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16 October 2017 at 1:56 pm #335166
Two great things in one, morning! Best Hacksaw Ever!
(The other one is discovery of 1,700 year old theater until the West Wall of Temple Mount…they think they can eventually get down to the first Temple in Jerusalem!)
I bet all your smiles are great ones!22 August 2017 at 12:19 pm #314637I was going to try it (as seen above), at age 70, but add in the blood thinners I take, somehow sensibility won over. I needed a change, though and my barber (who seems to have less hair of mine to cut and more advice at his 82 years of age) suggested I use Johnson’s Baby Lotion containing butter oil, instead of regular or brushed cream. It makes a world of difference. If it starts to dry up during the shave, simply dip the safety razor in hot water.
12 April 2017 at 12:43 pm #311043Thank you all. Lots to think about.
A lot of the sites I’ve googled are sales sites, and the brands of razors they sell, oddly enough, reflect the name of the vendor. I just found out that a long-time friend of mine had been collecting smoking pipes, and he decided to give them to his wife. Not to for her to use; he consigned them to an eBay specialist (for high end pipes), and so far the first batch of six pipes have sold for about US$2,000 each. His wife is happy.Are there good, reliable fine steel shaving razors out there that I should pay special attention to? I could imagine a $50 razor has a distinctive difference from one that might cost a couple, few hundred dollars, but I rather not let my face be the test ground.
I like the idea of switching gradually. We’ll see. Meantime, I’ve found a brush-and-razor stand online, and I have some nice 1/2″ mahogany on the shelf downstairs. The biggest complaint is that brushes are different sizes and they don’t always fit off-the-shelf holders. I think I can make it precisely to fit. But just for one set, and for a straight (not safety) razor.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.20 March 2017 at 5:16 am #310315What Larry said was on point.
I first used a hand countersink bit. They comes in sizes, and the major online vendors will have a set or two.
Then I found bits that fit in braces. The positive points cited here are real. They also come in sizes. but they are usually found on eBay, so diligent shopping is called for.
Countersink bits also were made for push drills/screwdrivers. The chucks for these are of different types and sizes: I use a Millers Falls driver, with the “30” code. If the bit has a “30” on it somewhere, on on the case or envelope, it will fit. Adapters are also available used.
The handy bits are the ones that have a hex base for a hex holder in the driver. Highly interchangeable, including for the most modern screw types.
Countersink bits come with different numbers of flutes in the bit, from one to many. Obviously more will give you a smoother cut. For depth, the hand bit and brace bits lend themselves to counting the number of turns, but I go slowly in finer work by measuring the cross section of the hole at the surface. Sometimes it’s most accurate by simply stopping and holding the head of the screw to the surface cut in the wood. Just remember it’s easier to take out more wood than put wood back in the place from which it was cut. 😉
Have fun. They make great collector items, and the all metal stanley line is available new, as at Garrett Wade, but that comes with a price and less hunting.15 March 2017 at 11:19 am #310192Thank you all. Hock blade it is.
I’d get his book on sharpening, but what with all the times I watched Paul Sellers sharpen, and then mimicked him, I think I’ve got it. As for longer time sharpening, this one looks like it will be my go-to block plane, and sharpening calms me down during the day.
The other Stanley bench planes (and what has turned out to be a great Millers Falls #9 (equivalent Stanley 4)), are doing quite well with their original Stanley blades.
— Jeff (on a stormy day in Philly)
17 December 2016 at 2:32 am #143450Dieter,
I stand corrected. “Schnitzelbank literally means “scrap bench” or “chip bench” (from Schnitzel “scraps / clips / cuttings (from carving)” or the colloquial verb schnitzeln “to make scraps” or “to carve” and Bank “bench”); like the Bank, it is feminine and takes the article “die”.
I blame either the many years since high school, or my lack of opportunity to frequent locals, places of high learning.Lordy, what I wouldn’t give for a liter of Dunkel.
Fortunately, I lived in Italy for almost three years and was our office’s designated courier to our headquarters in Munchen. My wife’s college roommate has made her permanent home in Heidelberg, where I took advantage of visits to frequent the Rotten Ochsen.
