Millers Falls No. 2

It has just arrived in the mail today, my "new" Millers Falls No. 2 eggbeater drill.

I ordered this tool a few weeks ago and I was a little curious about the quality. Sure it looked good in the photos on the eBay auction and the seller had a good feedback, but even then I wasn't sure if it would look as good as in the photos. And more important - would it work well?

Then The Schwarz happened to write about a similar hand drill he received from Wiktor Kuc, fully restored, gorgeous and ready to work. I got even more impatient... My package was getting ages to arrive.

Now that it's arrived, all I can say is that this drill looks and feels as good as new, if not better, since every piece on it has been subject to careful inspection.

And yes, it works beautifully!

A basic set of hand tools - Part IV

Handplanes are often associated with a high level of craftsmanship, smooth surfaces and beautiful curly shavings.

Handplanes

Choosing the first handplane may not be an easy task, there are many models to choose from and while each one has it's funcion, some of them are quite versatile and can be used for various tasks.

When looking for handplanes, some advocate that old is better and that you should get a Stanley or other antique brand name from a local flea market. I don't agree, specially if this is your first handplane.

A vintage tool will require some restoration and tuning before it will perform well enough to compete with the tools produced these days - significant tuning if you want it to perform as well as the top brand names like Veritas and Lie-Nielsen. This is not impossible, but you really need to know what you're doing.

If you've never used a well tuned handplane before, how will you know how it is supposed to perform if you're buying a second hand vintage tool? This is why I recomend that for your first handplane you should buy the best tool you can afford.

Quality handplanes sold these days can use some tuning and they'll perform even better, but out of the box they can perform quite well. Sharpen and hone the iron and you're good to go.

But which ones should I get?

I would say you'll need three planes in your basic set: a low angle block plane, a low angle jack plane and a large shoulder plane.

Here are my reasons:

The low angle block plane, preferably with an adjustable mouth, can be used on end-grain and face grain, you can use it as a small smoother to handle difficult grain by changing the bevel angle on the blade and it's a very handy plane when working with small pieces for small projects.

The low angle jack plane can be a really versatile tool. It can be used as a small jointer to flatten a small board and by closing the mouth and setting the blade for a fine shaving it can be used as a smoother. It won't replace a full size jointer or a smaller smoothing plane, but as a first handplane it will be a tool that will accomplish many tasks.

The shoulder plane will be useful to adjust tenons, rabbets, and whenever you need the blade to extend all the way across the sole of the plane so you can reach a tight corner. This will be the third plane to get.

From here I would say you should get a dedicated smoother, a jointer plane and then you can dive into specialty planes like the router plane. Or you can start to make your won wooden planes.

Next installment: Shaping tools

Setting hoops on Japanese chisels

When you buy a brand new Japanese chisel there is some work to do before it can be used.

Like with western chisels, the back of the blade must be flattened and polished to a mirror finish and it has to be sharpened to a very fine edge.

With Japanese chisels however, the tool is not ready to be used, the hoop on the top of the handle must be permanently set.

Here's how:

• http://www2.woodcraft.com/pdf/77B66.pdf
• http://www.imcclains.com[...]JapaneseChisels.pdf
• http://japanwoodworker.[...]instructions.pdf
  

This may seem like a lot of extra work, but I guarantee you that it will be quite rewarding. There is nothing more satisfying than working with a sharp tool that is properly tuned.

A little more about chisels

Eric posted a nice comment in my last blog entry and asked:

What the heck is a dovetail chisel or fishtail chisel? What's the difference between Western bevel and Japanese bevel? And where do you recommend to buy them?

As I wrote before, Japanese chisels are forged with two types of steel that are welded together during the forging process. One thin layer of very hard steel and a thicker layer of softer steel that will support it. The hard steel will become the back of the chisel and the cutting edge and this is the reason Japanese chisels will keep a sharp edge for a longer time than a western chisel.

Some tests like the Bench-Chisel Review published by Fine Woodworking Magazine will give you a clear evidence of this.

All Japanese chisels that I know of have a hollow (or more than one in wider chisels - see top photo) in the back which makes it easier and faster to flatten the back. Otherwise it would require a lot of work to flatten a large surface of very hard steel.

Usually Japanese chisels are somewhat shorter than western chisels, and I like this feature since my hand is closer to the work and I find it easier to control. Other than these I would say there aren't any more differences between Japanese and western bevel edged chisels.

As far as the shape of the blade goes, you can find chisels in many different shapes and some are best suited for certain tasks. Bevel edge chisels are the most common since they are the workhorse of a cabinet shop and useful for most tasks.

