Sauer & Steiner

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A7 - part II

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:43:00 +0000

The rear infill on the A7 is now installed and the sides and sole are lapped flat and square. I used brass pins this time and really like how clean the sides are.

A detail shot of the rear infill and adjuster.

This was a tricky photo to take, but it shows the scribe lines of the bed and the leading edge of the mouth. These are the lines that I file too.

This is the setup I use for cutting the mouth opening. The two scribe lines on the sole are the same width as my hacksaw blade. The two steel blocks clamped to either side act as a fence. When I am positioning the blocks, I use a small knife edge square and bring the blocks up to it. This helps to ensure that I am cutting a mouth perpendicular to the sole.

The tape around the clamp threads are to keep the threads from marking the sole. That tape has been there for years.

The most nerve wracking part is starting the cut. The above photo shows the beginnings of the kerf being established. This is one of those “workmanship or risk” parts (and I love working this way).

A few minutes later, the kerf is deep enough that I can take a breath. The teeth are buried at this point.

And a few minutes after that - the kerf is deep enough to stop and work at it from another side.

Here is the same photo as the previous one with the fence and clamp removed for clarity. Notice that the kerf is centered between the scribe line.

This next photo shows the kerf defining the bed of the plane. There is a little left to file down, but the kerf is pretty close to the scribe line. I really took this photo to highlight the position of the plane in the vice. Notice that the radius of the mouth opening is below the vice jaw line. This is intentional. When I am starting the cut with the hacksaw - the blade sometimes slips, as is evident from the deep scratches along the back edge. This area is going to be removed, so it does not matter, but by keeping the radius below the jawline - I have “protected it” from a sliding hacksaw blade. The blade hits the tops of the jaws before it can damage the radius on the plane.

The mouth has now been cut - time for lots of file work! This is a clearer shot of how close the sawing gets to the scribe lines.

The wedge has been fit to the plane now. I leave out the adjuster for the fitting process... it just gets in the way.

And here is the wedge roughly shaped on the bandsaw.

And finally the finished plane. As luck would have it - I was able to deliver this plane this past weekend. It is always a bonus to be able to hand the plane to the new owner.

English Boxwood lovers beware!

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:11:00 +0000

This boxwood infill set has finally made its way into a plane. There were a few points where I was a little worried some of the figure would be lost as I started refining the shape. When the above photo was taken - I was gritting my teeth a bit.

But after final shaping - this is what was left. I cannot recall seeing a more figured piece of boxwood. Ever. Despite all the figure, the fitting process went very smoothly and nothing “tore out”. There were a few small pin sized voids in a few of the eyes - but a drop of CA glue filled them nicely.

Curl and birds eye - what else could one ask for!

I applied the first coat of french polish to the A7 shoulder plane last week. True to form - the Brazilian Rosewood came alive.

Another view of the front infill.

The rear infill is ready to be installed and I hope to finish up the A7 this week.

The first A7 - part I

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:02:00 +0000

It is hard to believe that this is the first adjustable shoulder plane I have made - but here we are. Several people have asked about them over the years, but there were a few “issues” I needed to resolve before I was comfortable saying I could make one. The adjuster and the threaded sleeve (and top screw) were the biggies. Building the pair of Rebate mitre planes solved both of these issues, so it was only a matter of time before the A7 shoulder plane came to life.

I have kept my camera close at hand this last week as there were a few sequences that I thought might be interesting.

The first one is rather generic - but it illustrates the manner in which I work.

After the shell has been piened together - I measure the gap between the sidewalls. As long as the sides are parallel to each other - I don’t really care what this number is. Well... unless it is 1.124" and I am making a 1-1/4" wide plane - then I would have a problem. Although Riley would be happy... he would be all over the “scrap” bronze! Anyway - the plane is .002" wider than 1.000" which is a non-issue for me.

(front of the infill, bottom)

Because this is what matters to me. Early on in the planes construction - each part becomes specific to that particular plane. The front bun to “identical” planes are not interchangeable - they are individually fit. There are variations from one plane to the next - measurable in thousandths of an inch - but still variations. I have no interest in going the extra mile (or charging you to do so) to get rid of the .002" of extra space between the shoulder plane sidewalls. I care that the sides are parallel to one another, square to one another and that the fit between the infill and the metal shell are gap free.

(front of the infill, top)

(back of the front infill)

These three measurements are taken from three different points on the front infill. They are close - and slightly over sized. Perfect! It is kinda hard to tell from the photos - but the two readings from the front section are the same and the back portion is slightly narrower.

One of the true joys of woodworking is knowing your tools so well that you know how many passes it will take to remove .002" from the front of the infill and taper it back to the desired thickness. Once the piece has been made parallel - I can start working on the overall thickness. And that is how all the infill pieces are “fit” to their corresponding shells - on everything from this shoulder plane, to a 28-1/2" long jointer.

Here are a few photos to show the keeper (the bronze plate that supports the top of the wedge and registers the threaded sleeve).

The sleeve houses the bronze screw that engages a small cup that is inlayed into the top of the wedge. The cup is offset so the tip of the bronze screw works as a drawbore - as it is tightened down, it pulls the wedge in.

The two tenons of the keeper.

The underside of the infill showing the recess for the shoulder on the threaded sleeve.

The keeper and the bronze sleeve.

The next sequence shows the shaping of the back of the rear infill. I apologize - there are a few steps missing here. In the above photo - the back of the infill is still “off the bandsaw” and needs quite a bit more work.

