Bob Easton

The workshop is still too cool for epoxy work, keeping the boat building project on hold.

Waste not; want not. After making the winding sticks, the left over madrone was crying out to be used, not wanting to linger or be relegated to the cart (1:02). I imagined enough left in that remnant to make a try square. No, I don’t build large squarish things (yet), but I do appreciate shopmade tools, and know that someday I will want a try square a bit longer than the metal 12 incher.

Lessee now, haven’t I seen articles about try squares recently? It’s not that I really wanted detailed plans, but a few hints and tips would help. Oh yeah, “the Schwarz” wrote something a couple of weeks ago. By remarkable coincidence, the very day I went looking for articles was the day that the Popular Woodworking magazine published Chris Schwarz’s article and plans for André Roubo’s Try Square. It’s a fine article, and the dimensions came close to finding themselves inside my left over piece of madrone. I adjusted sizes to the material on hand and got started by reserving a 10 1/2 inch length for the stock and using the remainder for the blade, which turned out almost 20 inches long. The  The stock was ripped to width, and the remaining  3/4 inch material was handily resawn with my frame saw. Planing the blade down to 1/4 inch thickness was only a few minutes work. That prepares the raw materials. There’s only one small problem. Schwarz’s article highly recommends making layout tools from quartersawn hardwood (“is a must”), and specifically beech. My madrone was neither. But, it had two other attributes that made it suitable: it was on hand, and it was paid for. I think its stability will be OK. This piece has been acclimated for a couple of years.

Schwarz says, “There’s only one joint in this project and you need to make it perfect.”  Well, that’s a fine way to make me throw down the article, walk out of the shop and go for a Snickers bar, or something stronger and more soothing. Perfect!? Gheesh! After that proclamation, Schwarz wanders off into Norm-land describing how to make the cut for the bridle joint using jigs, dado stacks and a table saw. None of those things around here. Time for another Snickers bar.

Shucks! I’m a boat builder, not a furniture maker. I haven’t yet bought any sophisticated saws, no tenon saws, no dovetail saws, no backsaws of any kind. I can do that joint without any of those fancy saws. My cheap Stanley toolbox saw is still kink free and cuts relatively straight. I’ll just color carefully inside the lines and if it doesn’t work out, blame it on the lumber not being vertical grain beech. The toolbox saw and some careful chisel paring made a bridle joint that is a small distance from perfect, but is a very much closer than I originally imagined. It is further proof that “We don’t Need No Stinkin’ Backsaws.”

The rest of the work roughly followed the advice from the article and the square went together nicely. It is also square, after very minor truing. I added one feature that I saw Chris write about sometime ago. A 1/4″ dowel resides in a hole toward the end of the stock. Slide that dowel out a bit to help hold the stock on the workpiece being marked. It keeps the square from flopping over just when you don’t expect it. Finish is the usual, a couple of coats of BLO. The picture shows the square with the first coat, showing the richness of this nice little piece of wood.

The workshop is too cool for epoxy work, keeping the boat building project on hold.

So, what else am I doing in a cold workshop? Making woodworking “appliances,” working down the to-do list of small projects. Each of these was a fairly small project and done with materials on hand.

A shooting board is handy for planing the ends of boards, getting them square. There isn’t a lot of need for anything straight or square in most parts of a boat, but there are other projects that occasionally need a squared up component. No particular plans were used for this shooting board. They are simple enough to not need detailed plans, so I made this one to a size convenient to the material on hand. The material is from some shelving that has been standing unused for a couple of decades, glued up, hard, splintery, Southern yellow pine. The best attributes of this material are that it’s stable and was paid for years ago. The fence is adjustable. I also made an extra board to accommodate miter shooting.  While very simple, and made of almost throw away materials, this tool is great fun to use. Splash some alcohol or mineral spirits on the end of a board that needs truing. Then shoot it with that big ole jointer plane. The mass of the plane does the work effortlessly, making that end grain shine with smoothness.

