Mallet Of Necessity

After coming home with my new Lie-Nielsen chisels I had a problem. I didn't have have an mallet to use with the chisels. I did a little research and found one mallet that I simply loved. It was the Blue Spruce Toolworks Mallet. I had a chance to hold one of these mallets at the Popular Woodworking open house. It felt wonderful in the hand. It had a great balance and beautiful finish. Since Tom Lie-Nielsen had all my cash, I had to come up with a low cost solution.

I built a joiner's mallet a few years ago that was made of the laminated pieces of wood. One day while using it, it broke at the glue seam. I'm not sure why it failed but I didn't want that to happen again. While cruising around the forums I saw a thread on making mallets out of fire wood. Sounded like a great idea. One thing the ice storms left plenty of this year was fire wood. So I went out and picked up a piece of wood that looked like the right size. I would probably qualify for the turning Special Olympics so try not to laugh. I turned out something that looked vaguely like a mallet. It was to big and the handle was to thick. It looked more like something you would hit a froe with rather than a chisel. Round 2...I got another piece of wood and got to work. This mallet shaped up to be very nice. It had about the right weight and handle was comfortable. I decided this one would work fine. I put it in a cup of linseed oil. Letting one end soak for a day or two, then the other end. I tried to keep the whole mallet wet. I ended up with a nice usable mallet. Not exactly a work of art, but it chops out those dovetails all the same. I'm pretty sure the wood was from a fallen limb from a Hackleberry tree in my yard. I was surprised how tough this little mallet is. I have given it some pretty good smacks. The only evidence is some very light flat spots. You can see the flats. They are so light you have to feel for them. Another nice addition to the tool chest.

David B.

REVIEW: Lie-Nielsen Bench Chisels

What can I say about Lie-Nielsen's Bench Chisels that has not been said many times before. Of all the chisels I have used these are by far the best feeling in the hand. The balance is great. When chopping dovetails I would always have a hand that was cramped up. My hands would struggle with the top heaviness of the chisel, not with the Lie-Nielsen's. The handle is designed with a flat top to make it ideal for striking.

Another thing that sets the Lie-Nielsen's apart from other manufactures is finish of the chisel. There are no deep milling marks to have to hone away. This makes the chisels look and feel better. When I started sharpening the chisels I was able to start on a 4000 grit waterstone, even for flattening the backs. There aren't many chisels around like that. On a set of 5 chisels that can save your hours in front of your stones. Each chisel only takes about 10 minutes to set up.

Something else I hope to do in the future is to buy a long paring handle for my chisels. Since these chisels are socket chisels you can switch handles with just a few raps of the handle. So in just a few seconds you could turn your bench chisels in to a paring chisel. Now I'm not sure that geometry of the Lie-Nielsen chisels is idea for paring, but I think it will work just fine for most applications. Most prefer a thinner blade that has a 20-25 degree angle on a dedicated paring chisel.

There are a lot of folks who think thise chisels just aren't worth the money, that all your buying is the name. These are folks who have never used Lie-Nielsen Tools. Though they are pricey, I know I'll never have to replace them. I'll get to enjoy more woodworking and less sharpening and maintenance. I don't think you can go wrong with this set of chisels.

David B.

PS. Tom, if your out there...I would sure love to try one of those new fishtail chisels. :-)

Camellia Oil Dispenser

A lot of woodworkers keep an oily rag around to wipe down their tools when they are done. I have never really cared for this idea. I would probably toss the rag down on a piece of wood that is ready to finish and cause myself all kinds of finishing issues. Not to mention that this gets your hands as oily as it does the tool. I have always wanted to try one of the Camellia oil applicators that you can get from a lot of Japanese tool merchants. This one is from Japan Woodworker. For whatever reason I have never been to a store or making a online order from someone that carries them.

My mother has operated a upholstery shop now for almost 40 years. While at her shop the other day I noticed a she had this thick felt (probably 1/4" thick or so). It looked similar to the wick they use in the Camellia oil applicators in the magazines. Light bulbs started coming on. I grabbed a small piece and began to hunt for some type of bottle that would work as a container. My first thought was baby jar. The thought of broken glass everywhere wiped that from my mind. I went to my medicine cabinet and saw something that would work great. It was a old bottle of dog worming medicine. Seemed like the perfect size.

I took a small piece of felt and rolled it up like a into a tight roll. I got it to the right size so that the roll would go into the opening with a little coaxing. I then pulled the wick out and put oil in the container, leaving plenty of room for wick. I put the wick in place leaving maybe 3/8" above the lip. I turned the bottle over and nothing come out...so far so good. I left the bottle upside down for a 15 minutes or so it would have time to soak the felt. After 15 minutes the felt still felt dry, no yellow Camellia oil tint to it. I had to scratch my head for a minute. I wondered if the felt might be too tight in the neck of the bottle? I took a ice pick and pushed into the middle of the wick. I pulled the ice pick out and you could see I had made it to the oil. I turned it back over and instantly you could see the Camellia oil soaking the felt.
I took a chisel and gave the makeshift applicator a shot. Works like a charm. Leaves a nice even coat of oil like a Lie-Nielsen tool right out of the box. I don't think it would be necessary to have any kind of cap on it. This will make it much easier to keep my tools protected. The only downside to this solution is that to refill the bottle you would have to pull the wick out. Now I know that all of this seems like a lot of trouble to go though over a $10 dollar Camellia oil applicator. Your right, If I ever come across one of those applicators I will probably buy one. But for now, this works great.

David B.

