New Storage and Why did I buy these brass mallets? Woodpecker and Japanese (I think)

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I am in the middle of a shop clean-up and part of that means that I am taking things that I just do not use and getting rid of them. In the process, I pulled out these brass mallets.

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I just had to have them back in 2012. I did give them at least a try, but I just migrate to my wood or my "wood is good" mallets. Does anyone prefer brass mallets? The one with a wooden handle has a #4 on it.

The hoarder in me says "keep them, you will want them some day", but after almost no use in 7 years, it is time for them to go.

So, what precipitated all this? I built a new thing to hold some of my tools

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I used card catalog drawer pulls so that I could mark what is in each drawer. Will see how that works out. Sadly, I mounted one of my drawers upside down and I was too lazy to fix it (but only because the flowing grain difference did not jump out at me). That was a lot of dovetails to cut by hand (lots of drawers). I decided to simply try to cut to the line and minimize paring since I don't care that much about how these come out as long as they work so I can tolerate more errors than usual. I am getting pretty good at cutting to the line, but I have a tendency to cut too low on the back side when I trim out the waste so I need to leave more than I like if it matters (as in I do not want people to see that I took too much out when they open the drawer and look inside).

I have seen people cut their dovetails without marking lines, but I mark every line, because I cut pretty well to a line, but, I expect that I would be way off if I just let muscle memory dictate my angles.

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Was thinking about building something to hold the pieces square, should be easy to do, I just have not done it. I really like what Derek Cohen did with his Moxon vice. OK, I really enjoy almost everything that he does and posts, but that is just me maybe. I used to cut a small rabbet to help register the boards, and that really helps keep things square, but it also takes time. If I place scrap on either side, I can use a clamp to hold things still while I mark the pins.

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Obviously they are not all this good, but for being in a hurry, at least while using this soft Poplar wood, there is surprisingly little trimming, and that is usually along the base. of course since I am simply cutting to the line, I make more little mistakes than if I used a chisel to give the saw a place to rest, but I finally decided to just get this project done.

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Now comes the sorting and figuring out exactly where everything goes... And getting rid of stuff that does not fit anymore.

[Tony Wilkins]

The wood handle brass mallet looks like a titemark. Several folks lately have been using a dovetail squareness jig which I believe comes from Wearing.

[Jim Koepke]

I used to cut a small rabbet to help register the boards, and that really helps keep things square, but it also takes time. If I place scrap on either side, I can use a clamp to hold things still while I mark the pins.

Another solution for this is to clamp a small straight edge to the tail board:

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After this, another piece was made with a block on one edge to align it better with the pin board. It hasn't bee photographed and seems to be a piece built out of over thinking the task at hand.

It is another case of six of one and a half dozen of the other.


Now comes the sorting and figuring out exactly where everything goes... And getting rid of stuff that does not fit anymore.

The "sorting and figuring out exactly where everything goes" is one of those things that leads many of us to be overcome by the paralysis of analysis.

Besides, isn't that something for the kids & grandkids to do?

jtk

[Andrew Pitonyak]

The wood handle brass mallet looks like a titemark. Several folks lately have been using a dovetail squareness jig which I believe comes from Wearing.


Interesting jig...

[Andrew Pitonyak]

The "sorting and figuring out exactly where everything goes" is one of those things that leads many of us to be overcome by the paralysis of analysis.

Besides, isn't that something for the kids & grandkids to do?

jtk

My Mother-in-law is sorting her stuff now and getting rid of it because she is afraid that her kids will just throw it all away. My Father, however, does NOT suffer from this fear :-)

When my Father's Father died, we filled a large portion of our basement with a bunch of stuff from his house. When my Father moved, he brought a bunch of it with him. We had discussions such as...."So, do you even know what this tool is for?"

It is very painful when you finally get rid of something that you have not used in 10 years and then you need it a month later.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I use a small brass hammer to adjust irons on my wooden planes. It does not get used for much else.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I use a small brass hammer to adjust irons on my wooden planes. It does not get used for much else.

My local woodcraft used to sell Lie Nielsen tools. When they stopped selling them, the last tool in the shop was this hammer:

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So the owner said that I could have it at half price and that it was used to adjust irons in planes. Not what I expected to do with a Warrington hammer, but I have used the hammer much more than the brass mallets.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Another solution for this is to clamp a small straight edge to the tail board:

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jtk

Now that I read this again, it seems so obvious that I feel dumb that I did not think of it. Brilliant!