I use the bandsaw to cut the above radius and then refine it with rasps files and sandpaper. I have always found it is worth the effort to maintain square edges, clean transitions and smooth lines. Most of this clean radius will be removed during final shaping, but I am convinced that going through the process of working accurately prepares my hands and mind for the next really critical steps. Having clean crisp edges is also crucial because those are the reference edges for all other layout lines.

Here are the layout lines for the compound radius on the bottom edge of the rear infill. If you click on the photo - it will be easier to see the line on the side of the infill - graphite does not like to be photographed.

This is about 8 minutes and two files later. I start with an 8" half-round and then finish with a very fine half-round. From here I proceed to some sandpaper wrapped around a hard rubber form.

The last sequence shows the shaping of the front infill section.

Here is a shot showing the front infill section already pinned. At this stage - I have already started refining the arc of the front infill that transitions from being flush with the bronze sidewalls into the raised section that houses the sleeve. Note that the infill is still quite rough at the front of the plane.

This shot shows the refined radius in front of the keeper and the keeper now flushed with the top edges of the sidewalls. This was slow delicate work with files and then finished with sandpaper. Again - note the crisp lines of the edges.

This is a photo taken from the back of the plane looking forward. I use a paper template to layout the radius across the back of the front infill.

Here I am using a specific radius template to define the other side of the compound curve. When I was in design school - part of our kit included this great set of ellipse templates. They range in size from 1/8" to 2" and in projections of 10 degrees to 80 degrees in 5 degree increments. I cannot believe how many times I use these in my day-to-day work!

(a quick shot to show the Pickett ellipse book)

Here are the layout lines and some blue tape - just in case the file wanders a bit.

The first stage of shaping with the 8" half-round file.

Another view to show the end radius taking shape.

After the second file - it looks like this. I used a 6" single cut, mill bastard file for this work. From here it is onto a bit of final sanding.

And here is a shot showing the fully shaped and sanded section. You will notice there is a fair amount of sunlight in many of the photos. Good strong light is a key to shaping complex curves. Watching the light roll across an arc is a very fast and accurate way of judging if the curve is right or not.

I am not sure where this last photo fits into the order of things, but it was a good shot to show the fit between the infill and the shell.

That is it for now, but part II should follow in a week or so.

Never enough clamps!

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:00:00 +0000

I have been working on the living room trim for the last week and have enjoyed just about every moment of it. A friend of mine commented that “you are either good at trim... or not”. It took me a few days to wrap my head around it, but after I found my pace - it was most enjoyable.

Moving the workbench into the living room was (as hoped), the right thing to do. There were very few trips back and forth to the shop - which made things much simpler and reduced the snow puddles in the house too.

All the trim is quarter sawn White Oak which was not the easiest choice to learn trim work with... but what’s a guy to do? One of the challenges was how to treat the outside corners of the pillars and the windows. I did not want a simple butt joint because the quarters awn face and the flat sawn edge grain would look pretty crumby. My options were to miter the corners or use a very deep rabbet. I opted for the rabbet... the miters would have been a nightmare and I was worried about how they would hold up. In the end - the rabbets worked out very well.

Here is a detail shot of an outside corner. I used 3/4" stock for all the frames and cut a 5/8" deep rabbet in the mating piece. This left a 1/8" reveal of the flat sawn stock... but with a slight chamfer on the edge - the transition is well hidden. Oh, the chamfer - 5 passes with a particular XSNo.4 smoother.

The use of this deep rabbet meant I could make all the joints with glue alone - something that was time consuming and a reminder that one truly cannot have enough clamps. Ever!

It was slow - but the results were worth it.

Here is a shot of one of the pillars being glued up before installation. I attached the two sides to the front and then slid it over the framing. In hindsight... I could have left out the framing which would have made things much simpler. Live and learn.

One of the other details to work out was the crown molding profile. I followed George Walkers advise and made some mock-ups of various profiles. We have chosen the one closest to the camera - a simple 7 piece crown (what have I done?!)

One of the highlights of the project (aside from all the quarters awn white oak and using my planes all day long), was using the Festool Domino. There are frames and panels all over the place (29 raised panels so far) and the Domino has been the perfect tool for all the frames. It is foolishly accurate, very easy to use, and provides incredibly strong joints. I cannot imagine living without it.

The intended feel of the room is loosely Prarie style - based on the work of William Purcell & George Elmslie, with a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright in there too. One of the design features is a strong horizontal line which wraps around the room. The “line” flows from the bottom of the piano window trim and extends to the corners of the wall, where it wraps around...

... and continues to divide the upper and lower portions of the front and side windows.
The top of the front and side windows also have stained glass frames in them - I just left them out while working. This horizontal line will also be picked up in the trim above the fireplace and will continue in the built-in bookshelf.

There are still several more layers of trim to be applied to the top and bottom of everything - but the edges and lines are now defined - and we are both very pleased with how everything has come together.

Here are a bunch of photos of where things are at.

The underside of the bulk-head and a good view of the plywood base for the crown molding.

The ledge on the pillars is at the same height as the window sills.

Today was my transition day - moving from the living room trim to working in the shop on some new planes. On the bench - a Blackwood filled 22-1/2" A2 jointer, an A7 Norris shoulder plane and a birds eye boxwood SN.04 smoother.

Things are getting serious now

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:15:00 +0000

I am just getting over a bit of a head cold right now - likely picked up on my flight home from San Francisco.

