Meanderin' Through Some Neanderin'

[Jim Becker]

I guess the time had to come for my first real experience with taking a slab of lumber (one only lightly skimmed) and smoothing it out with my hand planes. Slightly more than a year ago, I was "shopping" at Hearne Hardwoods for some QS cherry for my vanity projects and "stumbled" upon a wonderful small slab of English Brown Oak that was perfect for a hall-table type project. Of course I had to bring home a big hunk of 8/4 material to match, too. (ching...ching...)

At any rate, I needed a holiday project and that English Brown Oak has been calling out to me. After a little workbench layout, I quickly realized that the slab was not going to get processed with my J/P combo, which has a 350mm width limit. My "finished" slab width would be wider than that. Hmm...recently got a nice LN #62 off another 'Creeker...and a nice LN Bronze #4 from the same fellow...and I have that nice refurbed Stanley #4 from Terry Hatfield. No time like the present for on-the-job training. :)

I was very pleased with the results, although I had to flip the board around a lot to insure I was working the grain in the direction it preferred. It's not perfectly flat, but I'm not worried about it, either. The surface really turned out very pleasing to me. So much so, that I assure you I'll be working the surfaces of the legs and aprons with the #4 before assembly.

At the least, I proved that a normally tailed-tool user can get decent results with some planes. :)

Here's the top in progress and completed:

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Some scrap with BLO and shellac for test purposes...I really love the color.

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The rest of the components ready for a little love from the planes....

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[Dewey Torres]

Roy Underhill would be proud!

[Jim Becker]

Roy Underhill would be proud!

I doubt it...I used an Italian sliding table saw and band saw to "shape" the top and the J/P to mill up the rest of the components...oh, and to resaw the aprons. LOL

[Jim Koepke]

Isn't it amazing what one can do with hand planes?

That is why there are so many in my shop. The only down side is having to take time to sharpen the blades. That is my reason for having extra blades. Sharpen a hole lot of blades at once and be done with it, at least for a while.

jim

[Alan DuBoff]

Looks like a nice project Jim!

That piece of scrap looks pretty nice in itself! :rolleyes:

Keep us updated as you make progress!

[Doug Shepard]

Like my good friend Rosanne Rosanna Danna says - no matter how big a jointer you get, there's always some board that wont fit.:cool: Your chiropracter thanks you.:D
Was there a jointer plane in that arsenal?

[John Keeton]

After a little workbench layout, I quickly realized that the slab was not going to get processed with my J/P combo, which has a 350mm width limit. My "finished" slab width would be wider than that.
Not being a Neander, I am probably not entitled to make this observation, but it would appear that you have not passed the entrance exam into the Neanderthal world as your first tool of choice (actually all of the first tools of choice!) eat electrons.

All that aside, I am amazed at the color difference in the English Brown Oak! I never dreamed it would have such a rich, dark color with nothing more than BLO and shellac - was that just amber shellac? That is impressive!

[Mark Singer]

Jim,
Nice! I do see a motor of sorts on the backround:rolleyes:

[Wilbur Pan]

One thing I've noticed as I got more experience with hand tools is that the time "saved" with machinery on a large job like this one is a lot smaller than I would think before starting on the task.

Nice work!

[Jim Becker]

All that aside, I am amazed at the color difference in the English Brown Oak! I never dreamed it would have such a rich, dark color with nothing more than BLO and shellac - was that just amber shellac? That is impressive!

BLO followed by a single coat of SealCoat out of an almost-empty spray bomb can. I don't think this wood needs a darker shade of shellac...and I don't currently have any lying about, anyway. SealCoat is pretty much my staple shellac at the moment. Sprays beautifully and brushes/pads just as nicely. Locally available.


Was there a jointer plane in that arsenal?