DVD Review: Unlocking The Secrets of Traditional Design with George Walker

While at the Popular Woodworking open house I was buying some Lie-Nielsen tools and the lady ringing me up said that if you spent over $300 you got a free DVD. I already have video's that cover sharpening and using hand planes and I wanted something different. This one seemed to call out to me. Design is something I have always struggled with. I was expecting a lecture on the Golden Ratio, I was wrong.

I have heard that furniture construction was based on architecture principles, but never give it that much thought. I guess we have all heard that a piece is in a "classical style." I thought "classical style" was synonymous with old or antique. This apparently isn't the case. It refers to being in the styles of Greek and Roman architecture.

I have always struggled with how big components in a piece of furniture should be. How tall should the feet be on a dresser? How big of a top molding should I have on this bookshelf? How wide should my face frames be? How big should my drawers be? These questions can be answered by following the classical architectural orders. The orders dictate the proportions of a piece. This was all new to me and if your scratching your head at this point, its new to you also.

This video opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking about furniture design. Mr. Walker does a great job of explaining these, for me, foreign principles. Again and Again, Tom Lie-Nielsen seems to come though with great products. This video is professionally done, not one of those gritty basement workshop videos. I would highly recommend this video to any woodworker. Be sure and pick up your copy here.

David B.

Popular Woodworking Open House

This weekend the wife and I took a little road trip to Cincinnati to attend Popular Woodworking's open house. This was a two day grass roots event that didn't cost anything to attend. Which is great, because this means I can spend more on tools! It had what you would expect from a woodworking event; demonstrations, tool vendors, question and answer sessions. The staff of Popular woodworking did an outstanding job. Every booth was buzzing with activity.

I think many of us follow Chris Schwarz's blogs and articles. It was great to he and the other staff work...and plays. The staff were very open and allowed people to browse though their tool cabinets and fondle their tools. Ever wonder what Chris stashed away in this tool chest? By the end of the day one had to feel a little sorry for Chris. His bench is in a corner. All day onlookers had him pinned in front of his bench asking questions. One had to smile when Chris asked, "What time is this thing over?"

At one point on Saturday there was what Chris joking says will be an annual event, "The Beating Of The Planes." Sort of a woodworkers "running with the bulls." This is where they take some of the cheap over seas planes and place them on an anvil and smack them with a hammer. One of planes that was made of cast iron actually exploded.

There was a discussion about some questionable business practices of Woodcraft. They have released a line of planes called Woodriver. It was mentioned that you could tell the over seas manufacturer's had taken a Lie-Nielsen plane and machine off the logo and made a cast from it. Woodcraft says they were copying a Bailey design. This seems unlikely. As Chris points out, the shape of their block plane is a Lie-Nielsen design, Stanley never make a block plane shaped like that. Word was passed to Tom that their was a Woodriver plane bashing session at Chris's bench. He bolted back to get involved. Tom took a close look at some of the Woodriver planes. Seems they may have copied his tools but had to cut corners to make the tools cheaply. Instead of the solid castings there would be two or more pieces spot welded together. This was evident when the hammer was hit and parts went flying. I think everyone there was a upset that Woodcraft would sell such a product. This seemed to a direct effort to put Lie-Nielsen out of business. It won't work, but it was an effort never the less.

In many ways this weekend was somewhat more informative that the Woodworking In America Conference. WWIA was more of a series of lectures. The speakers didn't have time to speak with everyone individually. This weekend was a great time to just pick the brain of the staff or tool makers. If I had a complaint it was that I missed some of the vendors/speakers that were absent; Mike Wenzloff, Adam Cherubini, Bridge City Toolworks, etc. This was a great time and I hope that Popular Woodworking Invites us all back next year.

David B.

PS. I seemed to have left the open house a little heavier than when when I arrived. So expect some new tool reviews and even a dvd review.

Another Goodell-Pratt eggbeater back in service

My latest tool purchase was this 1922 Goodell-Pratt 2 speed eggbeater that has been beautifully restored by Wiktor Kuc of WKtools. It just doesn't get much better than this. A tool this old shouldn't look this good. Wiktor doesn't an masterful job restoring these tools to an almost better than new state.

Upon receiving the tool I found that the drill didn't engage in slow speed. I was so disappointed. The tool looked wonderful, but had some type of issue in the gear switching mechanism. After checking a few things for Wiktor he decided the best thing I could do is send it back to him to figure out what the problem was. I sent it away and got it back a week later and everything was working as intended.

Buying a tool like this leaves you feeling great but you also feel a responsibility not to let the tool get damaged. I don't buy tools for show and tell I buy them to use. Time will only tell how this goes.

Cheap And Simple Waterstone Pond

Since buying my Norton waterstones I have been looking to buy or build some type of pond. Building a pond from wood just seemed like a lot more work than it should be and the ones you can buy seemed awfully expensive. After looking around for a while I finally come across something that seemed idea. I was a $6 9x13 cake pan tote. All I had to do was make a wooden bed to put the stones on while sharpening. I took a scrap piece of oak and simple

cut notches in the bottom to match the lip of the container. Now all you need is some way to clamp the stones in place so they don't move. A few pieces of scrap later and I had a simple wedge clamping system. The dowel you see in the pond is a simple mop for wetting/cleaning the stones. It is simply a dowel with pieces of cloth attached the end with a screw. Seems to work pretty good. One other final note. If you plan on keeping water in the container for any period of time I would add a drop of bleach to prevent any plant life. The container comes with a handy lid to keep sawdust out and water in. Great for keeping those stones ready to go at a moments notice.

Most of the time when you try and take the easy route you come out with the short end of the stick. This is an exception. A simple solution that most anyone can do in an hour.