Online Saw Sharpening Resources

 Here is a set of links on saw sharpening. I have sharpened rip teeth fairly well for 25 years, but I have never been happy with

Mobilizing a Dust Collector Part Two

In this previous post, I had started mobilizing an old, wall-mounted, Oneida cyclone system. I have now been using the system for a few weeks and an update is in order.

The above photo shows

All I Have Is a Hammer

As a long-time woodworker, when I need to do or make something, my first thought about approaching the challenge is usually in the form of wood. (Within reason. Show me a clogged drain and I'll get the plumbing tools.)

Recently my challenge has been mounting a variable frequency drive and a

Mobilizing a Dust Collector Part One

 Shop Report

Here's something I'm working on at the moment. No fine joinery, nothing very pretty, I'm just making a big old dust collector mobile. I expect to be done sometime in the next few days. 

And now here's some background and a few

File Files So Files Don't File Files

We all know, or should know, to not let files and rasps bang against each other or against other metal tools.* They'll get dull, we're told. This is received wisdom; I admit I haven't ever questioned it, let alone tested it. But some of my Auriou and Iwasaki examples are too

Some pictures of planes. First a Record #07, late production with plastic handles and screw-type cap (as opposed to a "lever cap")

Next, a Miller's Falls #10 (equivalent to Stanley #4-1/2). Note the articulated lever cap, which seems to focus the pressure on the front edge of the iron more effectively than a plain cap:

Tormek Motor Repair

I have used and loved Tormek grinders since 1999. My current machine is my second. (I sold the first one about 2008.) I acquired it from Highland Woodworking several years ago when they replaced it (the old "Super Grind 2000") with a new T8 in their seminar room. I use it for planes and chisels, carving gouges, kitchen and sloyd knives, and occasionally planer knives. 

Recently it began sounding bad, and way too loud:

I took the wheels and axle off to isolate the motor and make sure it wasn't something caught in the bushings the axle rides on, or the inside wall of the leather strop wheel where the motor shaft turns the whole works around. Nope, definitely a noise from the motor.

I wasted several

Further Adventures in Workholding, Episode IX

Ms. L. is returning to work for another school year, so it's time for me to write a brief essay on "What I Did over Summer Vacation."

We spent each weekend

Videos Worth Watching: Workholding Without a Vise

This is one of my 10 favorite woodworking videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvhn-PAfEW4&t=10s

Why do I hold it in such esteem?

1. Mike Siemsen is clearly

Stacked Birch Bark Knife Handle: New Video

I recently made and posted this video to YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2zDllohj-Q

The process of making the handle was quite enjoyable, and the result is wonderful. The handle is grippy, resilient, and warm in the hand. Even when wet! I will be making more.

New Video: Torsion Box

Not a detailed how-to tutorial, just a quick check. We've heard they're rigid, and they FEEL rigid, but can we measure it?

https://youtu.be/2JkNi7jIkRE
I compared a very simple torsion box to a pine 2x10 by putting them across a 30" span (one at a time) with a dial indicator underneath, and stood right above the indicator.

Results? Torsion box deflected .03 inch, 2x10 deflected .1 inch. So yes, torsion box is nice & rigid.

In case it matters, the skin of the box is 1/2" plywood and the core grid is 3/4" plywood on 8" centers. The box was assembled with glue, plenty of clamps, and 16 gauge brads shot in with a pneumatic nailer.

I like torsion boxes.

Splitting Wood into Thirds

Oh, yes you can!

There are three points to this post:

Bench Risers Video

A revised video about the bench risers is on YouTube:

Four-plus minutes of pure joy. Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQY5q00EsW8

Video: Roughing out Spoons at the Bench

I made a video showing my vise, chisel, hammer method of roughing out spoon blanks. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT7PdrXYYOI

Seal the Ends of Green Lumber

When you get lucky and score a bunch of nice fresh wood like this black cherry, seal the end grain before it starts drying out.

Moisture leaves wood most easily through the end grain, less easily through the long grain, and least easily through

More Adventures in Workholding

I've been working on a change to my spoon-carving process, scooping out the bowl earlier in the process with the blank held by a clamp rather than in my hand. 

I tried it out with this tiny salt spoon, made from

Spoon Blanks by Hammer and Chisel (Without a Hatchet!)

Unrefined spoons, just captured in the wilds of northern Wisconsin!

Let's say you have

Video Worth Watching: Wille Sundqvist on YouTube

My teacher Drew Langsner has posted a video I love on YouTube. On several of my visits to Country Workshops, I have watched this on a VHS copy Drew has in the shop's video library. 

This is basically raw, unedited footage made in 1982 by Rick Mastelli for a projected video by Taunton Press. For reasons I don't know, the project wasn't completed. I believe several black and white stills from these sessions were used in a Fine Woodworking article on the basic knife grasps.

I assume this was Wille's second trip to the U.S., when he taught the first spoon and bowl course at Country Workshops. Here you see a craftsman at the height of his powers, working in a new environment and explaining what he's doing and why in his second (third?) language. Clearly he's a master of both the work and teaching it.

Along with Wille's book, Swedish Carving Techniques, and the later Taunton video by his son Jögge, this video will give anyone interested in carving with hand tools, beginner or more advanced, plenty of food for thought. I still have new "aha" moments every time I look these over. Wonderful "ahas" I feel not just in the brain, but in the hands: one of life's great pleasures!

More Spoon Carving: Red Maple Serving Spoons

Here are photos of two spoons I made at my

Iron-On Veneer

Here's a simple technique for applying veneer to flat panels. I have used it with bandsawn veneer I made myself, with paper-backed commercial veneer, and this week I'm doing it with some camphor burl veneer purchased from an online supplier. 

These particular panels will be