Speaking Dates

I'll be doing a series of presentations at the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation's Landmarks Housing Resource Center at 744 Rebecca Ave, Wilkinsburg, PA 15221

Repairing Panel Doors, Saturday May 18th 10am - 11:30am
We will be covering and discussing techniques for repairing and replacing damaged wooden panels in existing doors. This can be helpful in settings where it is preferable that a historic door be preserved rather than replaced. Repair can sometimes be easier than replacement especially when dealing with doors of an odd size or unique style. Hand tools will be used during the demonstration but power tool alternatives will be discussed.

Tools for Historic Preservation, Saturday May 25th 10am - 11:30am
Hand tools for historic preservation projects. Sometimes using hand tools makes things easier and safer when repairing antique homes.  We'll discuss helpful tools for various repair projects as well as what to look for when buying new and used tools.

Reproducing & Repairing Moldings, Saturday June 1st 10am - 11:30am
When a small section of molding is missing from a door, window or baseboard it can be really difficult to find a replacement. We'll discuss and demonstrate how to make a short run of any molding profile using some simple tools and materials from the home center.

Hand Tool Care, Saturday June 8th  10am - 11:30am
How to get your hand tools into working condition and keep them that way. Rust removal techniques, sharpening and tuning will be covered and practiced.

RSVPs are appreciated.
Please Contact Mary Lu at marylu@phlf.org or by phone at 412-471-5808 x527

Back Surgery

Not for me thank goodness, but for my 16" Disston cross cut tenon saw. Once upon a time it had been dropped on the toe and the back had come up near the handle and didn't fit in the mortice fully making the handle all wiggly when sawing. Found this video from the Logan Cabinet Shop and I have to say the actual procedure was easier than I expected taking under an hour, actually I think it took me 45 min and I wasn't in a hurry. Wanted to share the video for those that may need encouragement to reset the spine on their back saws. Also thanks to Logan Cabinet Shop for a great video!

Paint it Black

My apologies to The Stones but not quite. This time I'm staining it black and I think I came up with a method that was pretty easy for this hard to achieve color.

So a little background on this project is in order. I'm making some doors to cover a sideboard piece that we've had and it's a very dark black brown and I want the doors I'm making to match in grain and color as closely as possible. So the piece has kind of an oak grain pattern to it so oak veneer 3/4 ply seems to be fitting that bill. Door and trim are made, now for the finish.

I had to make some blocks to affix the hinges to inside the cabinet so I figured I'd start finishing these first figuring that errors here are ok. So I start with a can of black satin Polyshades from Minwax and apply 2 coats with a brush. My results were fair, an ok black but too much build up around the edges and it's kinda uneven. So I sand after the second coat with 400 paper and apply another. We have now gone from so so to awful. Splotchy with matte and glossy areas and a 4th coat helps nothing at all. Crap.

I look on the interwebs for some Polyshades advice, the general consensus is that this product is the worst thing you can find in a can. Sigh... Ok, what now? Well, I have some black aniline dye from TransTint. I've used this before but found the results a bit on the blueish side of black, but I figure it's got to be better than the Polyshades. So I mix up a batch with alcohol as the solvent, you've got to use a good bit of dye to get a deep black so I used about 2-3 Tbsp in around 1 cup of alcohol. This I tried on a test piece and was happy with the color so I began to wipe it on my doors, this was slow going so I got a foam brush and flowed it on heavy and worked with the rag to even it out. This went well and I got an even coat. To deepen the color I did all the surfaces again, this took less dye than the first time. I let this dry for a few hrs. This left me with a black surface, but still a little blue, and also the dye with the alcohol tends not to stain the open grain of oak very well. So now I still need to fill the grain some how.

Once the dye was dry I don't know why I decided to try wiping the black Polyshades over the dyed surface but I gave this a whirl on my test piece. Well presto! What I ended up with was a richer black than the dye, the Polyshades is more brown based, with a well filled grain and a subtle gloss. Super. To reach the desired level of sheen to match my existing piece I hit the test piece with some Trewax and after buffing that out I was where I wanted to be. Great. You could probably go further than this to get whatever desired sheen you wanted by topcoating after the Polyshades with additional clear poly, or perhaps even shellac.

