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Not sure where in the Midwest you are, but we are blessed with lots of local oak, walnut, and generally other hardwoods are very available also. One of the responders said not to use lumber yards, but some are ideal sources. Here in Kansas Schutte Lumber is an institution. Do a local search, you may well find sawmills in your vicinity. Here in Kansas City Urban Lumber recycles trees from the metro area, L&K Hardwoods and Tom the Sawyer are other regional sources. There are many of these small sawmill operations in the midwest.
Rafael ,the box is beautiful-well done!! The stone does look like a Washita or soft Arkansas. I use Arkansas stones for my daily sharpening and like them very much. If anyone is looking for new quality stones Dan’s Whetstones in Arkansas still is pulling quality stone from the original quarries, they do have a website. You can generate a lot of discussion about honing oils. Light oil does lubricate, but in doing so does slow sharpening. Kerosene also works to carry away the swarf and lets the grit of the stone cut quicker but is not lubricating. I use about 2/3 kerosene and 1/3 baby oil (good smelling mineral oil) which is a good compromise. Enjoy your stone!
Lots of good thoughts above. As stated, dewaxed shellac is needed to adhere to other finishes. If using shellac followed by wax as a finish, don’t need the dewaxed. Moisture transfer from the air is slightly slower with waxed as opposed to dewaxed shellac. Neither is significantly better at resisting spilled/standing water though. A good resource for shellac info is donsbarn.com. Don Williams was chief furniture conservator at the Smithsonian in the US, and has a deep and abiding interest in shellac. On his website you can look at “writings” and access the “Shellac archive”
That would work-the shellac is also relatively easy to strip with denatured alcohol, removing some or most will make the planing easier. Sanding after planing the birdseye maple will cause the sanding dust in the pores again-try to finish from the tool without sanding. My hat’s off to you for finish planing birds eye maple, I usually resort to a scraper as the last step.
Check out Ashley Iles Mk2 bevel edge chisels. O2 steel, which makes them easy to sharpen. They hold an edge well, have great balance-a pleasure to use, and I think they’re as good as the Lie-Nielsen chisels at half the cost. Be aware the backs are made with an intentional hollow of a couple of thousandths. Don’t try to lap them till the entire back is flat-just a little bit of lapping gives you the flat right at the edge.
Matthew:
The first plane I bought, in 1985, was a Master Mechanic plane from my local hardware store.Couldn’t figure why it wouldn’t work like my dad’s plane and figured it must be me. I still have that plane on my shelf and even after all these years of tuning and using hand planes I still can’t get that one to take a decent shaving. Some of these “tool shaped objects” just aren’t worth your trouble. Many people start with these tools like the HF, and give up hand tools thinking they just don’t work. I agree with the other writers-an inexpensive vintage plane will be a much better bargain for you. Best of luck with it!Any of the above mentioned rasps will do the job. The Ariou rasps are hand-stitched, which means that each point or tooth placement is determined by the craftsman making the tool. This results in some randomness in placement of the teeth, as opposed to the regularity of the machine-stitched rasps. On a practical basis this randomness makes for a much smoother surface-even their relatively fine tooth patterns can remove a lot of wood very quickly, but still leave a surface requiring very little additional cleanup. If this is a tool you will be using even occasionally in the future, I would recommend the Ariou if you can afford it-this is a lifetime tool if taken care of and will give much better service than the inexpensive options-in this case you definitely will get what you pay for. Also as noted in the post above, see Paul’s blog post and the Forum entry about Ariou struggling. If we want to maintain and encourage the production of new quality hand tools we have to be willing to buy them.
Thanks for this notification-was not aware of this. Paul has often bemoaned the many makers of traditional quality hand tools who have outsourced their production and sell tools which are a pale imitation of the quality demanded by previous generations of craftsmen using hand tools to earn their daily bread. We are seeing a renaissance of new makers and if we want to encourage a return to production of quality hand tools we have to vote with our feet and our dollars. Every time we buy a cheap poorly made rasp at the big box store instead of an Ariou rasp, or a poor quality chisel instead of a Ray Iles, etc, we are either sustaining this renewal of quality or crushing it-we will get the quality of makers we pay for. Not everyone can afford an Ariou rasp-if you can’t, try to send a few bucks to this campaign so they’ll be there when you can. Even better, if you need a rasp and can possibly afford it, buy Ariou. Craftsmen supporting Craftsmen.
Looking at the gentleman’s other videos, the cabinets and drawers he is building are exactly what is in my kitchen and probably most of yours-plywood or particle board joined with pocket screws, glue, and nails or staples. His bench appears to work well for his type of cabinet construction. But for those who aspire to use traditional joinery and build furniture to last a lifetime or more, a traditional woodworking bench will give much better service. Paul’s classes are a call to return to this type of craftsmanship and I am trying to build furniture pieces for my home and my children to this standard. I don’t plan on replacing my kitchen cabinets, but my next dining table, chest of drawers, medicine cabinet, end table etc I do plan to make with dovetails, mortise and tenon, and housing dadoes on a workbench made for this.