A timber framing chisel, often used for more heavy duty tasks, won't have bevels on the sides of the blade and while these can be very good tools for chopping large mortises in a 4x4" or for paring tasks, for smaller projects you'll find that the lack of bevels will usually become a problem when reaching the tight corners of a small mortise.

A dovetail chisel on the other hand has a triangular section, which means that it will get into the tight pin socket between two tails (provided that you're cutting thin tails like our friend Kaleo Kala enjoys - the photo on the homepage of his website is a good example of this) and this is the task where they really excel.

You should avoid to use these for more general tasks as they're not as strong as a bevel edge chisel.

Currently you can find western type dovetail chisels, i.e. made with just O1 or A2 steel like the ones made by Ashley Iles or Blue Spruce Toolworks.

Fishtail chisels are yet another specialty chisel. The cutting edge is shaped in a way that it will get into the tail sockets of half-blind dovetails and you can use them to clean the left and right side of the sockets. An alternative is to use skew chisels (usually sold in pairs - right and left skew angles) but this will require two tools instead of one.

Again, like the dovetail chisels, you can get western type fishtail chisels. It's just a question of preference. I tend to favor the Japanese ones.

As far as where to buy them, I would recommend you to check out the online stores (these will often have a wide range of brands and prices to choose from) and then see what's available locally.

In Europe I would recommend you check out:

• Dieter Schmid
  
• Dick
  

In the US you will have more choices but these are my favorites:

• Tools For Working Wood
• The Japan Woodworker
  
• Garrett Wade
  

In the end you can't go wrong with either a good quality western or Japanese chisel, some will prefer the western tools while others will favor the Japanese ones.

A basic set of hand tools - Part III

Choosing a set of chisels may be a fairly simple affair.... they even come in sets! But which one set should you get? I'd say none!

Chisels

If you are on a budget, a set of three bevel edge chisels (1/4", 1/2" and 3/4") will get most of the job done. It's nice to have a few more sizes, but I'd rather have only these three and have quality chisels than have all the sizes available from 1/8" to 2" of lower quality steel.

A lower quality chisel will be a rather disappointing tool. It wont keep a good edge for long, it may chip or get blunt easily and even when properly sharpened they won't cut through wood effortlessly.

There's nothing worse than cutting wood with a blunt tool. It tears the wood fibers instead of slicing them and your exposed joinery won't look very good.

These days Lie-Nielsen chisels are rated very high, these are expensive tools but you get what you pay for.

In my shop I have some western style bevel edge chisels but the ones I wouldn't live without are my Japanese chisels. These are easy to sharpen and hone and will take a very sharp edge that will last for a long time.

Japanese chisels are somewhat different than the western ones. They are forged with two different types of steel, one that his very thin and hard and will become the back and the cutting edge, and on top of this is a softer steel that will support it.

Furthermore there is a hollow in the back of the chisel so it is easier to flatten the back that is made of very hard steel. Some of the better chisels will have multiple hollows in the back for extra support. A good feature on larger chisels.

Due to their construction, the Japanese chisels can't be hollow ground and must be sharpened on a waterstone or oilstone. And if you want to keep your chisels for a long time, never lever chips of wood if you're cutting mortises with them. Take it easy on these and get a mortise chisel for the job.

So, what is on my set of chisels? Here's what:

• 3mm (1/8") Japanese dovetail
• 6mm (1/4") Japanese dovetail and western bevel edge
• 12mm (1/2") Japanese fishtail and western bevel edge
• 19mm (3/4") Japanese bevel edge (multiple hollows)
• 25mm (1") Japanese bevel edge (multiple hollows)
  

As you can see, I managed to get all the sizes from 3mm to 25mm but instead of just buying a set I built my set based on my needs. For small sizes I chose dovetail chisels, these are quite useful for working in small joinery, and for larger sizes I chose standard bevel edge chisels which can take a little more abuse.

The western chisels are somewhat redundant but I'll use them for more coarse work and will save the edges of the Japanese chisels for the finishing work.

The fishtail chisel is what I'd consider a specially tool, it has a very thin blade and excels at cleaning the pins on half-blind dovetails.

My next purchase will be a long paring chisel around 36mm, but this one will have to wait.

Next installment: Handplanes

Hand tool nirvana

In recent years we've seen small independent companies enter the market offering high-end woodworking tools, quite often handmade with a degree of craftsmanship that surpasses what most would expect from a quality tool.

Can you imagine a jointer plane costing over $9.000? Well... take a look at this 28" steel and ebony torpedo and you'll see why. This thing will almost plane boards on it's own.

• High-End Hand-Tool Sales Surge

Wooden block plane sketch

I've been playing with the idea of making a wooden plane for a while and decided to start with a small block plane to replace my vintage Millers Falls No. 57. The alternative would be to buy a Lie-Nielsen #60 1/2 but those little wonders are expensive....

