Bob Easton

Chocolate powered woodworking

Boxmaking

A Pair of Shopmade Grooving Planes

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So, what happened to the wood that sparked a party?

photo of grooving plane parts

Time in the shop is sparse in the summertime. Yet, I have found time to make a pair of grooving planes. These are destined for making grooves that hold the bottom panels of boxes. Those grooves are always the same width and the same distance from the edge of their boards. Making two planes, provides one for each grain direction.

photo of planes in progress

The idea and plans came from Fine Woodworking’s Matt Kenny. FW has the article online here. Lie-Nielsen also offers an article with plans (PDF) at no charge. That’s because Lie-Nielsen makes and sells irons for these planes. Whoa there, back up and hit that link. The only negative thing I’ve ever had to say about Lie-Nielsen is their web site has no search function. Shopping for something specific in their online catalog is like Where’s Waldo. The irons arrive fully sharpened and ready to use. But, I polished them some more.

photo of finished pair of grooving planes

The plane is made as a 3 layer sandwich, Krenov style. The outer layers of my planes are beech from Woodworkers Source, the people who threw a party when they packed and shipped my $32 order. I ordered sample blocks (3″ x 6″ x 1/2″) because they were very close to the sizes needed. They took only a little resawing and sizing to match the plans. I used some Cherry I already had for the 1/8″ thick inner layer and wedges. That inner layer serves as the skate and projects to the desired groove depth of 1/8″.

UPDATE – Jan 8, 2021: As Sergey noted in the comments below, Lie-Nielsen no longer sells these 1/8″ wide irons. There must not be enough demand for them. The only alternative I see is to use one of their 1/2″ irons, grind it down (ugh, what a lot of work) and re-temper it.

Matt Kenny’s Fine Woodworking article has also moved. It is in the May/June 2011 hardcopy version of the magazine. The digital version is behind a paywall for Fine Woodworking subscribers at “Make a Pair of Grooving Planes.” A downloadable version of that article, again for Fine Woodworking subscribers, is at this PDF link.

closeup photo of a grooving plane

I didn’t take step-by-step photos, but you can get those from the article. Unlike Kenny’s, all of my construction was with hand tools and not at all difficult. If you make a pair, don’t fret too much with extreme accuracy.  Make the rebate for the fence very accurate and the rest works itself out. After assembly, you’ll be paring or sanding the skate for smooth, but not sloppy, travel in the groove.  My planes are marked “A” and “B” only to pair the respective wedges with their intended plane. Made by hand, the throats vary enough that the wedges aren’t interchangeable. Such a little nit.

photo of the grooving plane twins

What a joy to use. Pick ’em up. register and push. Smooth! And these irons cut much cleaner than those in my vintage Record 044.

Lastly, there’s also a lot of joy in dealing with a company like Woodworkers Source. Yes, the humorous shipping notice is a clever marketing ploy from a firm that has a great sense of humor. It doesn’t end there either. A follow up email from the company owner, “Craig Haggarton and The 107 Good Looking Lumber Pickers,” asks if everything arrived, was OK, post a review, etc.  Yes, I’m a geek who does a lot of web development work and I know these things are a SMOP, but not every firm behaves this way. Good for them!

SMOP – Simple Matter Of Programming

Carving on a Turned Lidded Container

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Walnut. 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter. 3 and 3/8 inches tall. The grain matches from container to lid. This is the first container turned on the treadle lathe, and my first turned container in about 30 years. Coins in the photo are for size reference, a 2 Euro (Italian/Dante) and a US Quarter (Indiana/Indy 500 – we used to live 1/2 mile from there.) The pig is an Austrian good luck charm. Turning and carving details follow these photos.

photo of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lidphoto of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lidphoto of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lidphoto of a turned walnut box with monogrammed lid

Having watched half a gazillion YouTube videos about container turning techniques, I did this one a bit differently than what I saw in any of the videos. Being of Scottish heritage and a bit “thrifty,” I haven’t yet bought one of the 4-jaw chucks we so often see used for this type of work.

Instead, I sandwiched the walnut blank between two pine waste blocks (saves wasting 50 cents worth of walnut) and mounted the sandwich on a simple $10 faceplate. I trued the blank with a live center taking up the tail. After truing the blank into a cylinder, I trued a perpendicular face on the tail end of the blank, i.e on the end of the waste block there. That prepared a surface for mounting yet another simple $10 faceplate for working the lid.

