One down ...

[Derek Cohen]

So now i am interested in building Windsor chairs, starting with three bar stools for the kitchen bench. First I need the tools. I decided to make a few, starting with this travisher ...


Thanks to Pete Galbert (for the supporting emails) and Claire Minahan (for the video and emails). Claire has a video building Pete's design. She makes and sells these now. The video was made a few years ago, before the design was updated with a brass sole (rather, it used an ebony sole, which necessitated a slightly wider body). I chose to built it with the brass sole, which is where the extra emails came in.


The blade is O1, bent, heat-treated and tempered in my shop. The timber is She-oak.


Front ...


https://s19.postimg.org/3n4mddkqb/10a.jpg


Back ...


https://s19.postimg.org/ukyjf4sir/12a.jpg


Sole and blade ...


https://s19.postimg.org/ci5gnwoyb/11a.jpg


I tried it across pine grain ...


https://s19.postimg.org/emptp060j/14a.jpg


It was hard to stop :)


https://s19.postimg.org/5exl8b6o3/16a.jpg


It works the same on hard maple. Forward pressure = light shavings. Back pressure = heavy shavings.


Regards from Perth


Derek

[Rick Malakoff]

That's way cool as they say in SoCal, I'm always an impressed with your degree of craftsmanship.
Rick

[James Pallas]

Looks like it'll work. That she-oak makes some nice looking tools.
Jim

[Brian Holcombe]

Nicely done! Hard maple....you are a glutton for punishment :)

[Robert Hazelwood]

Excellent work. That wood is lovely.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks James. Thanks Robert.

Brian, knowing the hours you put in, that is the pot calling the kettle black! :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Eisenhauer]

That's a beaut Derek and I am looking forward to seeing the seats before-during-after the travisher work. And, while I have you, thanks for the tip on sharpening router blades with a grinder. That PIA task has now been downgraded to the manageable category in my shop.

[lowell holmes]

I had a travisher one time. And then, Hurricane Harvey rolled through . . . . . ...........

A lot of stuff is mislaid or ? Maybe it it will turn up.

Oh well, we are on our way back, our house is intact, it has new floors, and was thoroughly renovated. We have new furniture as well.
My wife's car is new. FEMA came through for us.

[David Eisenhauer]

Glad to hear it Lowell. For some reason, I thought that the water came into your area but did not get your house. I wondered when we did not hear from you for a while. What is the status of the shop?

[Jim Koepke]

As usual, amazing work Derek!

Will you be posting a build instructional for this?

jtk

[Bill McNiel]

You scare me Derek. Very nice!

[Graham Haydon]

Lovely work, Derek. Look forward to seeing your journey into this style of chair making.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks James. Thanks Robert.

Brian, knowing the hours you put in, that is the pot calling the kettle black! :)

Regards from Perth

Derek


:D Fair point, it is such a pleasure to work mild woods with these tools, you should at least make a prototype in something easy for the sheer enjoyment of doing so. I’ve chopped out a seat from white oak with an adze, it’s not bad but doing so in basswood... fun!

[J. Greg Jones]

Very nice Derek!

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks all for the kind words.


As usual, amazing work Derek!

Will you be posting a build instructional for this?

jtk

Jim, I need to be careful here. Claire builds and sells these planes, and I would not wish to reproduce her methods or plans since they are her livelihood. I chose to modify the travisher in the video and update the design to match the latest one. To do so, I examined many photos on the 'web - almost all by Claire, since it seems that few, if any, have built this version. I have suggested to Claire that she makes a new video ... although the current video is very worthwhile. What I will do, is post a few pictures of the processes that I needed to do that take her video a step further. (I suspect that this will drive more to just buy the travisher from her rather than make it! It is not for the faint-hearted ... however I did not wish to be on a wait list for several months).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

A photo essay of making and fitting the blade



I started with 1" wide x 2.4mm thick O1 steel. You may make out my scratched marking ...


https://s19.postimg.org/baob3ytdf/1_O1-steel-and-marked-out.jpg


The cut out blank(this is already quite different from the video) ...


https://s19.postimg.org/71jl1saoj/2_Shaped-basic-blade.jpg


The jig to cold bend the blade ...


https://s19.postimg.org/rlof09y5f/3_Curving-jig.jpg


In compression ...


https://s19.postimg.org/vut52ggub/4_Compressing-curve.jpg


This is how much springback there was ...


https://s19.postimg.org/47gfod3df/5_Springback.jpg


This was the second blade I made. The first was bent around a template of the final shape, and with the springback was far from the desired curve. The second time around I was ready for this and just bent it enough to fit ... got a little lucky ..