In anticipation of a speedy recovery though - I have been preparing the living room for some major work. As I mentioned in a previous post - the first piece of the baseboard trim is up. That experience (or “inexperience”) taught me many things.... you need the right tools at your disposal in order to work efficiently. I know this is painfully obvious, but knowing it and doing it are sometimes very different.

Jill and I have been home renovators from the day we purchased our first home.

our first home

Before Riley and Lucas arrived, it was not uncommon for us to be up until midnight tearing out walls, wiring, dry-walling or painting. The kitchen island doubled as a workbench and it was customary to have spaghetti sauce splatters on the drill.

Not much has changed since then... the kitchen island was perfect for shooting the miters for the border of the floor. Jill worked away on preparing dinner - and I worked away at shooting miters. I am sure we all consumed a few white oak shavings those nights.

It has been a constant battle to find a balance between how much of the “work” should be done in the shop vs on site in the house. I still struggle with it. The upstairs sun room just about killed me - I must have walked at least 10k back and forth fitting parts and carrying in pieces. It was horrible. And that is what prompted the Festool madness - super high quality tools that are compact, portable and dust free. I swore I would not repeat the experience in the sun room in the living room. The framing went very well, but most of that is chopsaw work. The flooring went very well - other than the miters on the kitchen island. But the trim... that first course of the baseboards felt like the sun room again. I had the chopsaw in, the Festool MFT (which is awesome BTW) and most of the other Festool stuff. What was missing was a bench. I was still having to run back and forth to make critical cuts for the coped inside corners. At one point I was clamping some of the shorter pieces onto the hearth framing muttering “this sucks!” under my breath as I was trying to make accurate cuts.

So the bench is in for the long haul and hopefully this will make all the difference.

PS - there are still 2 benches in the shop - so I am able to work in there too.

Barely a hint.

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:54:00 +0000

OK. This “mystery plane” I am working on. This is obscure... but I really do not want to let the cat out on this one. I promise to post about it shortly.

What a trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Firstly - let me apologize for the delay in posting... I have been very busy in the shop these last several weeks, working on a very challenging and unique plane. I will post pictures once it has been delivered. In the meantime - here are a few shots of a recently completed A5ss infilled with Brazilian Rosewood.

I have also started working on the quarter-sawn White Oak trim in the living room. The first piece of the 4 piece baseboard has been installed. It was a bit of a challenge because the floor is not level. We used a laser level to mark “level” around the perimeter of the room and used this to locate the baseboard. With the first piece installed - the rest should go smoothly (famous last words I know). The terrazzo hearth was installed yesterday and Jill tells me it is sensational. I cannot wait to see it!

Oh, I am in San Francisco right now. I am leaving for the airport in a few hours and thought I should write something while it is all fresh in my mind.

What a trip it has been. Every single day has been spent with great people - some old friends and some new ones. Ron Hock and Linda were the first on the adventure list. They were attending the LN show in LA and decided to stay in the Bay area between that show and the one at the Crucible. Ron was waiting for me in the baggage claim area, and I have to say - seeing him there was a wonderful sight. Thanks again Ron. Ron had suggested that we go to the De Young and see Tut. I have to say - this exhibit blew me away!

There was one small statue that really did it for all of us. It was one of the earlier pieces in the show, but it stuck with all of us. It was a 12" figure of a woman (sorry - I cannot remember her name) carved out of wood. She had the most extraordinary carved braids but the real zinger was her dress. The carved fabric was so well done that you could see every single curve of her legs. It was exquisite. The artist managed to make it look sheer and even had a slight indent for her belly-button. She was a very striking figure.

The overall quality of the craftsmanship was incredible. The lips on the figures were amazing as were the proportions and overall qualities of the lines. I always enjoy seeing what the best looks like - I have a new definition of where the bar is.

There was also an Amish quilt exhibit that none of us knew about. The quilts were amazing and very modern. It was shocking to read the cards to realize many of them were made before 1930. It was also interesting to note the differences between Amish quilts and Mennonite quilts.

We attended the LN hand tool show at the Crucible on Friday and Saturday. The show was great and I enjoyed catching up with old friends and making many new ones. These traveling shows that LN is hosting are quite amazing and are a fantastic resource for hand tool users. Thanks to Thomas and the rest of the LN crew for continuing to do them.

I have been spending these last few days with another good friend. We took a drive up the coast to see the amazing California coast line. We had a wonderful lunch at a sea-side spot that was packed despite the fact it was in the middle of nowhere. Of all the places I have visited over the years, California could very easily be called “home”. I love everything about it. The people are wonderful, the climate is amazing (especially when there is a foot of snow at home), and the woodworking community is second to none. And the food... wow! The quality of the ingredients is unbelievable.

I had better sign off now and finish packing up. I promise to post more often from now on.

Abs of destruction part III

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Lapping a 28-1/2" jointer is no walk in the park and it took me a few days to psych myself up to do it. Once it was all taped up and looking Smurfy - it was time to start.

After day one, I had one side just about lapped, the other side close behind and the sole was well on its way. I decided to pace myself and not even attempt to do it in one day.

Day two went very well - the plane is just about done. Both sides are lapped, the chamfers are completed and the toe and heel are fully rounded and polished. My impression was this plane lapped a little faster than the Ebony filled A2ss. I suspect the slight reduction in weight is what helped. The smaller front bun may have helped as well - it was easier to hold the plane when I was lapping the sides. Either way - I am glad the lapping is just about done.

