The Village Carpenter by Walter Rose -Book Review

This week I stumpled upon a book in my local library. Called "The Village Carpenter" by Walter Rose. It tells the story of the life of, you guessed it a Carpenter growing up in a village in Victorian England. Our hero tells us about his Grandfather and they way he worked with trees to finished items and how the advent of machines changed the way they worked. Remember this is a way of life, a means to make a living, not a weekend pursuit or hobby.
 I've not read through the whole book yet, but I've come accross so many useful and insiteful snippets thus far I felt I had to blog about it instead of tweeting at Christopher Schwarz @RudeMechanic, Marc Spagnuolo @WoodWhisperer and the rest of the crew I've been bugging with my tweets. Sorry guys, I just get over excited some times. Below is a little snippet our hero has to say about design.

"No ammount of added ornament or excellence of finish can make a badley designed structure look well. Everyone can remember examples where much skill and labour has been expended on work desigend on wrong lines. The result is always that the eye turns away from it dissatisfied. But good design will give pleasure to the beholder even when the finish is not perfect."

Worth some thought there the next time you work from a rough sketch without paying attention to the design details. I've been guilty of that on more than one occasion, and ended up disappointed with the results.

And next time you think you're too tired to do any more work, thing on this little extract:

"Many of our men walked four to five miles daily to work at distant places. Grandfather frequently retold  his early feats of strengh and endurence, of walking to and from Swanbourne, for instance ( about 17 miles) , where he did a days work of carpentry, carrying his tools each way. He admitted he was tired on his return."

And they carried their tools! Imagine humping a table saw 4 miles or 17! to a job? I think hand tools would be the order of the day, (they had no such thing as electric tools then anyway) and not that many of them.

Here's an extract on how the usable wood in a fallen tree was calculated. I can't quite wrap my head around it, see what you think:

"For the measurement of trees my father always used a string and a slide rule. As the trunks of trees taper lenghtwise, the middle was taken as the average girth round which the string was passed. I have helped him many times, holding the string carefully with my fingers at the place where it terminated the circumference as measured, afterwards doubling it and then redoubling it twice, with the result that the folds held in my hand were each an eighth of the total circumference. Then he would direct me to drop one eighth part- this an allowence for the bark- and double the remaining seven eighths twice. Each fold of the string was now one-fourth part of the seven eighth of the circumference. He would take the lenght of this with his rule. The measurement thus arrived at represented the "girth", or one side of a squared log, supposing the content of the log to have been square instead of round. On that basis he would then ascertain the cubic content of the log by the use of his slide rule"

What now? Can anyone explain this?

 I'm just starting the chapter entitled "Tools" and will update this blog accordingly. Why not drop back in a few days.

New to Woodworking? Start here.

The other day I had a revelation. "When starting a new subject you need to start at the beginning." I not sure where I heard or read it, but it made me dig out an old woodworking book I bought from a charity shop, more as a joke than a serious woodworking journal. But as I re-read the book, I realised what little golden nuggets of valuable information were held in these pages.

It is Ladybird's " 'How to do it' Woodwork ". 

It was first printed in 1973 (pre-disco) and although it was written for young children as an introduction to woodworking through it's fifty or so 6"x 4" pages it gives a good basic introduction to woodworking for anyone. As the great Mitch Hedberg once said "Every book is a children's book if a kid can read it." Well with this book the reverse is true, it may be a kids book, but if you are new to woodworking your knowledge is that of a child's so what better place to start.

Let me take you through a few pages and you decide. It won't take long. It's only fifty pages long and twenty five of them are pictures.  

The inside cover has a world map with locations of wood types and species. Page one is a history of wood and it's uses followed by modern uses, how a tree grows, what wood is good for what purpose. Then we get into the different types of lumber cut, Tangential, Quarter Cut and Through and Through. How wood is dried and the inherent defects. The different types of man made boards available.

Then we enter the realms of tools, types and differences. Hand saws, cross cut and rip, how to hold it and how to cut. Marking gauges different types of planes and their anatomy, chisel profiles, sharpening techniques (25/30 degree FYI). Drills, clamps even the correct way to sand it's all there.

The final two pages hold the worm on the hook. They would inspire anyone with a passing interest in wood working to delve deeper. It has a picture of a chair with examples of bridle, cross halving, mortise and tenon joints and finally dove tails and housing joints. 

As you can see from the pictures here in, it's not the best woodworking book ever printed, it won't give you all you need to know, but enough to get you started on the woodworking journey.

