Old Habits

[Jim Koepke]

While working with another woodworker on planing he noticed me tilting the square while checking the work. When asked it really didn't come to mind why I was doing this. Today while working in the shop I noticed when doing this the way my bench is set up with the lights it puts a shadow on the viewing side of the work highlighting the area between the work surface and the try square blade.

How many of these unthought of techniques are habits which we have forgotten yet still use?

I guess if we have forgotten them, we will never know the answer.

jtk

[Stanley Covington]

Jim:

I once nicked my tongue as I absentmindedly pondered a drawing. Turns out it wasn't a pencil in my hand but a sharp marking knife. No repetition of that habit since.

Stan

[Mike Cherry]

While working with another woodworker on planing he noticed me tilting the square while checking the work. When asked it really didn't come to mind why I was doing this. Today while working in the shop I noticed when doing this the way my bench is set up with the lights it puts a shadow on the viewing side of the work highlighting the area between the work surface and the try square blade.

How many of these unthought of techniques are habits which we have forgotten yet still use?

I guess if we have forgotten them, we will never know the answer.

jtk
Well said Jim. My son noticed that I use a brush to clean the benchtop constantly. When asked why, I told him that I had managed to dent some pine before by having chips and debris on the benchtop. As you say, old habits.

[Matt Knights]

When planing I brush my finger tips over the surface of the wood, doing this I can feel the undulations in the surface and then plane accordingly. Most of the time its a subconscious thing.

Matt

[James Pallas]

A machinist friend watched me drag a combination square along the edge of a board and proceeded to give me a scolding. Never drag a measuring tool it wears out the sharp edges he said. You can drag marking tools but not measuring tools. I have followed his advice for about 50 years now.
Jim

[Tyler Huber]

Jim I just read this while on a break in the shop and just wanted to say that I also tilt my square while checking boards edges and faces. I think it's because I use a starrett (farely new) and when I tilt it the sharp aris that it sits on let's light through much better then if I just set the full edge of the sqaure on the board.
Tyler

[Brent Cutshall]

For a while now, I have been using metric scale to the point that I can barely use inches any more. When I finish a piece, I always stand back, look at it, and snap my fingers. It just gives me a nice little sense of completion.

[Gary Cunningham]

When planing I brush my finger tips over the surface of the wood, doing this I can feel the undulations in the surface and then plane accordingly. Most of the time its a subconscious thing.

Matt
I am very much a novice Neander, and have already developed that habit.

[Bill White]

Not to start a war, but I ALWAYS lay my plane in use at the time on its side rather than the sole. Just the way I was tough MANY years ago. Habit? Yep. Can't help it, and it drives me nuts to see someone doing otherwise.
Bill

[Chris Parks]

If using a tape I always lay a square over the top of it on the mark I want to eliminate parallax error.

[Jim Koepke]

Not to start a war, but I ALWAYS lay my plane in use at the time on its side rather than the sole. Just the way I was tough MANY years ago. Habit? Yep. Can't help it, and it drives me nuts to see someone doing otherwise.
Bill

I also do this with my planes. I try to remember to lay my chisels on the bench with the bevel down. Too many nicks in the bench top from laying them down with the blade to the bench.

jtk

[Lenore Epstein]

Not to start a war, but I ALWAYS lay my plane in use at the time on its side rather than the sole. Just the way I was tough MANY years ago. Habit? Yep. Can't help it, and it drives me nuts to see someone doing otherwise.
Bill
Just because I feel like it, I don't want to rest my bench plane on its sole, but as a novice I frequently space out and try to lay it upside down before remembering that it's the sides that are flat. Doh!

[george wilson]

Some machinist's squares have beams with "V" shaped edges. This is designed to make more of a fine line of contact with the work,enabling light to have the maximum opportunity to show under the edge.