No, the LN #62 is the largest I own...and that was a recent acquisition when an SMC member sold it to me for a very fair price slightly used. Having two #4 planes was quite nice as I left one set a little more agressive (the LN since I hadn't had time to sharpen it since it arrived) and one for fine finishing (the Terry Hatfield Stanley as that iron was already keen and unused since the last sharpening session in my shop)


I do see a motor of sorts on the backround:rolleyes:

Well, this was a "meandering" not a full conversion, Mark. :D

[Will Blick]

Award for the best "subject header" goes to ....... Jim Becker!

oh, btw, let us know how your arms feel in the morning :-)

[Jim Becker]

Will...sore. Very sore. I actually had trouble sleeping well last night and it didn't dawn on me until after I was done planing the legs and aprons smooth today that the planing was the reason for the aches and pains. LOL

I will say that this English Brown Oak really planes wonderfully, although it's sensitive to direction. I hit the top with a scraper prior to oiling this afternoon, too, and am looking forward to a good shellacin' tomorrow after my riding lesson. (Equestrian) I think I also picked out the spot where this one is going to live in the great room, too. :) The only sanding I did was just to break the edges and that was literally some quick swipes down the corners with worn 150 grit.

[Will Blick]

It seems no matter how many times it happens, we forget....its not how you feel during the manual labor, but how you will feel the next day... I fall victim to this all the time...

[Al Navas]

Jim,

Great going! Every workout like this one makes us appreciate what a hand-tools-only craftsman has to do day in and day out. Our sore muscles remind us every day there are new ones growing, or so it seems :D .


.

[Greg Cole]

Jim,
Take the other foot off the ledge and jump on with both feet.;) Not like you don't already know how well greased the slope is or anything...:rolleyes:

I agree with Wilbur on the perception of time myth. Before I strolled into the cave, I thought hand tools were for very methodical (slow) purists.... *ahem*.... boy was I way wrong.

[Jim Becker]

Time is relative, but given the surface left from a good smoother (and a scraper if employed) is "ready to finish", one needs to consider all the time "not spent" sanding. I will most certainly employ this method for fine furniture projects based on the results of this project.

That said, between the aches and pains in my hands, arms and shoulders from the plane work and the aches and pains in my thighs, calves and ankles from the equestrian stuff...I'm a walking advertisement for analgesics...LOL

[Wilbur Pan]

Hi Jim,

You get used to it. Just think about what would happen if you tried to run a 5K without any training. You['d be really sore as well. But the more you use hand tools, the more your muscles get trained, and then it becomes not a big deal.

Wilbur
(who doesn't get sore using hand planes, but gets really sore after going running)

[Jim Becker]

You're correct, Wilbur. The major challenge for me is that I'm not in the shop or at the barn enough to really "get used" to the effects of either activity. For either to become more regular, I'll need a visit from the Prize Patrol... :D

[Jim Koepke]

I have to work a little harder now days to push a plane.

My weight has gone down about 15 pounds since moving to my new shop.

Just do not have as much body mass to throw into the job as I used to.

Though I have been getting sore in places I didn't even know I had places shoveling snow.

Now that is a new one for me.

jim

[Jim Becker]

I completed assembly of the table yesterday and got it oiled. Today, two brushed applications of dewaxed shellac were applied to the entire table and the top then got two sprayed coats of Target Coatings USL...my kids are, um...unforgiving...on table tops. I'm including two pictures here for this thread, but will post additional pictures in the Woodworking Projects forum sometime tomorrow.

Apron detail just after the shellac was applied. It doesn't look quite this shiny now.

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The almost completed table...I still need to join the top to the base, but will wait for the finish to cure overnight before doing that.

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This was very kewel going right to finishing without sanding...:p...a "weekend" table, if you will. Honestly, this could have been done start-to-finish in a single long day and I do mean rough lumber to final spray coats.

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful Jim. That English oak is really nice.
How did your adjustable bench handel the neandering?

[Jim Becker]

Final pictures are posted in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=100100) in the Woodworking Projects Forum.