To recap quickly my recipe for a good deep black stain:

• 2 applications of TransTint black dye diluted 2-3 tbsp to a cup in alcohol
• Flow on heavy with foam brush and wipe with cotton cloth as needed to even out
• 1 application of Minwax Polyshades black
• Wipe on with a cotton cloth at can strength, don't thin it.
• Wax or other topcoat to desired sheen level

I'll post some photos of the various stages as I still have a couple of pieces to do for this project.

Artisan

Artisan: a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, sculpture, clothing, jewellery, household items and tools or even machines such as the handmade devices of a watchmaker. An artisan is therefore a person engaged in or occupied by the practice of a craft, who may through experience and talent reach the expressive levels of an artist using his hands, mind and heart in his work and what he creates. -- Wikipedia

Plane Iron Update

Making Shavings

Just a quick update on the Ray Iles O-1 plane irons I wrote about a few posts back. After clearing off and squaring up some rough cut oak 4x4 and 4x6 the iron in my #5 is still looking pretty good. I've used it both with the grain and traversing and after a good deal of use is still taking a nice shaving with the grain, so still acceptably sharp. I did inspect the edge while I had the plane apart for cleaning and it's ready for some sharpening but not too bad. I'm pretty pleased with the amount of work I was able to get done before having to sharpen. I could do more but I'll probably touch things up before my next planing session. Why push it?

Also the combination of new chip breaker, iron and opened mouth made things very nice. I had absolutely no problems with chips getting caught or jamming.

Buying a Draw Knife

Ray Iles Draw Knife

Well selecting a draw knife has to be one of the more difficult tool selections out there. Tons of conflicting info on what width, shape, handle style, handle angle, bevels, and whether you use it bevel up or down. I was going round and round looking at them from Barr, Lie-Nielsen, and Auriou for new ones plus a slew of vintage ones on eBay and other tool vendors. Confusion reigned.

I thought I wanted to get a new one but didn't really want to spend as much as some were. I was also concerned about buying a no-name that ended up being a draw knife shaped object. Finally I stumbled upon this one from Ray Iles at Tools for Working Wood. This is the small draw knife with a 6" edge and beech handles. Very reasonable price. I figured I'd give it a try since TFWW will make sure you are satisfied with whatever you buy from them. Well worth it.

Here's a couple of things I learned in the week I've been experimenting with this tool.

• Another person's advice on a draw knife is nearly useless to you. It is a very personal tool and what works for them won't necessarily work for you.
• You will figure out if you like to use it bevel up or down as you gain some time with it, currently I'm partial to this one bevel down.
• A 6" up to about 9" is probably all you want for edge length if you aren't shaving bark off trees or building a log home. I had a 12" vintage one, this smaller one is much nicer in the shop.
• Can't really speak to curved or straight, but straight was easy to sharpen well.
• I like the handles on this one, the rounded ends nestle in the palm nicely for me. Can't say how they will be for you.

All in all I think I was lucky with this purchase, either that or I'm not ultra particular about this tool. I find this one comfortable and in my experiments I was able to trim to straight and curved lines with good control. I'm still learning about the tool but have had good success so far. My advice is buy one you think suits you and try to make friends with it for a while before you move on to another knife to try.

Sharpening and Speaking Updates

The sharpening moves forward and all the moulding planes are done. After going through them one by one and sharpening the irons and testing their fit I only have two that need further attention. My one snipe bill has a loose front boxing so I'll need to remove and re-glue that. Seems like a good topic for a future series of posts if I can remember to take pics when I do it. The other is my larger ogee need the iron re-profiled to match the sole, apparently the stock has shrunk a little too much over the last century. Probably another good post topic.

Still have the gouges to do as well as a few misc. tools like the router plane. Should have everything in shape by the end of the month.

A change to the speaking engagements mentioned a few posts back. Due to a conflict with another event my March 9th talk on track saws will be postponed till April or May. When I know the exact date I'll post another update along with the details.