Here are a bunch of photos.

This was the last plane of 2009 and a perfect ending to the year.

I switched from small bottles to larger ones. This one got finished while lapping the plane.

PS - The official lapping soundtrack was Joy Division’s - Closer.

Making buns - a little more Mathieson and a dash of Norris

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:39:00 +0000

The front bun of the 28-1/2" A2 jointer has a few modifications to it. The “bun” portion has been pulled forward, which allows it to be lowered and creates an area just behind it for a thumb grip. I made a quick mock-up out of basswood - man is that stuff easy to work with! This forward and lowered bun is pretty typical of the Mathieson jointers I have seen.

I usually have an Ogee on the inside of the bun facing the lever cap (ala Spiers), but we wanted that inside ramp to be a bit steeper so it reached the sidewall before the small curve. This detail is typical of Norris. Softening that area is helpful when the back of the bun is used as a thumb hold.

Once the mock-up was done, I sent it to the client to make sure all the details were right. Everything was great so I proceeded with the real bun.

Shaping the bun uses quite a few tools. Fitting the block is done with handplanes - a few thou at a time. It has to be perfectly square - all other dimensions and measurements are referenced from these faces. Thankfully - I have a few decent planes to use. I use my bandsaw, tablesaw, lots of chisels and sandpaper to do the actual shaping. I do not use a router because very few of these profiles lend themselves to router bits, not to mention the idea of 20,000 rpm’s on dense brittle endgrain strikes me as an invitation for disaster. Plus, it would be really slow.

Here you can see the inside ramp and the transition area to the back of the bun.

Here are a bunch of photos of the fully shaped front bun. The next step is a dozen coats of french polish.

The french polishing went extremely well and the color and grain of the wood really came alive. At this stage, the infills and lever cap have been installed.

Next... lapping - aka abs of destruction part III.

One of the funny things about these massive planes is they are hard (for me) to photograph properly. Here is a quick photo to try to give a sense of scale.

Just in time!

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:46:00 +0000

I am just finishing up three special XSNo.4 smoothers. Here are the details - in no particular order.

First - a Figured Brazilian Rosewood filled XSNo.4ss smoother. This is the first plane in a series from this piece of wood and the other planes should be equally spectacular.

The grain in the rear infill is just insane! When I was roughing these planes out, I had no idea they would be this killer.

The next XS is infilled with some birds eye/curly English boxwood (oh to be so lucky!). This came from a piece of boxwood I picked up in England several years ago. Like the Brazilian above, the figure exceeded my earlier notions.

And last, but certainly not least is one of the last Mystery Rosewood planes. This is also one in a series and I am very pleased about the homes these last few Mystery Rosewood planes are going to.

The 28-1/2" A2 jointer is coming along nicely - I should be posting some photos in a day or two.

Hmmm... picking one favourite board?

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:08:00 +0000

This past Friday was sanding day. Well... part of Thursday too - but it was a tough day and we are trying to forget about it.

There was one issue with this room that we were a little concerned about - the floor was not perfectly flat or level. I debated on tearing out the sub-floor, leveling and re-installing a sub-floor... but that seemed like too much work - even for me. The uneven height and gentle curve to the floor did cause problems for us in both the installation as well as during sanding. We found that many of the nested board ends were not level with the adjacent boards. Part of this is likely the nature of a herringbone floor - any variation in board thickness will cause this, but everything was likely compounded by the curve of the sub-floor.

We used a random orbital floor sander with 4 discs. It was quite a bit slower than the belt style sander, but it was the right choice given all the crossing grain. After several hours we were ready for the first coat of finish.

After much deliberation, we opted for a light coat of oil followed by a few coats of satin Fabulon. At the end of the day, I am not really interested in removing all the furniture once a year to re-apply a coat of wax and polish to the floor. Add in two active kids, and a durable film finish seemed to be the right choice.

This floor is the first time I have ever worked with white oak. Over the last half year I have grown quite used to the light straw color of unfinished white oak, so when we poured the oil onto the floor - I was taken by surprise. There was texture, color and grain in there that I had not seen nor anticipated. The floor came alive. As we sloshed the oil around it became more and more impressive almost to the point where my head exploded. The beauty of this floor exceeded my wildest expectations.

We let the oil sit for a bit before wiping up the excess and buffing everything with clean cloths.

Here are a bunch of photos.

I suspect it will be nearly impossible to pick a single favourite board - but this section right in front of the pocket door is particularly stunning.

An incredible piece of Brazilian Rosewood

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:24:00 +0000

(and another honkin’ big plane!)

I have been working on a 28-1/2" A2 jointer for the last several weeks. The infill is Brazilian Rosewood, steel sides and a bronze lever cap. The set was roughed out almost 3 years ago. When I took the first cut off the rough piece I had selected, I saw this amazing pair of black lines. They were unusually straight and I knew right away that I was morally obligated not to screw up this special grain. I immediately roughed out a set for a 28-1/2" jointer. My goal was to preserve enough of the line to carry it from the front bun all the way to the rear infill.

I started on the rear infill first and was very pleased to find that the line did not disappear as the wood started to take shape.

A long view of the rear infill...

(click on the photo for a larger view)

... and a close up of a particularly nice section right beside the handle. It is hard to see it from this angle, but there is a black line in the handle that lines up perfectly with the black line on the deck of the rear infill. The planets had certainly lined up for me!

The block for the front bun is also fit, and the grain looks to be equally stunning.