Tin Bashing

I recently got a book first published in the 1930's called Tin Can projects and Art Metal work. It gave instruction on producing small items for the home made from recycling old food tins. Things like candle holders and titbit dishes. It was written as a way of giving information to a desperate people in a recession and as we are heading in that direction I thought it was relevant to have a go in today's unsure world.
It had a list of methods and techniques and gave me a little burst of inspiration to create. That was one part of the inspiration, the other came from the firebowls of John T. Unger.

So I had my tin can, derived of all traces of cat food, now I needed a design. I've done a little air brush work and can draw a mean cartoon style flame. I wanted a design similar to John's firebird grills but with my own twist. I experimented with a few sketches to get the level of balance and detail right for the size of tin then transferred the design to the tin with a Sharpie. Now I had to cut it out. 
Tin snips proved to be too big and awkward to wield without the danger of loosing a finger and after shedding a little blood for my art I decided to uses another method.
The book talked about using a punch or die to cut holes in the cans, so I took it a step further and decided on using a chisel about 4mm wide. DON'T PANIC! I didn't use a wood chisel, I took a big 6 inch nail and used my trusty hand grinder to fashion a flat cutting edge. This I then used to stamp out the design, following the line of the Sharpie.

But now problem number two made its début. As I struck the cutter with the forced needed to cut the tin, it caved in. I needed some snug support. I took a block of square wood, a foot of a palette, and with a block plane worked it into a cylinder of wood which fitted so air tight I needed to insert a screw to get it out. It took a little time and effort but I now have a former to use again and again.
It proved a very therapeutic exercise following the line and the result was pleasing enough for a first attempt.
In theory I could cut any design, which has opened up a world of possibility, you could do it too, just look out for the sharp edges and don't cut yourself.

Change of use, what was old shall be new-old

The other day I decided it was time to get ready for the great move. The shed I work out of is to be demolished and recycled into a new position in my tiny back yard, also it might grow a few feet, but don't tell the Mrs. 
Before this can happen I need to collate all my accumulated tools and junk into some kind of moveable storage. I have a few plastic totes but, lets be honest, it's all about the wood really, so a wooden tote was in order.
I decided to use some old wood I reclaimed from an old pallet and set to work. I also wanted a quick build so went for some easy dimensioning for the box from the wood I had in stock. The pallet strips where 47" long, so I chopped them in half to give the long side lengths of 23.5". I figured I needed 3 each for the front and back, 3 for the base, maybe 4, and 3 more to each be cut in half for the sides. I dully cut the wood into the required lengths and was all set for the assembly.
I decided on a simple rebate on each end of the front and rear panel, it was only going to be a simple functional build after all, but how to cut them.
I do own a router, and I'd made a router table, so it seemed logical and quicker to use this to cut out the rebate.

 Or was it? First I had to set the height of the cutter, I had the right one fitted so that was a task saved. Then I had to adjust the fence back and forth a few times to get the length right.  I then realised the size of the cut would require a couple of passes. As it turned out, each cut needed several passes. It was noisy, with both shop vacuum AND router running, it was taking a dogs age and the resulting cut was, to be honest, a mess. I remembered seeing an episode of the Woodwrights Shop called Peter and the Box where the visiting Woodworker, Peter Farnsby, demonstrated how to cut rebates with a simple cut with a tennon saw, then dropping a wide chisel into the scribe line on the end grain. Bish, bang bosh, finished.

 
 All that was needed was a quick clean up of the face with the same chisel and I was done. It took under a minute to complete compaired with 5 or so noisy minutes using the router. So maybe simple is best. Here is a shot of the routered and hand cut rebates, click on for a larger image, and you decide which was better.

Next it was time to put the box together, or was it? Had I thought the build through? Was this box going to hold? I'd seen loads of old crates on my travels, but something was bugging me, something wasn't right?

Can you spot it? If I tried to build this crate up in layers like this, what would hold the layers together? I searched through the fog of my memory for images of crates and realised I needed to stagger sides in relation to the fronts to provide overlapping surfaces. I figured the best way to do this was to rip the short sides in half, but I don't own a decent rip saw, only some general purpose saw's. I began to cut, but was getting nowhere fast. I needed to think outside the box. I needed, the AXE. My axe, my favourite tool in the shed. It split the would length wise in a trice, a quick tidy of the edge with my trusty block plane and we were ready to rock. With some 5 minute PVA, some nails and the newly staggered joints I had a super strong box.

Now I just needed some super strong handles. I drilled to 19mm holes in each side and used a rubber curve to create a nice consistent sweep.

I used a jigsaw with a sharp blade to cut the holes, then finished them with a rasp and some rough grit sand paper to add a little age and wear. And all was done. 
What was once a modern storage device had been transformed into a traditional old style storage device.
What was old, had become new, and old.