This text tool does not do umlauts.
Hals und Beinbruch!
— Jeff
16 December 2016 at 2:40 pm #143444Dieter,
I have three rip saws in the making, since I’ll be ripping walking cane shafts down to size and making larger mortise and tenon joints for heating system radiator enclosures. The first is one of a set of steel-back saws passed down to me from my grandfather. They have to be close to 100 years old and one of them had irretrievable teeth. I’ve filed off the teeth, and am setting up a saw filing station (small, portable) to create rip cut teeth (per Paul Sellers).
The second is Paul Sellers’ demonstration of converting a new Spear and Jackson hand saw to rip teeth. Definitely worth the time to watch. I obtained a pair of them, originally both crosscut, and the only things I’ll do to the other is perhaps touch up the crosscut teeth, check to see if the blade is tapered (good luck there) and maybe lighten up the set, and definitely add the only micro-bevel that Mr. Sellers uses with a diamond paddle on the far edge of each tooth.
The third is a 1940’s vintage Disston 240 20″ panel saw, advertised to cut through metal (they meant nails in the wood). It’s a rip saw, 15 TPI, in lovely shape. They didn’t make many, because apparently ripsaws were going out of style by the 1940’s. It has a hefty blade, a bit of a set to the teeth, and cuts a kerf twice the width of one of the few dedicated Japanese rip blades I’ve been able to find. It will be matched with a similarly sized Sandvik Hogboo crosscut hand saw from Sweden.
A good source for rip saws are the long out of production Disston D8 and D7 full sized hand saws in 5-1/2 tpi rip configuration. These are for heavier lumber. eBay, of course. The ones with the hole in the handle for the left thumb are most prized (and priced, but I lucked into one for $20). I’ve used the two handed grip and it is very useful. After sharpening (it’s been cleaned), it should slice right through 2×8’s (too-ba-ates).
The Japanese saw I mentioned about is at
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/Product/156725/Z-Saw-10-Single-Edge-Rip-Saw-(Kataha-Tatebiki).aspx
It’s $50, although I got it on sale at $30. The thin kerf can be attributed to it being a pull saw and so far I’ve cut 30″ of maple dead on. I think now that the trick of rip cutting long cuts for novices like me is to create a groove or 1/8 to 1/4″ kerf on the cut line. First a knife score, then a nearly vertical Paul Sellers knife wall, then a deeper, slightly wider groove using whatever you can come up with. I used an old stair saw. The theory according to professor Sellers is that the saw blade follows the line of least resistance. So, in cutting a long thin piece of hardwood, I kerfed both sides and both ends and it sure enough worked. Straight and smooth rip cut. Time consuming preparation but worth the time, as always. You’d do better with one of those kerf planes being touted around the Web, but that’s a project unto itself.I just wish I had more time. Gotta run.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by jeffpolaski. Reason: Add more info
- This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by jeffpolaski.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by jeffpolaski. Reason: Typos, spelling, but more probably defective keyboard!
16 December 2016 at 2:14 pm #143440Dieter,
I would love to make Tim Manney’s, and for that matter, Jameel Abraham’s shave horses. But I’m pushing 70 years old and have not the time to do them justice (long health story), and there’s just no room for them, and now never will be. (Useful hint, though, about Jameel’s suggestions about leather for gripping. I’ll use that, large and small.)Curtis Buchanan’s videos are definitely on my list now, resting between work sessions. Thank you for your feedback. You are among the many people who have convinced me that I perhaps chose the wrong careers, and the wrong places to live.
Thank you so very much.
— Jeff
16 December 2016 at 1:47 pm #143435Ed,
Paul Sellers indeed does use the vise on his bench. Although I bought my bench, the vises are sort of rinky-dink, and limited by the position of the three rails that run between the vise clamps. My vise racks quickly. It was very useful to see Paul use the portable vice within the bench vise, giving him more room to work and I think making it easier to rotate the work.He uses a converted scrubplane, a large draw knife, two spoke shaves (I am still learning how to sharpen and adjust my spokeshave), and as I hoped to see, a hand scraper held by hand, not in a holder. Of course, he says we don’t have to use all those, he’s just demonstrating their use. I have one advantage: a couple smaller draw knives, although I’d bet he just didn’t bother to take his small ones off the shelf.