And here is what I was after - that black line running from front to back.

And a close-up of the rear infill where it terminates into the sole.

The chamfers have been “roughed” on the sidewalls and the dovetails have been ground off using a bench grinder. The next step is the front bun.

Border & banding details

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:05:00 +0000

Here are some further details of the inlay in the border. I decided to integrate the inlay into the floor as opposed to try and add it after the border was installed. The process worked amazingly well - here is what I did.

The above photo shows the rabbet I cut into the floor boards just above the groove. I did this on the table saw with a dado head. I debated on using a router, but the table saw was much faster (I needed 170 linear ft). The rabbet was 7/32" deep and 1/4" wide.

Here is a photo of the banding “sandwich”. I started with three, 9' piece of black dyed Swiss pear veneer. They were 4-1/2" wide and .9mm thick. I cut them in half to yield six, 4-1/2' long pieces. I then found a really curly piece of hard maple and milled three pieces that were 3/16" thick, by 4-1/2" wide and 4-1/2' long. I glued up 3 “sandwiches” consisting of a piece of black Swiss pear, a piece of curly maple and then another piece of black Swiss pear. I put a layer of wax paper between each layer and put a caul on the top and the bottom of the triple-decker sandwich.

After 24 hours, I took off the clamps. I edge jointed each layer and went to the bandsaw where I ripped off as many 9/32" wide pieces as I could. I did not re-joint each piece between strips - but the over sized height made up for any variation in the bandsawn edge. I glued each strip in, and held it in place with blue painters tape every 2" (it took 2 rolls!).

Here is a shot of the underside to see what it looks like. Note that the width of the banding hangs beyond the white oak. This was intentional so that the banding would be snug against the next piece. The photo below shows what I mean.

(note the gap between the pieces at the bottom)

Here is a photo of the banding after cleaning up the miter.

This photo is out of order, but after the banding was glued in, I took a few minutes to plane it flush with the tops of the flooring pieces. It made installation a little easier and also allowed me to make sure everything worked according to plan. Plus it made for a great photo!

The end of the floor installation

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:28:00 +0000

The border and thresholds are now installed - the next step is to sand and finish the floor. Thanks to everyone who has offered their opinions on the finish. Your advise has positively influenced us for sure - and we are going to go with a very simple finish. I made up a small test section of floor, sanded it to 120 grit and applied a single coat of double boiled linseed oil. Everything came alive and the ray flecks and curly hard maple look amazing.

Installing the mitered corners

Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the “miter station”. I clamped a shooting board to our kitchen island and used my large mitre plane to shoot all the mitres. The plane performed wonderfully.

We had to do some face nailing on the outermost courses of the border - the stapler could not get in that tight.

Steve and I were pretty surprised at how slowly the border went. The installation took almost as long as the herringbone did. We also realized that there were 14 mitered corners in this room - as opposed to 4 in a square space. I do not regret all the corners though - they really make the space pretty amazing.

There were a few high spots in the floor but a small smoother made very quick work of it. This should greatly reduce the sanding time.

I used some curly quarter sawn white oak for the thresholds. These were a bit tricky to install - the new floor had the tongues facing towards the existing floor, and the existing floor had the tongues facing the new floor. I ended up cutting a dado in both edges of the threshold and pushed it in place with the adjacent white oak strip still loose. It worked very well and the joints are very tight. Oh, and to add yet another twist - the threshold had to be tapered a bit to square the two floors to one another.

At the end of day 3 (with a little bit of day 2 in there)

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:23:00 +0000

The floor progressed very nicely on the second day, and by lunchtime, the herringbone field was done. Well... all the full length pieces anyway. I then doubled back and filled in all the ends of the peaks and valleys with shorter lengths. All of these shorter pieces were glued to the adjacent pieces because many of them could not be safely nailed. There was a blue line around the perimeter of the room to define where the border would start. We were careful not to nail on the outside of this blue line.

When Steve and I were discussing this floor several years ago - one of the aspects that stumped us was how to cut a clean line around the perimeter. Then we saw the Festool TS55 and the lightbulb when off. This was the perfect tool for this challenging job. It was this realization that started me down the Festool slope (did I mention I bought a Domino? :)

The saw and rail system did not disappoint. In fact, it was the easiest step so far. I was a little worried about how to deal with cutting the inside corners, but they were no problem for one simple reason. Dust extraction. Because the extractor is so good, all you had to do was look to see where the blade was cutting and when to stop. What a novel idea - using your eyes to watch the cut! I was able to “kiss the line” on the inside corners and am waiting for a friend to lend me his Fein Multi-Tool to finish it off.

Here are a few views of the herringbone with the perimeter defined (and the few inside corners left to be trimmed).

Thankfully - I did not hit any nails while cutting the perimeter. The shot above shows a nail that had been placed really close to the line. We used a nail set to bury it as deep as we could and marked it on the top. After the cut, I took a look to see how close we were. If we had not used the nail set - we would have hit it for sure. Note the blue line just in front of the cut.

The next step is the border. This has been a little troubling to be honest. We do not want something that stands out too much - we are worried about visually shrinking the room. After some samples and test borders we have settled on the sample above. It is a layer of dyed Swiss pear (looks like ebony), then a layer of 3/16" curly maple and then another layer of black Swiss pear. The Swiss pear is over sized veneer - .7 mm thick. It is going to be subtle - but that is what we are after. I figure I have to make 150 linear feet of the banding.