[Marcus Ward]

Sorry Jim, you can't be a Galoot if you actually finish projects. You'll give the rest of us a bad name. Especially if you pull it off this fast, this is terrible. I hope my wife doesn't come in and read this thread over my shoulder!!! It's all about managing expectations, you see... :)

[Alan DuBoff]

Really nice Jim. It sure looks right at home in that room also!

I have to agree with Marcus, finishing projects is gonna give the rest of us a bad name, what's up with that? ;)

[Jim Becker]

Sorry Jim, you can't be a Galoot if you actually finish projects. You'll give the rest of us a bad name. Especially if you pull it off this fast, this is terrible. I hope my wife doesn't come in and read this thread over my shoulder!!! It's all about managing expectations, you see...


I have to agree with Marcus, finishing projects is gonna give the rest of us a bad name, what's up with that?

LOL. It's always somewhat of a "no win" situation with these things. I'm dealing with the conflict of woodworking vs equestrian right now. I'm doing both, of course. And working for a living, cooking during the week when not traveling, adult laundry, etc. Professor Dr. SWMBO is, of course, concerned with time factors. Yet I've also completed two projects this month...in addition to this table, there is the tack trunk. Oh, and finally got the glass in the doors of the wet bar.

But I'll try really hard to "not finish something" in the future...:D

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice indeed.

The figure in the wood makes it clear why this piece ended up going home with you from the lumber yard.

If you want to get rid of sandpaper, you could get a small radius plane for breaking the corners.

jim

[Jim Becker]

If you want to get rid of sandpaper, you could get a small radius plane for breaking the corners.

LOL...any excuse for another tool! :)

[Marcus Ward]

Don't buy the slickplane, I think grizzly sells it, among others. The mouth .. well it doesn't really have one, it's just a blade with a big gap in front of it and it produces some terrible tear out if you're not using it on straight 2x4s. Get a couple of hollow or round planes (never sure which one produces a round edge) and use that. It does a great job.

[Greg Cole]

LOL...any excuse for another tool! :)
More like any excuse to ditch the sandpaper!
If LOML saw your timeline here, she'd be asking me why the bed I started in May is still a stack of parts awaiting some finish application and final assembly....:rolleyes:
I too have limited shop time, but I've been the big limiting factor of late as I've been spending time in tree stand versus shop.;)
Oh yeah, nice table Jim! I like the sap wood on the skirt, nice touch to carry that element from the top to the rest of the piece!

[Jim Becker]

I like the sap wood on the skirt, nice touch to carry that element from the top to the rest of the piece!

I just couldn't not do that, Greg...the wood spoke. And I listened. Darn that George Nakashima and his Soul of a Tree book! LOL But don't tell Professor Dr. SWMBO that I can hear, especially when wood is speaking. Apparently, I don't hear so well when she is speaking sometimes.... :o

[JohnMorgan of Lititz]

Jim,

Great looking table! Notice you mentioned you bought the lumber at Hearne's. Not sure where about's in SE PA you are, but do you have any other good spots for lumber in Lancaster county?

John

[Jim Becker]

I'm sorry, John, but I'm not familiar with mills and suppliers out that way. I'm in central Bucks County. You might consider posting that question in General Woodworking, however.

[harry strasil]

FWIW,

Jim, if you want more shine (read look of a deep finish) not using sandpaper is a big plus, nest time use a scrap of the same wood or any hardwood and burnish it before applying any finish, (use a small rounded edge of the scrap and rub the surface first with light pressure and then with more pressure as the sheen starts to appear).

When I first saw the pictures of the top, I thought you had used one of my cheating schemes, but it was just white wood.

For gauging thickness after one side is flat and level, I used to use masking tape along the edges for a thickness gauge. The new blue painters tape really works well on white woods.

Jr who is still alive. LOL

[Jim Becker]

Thanks for the tips, much-alive Harry!

And Happy New Year to all!

[Bill White]

the #4. My #4 and #3 are my every day "go-to" planes. Just the plain old Stanleys that have been tuned and sharpened. No fancy irons, etc.
Bill