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27 March 2011

Been Busy

When we left off last time I was plodding along on the Hand Tool School lessons.  I am still.  I am only two and a half lessons behind now.  First there were the Bench Hooks


Then the chisel storage, I needed to get these Two Cherries out of their box anyhow.

Then the miter box.  90* is dead on the two 45*'s though, well close enough for the next project.....

The miter shooting board. This one came out dead on.

Then there was the layout square done with half laps.  It is as accurate or maybe even a little more accurate than my framing square.

Then the shop bent was made using M&T joints.  Possibly the squarest piece I have ever built.  Love the way it came out. 

The next lesson was a stone pond.  I don't have any pictures because I didn't make one.  I did a few practice joints, but I don't use water stones, and if and when I do, I am going to make a Frank Klausz style stone pond.  The one featured on his Hand Tools DVD that my wife got me for Christmas.

So that brings me to the current project, the saw till.  I am in the panel make up and stock prep phase of that one.  I am using Radiata Pine instead of some nice hard wood like "White Oak" wink wink.  For one I can afford it.  Two, if you look at almost all of my pictures above, you will see I use poplar for most of my shop stuff.  My lumber supplier that is close by, (HD aka the Borg) doesn't carry 1x12 poplar. My real lumber supplier is about 80 miles away. I figured if I was going to glue up panels anyhow, I might as well use something a little lighter on the budget and in my opinion better looking.  Some of the boards even show a little curl. 

Sorry wrong curls.

Of course, now that I'm in full swing on the saw till, it's time to go to work.  You know, the one that currently pays the bills, and by the time I get home (2-3 weeks) it will be lawn care time, does the cycle ever end? 

As always feel free to post any questions or comments in the section below.  You could always contact me on Facebook or Twitter via the links on this page. 
Until next time....

2 comments:

  1. I like the miter box. What kind of wood did you use?

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  2. The sides and base are common pine, the braces across the top and the filler inbetween the sides is popular. It is screwed to a piece of plywood so there is room on the sides to clamp it if need be.

    ReplyDelete