Woodshop plans: i

Showing posts with label i. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

I M Pei

The person that I have decided to research is not a furniture designer but rather an architect by the name of I.M. Pei., he went to M.I.T wanted to study engineer, but was convinced to study architecture. His role model and influence came from Frank Lloyd Wright. Some of his notable and recognizable works are The Louvres glass pyramid and the spiral staircase, Bank of China (in Hong Kong) and the John F. Kennedy Library. I find I.M. Peis work to be amazing and awe inspiring, his works are all very geometrical, clean cut and although it looks very minimal in the design aspects its elegant yet sturdy. Peis style has been described as modernist with a cubist twist. Besides the obvious geometric shape usage in his designs I also noticed that he also likes to work with glass, He does not really explain why he uses the materials he uses, but it did mention that he likes to find balance in his works, which i think he does. Most if not all does not look too bare or too excessive.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Good Things Come To Those Who Oh Hell I Got It! I Got It!

As my old man used to say, "Gotca, ya bugger!"

Those words usually meant I was in for it, but not this time. This time, its a good thing.

After over ten months of endless solid main gears, I finally found one...

Just about every day for ten months found me doing searches for a Stanley 624 drill on eBay, jimbodetools.com, thebestthings.com and every other site I have bookmarked. Just about every day for ten months all I found were solid main gear examples which were far too new for my collection.

Finally, one stared me in the face. I was so used to not finding one that I continued on before the nickel dropped that I had just seen what I had been looking for. I actually had to backtrack to bring it up.

With most of its original paint intact, nothing broken and not even really dirty, from my perspective, it is a fairly decent example of what I consider to be a relatively rare tool. There may be a number of them out there, but they are definitely not for sale. I have no idea how old it is or what it is worth, other than what I paid for it, but to me, its worth at least ten months of work.

I figured when I finally found one, it wouldnt come cheap as, after all, when demand outstrips supply, the price rises. As I got this one for 17 bucks and I was the only bidder, I figure the demand in all the world for one of these was yours truly, so that wiped out the demand/supply theory.

It is missing its side handle, but it just so happens I have one. Not mentioned in the listing were the three original bits that were stashed in the handle. The cap was turned on pretty tight so I doubt the seller even knew they were there. Ill get in touch with Jim soon to see if he can come up with the complete set for me.

In truth, when I opened the box and held it in my greedy little hands, I quickly realized why there are not many of these old eggbeaters around. I had read somewhere that the spoke gear was pretty fragile, compared to the Miller Falls and Goodall/Pratt. So fragile, in fact, that most were broken. They were not kidding. This was not one of Stanleys better designs.

When I get this one cleaned up and I get the Miller Falls back from wktools.com where Mr. Kuc is working his magic on it, Ill shoot some photos so you can see the difference. There is some serious metal missing from this Stanley.

Thats ok, though. I like rooting for the underdog, literally.

Peace,

Mitchell

Monday, February 10, 2014

Finally I cut a piece of wood

I guess this is where the rubber hits the road, so-to-speak. I have spent some serious time and used up a lot of space explaining where Im headed so I guess it is time to start to deal with how I am getting there.

As I mentioned before, I chopped up the lengths of walnut at the hardwood yard into 37" pieces as this is the longest material I will need to build the frames and racks. I knew there is going to be some waste, but trying to haul a bunch of 8 long pieces of lumber in the back of a Mini just wasnt going to work. I got all the stock milled up using - ahem - power tools and I was ready to rock.

The first step on the agenda was to cut all the pieces to length for the framework for the left door. For this I used a Stanley 150 miter box and a disgusting 1980s vintage Disston 14" backsaw.

I know I have spoken quite a bit about my old man in this blog, but when you are working with tools that your father made his living with over his lifetime they take on some serious sentimental value. This old Stanley miter box wasnt his, but there is a connection.

When I was a kid around 10 or 12, I built what we called, hotrods. I built them out of scrap lumber I found, cutting up the pieces and nailing them together. I used lengths of pipe and cold rolled steel as axles held to the cross pieces with bent-over nails. A piece of 2x4 mounted to the so-called body by any bolt I could find served as steering and a rope and my feet served as controls. I used an old lawn mower engine mounted on the back which drove the rear live axle using a belt. Because the thing didnt have brakes, nor could I afford a clutch, I would set it up so the belt would slip if there was any serious resistance to forward motion. Putting my feet to the ground, pulling back on the rope and putting as much pressure on the ground as I could muster seemed to always get the thing stopped - eventually. Usually they didnt last long as they would shake apart in a matter of a day or two.

This type of miter box was exactly the same as what my dad used to cut trim work for the houses he built. Being a fuss-busket, I used it once to get all my cuts square on one of these hotrods I was building at the time. The build day was cut short on the account of rain and while I seemed to have stored everything else away properly, I guess, in an ADHD moment, I forgot to put the miter box away, leaving it out in the rain. I dont remember all of the particulars of the event but I sure do remember my father coming in one night after work holding a very ruined miter box in one hand and waving a fist at me with the other. Man, did I catch it, not only the day he found it with the wood base all twisted and some serious rust going on, but also the day he threw it in the trash, announcing that it was beyond saving. The funny thing is, I dont ever remember him replacing it so I have no idea what he used after that. He must have, but I never saw what he replaced it with. I guess he was afraid I would mess that one up too, so he hid it from me and over the years he forgot where he hid it.

