file. The saw is 13 tpi sharpened rip. I had to sharpen it three times to get rid of the factory sharpening into decent shape. Did have to set a few teeth, it was from an offset reversible dovetail saw, I sheared off the blade and cut it to length.

The handle was then soaked in water to raise the grain, after it dried, I scraped again and gave it a coat of Moses T’s Reviver [lean oil], after 24 hours a coat of Moses T’s Gunstocker’s Finish [fat oil], available here. The handle is riveted on with brass rivets.

The other saw is one I traded from a friend, I had a long piece of curly maple suitable for a walking stick and he just got this at the local swap meet. I am not sure of its use or whether it is a saw or an agricultural tool, but it sure looks oriental.

The blade is a uniform .057″ or 15 gauge in thickness, about 11 teeth per inch and all filed from one side, the other being a bevel. It has a gutter forged along its curved length and held in the handle with two pins and a metal ferrule. The wood is like ash, very light in weight and obviously hand shaped. Interesting tool.

Stephen

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September 9, 2012

I made a spokeshave to make a spokeshave

Filed under: Drilling,Finishing,Hand Planing,Historical Material,Moses T's,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Sawing,Techniques,Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 9:07 am

At the risk of repeating myself, that is exactly what happened. I only noticed it after I was finished making the large spokeshave. I used a small spokeshave that I made to make the large spokeshave. I also made the saw to cut the throat and Mark Schramm made the burn auger to make the square holes for the tangs of the spokeshave blade[s] he also made.

While I was at it, I used a piece of horn from the horn spoons to add a wear plate to the small spokeshave. It is dovetailed into the body and held in with Fish Glue.

I will be teaching a class to the Nevada WoodChucks next week in Reno and we will be making this traditional tanged spokeshave. Always a fun trip.

Stephen

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July 31, 2012

Oak Sewing Machine Cabinet Repair (5) Veneer work & applique repair

Filed under: Clamping,Furniture,Hide Glue,Historical Material,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Restoration,Sawing,Techniques,Uncategorized,Veneer — Stephen Shepherd @ 1:39 pm

Finishing the outside veneer repair work, I could easily work off the side grain veneer repairs with a sharp chisel, however the end-grain took some additional work. I clamped my big plastic glue block to the end of the cabinet at the proper location in line with the edge. I then used my thin saw and the block as the fence to trim off the end-grain veneer.

I opened the top to clean the inside and do one veneer repair. It is not often I get to use my Ram’s Horn coachmakers layout curve, but it worked perfect for this repair. The sweeping curved line is easier to disguise and fun to do. I clamped the curve on the work, put pencil register marks and using a sharp knife cut through the old veneer.

I then clamped the Ram’s Horn on the veneer over a scrap of wood, using the register marks and using the same knife cut out the new veneer. Fits perfect, as soon as a small missing piece of substrate dries, I will glue in the new veneer.

I removed the small drawer and cleaned it out. It has some water damage loose parts, missing glue blocks and the applique on the front was loose and cracked. I used a putty knife to get some Fish Glue under the applique and on the drawer front and in the crack in the curl end. I used a spring clamp to hold the crack together and two clamps and a plastic glue block to hold it down.

I hope to start the finish process soon, staining, filling and a coat of shellac or two.

Stephen

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July 12, 2012

Oak Sewing Machine Cabinet Repair – III

Filed under: Clamping,Furniture,Hide Glue,Historical Material,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Restoration,Sawing,Techniques,Uncategorized,Veneer — Stephen Shepherd @ 8:02 am

A couple of corners of the lid are damaged down through the substrate veneer, the front corner had a small piece of the substrate missing and I replaced it with some very thick veneer and clamped it in place. After it dried, I trimmed it with a sharp chisel before matching a piece of harvested veneer.

I harvested some veneer from the back corner of the sewing machine cabinet top. I used a veneer saw to cut the veneer next to the lid. I then used a hot clothes iron to soften the original hide glue and with the help of a pallet knife successfully removed the piece of quarter sawn white oak veneer. It did have a split and a couple of fractures which I used veneer tape to hold together until I glued it down.

I did some minor gluing with liquid Fish Glue on the substrate veneer in the area where I harvested the veneer. Again using clear plastic glue blocks, the glue doesn’t stick to them and you can see how it looks under clamp to insure it doesn’t move.

I usually do veneer repairs with slanted or angled joints, but on this one I tried a slightly curved cut on the end grain joint, this follows the medullary rays. While I was cutting the old brittle veneer I had to strengthen some splits with veneer tape.

Using spanner beams to apply pressure where needed on the clear plastic glue blocks and I think it turned out alright.

I still have to trim it and do a couple more small chip repairs. It is coming along nicely.

Stephen

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April 27, 2012

Wooden gears for a quilting frame.

Filed under: Historical Material,Of Interest,Sawing,Techniques,Uncategorized — Stephen Shepherd @ 10:48 am

A friend has ordered a 10 foot quilting frame based on a traditional design. Here is a picture of the drawing, showing the gears and pawls as well as the construction methods used in the fabrication of this quilting frame.

The frame (and bench) are constructed of knotty alder, avoiding the knots it critical areas. The gears are not free and layed out the gears then cut them with both a rip and crosscut saw depending on the grain.

I lined up the grain so they all matched and held together with a temporary bolt. I then gang cut the gears at the same time.

The gear on the lower left hand side has been completed, slightly beveling the sides of the gear teeth and chamfering the edges. I will continue on the others, then chop the square mortise in the gear to accept the 10 foot plus pole that holds the quilt.

Stephen

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April 4, 2012

Making a Veneer Saw

Filed under: Hide Glue,Historical Material,Of Interest,Proper Tools,Sawing,Sharpening,Techniques,Uncategorized,Veneer — Stephen Shepherd @ 6:45 am

There are several current models of veneer saws being produced, the nicest is perhaps the one offered at Tools For Working Wood with interchangeable blades. I have made a couple, and have orders for two more saw blades. I needed to make this now as I need to cut some walnut burl veneer for replacing the top of a sewing machine cabinet for a friend. There is no way to cut this crispy veneer without a veneer saw.

This is the end of a saw blank for a patternmaker’s saw, which was longer than I intended, I cut and snapped the end off to make the veneer saw. The tip already was slightly curved which helped in the shaping process as veneer saws are severely breasted.

I had to remember to file all of the teeth in the same direction, which took me a bit of time, I kept skipping a tooth.

Once the teeth were all filed in the same direction and with the curve or breast formed, I filed off the teeth to knife points.

I drilled two holes in the saw plate and countersunk them on the proper side for mounting to a wooden handle.

This is my current veneer saw [on loan]:

Stephen

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