This is a workbench made for using handheld power tools, and it appears it works well for the gentleman. But it is not a bench which will be satisfactory for a woodworker using hand tools. And while my bench is not an altar and carries signs of decades of use, I do not think it economical or prudent to plan on expending the effort to build a bench to “abuse it with impunity.” If you are going to make a workbench, make one to suit the style of woodworking you will be doing-if you are going to be doing the type of hand tool woodworking Paul is teaching you will be much happier building either an English style bench-Nicholson or Sellers type, a Roubo bench, or a continental bench typified by face vise, tail vise, and bench dogs. Any of these can serve your needs. But trying to use the bench in this video in a hand tool only workshop will be an exercise in frustration. The benches I mention above were developed over centuries of use by craftsmen who used them daily to earn their living and evolved to help the hand tool woodworker make maximum use of his time and effort. We are always tempted to think we can reinvent the wheel and do it better, but sometimes the hard won knowledge of generations of craftsmen is worth listening to. If you are going to do power woodworking build a bench for that. But if you will be doing hand tool woodworking, build a hand tool workbench.
For open containers I would recommend Walnut oil or linseed oil. These penetrate well and produce a deep, very tactile finish which highlights the grain. You will see mineral oil recommended but it is a petroleum product and does not “cure” or harden. The three oils which will permanently cure are walnut oil, tung oil, and linseed oil. All are plant oils, for food containers the walnut or linseed oil are probably best. Commercial “boiled linseed oil” contains metallic driers to speed curing. The limitations of these oils are that they cure slowly-you can apply a very thin coat every day or every other day for several days, wipe off any excess, and leave it open-needs oxygen to cure. With very light coats the oil will sink in-thick coats will feel very gummy. Just wipe it on, wipe it off. It does take several weeks to completely harden but can be used immediately. If the finish gets scratched or worn, just apply a new coat. It is not an extremely waterproof finish, but is durable-the traditional finish for gunstocks, which are exposed to harsh conditions. Linseed oil can be found in the grocery store as flax oil or flax seed oil. This is a beautiful, safe, and easily repaired finish for this use. I would not use linseed oil for enclosed containers such as canisters-enclosed it will not cure and you will be able to pick up the scent for a long time. In terms of film finishes shellac will work in this setting also-very safe, shellac used to be the coating for M&M’s candies and used to coat time release medication pills.
Agree with the procedure you described originally above-this is classic hammer veneering, and is done with hot hide glue. PVA glues are not appropriate for hammer veneering, and this procedure does not require additional clamping, veneer press, or vacuum, etc. Glad it worked well for you. For bookmatching agree with the procedure above, except recommend veneer tape rather than masking tape-this is a paper tape coated with a little hide glue, and is made for this procedure and easier to remove after. This is a centuries old technique, but antique veneers were much thicker than modern, might have been 1/16″ and so current veneers are more fragile and harder to work with. Keep at it!
I agree with all that Ed said. If you use the chisels occasionally, any of the brands mentioned will do. But there are definite differences which make using a quality chisel more of a joy and less of a chore, especially if used frequently and extensively. These include the ergonomics-the balance in your hand when making fine paring cuts, the balance when held like a pencil to chop dovetail waste, the fine lands on the sides which allow the chisel to reach the acute angles of dovetails. How often and how easily they sharpen, etc. I have a set of Robert Sorby chisels I have used over 30 years, but over the last 3-4 years my favorites have been the Ashley Iles chisels. More expensive than Aldi but less so than Lie-Nielsen, but as good as any chisels I’ve used, and better than most. Roy Underhill once said concerning tools “Life is both too long and too short to spend with any tools but the best you can afford.” Also-we enjoy vintage tools and bemoan the state of toolmaking today. But the only way we’ll see a return to quality toolmaking is if we buy it. Craftsmen who used their tools all day every day would never have settled for much of the crap sold today, and we shouldn’t either. Planes, rasps, saws, etc all have suffered because consumers voted with their dollars for cheap poorly made tools. When you buy a new tool you are either endorsing this status quo or encouraging a new age of quality. Your vote counts!
The white is likely the wax/oil that didn’t penetrate completely. Tung oil is fine to use for this application-just be aware it dries very slowly and wait at least a day or 2 between coats. 3-5 days would be even better. Penetration of the oil/wax blend is enhanced by a solvent-traditionally spirits of turpentine, more recently odorless mineral spirits have been used, but the new “citrus solvent” works well too, and smells a lot better. Wipe on heavily, rub in vigorously, wipe off completely and then buff with a clean rag after the wax has hardened. Temperature makes a great difference when using wax, in terms of penetration. Use high quality products but I think you will be happy with the finish-enhances the grain and gives great depth, but does not form a surface film, giving a very “natural” feel.
The UK brand name Danish Oil looks like it is tung oil. In the US products sold as danish oil can be tung oil, linseed, or any of a number of others. Check the ingredients. Be aware that “boiled linseed oil” products may contain heavy metal driers, which speed drying. In keeping with the above, there are a number of great recipes for oil/wax finishes available. The above mentioned Walnut oil can combine with beeswax also-an additional solvent is sometimes needed for these mixtures, “citrus solvent” is an excellent choice for foodware if a solvent is needed. Mineral oil is a petroleum product. It is safe to ingest, used commonly as a laxative, but it does not cure. You want a finish which will cure. The oil/wax combinations can be easily repaired or touched up, using the same finish.
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