I am going to need more clamps.

Oh, and I am still working too. I have been applying the last coats of french polish to a Desert Ironwood filled SNo.4.

At the end of day one.

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:41:00 +0000

There is a particular line in one of the installation documents I found that was very fitting;

“This pattern is best left to the skilled craftsmen”

My friend Steve and I have been talking about this floor for a few years now, and when he arrived at 8:30 this morning - it was strange to be finally starting. There were several false starts. Then there were a few starts that ended badly and had to be started again. But... after several hours of head scratching and talking it through - it started to come together. 10 rows in... it fell apart... again.

after 5 rows - we thought we had it

So we had some lunch and continued to talk it through. We returned with a new strategy and thankfully - it worked. Steve changed the way he was nailing and I set up a quick workbench on the mantel and took a few shavings here and there to bring everything back into square when gaps showed up. We were both really surprised how sensitive the flooring was to the order of the 3 nails in each board. What seemed to be working was to put a nail in the middle of the piece, then one on each end. Steve alternated the order of which end he did first - and that really seemed to help. Every once in a while, I would have to take 6 shavings off a board - introducing a slight taper. Neither of us could figure out what was happening to the floor to cause this, but 6 shavings seemed to do the trick. We quickly found our pace and the floor really started to come together - for real.

taking 6 passes

the center line

We figured this would take us 2 days - and we knew we were being hopefully optimistic. By 5 pm we stopped and had accomplished much more than either of us thought we would.

My Japanese hammer was the perfect tool for this job. The domed end has just enough curvature to keep from damaging the ends as they are tapped into position.

There are 261 pieces left and after doing a quick measurement and count - I think there will be just enough.

And as I was downloading these images from Jill’s camera - I found this shot. She took this just after I finished sanding the drywall. Curiously - my back does not seem quite as sore.

Mystery Rosewood update

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Here is what is left. I feel quite proud of the fact that there was this little waste from that great piece of timber. The box has quite a few small pieces that would be suitable for wedges and other small plane parts. I think there is one piece that will make a killer wedge for a mitre.

(The killer wedge piece)

I am also reminded of an incredible A2 jointer I made several years ago - infilled with mystery Rosewood. Here are a few detail shots.

I have two panel planes left to make - one 16-1/2" and the other is 14-3/4". The rear infill on thees planes will look just like this. I can’t wait to get started on them.

825 herring bones later

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:22:00 +0000

The herringbone flooring is now prepared. The QS white oak was supplied in three different lengths - 17-1/2", 35" and 52"... give or take a quarter inch. These dimensions were then cross cut on a dedicated sled to produce pieces that are 16-1/2" long.

After that - I needed to cut a dado in the ends to house the tongue. This was also done using a cross cut sled. The flooring is 3/4" thick with a 1/4" x 1/4" tongue and corresponding groove. The dado in the end is not really functional - it just needs to provide enough clearance for the pieces to fit together properly. I chose to cut a slightly over sized dado - just under 5/16" x 5/16". I used a stacked dado head in the table saw. Here is the setup.

I have several different cross cut sleds - some for cutting dados, others for various types of cross cuts. I used a small cross cut sled as a base and then built a simple but accurate jig to fit within the sled. Above is a photo of what it looks like.

And a top view.

And a shot of how the flooring piece was oriented for the cut. I chose to reference the bottom of the flooring instead of the top. Slight variations to the top will be sanded down once the floor is installed... the bottom is a fixed surface. In hindsight, the flooring was so consistent in thickness, that it likely didn’t matter.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly everything went. I broke the slot cutting into smaller bits - batches of 100 pieces. I would do 100, take a break and work on some Lego with the kids, do another 100... stop for some lunch. It worked out very well, and all the pieces were done over the weekend.

Here is a screen shot of the scale drawing. There is a pesky offset to the room - you can see it along the bottom edge of the drawing. This posed a bit of a problem with regards to the patterning of the herringbone. The solution was to remove a single strip of the border along the left bottom edge. If you look closely, the border changes from 3 strips to 4 strips in a few places, but I don’t think this will be noticeable once the room is done and the furniture is in. Well... now you all know.

Confession time. I wrote this post last week and have been sitting on it. Jill and I decided to bring all the herringbone flooring into the livingroom to let it sit (but really - I needed my workbench and shop space back). We made about 4 trips and had about 250 pieces in when for some strange reason, I decided to sit on the floor and see how everything fit together. I made a jig to help start each new row and used this to put a few bones together.

“left side, right side, left side, right side... this is looking wicked!”

Next row.

“wait a minute... where did that tongue come from - this doesn’t fit?”

“ what the... I need a slot in the other end too?”

“maybe there is a left hand piece and a right hand piece?”

So I went to the computer and did a search. Found a Bob Vila video showing how a herringbone floor is installed. Within the first minute I hear “...there is a groove on all 3 sides.”

I walked downstairs with my tail between my legs, dragged out the 250 pieces we already had in the livingroom, and cut another 825 slots in the other ends. Better now than after the first row is installed I suppose.

The last of the Mystery Rosewood

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:06:00 +0000

This is a very sad “first” for me - using up the last bit of a particular species of wood. I have been slowly eating away at this large piece of unidentified Rosewood... aka Mystery Rosewood. There is a precious little bit remaining - the photo above shows what is left. I do have a set roughed out for an A5 and an XSNo.4 that are not spoken for. And I still have to rough out an A1 panel from the above piece. Whatever is left over is all there is.