I want it to be a low angle plane but making a wooden plane with a 12º bed is out of question, the body would be too thin to handle the strain, so I decided to take a different approach and instead of making a bevel up plane this will have the blade resting with the bevel down on a 37º bed.

This design should have the same cutting effect of the #60 1/2 since the angle of attack of a bevel up plane is the sum of the bed angle and the angle of the bevel of the blade (usually 12º + 25º respectively).

Pictured above is a sketch I made using SketchUp to have an idea of the dimensions. I guess it will work out fine!

The SketchUp model isn't perfect but will give you an idea of all the parts and dimensions.

Attached files

• block_plane_sketch.skp

Making a wood plane from a kit

While browsing some of the woodworking videos on YouTube I came across this one from Ron Hock showing how to make a handplane from kit. The video also shows how to sharpen the blade using the ruler trick often attributed to David Charlesworth.

• Make a Plane from a HOCK Plane Kit

In the end of the video you'll also see the method used to tune a wooden handplane, with just a few taps you're good to go. Simple and effective!

Sharpening a handsaw

Sharpening ones tools can be a skill on its own and every woodworker will soon discover that to get the best results, learning how to sharpen will soon become a necessity.

While we are on the subject of saws, here is a link to the best essay I've read on how to sharpen a saw blade:

• Saw Filing - A Beginner's Primer

Enjoy!

The forgotten bowsaw

The bowsaw is one of my favorite saws when I need to do some major sawing. It may not be as fast as a jigsaw or a circular saw, but it gets the job done and I can still listen to some music while I rip through an eight feet long board.

Pictured on the right is a small bowsaw, which are usually found in the US and the UK where most bulkier sawing would be done with a large handsaw like a Disston D-8 or similar.

This type of saw will have a thin narrow blade and is most useful to cut curves.

On the other hand, traditional European bowsaws are larger saws, usually between 24" and 26" long.

This type of saw would be used in the continent to cut just about anything.

This saw has a clear advantage over a large panel saw. Because the blade is kept under tension it can be quite thin and the cutting goes much faster since there isn't so much wood to remove.

Check out Bug Bear's website for the famous bowsaw plan and you can make your own bowsaw.

A basic set of hand tools - Part II

With so many types of saws to choose from, it may be difficult for the beginner woodworker to decide where to start shopping and where to stop. To make things worse you have both western and Japanese saws to choose from.

Saws

Every toolbox should have at least two handsaws, one filled for rip cuts along the grain and another for crosscut. The rip saw, if used for ripping rough lumber, should be around 26" long with 5 tpi.

The other essential saw should be a smaller crosscut saw like a 12" long backsaw with around 13 tpi.

To complement your set of handsaws, and if you want to cut your dovetails by hand, you could add a dovetail saw which is a smaller backsaw with it's teeth filled for rip cut and with a higher teeth ratio, usually around 16 tpi.

A small coping saw is also a good addition to any toolbox for those moments when you need to cut a curve on a small piece of wood and want to keep your fingers away from the bandsaw blade.

If you want to try the Japanese saws, the ryoba will be a good starter. This type of saw has teeth on both sides of the blade, one for rip cuts and the other for crosscut. You can pair the ryoba with a dozuki which is the Japanse equivalent of a backsaw. These can be found with both crosscut and ripcut profiles, the later being a great dovetail saw.

Next installment: Chisels

Small mahogany handplane

More than 10 years ago Popular Mechanics published a very informative article on making a small wooden handplane which I'm very fond of.

I haven't built mine but I keep revisiting this article over and over again: Hand Made Hand Plane.

At just over 6" long and with a 1 1/2" iron it can be used as a block plane to trim edges and surface small pieces.

Enjoy!

Tuning and using a card scraper

Card scrapers can be a very useful tool to handle wild grain, but tuning them properly can be a daunting task even for the experienced woodworker. If you turn a very long burr it will break easily but if the burr is too short will will only produce dust.

A properly sharpened scraper attacking the wood at the right angle will produce thin curly shavings and will yield a perfectly smooth surface even on difficult woods like curly maple.

I searched the web and found four great videos showing slightly different techniques for sharpening a scraper and another two on using them.

• Barely Scraping By
  by Marc Spagnuolo
• Tuning-up a Scraper
  by Tommy MacDonald
• Tune Up a Card Scraper
  by Brian Boggs
• How to Burnish a Card Scraper
  by Bob Van Dyke

• Using a Card Scraper
  by Brian Boggs
• How to Use a Card Scraper
  by Bob Van Dyke

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

A basic set of hand tools - Part I

A common question from many beginner woodworkers is what tools they should buy first so they can get started. What are the essential tools in everyone's toolbox? But the answer is not that straightforward.