A carving jack is a device for elevating a work surface to a convenient height for close work. This would have been very handy when I was carving the scrolls on the stems of the Fiddlehead boat. Not having one of these, I used the table of a band saw as a poor substitute. This is a dead simple appliance, a simple “T.” The material was straight from the scrap pile, a couple of pieces so badly cupped and twisted that they were reduced to a mere image of their former selves to correct the defects. To get a little bit of new practice, I used a mortise and tenon with a doubled tenon, fixed firmly with wedged tenons. The mortises were fabulously clean (in comparison to previous work like this). My tenons were rough sawn and then trimmed to fit. Before someone asks (someone always does), yes, that’s a glue line on the end of the table piece. Yep, busted it while fitting the tenons. Yep, threw the busted parts back on the scrap pile. Yep, used a few choice words. Yep, sat for about 2 1/2 minutes in the moaning chair, then, glued the broken part back together and completed the fitting the next morning. Since this picture, it has been soaking up my standard finish for shop tools, BLO.

Winding sticks are useful for detecting a twisted, or “wound,” board. The length of the sticks amplify the distortion, making it easy to know what area to correct. I do enough milling of rough lumber to make these frequently useful. They are made of Madrone, a hardwood that has a pink cast with some deep maroon streaks. I originally intended it for another purpose and wasn’t satisfied with how that project worked out, so I set the remainder aside. These sticks seem a very good use for the remnant. A little bit of time ripping and planing is all it took to make these. Planing with the long #7 (That’s a “jointer,” Jeff.) produced the true top and bottom edges. A few features, gleaned from Rob Rozaieski and Tom Fidgen, make them easy to use. First, one is stained darker to afford some contrast between them. Next, the bevels denote the “this side up” edge of the sticks. Lastly, the holes in the ends serve both to give them the same orientation and to provide a way to hang them from the shaker pegs on the back wall of the shop. Finish is BLO.

Three mini-projects done, and it’s still cold.

Highly recommended: Watch Rob Rozaieki’s episode about “Hand Tool Appliances” over at his Logan Cabinet Shoppe blog.

Heidi, our daughter, is a mosaic artist. She displays her artwork at a variety of places and shows, and sometime uses simple easels for display. We visited her recently and heard her complaining about needing to return some borrowed easels before the current display period ended. What to do? Her mother suggested making more easels and looked my way. … hmmm? … OK.

Heidi and her family live in Austria. Like most homeowners, they have a collection of home fix-it tools that see frequent use, but is not the sort most of us wood workers would intentionally use for a furniture building project. The alternative of retrieving tools from my shop 6000 miles away was a non-starter, as was the idea of acquiring special purpose tools for a single project. Heidi had already determined the style of easel she wanted. My decision was what kind of joinery could be accomplished with the tools at hand.

I quizzed Franz-Georg, our son-in-law, about tools as we drove to the local home center. Having helped him with certain projects at their house before, I knew about most of their tools, but not about the chisels. The “yes, we have one or two” answer made my joinery decision. Goodbye to any joinery more complex than simple half-laps.

Lumber choice was limited both by availability and cost. There might have been a hardwood supplier nearby, but we didn’t look for one, so off to the Borg we went. The Borg stores in Austria are much like here in the US and also use the color orange for their branding. Their lumber selection is similar to ours, but almost twice as expensive. The EU has had “cap and trade” for a number of years already, and it shows in price tags of almost everything. We found some very clear larch for the stiles and fir for the rails, the different wood types limited by size choices (no larch in the smaller size). One of the interesting aspects of their S4S lumber is that when it says 20mm by 80mm, the lumber is actually that size! We carried home a number of pieces 2 meters long, along with a collection of hinges, fasteners, pegs, etc.

The easels are very simple, consisting of a rectangular frame for the face, a single leg in the back centered and hinged at the top. The leg extension is moderated by a brass chain that can be hooked into slightly opened eye screws. A simple shallow shelf supports the artwork and is supported by two pegs. The choice of several shelf positions is made available by a series of holes in the face stiles. These two stand 2 meters tall and 66cm wide. The width was determined by a 2 meter length of lumber cut into 3 even pieces. They look good enough to avoid detracting from the artwork, but not fancy enough to overpower the artwork. They are more stable than the loaners Heidi is currently using. Most important, she’s satisfied with them.