Below is a photo of the original piece - the one on the far right (along side three amazing pieces of almost quartered Honduran Rosewood).

Here is a detail shot of the rear infill of an XSNo.4 infilled with Mystery rosewood.

And another shot of the entire plane along with another interesting example. The XSNo.4 in the foreground is infilled with some very old East Indian Rosewood. It has been quite some time since I have worked with East Indian and it was a real treat. It works much like Brazilian Rosewood - the same ease of workability, amazing color, and a pleasant smell. I am surprised East Indian Rosewood does not show up more often in old tools - it is a wonderful material.

French polish

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:02:00 +0000

A few people have asked if I could give a tutorial on how I apply french polish. But before I do that - I think a little explanation of why I use french polish is in order.

Wood clarity.
Of all the finishes available to me - french polish does the least damage to the overall color and clarity of the wood. Oil is a sure fire way to darken Brazilian Rosewood to oblivion and all the color and vibrance that makes Brazilian rosewood so stunning is killed. Oil also kills East Indian Rosewood, turning the vibrant purple and red tones into mud. Oil does not affect Honduran Rosewood as much, but it does darken it. I do use warmed double boiled linseed oil on boxwood and then a coat of paste wax. For some reason - that finish seems a perfect “fit” for boxwood - and the darkening is not a bad thing.

French polish will wear with use - and I don’t mind that because as your hand rubs the finish, it will burnish the remaining french polish and wood to a similar luster. It is also a welcome part of the planes patina - its story if you will.

French polish is also a very pleasing tactile finish, it has a bit of a sheen to it, but not a plasticized look.

Not to mention it is a fairly safe finish.

Ok. On with the show.

I sand all the infill pieces to 600 grit. I start at 220, then 320, 400 and finish with 600 grit. A fellow planemaker once suggested the reason I use french polish was to avoid having to be particular about sanding. I just said “hmmm”. The above photo shows the inside surface of the front bun without finish applied.

Here is the kit. The white(ish) piece on the bench is foamcore which I use to test the mixture of the french polish and the mineral oil. I used foamcore because the surface is very smooth and not absorbent... and it was lying around from my design days. The shellac in the mason jar is a 2lb cut - roughly. I mix my own shellac using super blond flakes. I write the date of mixture on the top of the jar and a few months in, will add a splash of shellac thinner to compensate for evaporation. The film canister holds the rubber and the clear bottle with the white lid is drugstore mineral oil.

The rubber is made up of two pieces of cloth. The piece on the left is a 2-1/2" square of 100% cotton bedsheet (no really - it is an old bedsheet). The other piece is some other cheesecloth like fabric... but it is not cheese cloth.

I fold the cotton into thirds and then thirds again, place it along a center line of the “cheese cloth”, fold the cheese cloth down, then each side over. This is the rubber. It is flat for a reason - it lets you get into corners and is quite flexible and agile.

This is the grip I use. The section of the rubber at the tip of my thumb is held to the edge of the mason jar of shellac. I tip the jar until the shellac touches and charges the rubber. There is a small pool of mineral oil to the right of this brown spot. I touch my finger to the mineral oil and then transfer this drop to the rubber.

I place the rubber on this brown area (created over the last 8 years) and start circling it around. What I am looking for is a vapor trail. I want to see the alcohol flashing off just behind the rubber. It is kinda like the tail of a comet. When the trail is continuous as I go round and round - it is properly charged (at least for what I am using it for).

This is what a charged rubber looks like.

Very quickly, and with a fairly light touch, wipe the surface of the wood. There should be enough shellac and oil mixture to change the color of the entire surface of this front bun. You have to be quick and keep things moving - if you pause, the rubber will stick and will make a mess of things. As a point of reference - the inside of this bun should take about 10 seconds to apply a single coat.

Here is the surface after the first coat.

A few other points. I apply two coats a day - no more. This gives the shellac enough time to harden a bit and the next coat will not soften and remove too much of the previous coat. This process of softening the previous coat is what makes french polish so repairable. A little bit of the first coat is softened during the second coat and this is what allows french polish to build and fill the pores of the grain.

The flat profile of the rubber is what allows me to get into the corners on the front bun of a panel plane for example. The bun of a panel will take about 4 charges of the rubber - one for each side. After about the 6th or 7th coat, there is usually a little bit of oil on the surface of the infill so I don’t always need to put a drop of mineral oil on the rubber for the remaining coats.

Some woods like Ebony, African Blackwood and Honduran Rosewood build quite quickly because their pores are so small. Brazilian and East Indian rosewood take a bit more time. On average - I apply about a dozen coats to each plane.

On the 166th day - there was light.

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:43:00 +0000

(and drywall, and a coat of primer and two coats of paint - but the lights... they were the big moment)

It has been a very busy fall. Once again my friend Andy jumped in and helped out with the 4' x 12' x 5/8" (fire code) sheets of drywall for the ceiling. We rented a drywall lift and managed to hang all 6 sheets in a night. My Dad and Jill helped hang the drywall on the walls, and I must say - the whole thing went pretty quickly and painlessly.

Then the taping and mudding - which I decided to do myself. This is our second house and over the years I have gotten fairly good at mudding. I am not extremely fast, but I have it to the point where I only sand once at the very end. I managed to get the first two coats on - then I hopped on a plane, and headed for England to the European Woodworking Show.