The rest of the turning followed fairly standard procedure.

  • Turn a rough profile for the entire container.
  • Refine the lid profile to nearly final shape.
  • Part off the lid piece.
  • Mount a faceplate on the lid piece.
  • Remove the body from the lathe and mount the lid piece.
  • This leaves the inside of the lid accessible. Hollow the inside to desired depth. Refine, sand and finish the inside.
  • Remove the lid from the lathe and mount the body.
  • Turn a tenon on the body that accepts the lid as a very snug press fit.
  • Remove the lid’s waste block and faceplate. (The waste block was glued in place with a paper separator layer, hence easily cut off.)
  • Press the lid onto the body’s tenon.
  • Complete the shaping and finishing of the lid. For this particular turning, I left a raised ring of wood on the lid that later becomes the “C-bars” in the carving.
  • Refine the outside shape of the body.
  • Hollow the body.
  • Sand and finish the inside. (Did I say “sand?” Hate sanding anything!)
  • Cut the body from the waste block.
  • While still mounted, turn the waste block to form a plug / jam chuck for the body.
  • Press fit the body onto the plug and turn a very slight concave bottom surface. Sand and finish the body.
  • Remove all from the lathe.
  • Remount the waste block used for the lid and turn it to form a plug / jam chuck that fits inside the lid. This is not used for any more turning, but as a mount for holding the lid while carving.

photo of turned box on the lathephoto of turned box on the lathephoto of turned box on the lathe

All that remains is a simple matter of carving. The design is a single letter monogram set between two classic “C-bars.” The carving is different from most in that it is carved in end grain. While that eliminates the usual grain sensitivity of carving, it presents another difficulty. Carving in end grain is like pressing a knife into the end of a bundle of soda straws. Extra sharp tools are the order of the day, along with a healthy helping of patience. Also helpful are a white wax marker and a fine spoon shaped chisel.

I’m not sure what the recipient will keep in such a container. It has enough room for about 211 calories worth of Gummy Bears, or maybe a few spare gold coins. We’ll see.

photo of carving the lidphoto of carving the lidphoto of carving the lidphoto of carving the lid

Carvings on Two New Boxes

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Browse through the sites selling handmade goods, and you’ll find a tremendous number of wooden boxes. It looks like recent trends are for boxes made of contrasting woods, or combinations of various exotic woods. Decoration is mostly in the color contrasts, and sometimes with the addition of things like splines on joints, and occasionally some inlay. There are many well made and beautiful examples to be found. (Hint: Etsy > Keepsake Box)

The decorations rarely seen on these boxes are carvings. Here and there some might be found, but not many. Which is why … I’m using hand made wooden boxes as a platform for classic woodcarvings. You might have seen this coming in recent months.

Here are two new boxes. Both are made of Cherry. This Cherry is S2S material 15/16″ thick, which I resaw by hand. The sides and end walls are 3/8″ thick, the result of resawing the stock in even halves. The top and bottom material is finished at 1/2″ thick for the top and 1/8″ thick for the bottom, the result of resawing off center. This gives one the opportunity of using “book matched” pieces to display the grain wrapping around the box, and to have a top with a grain pattern that matches the bottom. Note, I said “opportunity”, and that depends on keeping careful track of such things.

First is a small box featuring a classic flower rosette on the lid, the lid shown as work in progress in the previous post. This style of flower is very common in architectural and furniture decoration and dates back many centuries. The box’s construction is a single-tail dovetail at each corner. The bottom is trapped in stopped grooves. The lid is a snap fit, nestled between the long sides, standing proud about 1/8 inch.

click any image to enlarge
classic flower box classic flower box classic flower box classic flower box

The second box is another centuries old design, a Tudor rose. This particular variant has 4 petals instead of the usual 5, as a better fit for an oval. As with the first box. the design is incised. The box is larger, having more tails in each join. It too has a trapped bottom piece. This box measures 5 1/2 inches wide by 9 1/4 inches long by 3 3/4 inches high. Interior dimensions are 4 5/8 inches by 8 1/8 inches (long enough for new pencils) by 3 1/4 inches. The lift-of lid covers all 4 walls of the box and overhangs slightly on the ends for easy removal.

Both are currently available in my Etsy store.

Tudor rose box Tudor rose box Tudor rose box Tudor rose box