Now that's a Sabby Chic storage box.

Router Ramblings

I bought a router after spending far too long making some simple lap joints for a cupboard door. It was a revelation. I could make smooth perfect cuts with ease. To keep things neat and tidy I fitted the shop vac pipe to the cowl that came with the unit. This wasn't a straight forward fit as BOTH the vac pipe and the cowl outlet were the same size. Luckily a small length of plastic drainage pipe fitted inside both pipes and, with a little duct tape we were in business.

 After getting the vac pipe caught up on the edge of the bench, making me jerk around and lousing up a few cuts it was time for a little more improvisation.  With the aid of some stout rubber bands looped around the pipe and the other end hooked on a nail in a roof beam, I had a safe and clean working router.

After stumbling around the internet and reading a few books from the library I decided to knock up my own router table. I used MDF and laminated chip board as that was what was lying around in the shed. The first problem was cutting a large hole in the base of the chip board for the router to screw into. There is a plastic base which is held into the base plate by 5 plastic screws. I used this as a template to cut the recess for the router to sit in. But the screws that held the plate were too short to hold the router upside down. To clear this little hurdle I got some small bolts, cut them down to size and made small recess holes in the top to allow them to be suck out of the way of passing work pieces. 

I didn't think this would be capable of supporting the whole of the router, plus I wanted a method of raising and lowering the router slowly and accurately. I've seen and heard of many methods, car jacks, wood cogs, but my low tech solution was two blocks of wood with a 45ish degree angle cut between them. A long slit was cut in one block into which a long bolt was passed through into a nut at the rear. As the bolt is turned it closes the blocks together which raises the router, screwing out the bolt lowers the router. When you do this you have to remember to take the brake lever off! Also in the picture you can see the Velcro strap used to keep the power switch in the ON position. You MUST be really careful with this method of control. I switch the router on or off from the switched power socket and to be extra safe, If my fingers have to go anywhere near the bit or the shaft the power is un-plugged and the strap slipped off.

I took my time to make a fence which was bang on 90 degrees, you must do the same if you want work to come out square and true, time spent on this is well worth the time saved correcting miss-cut work. It also has an air box on the back to suck out debris when cutting. The original fence had a hole way to big and ment to much floating around when passing work over the face, and it wasn't square.

 

It is a continual learning curve using a router table, and one is always wary of the dangers of dealing with a carbide tip spinning at 4000rpm. I pick up tips here and there and intend to pass them on here, so why not follow me on Twitter or bookmark me here and pop back once in a while.

 Here's one tip I picked up. Clamp a rule to the left side of a fence, feeding in  from the right gives a nice square edge, just right for box making, but that's another ramble. 

Built for function, not for style.

I like messing with wood, especially free wood. Today I decided to build a Ryczka Stool using the wood I'd salvaged from a pallet the other day.
First off, I needed to work out how big it should be. I'd recently read about the "Golden Selection" ratio, a ratio of sides that together form, what is considered visually most pleasing. The ratios are 1 x 0.62 x 1.62 . The other day I made a couple of wooden blocks, one cut to this ratio and one cut to 1 x 2 x 3.

It was funny, I did't think it would make a lot of difference either way, and I'm sure there are countless group forum chats about if it works or not, but I think the 1x0.62x1.62 block looks better, don't ask me why, I just like it better. So this was the basis of the stool.
First, take three planks of old pallet 100mm x 19mm (4" x 3/4") and butt together, this gave me a seat depth of 300mm. Now, this was my 0.62 ratio, to find the value of 1, I dragged up a maths lesson from the dark recesses of my mind to give me;
 1 = 300 / 0.62
which gave me a height of 486mm. 
Now the width, 
486 x 1.62 = 784.


784??? This was going to be a wide stool! But I wanted to try this Golden Ratio doo da to see what it would turn out like.


 Now the maths and the sketching was over, it was time to break out the tools and knock this bad boy out. I didn't want to use any power tools today, plus I wanted to see what could be achieved with the simplest of tools. I used some nails, 5 minute PVA, a hammer, simple saw, a knife, a block plane and, of course my axe, no build would be complete without some axe work.

I cut the top pieces to length and planed them on the glue faces. This was only going to be a rough build for use in my shed, but I still wanted it to stick together. I used the edge of my big rule and a pencil to mark the high spots, then took them down with my block plane, this gave me some good faces to glue up. If I'd had some long clamps I would have done that, but as I don't have them I split down some battens with the axe and nailed them across to hold it all together. 