Making them teaches that something practical, useful, and reasonably attractive can be done with a minimal set of tools. I did use a couple of tailed demons. We used the side of a masonry blade in a cutoff grinder to regrind a 25mm chisel. Sort of like a high speed, no-control, two-person (one holds the grinder, the other holds the chisel), Tormek sharpener. Having removed the dings and nicks (looks like the kids had been cutting nails with the chisels), the rest of the sharpening was done with sandpaper at 120 and 240 grit. Now you see why half-lap joinery was as sophisticated as I wanted to get. The other power tool was a drill and 10mm brad point bit used for the holes in the stiles. The photo shows the rest of the tools: a simple square, two dowel points, pencil, brad point drill bit complete with a rubber ring used almost as a depth stop, the wonderfully honed chisel, a hammer, 4 clamps, a gimlet!, a Phillips screwdriver, some sandpaper, and a Workmate bench. A little 8 inch utility handsaw failed to show up for the photo shoot. Too bad we missed it. If one avoided the kink about 3/4 an inch from the tip, some roughly precise laps could be cut, then trimmed with the chisel. I was really delighted to find the gimlet. I used it to make pilot holes for the screws that hold the hinges. One of the best tools in the collection!

Two sorts of PVA glue were available, “Classic” and “waterproof.” I used the Classic, thinking it likely to be the stronger. I originally considered doweling the joints for added longevity, but rejected the idea on considering how to flush cut the dowels without making an ugly mess of things. Finish consisted of sanding down to 240, edges rounded over, pseudo chamfered, and a few coats of a clear substance similar to poly.

Workroom cleanup fell to the really cute R2D2 shop vac. Unfortunately, he needs a new bag and didn’t suck.

Low temperatures make the shop a “no cure zone” for epoxy, thus postponing the next boat building steps.

So, something else is in order … more tools. When I first built the workbench, I made a few simple bench dogs from some sort of not-so-hard Indonesian hardwood found at the Borg. They have served well, but have not lasted well. The remainder of a piece of Ash called out for use. It was left over from getting out structural parts for the Mill Creek 13 boat. I ripped off one strip to 1 inch by 13/16, and another to 3/16 by 13/16. The thicker piece was cut into lengths, making the bodies for 24 bench dogs. The thinner strip was cut into 48 pieces, making the top faces, and the spring pieces. The springs get their action from being screwed onto a bevel at the bottom of each dog. One is shown resting on the bench in the photo. (As always, click the photo to see  larger version.)

The mallet is one of the “Two Mallets that Followed Me Home” from a while back. Several pieces from that small log seem dry enough to use. I have no moisture meter. My only measure is that the temperature of a freshly cut end is the same as a broad surface. A too wet piece usually feels cooler at the fresh cut. You also get juicy shavings when planing wood that is too wet. This wood made dry shavings. The mallet’s design is the age old design of fitting a tapered handle into a mortise in a rounded head with angled faces. I used no plan, cutting the parts to what could be gotten from two pieces of the log. The head is laminated from two pieces, gently curved across the top, and with faces angled 10 degrees from the handle’s axis. The top surface of the head measures 4 and 3/4 inches by 2 and 1/4 inches. The mallet will get a couple of coats of BLO finish shortly.

There’s more wood from that log, easily enough for the second mallet. Yet, maybe it wants to be a small turning saw instead?

You just picked up that old eggbeater drill. Looks nice. You look into the chuck and think “Oh no, looks worse than someone who’s been using their teeth to loosen axle nuts. She’s a gonner.”

Maybe not…

My entry about refurbishing a Goodell-Pratt eggbeater drill has had more comments than any other article. Questions continue to this day, with several asking about the chuck … and can a chuck with skewed jaws be salvaged? My experience is that the most common problem with these drills is mangled springs in the chuck. I can’t know how they get so mangled, other than knowing that they are relatively exposed and are probably caught and mangled when people aren’t careful enough in setting bits into the chuck. The answer is a resounding yes, IF (big IF) all the jaws are present. Most of the chucks of the eggbeater era, Millers Falls, Goodell-Pratt, and other brands, had 3 jaws. Count em. If you have three, let’s break the chuck open and fix it up.

There is a bottom pieced screwed into the chuck. Mine was rust free and opened rather easily. Your experience may vary. If needed, use a good penetrating solvent and lots of patience. I clamped the chuck into a machinist’s vise using pieces of softwood to prevent marring the knurling. I used only enough clamping pressure to keep the barrel from turning, and to avoid distorting its shape. My chuck had two very convenient holes in the bottom, and there’s probably a spanner tool out there somewhere that fits those holes. A pair of needle nose pliers did the job for me. Other chucks might not have these holes, or might have flats for wrenching. There’s a lot of variation. You may need to use vice grips or plumber’s pliers to open the bottom. Whatever you use, try to employ some padding and be gentle enough to avoid marring the piece.

(Click on any picture to see a larger version.)

