new guy

[Blair Watkins]

Hi,

My interests in doing fine joinery by hand have brought me here. I guess you could say into "rougher" types of wood working currently, as perhaps my latest acquisition might tell you.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8367703043_dd101f61d2_z.jpg

I'M told that this particular Hurds hewing hatchet was made sometime between the 1890's and 1907.

I suppose I'm more or less inspired by Underhill and Langsner. I hope to become more educated by reading the posts here.

Thank you.

[Mark Dorman]

Welcome to the Creek Blair. Lots of talent here; using the search box will bring up hours of info to read.

[Chris Griggs]

Welcome! Sweet Hatchet! Is it single bevel? I would love to find one of those at a good price. Single bevel are not easily found in the wild. Peter Follansbee has some really good info about hatchets on his blog.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Blair,

Welcome to the Creek.

jtk

[Blair Watkins]

Thanks for the welcome. Yes it's single beveled, I found it for $25 at a junk store 10 minutes from my house, which I thought was fair. There are actually about 20 planes there, but since I don't know much about them I have not taken an interest. They seem to be of the vintage stanley variety, maybe I should take a closer look and report back.

I have read some of Peter Follansbee writings on the internet and have enjoyed them thoroughly.


Welcome! Sweet Hatchet! Is it single bevel? I would love to find one of those at a good price. Single bevel are not easily found in the wild. Peter Follansbee has some really good info about hatchets on his blog.

[Chris Griggs]

Yes it's single beveled, I found it for $25 at a junk store 10 minutes from my house

Well in that case let me give you your first official "YOU SUCK!" :D

[Jim Koepke]

There are actually about 20 planes there, but since I don't know much about them I have not taken an interest. They seem to be of the vintage stanley variety, maybe I should take a closer look and report back.

There are a few posts in the Sticky: Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs at the top of the Neanderthal Haven conference.

It also depends on how comfortable you are with fiddling with stuff, taking it apart and putting it back together.

What all are you interested in making or doing with wood?

jtk

[Blair Watkins]

I hope to make functional things that people use everyday, chairs, tables, beds. The only thing I've made thus far is my bed. I used rough sawn green poplar and pine and unfortunately some dull chisels and other hand tools. Mortise, tenon,pegs,etc, but I over estimated the stability of some of the joints and had to add some bracing using screws (my wife was tired of sleeping on the floor my time had run out). Every night I go to bed I'm proud to lay down, even though the joints have opened up and the wood is still furry, no you can't see my bed. I would like to fill the rest of my house up with items that yield similar experiences, and perhaps share the joy of properly constructed furniture with all of my common man.

I guess you could say learning proper joinery is on my bucket list.


There are a few posts in the Sticky: Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs at the top of the Neanderthal Haven conference.

It also depends on how comfortable you are with fiddling with stuff, taking it apart and putting it back together.

What all are you interested in making or doing with wood?

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

I used rough sawn green poplar and pine and unfortunately some dull chisels and other hand tools.

Sounds like the first thing you may need to acquire is a sharpening system to take care of the dull tools.


Mortise, tenon,pegs,etc, but I over estimated the stability of some of the joints and had to add some bracing using screws

My bed build didn't use much cut joinery. A lot of it is held together by screws. My thought was to use dovetails on the ends, but trying to dovetail a piece almost 6' long seemed a touch out of my league.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?142550-Platform-Bed

At the time my concern was getting it done and useable.

jtk

[Blair Watkins]

Sounds like the first thing you may need to acquire is a sharpening system to take care of the dull tools.

Ha, yeah I've since got myself 800/4000 japanese water stone that does the trick. I've also explored the various sandpaper techniques. I currently freehand everything but I've mainly just sharpened knives, hatchets, and axes. I expect all these to cut newsprint easily. It's funny in the case of knives and hatchets it's quite nice if you end up with a convex edge, which kind of happens naturally when you freehand (sometimes). But in the case of chisels and planes the convex aspect is not so great I'm guessing since it's all single bevel. Just maintaining the constant angle by hand it the trick. I think maybe the edges I'm getting on the chisels maybe not totally adequate for finer work.



My bed build didn't use much cut joinery. A lot of it is held together by screws. My thought was to use dovetails on the ends, but trying to dovetail a piece almost 6' long seemed a touch out of my league.

Nice.

I've been reading many of the old posts and I've got a list to take with me the next time I go to look at the old planes. Thanks!

[Jim Koepke]

I've been reading many of the old posts and I've got a list to take with me the next time I go to look at the old planes.

If you have magnifier, take it to look for cracks. If the store owner will allow you to take the plane apart to make sure nothing is out of order like stripped threads and such, that is a plus.

Most dealers will not mind a close inspection of something you intend to buy. Most do not want someone taking every plane apart in their store. ymmv.

jtk