The two end pieces were now made, by this time I was way off plan, but that's how I role. Make the best from what you have. I figure that the whole thing could do with some cross stringers to give it some sturdy support, after all, it was going to take 260 lbs of lumbering woodsman on it. I took two bits of wood that had split when I'd took the pallet apart. They were rough and ready and looked great! I don't posses a spoke shave, so I used my sheaf knife held at the right angle to trim off the rough bits. 
Now it was time for the grand finale of putting it all together, there is something really satisfying about driving a nail into wood, especially into end grain, nice sound. Within a few hours I'd gone from a pile of dirty wood to a fully functional stool.

 Once built I ran my block plain over the edges and the seat to prevent any splinter related intrusions.
It may not be the prettiest of stools, There's no fancy dovetail work, just rough saw cuts, nails and glue but there is something about the ratio of sides to height to length that make it look good.
 I like it, it fits well in my work shed and is definitely fit for purpose. So grab some wood and get busy with the glue & nails.

One man's trash.... Confessions of a Skip Diver.

I need wood.

But there is a problem, I'm skint. I needed some wood to finish one of my chairs and managed to pick up a pallet from my local council run tip and found an interesting fact.

If you want to get a piece of wood or pallet from a skip the rules are:

"If you can get it without climbing into the skip, you can have it. But you can't go in the skip." Apparently Health and Safety forbid the fine art of skip diving.

So after a few minutes grunting and cussing I had the pallet in the back of the car and was home with some free wood.

Once home, it was time to break out my to most favourite tools, my crowbar and my axe, here they are all sharpe and ready for action.

 The crowbar is an underrated tool, in skilled hands it can separate bits of wood, be flipped around and used to knock nails through before skilfully removing a nail and leaving a clean piece of timber. 

Removing the large square blocks at the base proved a problem. I tried prizing with the crow but the wood split and was lost. I then tried to separate the blocks by forcing in a chisel, this didn't work. In the end it was time for the axe. Placing the block on my oak stump I used the small axe to split the block along the grain to reveal the nails holding the block. A flick of the wrist and the back of the axe was used to knock through the nails enough to be popped out by the crowbar. 

So after an hour of sweat and muscle ripping toil I had 14 metres of 110mm x 25mm timber. Sure there were a few extra holes and hammer dents than one would like, it was free, but I like to think of the ultimate in recycling.  

The Original Coffee Table

Whilst living in Amsterdam a lifetime ago I was working for a, shall we say, "shady character" in the property market as a hired hand. As well as "liaising" with unwanted tenants I sometimes had to help clear out the furniture of a newly acquired property in the centre of town and on this day amongst all the nick-nacks and soft furnishings of the recently departed I came across, what I like to call, the original coffee table.
It was round, about 6ft across, and sat on three 2in thick angled legs about a foot from the floor and the dark wood was a good 2in thick all-round. But what made this unique was the centre.
Sat in a 18in hole was a brass dish, on which a lid of embossed brass which had 6 or so small dish shapes around the rim which took matching cups, some larger dents in the middle took a large coffee pot. Apparently the dish was filled with hot coals from the fire which kept the coffee of the chatting bohemians nice and warm as they philosophised into the small hours.
It was a simple peace and I wish I could have kept it and not thrown it into the skip, but as I said this was a life time away. Perhaps I could re create the table with a modern twist, maybe a John T Unger Firebowl in the middle.
Time will tell.

Mini Golf Star City Birmingham

Today we all went to Star City in Birmingham to play Mini Golf.
It was ok, but where was the windmill, the tubes and pipework,
there is only so much you can do with lumps and bumps.
I might just have to design my own Crazy Golf!
Keep watching for updates.

New pictures in the park in Leamington Spa

I had a fantastic day Sunday taking my Folding Adirondack to the park in Leamington Spa. It wasn't a day out with a wooden chair, that would be silly.
No, it was a day for taking pictures of my chair for the revised website www.bigbearchairs.co.uk.

This last one was a favourite but for that poxy wire fence. But 20 minutes with GIMP photo editor later and we have.....

 Much better.

Bloody ipod Stand!

Today was a dark day in the woodshed.

I was knocking up an ipod stand for my buddy Austin. I'd cut the slot with my circular saw and it was looking good, although a little rough. Which is where the trouble started!

I decided to trim up the slot a little with my heavy tenon saw, I was using my thumb and fore finger as a guide when I slipped and (feeling faint) I cut my thumb!

I did the merry dance of pain, swearing and shouting for help from ma lovely.

One bandage and a cuddle later, peace fell upon the shed again.

Later I was using the power plane on the wood to tidy it up when it ripped the front section off, so I threw it in the rubbish bin.

Lesson of the day, don't use a tool for that what it wasn't intended, or you'll end up cutting yourself.