Once the bottom is removed, you will find a thrust washer or some sort of device that is used to push the jaws into the barrel as the chuck is tightened. Lift it out. Then, we can see the remaining parts, the jaws and the springs that hold them apart. Of course, here we see a nicely arranged, well functioning set of jaws and springs. This is what they should look like after you finish refurbishing.

OK, let’s spread out the parts.

The leftmost picture shows the parts laid out in a line as they normally fit together. The center picture shows each part rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise to give you another perspective. The rightmost picture shows the jaws, with one flipped to show the surface that mates with the inside of the barrel. Again, these are all of a working chuck. Yours will most likely have some really ugly looking springs, mangled twisted things that are the root cause of your chuck’s problems.

Let’s make some new springs. The first thing you’ll need is some spring steel wire of the correct size. As one of the following pictures shows, the springs in this chuck (two are originals) are made of wire measuring 0.0195 inch thickness. I rummaged through some old guitar strings (never throw anything away) and found a steel string that measures 0.0250 (for the guitar’s 3rd string (G)). That was close enough. If your guitar string drawer isn’t well stocked, try a local hobby shop or craft store and ask for piano wire. Otherwise, go shopping on the computer.

The outer diameter of my springs is 9/64 inch, a size that lets them fit easily into the holes in the jaws. The springs seat into the holes about an 1/8 inch. The length of each spring is 11/16 inch. A good spring fits very nicely over a 3/32 inch drill bit. Note well: there are lots of variations and the measurements for your chuck might vary. In fact, there are at least two different spring mechanisms, and you might have to craft springs a bit different than these. The most important attribute is ending up with three springs that have the same relative springiness. Their balance is what holds the jaws evenly spaced in the chuck.

I have no magic for winding springs. I didn’t even look for spring winding tools, as I only needed one or two springs, and don’t foresee needing such tools in the future. (Ooops, failed a basic galoot principle there.) I used a 1/8 inch drill bit (sorry for confusion about this in comments to the original article). I started by making a 90 degree bend in the wire. I then clamped a 1/8 inch drill bit in the machinist’s vise. The tail of the spring wire snuggles up against the bit and we start winding by pushing the free end of the wire around the shank of the bit. ( Kari, I forgot the manicure, yet don’t have any open wounds, like Roy.) Then, I simply wrapped the wire around the bit, trying to keep a constant spiral with the spacing of the original springs. Yep, it took a few tries to make decent springs.

Two suggestions: First, using the 1/8 inch bit, even though smaller than the desired diameter, worked for me because once the winding tension is released the spring expands. Adrian, a commenter to the original article, found that a 5/64 inch bit got him the results he wanted for his springs. Second, wind a length longer than needed, and cut it down to the right length.

Lastly, reassemble in reverse order. A similar article by Andy Seaman suggests using a thin film of light grease as you put the parts back together, and he emphasizes “less is more” with the lubrication. Also, Kirk Eppler, in repsonse to a query on the Old Tools List, posted a few pictures of yet another variant here.

See, you can get the old chuck’s teeth back into alignment. Enjoy your refurbished drill!

The boat’s bottom is 1/4″ plywood. It’s lofted, cut and shaped, an easy bit of work. My turning saw, set up with a fine blade, did the job with ease and left an edge with no tearout or splintering. As always, I’m not confident to cut exactly on the line. I stay a bit proud and then get to the line with a block plane.

Sitting on the middle of the bottom is a shop desk that I made recently. By design, I have very few horizontal surfaces in the shop and they are either covered with work in progress or too small to use for much more than holding small tools, cans, etc. The instruction booklets, or small paper plans (the big ones are pinned to the wall) have always been at the mercy of temporary space, leaving me to constantly ask myself, “Where’s the book? … Where’s the book?”

So, I finally did something about it and made a very simple little desk. I used no plans. I just hacked up a bit of old shelf material to make something of suitable size. A few simple dado joints are as fancy as it gets. This isn’t boardroom furniture; I kept it simple and functional. The versatile part of this little desk is the french cleat on the back. I ripped a mating cleat that’s the full width of the shop’s end wall. The desk can now be hung anywhere along that cleat.

While at it, I added a cleat to a pair of wire bins. These were good for de-cluttering another part of the shop.

For the sharp-eyed among you, the large sheet of plans hanging above show plank and bottom shapes along with their tables of offsets. … and the stuff on the floor in the corner is the black locust being saved for mallets.

As always, click on any image to see a larger version.