How it fits ...


https://s19.postimg.org/lxi49eoo3/6_Checking-curviture.jpg


For heat treating I made up a small oven with some scrap stainless steel and bricks. The MAPP gas was only just hot enough to get it to the desired red.


https://s19.postimg.org/zef2sa6pf/7-Heat-treating.jpg


... and then it went into the oven. Luckily my wife was busy baking Christmas cakes. I made sure she first sampled the brandy ... :D


https://s19.postimg.org/3up1i788z/8-Tempering.jpg


This is the completed blade. Interestingly, when the steel is bent, it becomes concave along its length, which is like adding a hollow grind. This makes it easier to hone the back of the blade.


https://s19.postimg.org/ph41z8tyr/9_Finished-blade.jpg


This is the jig for grinding the hollow. When the steel was flat I ground a shallow bevel - just enough that I could register the wheel on the centre of the bevel as I was after 30 degrees. (The eagle eye will note that the white Norton wheel is back - a rounded edge is needed to grind the inside curve).


https://s19.postimg.org/9ivc96s1v/10_Grinding_the_bevel.jpg


The brass mouth was made in the same manner.


This is resulting hollow grind ...


https://s19.postimg.org/gyuluwv5v/11_Grind-jig-and-bevel.jpg


.. and angle ...


https://s19.postimg.org/hbm013l5f/12_Grind-angle.jpg


Fitting the blade and brass mouth: the basic shape o the travisher has been cut out on the bandsaw. The fit between sole and blade is a little off ...


https://s19.postimg.org/l9dv48xcj/13_Initial_fit.jpg


After rasps, files and scraping ...


https://s19.postimg.org/h095231sz/14_Final_fit.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

Now with bolts ...


https://s19.postimg.org/hbm013sv7/15_Screws1.jpg


... into inserts ...


https://s19.postimg.org/5mi0d59mb/16_Screws2.jpg


Mark off the area where the throat will be cut, and saw the waste for easy removal ..


https://s19.postimg.org/g9btikphf/17_sawing_the_waste.jpg


Chisel it away ...


https://s19.postimg.org/4wz80sw83/18_Chopping_waste.jpg


Clean up with rasps and scrapers ..


https://s19.postimg.org/7eaz828er/19_Cleaning_up.jpg


Now to prepare the brass mouth: the toe needs to be tapered at 6 degrees. The reason for this is to allow for a varying blade angle - if you rock the travisher back, it will take a deeper cut. Rock it forward to take a fine cut.


The disk sander is set up at 6 degrees off vertical ..


https://s19.postimg.org/df8o55pw3/20_grinding_the_brass1.jpg


I masked off the area not to grind (I did not want to grind over the bolt holes), and tapered the mouth up to the edge of the mouth ...


https://s19.postimg.org/71jl1wspv/21_Grinding_the_brass2.jpg


Once done, all was screwed back together. Now we have a working travisher ... or should have ... so a test cut ...


https://s19.postimg.org/ph41zbek3/22_Test_cut.jpg


And that's where we came in ..


https://s19.postimg.org/3n4mddkqb/10a.jpg


Regards from Perth


Derek

[bill howes]

That is a quality tool!
I'm sure that we will all be watching eagerly to see your choice of woods for the stools. With the so many species available to you that we don't see in North America there must be some more suitable for the seat and others for the legs.

[Normand Leblanc]

Very nice craftmanship!

- Is 6° standard for a travisher or you just pick this angle?
- How much time have you spend fabricating this tool if I may ask?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Normand

6 degrees for the mouth was the amount specified by Claire Minihan. 6 degrees for a reamer is the angle that most Windsor chairmakers appear to prefer.

How much time? This is difficult to judge, since I needed to do a lot of research to build the modification. Once I started, it was about an afternoon to make the blade and another afternoon to fit it and shape the body. A few more hours to tidy it all together, perhaps. I was not keeping check of time, and not rushing the process. I plan to make another, and it will be interesting to see how the time is cut down now that I know what I am doing.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Normand Leblanc]

Hi Derek,

I forgot a question...
What about the thickness of the blade compared to the front brass plate, are they the same? It seems to me that the brass plate should be thinner but I'll see what your answer is.

Have a good day.
Normand

[lowell holmes]

Glad to hear it Lowell. For some reason, I thought that the water came into your area but did not get your house. I wondered when we did not hear from you for a while. What is the status of the shop?

The shop survived with minimum damage. My collection of 12 hand planes is on a high shelf as are my dovetail and tenon saws.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Derek,

I forgot a question...
What about the thickness of the blade compared to the front brass plate, are they the same? It seems to me that the brass plate should be thinner but I'll see what your answer is.