Every woodworker will have a different approach to the craft and will develop a preference for some tools as he or she gets more experienced. For instance, I prefer to work with a folding rule instead of a tape measure. Some will prefer western saws over Japanese ones, and so on...

Layout tools

Good joinery starts with precise measurements and clean layout lines. Sharp pencils, a birch folding rule, a trusty combination square like the Starrett 6" model and a wheel marking gauge are absolute essentials in my workshop. I also use a tape measure when I'm dealing with large stock and when measuring boards at the lumberyard.

If you want to go a step further, I'd advise to replace the pencil with a marking knife when you want that extra precision and add a 3" engineers square to check your tools against. I find the 3" square quite useful to layout tenons on small pieces and whenever the 6" one feels too cumbersome for the task.

To complete the kit you should add a bevel gauge so you can layout some angles and a 12" combination square. This can be used to layout larger pieces and the ruler alone can be used as a small straight edge.

Next installment: Saws

Diamond stones

There seems to be some confusion regarding diamond stones, one of the reasons being the fact that the system used to grade them is different to the one used for Japanese waterstones and many of the natural stones like the well known Arkansas stones.

Diamond stones from DMT, probably the best and most popular around, have the following grits:

• Extra coarse ~ 220 grit
• Coarse ~325 grit
• Fine ~600 grit
• Extra fine ~1200 grit

As you can see from the above list, diamond stones will be most useful as a first step in the sharpening process, followed by the higher grits provided by waterstones and oilstones.

Because diamond stones cut extremely fast and their surfaces remain perfectly flat they're well suited for flattening the back of plane irons and chisels and establish the bevel. This is what I use my extra coarse stone before moving to a 1000 grit whaterstone for the sharpening and 8000 grit stone for the honing of the cutting edges.

I must say that so far these three stones have served me well and with this small sharpening kit I've kept my plane blades and chisels sharp for a very long time.

Japanese saws

I've been meaning to try a few Japanese tools for quite some time but only recently I decided to buy one. I chose to go with one of the most popular types of Japanese saws, the ryoba, which has teeth on both sides of the blade, one filed for crosscut and the other to rip along the grain (see photo above).

The other very popular Japanese saw is the dozuki, similar to the western backsaw, and is mostly used to cut fine joinery like dovetails. This is the saw to use when you want the finest cut.

But why Japanese saws? Are they different to the western saws?

The main difference is that Japanese saws have their teeth filed in such a way that they cut on the pull stroke, which makes it possible for the blade to be much thiner than on a western saw. This is because as you pull the saw to make the cut the blade is under tension, while on a western saw, the blade is compressed as you push it along the wood, thus the need for a thick blade.

The thinner blade means that it is possible to have a very thin kerf and together with the very clean cut that these saws leave, even on end grain, they are very popular in fine woodworking.

On a quality dozuki saw, the blade can be just .25mm thick with a saw kerf of .4mm. Yes, than thin!!

My experience with this saw has been great, I find it easy to control due to the long handle (nearly as long as the blade) and it produces a very clean and smooth cut. Even on end grain pine, it only takes a couple of swipes with a block plane to leave the surface ready for finishing.

Next to try are the Japanese chisels, but more about that on a future post.

Making and Mastering Wood Planes

David Finck's book on wooden planes is without doubt one of the best books on the subject and well worth buying if you're a hand tools enthusiast like me.

The book if well structured and takes you through the steps of building and using the Krenov style wooden planes from start to finish.

It does not give specific dimensions and drawings but rather takes the approach of giving you the information you need to design and build any plane you want.

This revised edition is full of color photos which take it a step further, making it more comprehensive and pleasing to the eye.
I can not recommend this book too highly!

Card scrapers

Card scrapers are an efficient tool used to put a finish on woods with difficult grain patterns like curly maple, walnut burl and many of the exotic woods.

Even a fairly straight grained wood may show small spots of grain tear-out after planing with a smoother, which can be easily smoothed with a card scraper. The alternative being the use of sandpaper, either by hand with a sanding block or using a random-orbit sander and producing lots of dust in your shop.

One of the tricky thinks about using a scraper is the sharpening process which is not clear for everyone but is in fact quite simple. All you need is a flat file, a set of waterstones (the same used to sharpen and hone your plane blades) and a burnisher to turn the burr on the edge of the scraper.

Marc Spagnuolo, the man behind The Wood Whisperer and all those great podcasts, has recently published a video showing how to sharpen card scrapers in three simple steps.

This video demystifies the process better than any article I've ever read. Great work Marc!