Anyway, one day I was cruising eBay and came across the exact same miter box. Man, did that bring back memories. Of course I bought it, paying $15.00 for it, and if I remember right, $25.00 to get it shipped, but I didnt care. When it arrived and I unpacked it, I felt good. Not only was it the exact same article, it was in even better shape than I remembered his to be, this one being new/old stock with the hardware stores $15.75 price still marked on the base with a grease pencil. It took me almost 50 years, but I finally made that mistake right.

Back to the cabinet. I am cutting a 1/8" bead around each of the rack frames just to give a shadow line and give some definition. Once I got all the pieces cut to size I then ran the bead with my Ohio Tool beading plane. While I love this tool, I did make a huge mistake with it, but in my defense, it was the first one I ever held in my hands, let alone used.

When it arrived (another purchase from eBay), I took it apart and cleaned it using turpentine, rubbing it down with #0000 steelwool. I can hear the collectors groan as I write this but I will make no apologies. I cant see any craftsman worth his weight letting his tools get in the condition of some I have seen collectors drool over. To me, a tool is only worth anything if it is usable and to be usable it has to be clean, polished and sharp. Anyhow, the mistake I made was once I got it clean I gave it a couple of serious coats of wax, wedge and all. Trust me, I shant make that mistake again. I have tried cleaning the wedge with solvents a few times but when I wax something, I guess I really wax it. The tool works fine for a while but eventually the wax wins and the wedge looses its grip. Eventually, I hope to get it so it stays but for now, I have to live with my mistake.

With all the pieces that require a bead completed, I then brought the flat down level with the bottom of the bead using a #78 Stanley, another tool from my dads kit. To ensure that I dont damage the bead I used the plane to cut a rabbet along the length of a piece of scrap poplar the depth of the bead. I then clamp this to the walnut so it hides the bead and can be used as a guide to ensure the shoulder is square. This lightens up the look of the wood considerably and gives a clean line around the tool display, much like a frame.

I guess you have figured out that Im big on the aesthetics, no matter what I am building. This is one of the reasons I love old tools so much - they truly are pleasing to the eye. I wish I could afford British made tools because they had the look of a tool down to a fine art. In reality, I guess I could afford British tools, but its the shipping to get them over here that would break the bank. I wonder why that is, though - not the expensive shipping but the fact that their tools are so much prettier than ours.

I finished up all of the bead work, gave everything a good sanding with 80 grit, then 120 grit sandpaper, and now I am ready to cut all the dovetails to get this thing together.

I know some of you will look at these photos and think to yourselves, "What the devil is he working on?" Actually, it is some other companys answer to the Black and Decker WorkMate. Its junk, but remember, my shop is on my balcony and with patio furniture, barbecue and your wifes flower pots taking up a lot of room out there, you have to have something that is collapsable and storable so you get to work another day.

One other point before I close off. One of the main reasons for posting this blog is to get feedback from other woodworks. If you see something that I am doing wrong or just know a better way of doing it, I would greatly appreciate the help. It is only criticism if you dont offer up a better way of doing something so I hope you will be free with your comments.

Peace,

Mitchell

Dads Benchtop Bench Part I

A few weeks ago, I wrote of how cool some Benchtop Benches are. After contemplating buying the Sjoberg Smart Vise for him, I instead opted to build a Jeff Miller style Benchtop Bench for my Dad for Fathers day.

Jeff Millers Benchtop Bench from FineWoodworking.com

As might be expected of me, I began by milling the legs out of Timerstrand. One of the nice things about Timberstrand is that they come almost perfectly flat. They’re also easy to mill. A few passes over the jointer and through the planer left them ready for joinery.

Timberstrand mills just fine.

Rather than use the traditional tenons that Miller used on his original, I used Dominos (no suprise to a regular reader. I glued the tops and bottoms to the legs. It was my intention to bolt the front and back stretchers as Miller did, using unglued Dominos rather than his staunch tenons. I say it was intention, because as with many good intentions, this fell to the wayside once I had the Domino and glue in hand. The stretchers are not permanently glued to the legs.

Miller centered his stretchers on his legs, resulting in their being set back slightly from the face of the legs. As it was easier, I simply jointed my stretchers flush with the face of the legs.

The leg assemblies.

I glued the leg assembly in two (2) steps. First I glued the top and bottoms to the legs. Then I glued the leg assemblies to the stretchers. As soon as they were glued up, I put the whole thing on my table saw as a flat reference surface. There was some twist to bench base, so while the glue was still wet I added an extra clamp diagonally across them to try to pull the twist out.

The stretchers glues in and the diagonal clamp to minimize racking.

Once the leg assembly was in clamps, I began on the top and vise.

The top is made of the finger jointed mystery wood panels you can get from the home centers. I laminated four of the panels together (3/4” each to make a 3” slab) about a year ago as an experimental benchtop. The whole thing was about 6’ long and had an awful twist to it.

To make the benchtop bench top, I cut a 24” length off the end of the home center panel experiment. With a few passes through the planer, this smaller length flattened out quickly and ended up just under 3” thick.

The benchtop on the legs.