Have a good day.
Normand

The brass started out a little thicker, about 3mm compared with the 2.4mm of the O1. I filed it down until they were the same, and parallel. Then I took it down a snitch below the blade, which is necessary for the blade to cut.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for posting what you did for the build sequence. Not sure if this is something for me to do, but one can always dream.

jtk

[bill howes]

Hi Normand

6 degrees for the mouth was the amount specified by Claire Minihan. 6 degrees for a reamer is the angle that most Windsor chairmakers appear to prefer.

How much time? This is difficult to judge, since I needed to do a lot of research to build the modification. Once I started, it was about an afternoon to make the blade and another afternoon to fit it and shape the body. A few more hours to tidy it all together, perhaps. I was not keeping check of time, and not rushing the process. I plan to make another, and it will be interesting to see how the time is cut down now that I know what I am doing.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek
If you plan to build a second one ,you might want to consider a hard wood front instead of the brass.
The reason I say this is the brass is flat in the fore/aft direction and it is hard to get curvature in two planes in sheet metal. With the wood you can shape it as you wish.
Hard to explain but when you are working in a concavity the flat base is a limiting factor.
Perhaps one way of thinking of it is like using a flat bottom bevel up spokeshave compared to a round bottom metal spokeshave.
After several tries that is the way I went with good luck.
373403
The leading edge is lignum vitae from an old carving mallet that cracked.
I didn't make the blades but purchased them from Eli. I admire your skill in fashioning them.
Bill

[Brian Holcombe]

Great thread Derek!

[george wilson]

Is it impossible to buy slotted screws in Australia? Or non plated steel screws? When I needed small,unplated screws for 18th. C. style tools,i put the small,cadmium (or whatever) screws into some muriatic acid. In a short time,the bubbling would quit,meaqning that the plating was all gone. Then,I rinsed off the acid,and heated the screws to a spring steel blue with as Mapp gas torch. Then I had proper looking screws for things like small brass hinges. We still can get slotted steel screws here,but I have several hundred pounds of original 1040's-1950's steel screws that I bought at an auction of an old ship fitting company in Newport News. Not many small sizes though.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi George

They do not make or sell slotted machine screws anywhere in Australia, and especially not in metric. These are M6, and they are stainless steel. The reason I chose M6 is that they are the only threaded metal inserts available. In short, no other choice.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Allen1010]

Derek, awesome thread thanks so much for posting!


You're truly a "Renaissance" craftsman – I really admire your ability to work wood and metal equally well and to produce super cool hand tools that don't not only look great, but that work even better. That's a magic formula I haven't been able to achieve.


Seems like the tolerances you're working to for so many critical elements (like the height of the brass sole vs. height of the blade, the 6° taper across the width of the brass sole, the small size of the mouth etc.), must be extremely tight – which makes your results even more impressive. Sure you're not an engineer?


As usual, your work is very inspirational. That said, the combination of skills needed to build this tool, not the least of which is expertise with scary fire/oil heat treating or whatever you supposed to call it, in addition to the exacting metal and woodworking are clearly way over my head. I will be happily visiting Claire Minihan's website to take advantage of her experience and expertise in providing a well-made, ready to go tool that a knucklehead like me can simply try to use.


Thanks again for taking the time to share your work/knowledge/expertise here on SMC. I always learn something for your posts and I'm grateful for your contributions.


BTW, I think your screws are fine.


Best, Mike

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Bill

I am not sure if this is answering your comment about "hard to get curvature in two planes in sheet metal" .... however, the 6 degree taper I added to the brass mouth does just this, that is, permit curvature in two planes.

https://s19.postimg.org/71jl1wspv/21_Grinding_the_brass2.jpg

Is that the same?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[bill howes]

Derek
I'm afraid that I am having difficulty explaining my concern.
If you look at the chair seat from above, there will be no problem with the curvature in the y axis. However if there is a significant concavity in the y axis I wonder if the flat surface in front of blade will not allow a proper shaving to be made. Of course once you use it that may not be a concern.
I found that adding some curvature ahead of the blade in two planes made the tools more useful.
373655373654i
I hope this makes sense. Let me know how things work out
Bill

[Chuck Nickerson]

If you look at the chair seat from above, there will be no problem with the curvature in the y axis. However if there is a significant concavity in the y axis I wonder if the flat surface in front of blade will not allow a proper shaving to be made.

Bill

Some brass is quite workable. When Lie-Nielsen was making their low angle spokeshave I bought six extra shoes to be shaped as needed.