By the way: You can see .0001"(a TEN THOUSANDTH) of an inch of light under a square or other accurate,truly straight edge. I have a few machinist's straight edges that are highly precision,and have their surface contact edge ground into a sharp V shape. They are thick in their bodies,hardened,and obviously precision ground to a near mirror surface texture where they are made to come in contact with work being checked for straightness or flatness.

If I tilt my square,I don't tilt it much. If I can hold the workpiece where I can see "straight across under the square",I don't tilt it at all. This would apply to relatively small metal parts I am making.

[Luke Dupont]

Not to start a war, but I ALWAYS lay my plane in use at the time on its side rather than the sole. Just the way I was tough MANY years ago. Habit? Yep. Can't help it, and it drives me nuts to see someone doing otherwise.
Bill

I did this at first, but I've become very strongly against this practice. Well, I guess it's fine if it works for some, but I had problems with it.

Why?

Well, believe it or not, I find I nick up and damage my plane irons when I did. I'm always moving tools around on my bench, and if my plane's sole is exposed, it will inevitably hit another tool.

I switched to always putting my plane sole down and haven't had a problem. I'm far more conscious of where I am placing my plane than I am of what might just happen to come near it by happen stance, so having the sole against my wooden benchtop protects it. I already have a habit of looking where I place it, so I've never inadvertently placed it down onto any kind of tool or metal surface. As a result, I never find my plane with nicks or dents in the iron from sitting around now, whereas, I assure you, if I leave it on its side with the blade exposed, I will.

But, that's just what works for me! And really, that's what's important. So, if the lay it on its side method works for you, then good! You might have different habits, ways of working, and might be more or less conscious of things that I am/am not, hence different results!

I am trying to get in the habit of laying my chisels with the bevel up, though!

[Jim Koepke]

I am trying to get in the habit of laying my chisels with the bevel up, though!

As one who has caused a nick or two in my bench this way I am curious to know why you prefer bevel up.

jtk

[steven c newman]

This is why there is a rack along the back of my bench. Chisel either go back to their "home station" or, if I am chopping away, the chisel being used goes into a nearby doghole.


Apparently, so I have been told, I use too many of these things..."??????"
and it seems to confuse some readers out there.

I majored in Shop class in school, English wasn't one of my better subjects.

[Luke Dupont]

As one who has caused a nick or two in my bench this way I am curious to know why you prefer bevel up.

jtk

The reason I was given, at least, is safety. If the bevel is up, and the back is flat against the bench, there's far less chance of running your hand into the edge.

It also occurs to me that it might serve to help protect the edge from getting dinged just as with a plane.

Good point about cutting into the bench, though!

I guess the best option would be to have one of those chisel holding slots as some people put in their split-top benches!

[Jim Koepke]

The reason I was given, at least, is safety. If the bevel is up, and the back is flat against the bench, there's far less chance of running your hand into the edge.

It also occurs to me that it might serve to help protect the edge from getting dinged just as with a plane.

Good point about cutting into the bench, though!

I guess the best option would be to have one of those chisel holding slots as some people put in their split-top benches!

That does make sense. I used to drop them in to a dog hole at times. Then got a nicked hand from one when reaching under the bench. Sometimes I use a rack on top of the bench to keep them from moving around.

jtk

[Luke Dupont]

That does make sense. I used to drop them in to a dog hole at times. Then got a nicked hand from one when reaching under the bench. Sometimes I use a rack on top of the bench to keep them from moving around.

jtk

It just occurred to me that a little panel with a rack on it to hold your chisels might be a wonderful solution, ala this "Sloyd" style bench:

http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54f1398f3883401a73d7ce927970d-320wi

I really have a problem in that, I think, I want to build every workbench under the sun...

[lowell holmes]

I keep my chisels in a leather roll. The roll is normally on a table behind my bench.

If I'm working with the chisel, I sometimes will drop the blade of the chisel through a dog hole. That gets the sharp edge where it can't cut you and the cutting edge is protected as well.