Ok - I have written about Westonbirt being the best woodworking show before - but I think this one was even better. First off - the setting was absolutely incredible. How can a woodworker not fall in love with demonstrating inside a medieval barn? These things were amazing and the first hour was spend with my head cranked back staring up at the structure. The sad news - I forgot my camera, but there are quite a few photos on the UK forum here and here. It was great to catch up with so many good friends and familiar faces. I was sandwiched between John Lloyd and David Charlesworth. David and I had a great discussion about bed angles, bevel down vs bevel up and sharpness. Phil Edwards had a few new beauties to check out - I think he has developed a weakness for Blackwood. One person I wish I would have had more time to visit with was Richard Maguire. He had two stunning workbenches at the show and I was delighted to see the Benchcrafted tail vice and leg vice. These are amazing vices and may just push me over the edge to make another bench or try to retro fit the tail vice to my shaker style bench.

One of the things that really impressed me about the show was the number of people from outside the UK. I spoke with people from Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, France and Austria.

Hats off to Mike Hancock and the rest of the Classic Handtool folks for such a fine show. And my deepest thanks to Peter and Helen for helping me get around and to Mark, Helen, Ella and Helen’s father Robert for helping to make my last two days in England most enjoyable. I look forward to the show again next year.

For some strange reason - I recovered from jet-lag quite quickly and was back in action. I finished off the third and final coat of mudding, sanded it and we then started the painting. Oh, I should also mention that Riley was very interested in this “mudding” thing (I think he loved the idea of being able to do something that sounded messy) and so he asked if he could help. One day after school, he had a friend over and the two of them helped me fill all the drywall screw holes on the lower walls. It was really great to see their interest and hopefully it will lead to a level of confidence and self-suficiency later in life.

There has also been some progress on the livingroom floor. I made a dedicated single purpose cross-cut sled for cutting the QS white oak herringbone pieces to length. Thankfully it went faster than I expected. I am not quite finished, but above is a shot of the first 528 pieces. I still need to cut a slot in the ends, but it looks like the flooring may just happen some time in October.

And if all this doesn’t sound busy enough - I am leaving tomorrow for the Woodworking in America conference in Valley Forge PA. If this show is anything like the one in Berea - it is going to be fantastic. The line-up of speakers is amazing - quite a few of whom I will try and listen in on.

PS - the camera is already packed.

No.4 madness!

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:03:00 +0000

It has been unhandled smoother madness over here the last several weeks. I am just finishing up my SNo.4 smoother (second from the right - more pictures below). Here are a few quick pics of three XSNo.4’s and the first two SNo.4’s.

Here is yet another variation of the XSNo.4. This is an all steel version infilled with African Blackwood instead of Ebony. I am extremely pleased with the results.

I wasn’t sure how the warmth of the blackwood would work with the cold look of the steel - but they work wonderfully together. It is also nice to see the little bit of grain showing through - a subtle departure from the dead black of Ebony.

And here is my SNo.4 smoother. I was looking at my own planes a few weeks ago, and realized that I did not have a typical traditional British plane - steel sides, bronze lever cap and Brazilian Rosewood infill. I was a little relieve to be honest - it is getting tough to come up with new combinations of sidewall and infill material.

I decided to treat myself to a wee corner of some Curly Brazilian Rosewood. Here is a detail shot of the rear infill after the first coat of french polish. I can’t wait to see it after 12 coats! And it looks like I will be able to complete it in time for the show in England later this week.

Finishing the firewood drawer

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:09:00 +0000

I have found a few spare moments here and there between planes and coats of french polish, and have used the time to finish working on the firewood drawer. Other than a finish on the white Oak door - it is completed.

This was one of those odd notions that led to much head scratching but ultimately, I hope a very useful solution. Here are a series of photos to show some of the detail.

One of the big issues was how to keep this from being a huge source of heat loss in the winter. The cavity around the drawer was filled with spray foam insulation when the rest of the room was done. Below is a quick shot with the cover off.

The large red box on the end serves 2 purposes. First, to push the handle into a more convenient location. And secondly to store six, 2" pieces of high density insulation.

With the drawer in a closed position, the air gap is 3/16" around the perimeter of the drawer and 1/8" gap on each side of the glides.

The first test piece of firewood...

... and its new home under the hearth. There is a 3/4" lip on the front edge of the aluminum drawer, but this should be visually blocked by the 3/4" flooring.

And a wider shot to show the drawer in context.

The white Oak door posed another challenge. The door hardware was a little limiting - the door could not be thicker than 1-3/4" and the stile had to be at least 4" wide. I managed to create a 3/4" cavity between the panels to put a single piece of Johns Manville insulation (R5).

The cavity.

And the insulation.

And speaking of insulation - the two exterior walls are now done. Next step...12' sheets of drywall.

Following up with sapwood

noreply@blogger.com (Konrad) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:53:00 +0000

A recent comment from Tom got me thinking about how close I sometimes “cut it” with roughed out infill blanks and proximity to the sapwood. There was a fairly large area of sapwood on this Brazilian Rosewood infill blank but I was pretty confident it would be removed by the time the plane was completed. Here is a little sequence showing the progression.

Good gravy this is going to be close!

With the rear infill fit, I can bandsaw off the waste to see what is going on. At this point - I am quite confident everything is going to work out.

With the sides lapped - I know I am out of the woods.

A quick shot of the rough layout line to mark the radius.

And the fully shaped plane with the first coat of french polish. One of the reasons I often risk cutting it this close is the best color and grain is often hiding just under the sapwood.