I’ll try my bench vise again, but it’s awkward in use. In the next life I’ll get or make a better one. Especially with some shelf liner to improve grip. (I’m in the process of lining the jaws of the bench vise to allow myself to clamp harder and not think about denting the wood.)
The other other handicaps I have using Paul’s method is the cane shaft is going to be much more slender and therefore, I believe, more finicky to clamp. The last handicap is that Paul Sellers is a master and I am absolutely not.
Thank you for pointing me to the Shaker Bench; I have no interest in making a bench and forgot that it’s the woodworking that goes into the bench that really counts. You have taught me something. So much to learn; so little time.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by jeffpolaski. Reason: Poor syntax. I'm not telling where. 😉
16 December 2016 at 12:53 pm #143433Florian, I enjoyed just looking at the wood in Germany. We camped for a week in Das Schwarzwald.
I seem to remember a Christmas song from my youth:
Ist das nicht ein Schnitzelbank?
Ja, das ist ein Schnitzelbank!
Schnitzelbank! Schnitzelbank!
Ach, du Schoene; Ach, du Schoene;
Ach, du Schoene, Schnitzelbank!Ist das nicht ein kurtz und lang …
Vielen Dank,
Jeff
16 December 2016 at 12:42 pm #143431Thank all of you. I’m getting closer and closer. I can almost feel the handles of a draw knife rather than this blessed keyboard!
— Jeff
16 December 2016 at 11:53 am #143423And I have the 4000 grit DMT, then I use the 8000 DMT, and unless Paul Sellers is standing over me, I really don’t have much idea if it does any more that the “Superfine 1200”. I have a feeling that I’m not stropping with the vigor that Mr. Sellers strops. Maybe the difference is there.
So, there’s nothing for it but to keep trying, and if the edge doesn’t nick my thumbnail, I’ve got a less-than-sharp blade, and I have to try again, and try to emulate what I see Paul Sellers doing. I have to pay attention.
My carving knives are very sharp, using the same grits in DMY folding hand stones and green strop compound. But I’ve been sharpening knives in my hands all my life, maybe as long as Paul Sellers.
There’s maybe a difference in using bench stones and strops and I’ll need another 50 years to discover it.
Keep trying, you’ve got the right gear, I believe, and pay attention.15 December 2016 at 12:59 pm #143389I would have to become more practiced at open M&T’s. I am considering draw peg buttressing for the Craftsman radiator enclosures I have to build before we move. Wood radiator enclosures are rare, probably because of the radical heat surges and the possibility of steam systems (which we have). Whe I finally install them, I’ll store the metal ones for the next owner, just in case.
Now, to look up “fox wedged” joints. Thank you for your feedback.
24 November 2016 at 6:50 pm #142668Well, I’ve got maybe a 1/4 cord of large Red Oak branches (18 inches diameter) that fell on my garage roof a month ago. Someone else’s tree, but I paid for the cleanup and roof repair, so those sections of thick wood are mine. What do I do with them? I’m thinking carving (starting with a chainsaw).
Do I take the bark off? I can seal the ends of the sections. If I take the bark off, so I seal the sapwood — or— do I also take the sapwood off and then what do I do with the heartwood? They aren’t long enough to make boards (8″ to 18″ long), but that wood inside looks mighty good. It would be a shame to dry it for burning.
The wood hasn’t started to check yet (like last year’s Maple and Cherry, not matter how much sealer I used), so there’s an opportunity here before the snow flies in Philadelphia.
Words of experience, anyone?
6 November 2016 at 4:19 pm #142231Reno,
Nice work on the frame saw. It should last many decades, if not longer. I probably will also use the Nobex blades when I get to the frame saw part of my project list. That company should be around for a while and they have a good range of blades to keep my options open.
I’m also very curious to know if you’ve done any of the carvings in the Shawn Cipa book. Would love to see results. I have a block of butternut cut to size for the Grotesque, and will use the “Tools for Working Wood” scrolling frame saw to cut the first shaping for that carving. -
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