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Thread: Just fun

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
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    Just fun

    After 7 1/2 months out of the shop had a chance to have a little fun. Got a new medium router last year and needed a box. Grabbed a few off cots from the scrap box. Not thicknessed or anything. Got out an 1/8 and 3/8 chisel, block plane, 6” scale, 10 point back saw, 1/2” auger and a pencil. Flattened what would be the inside a bit, squared up 4 pieces using 3, 4, 5 with the scale. Shot the ends with the block plane, bench hook and the bench top. Marked the base lines using the pieces and let the offset fall to the inside. Cut one set of pins by eye. Used that to kind of mark the centers of the others and sawed them by eye. Chiseled the pin waste. Marked the tails using the pins and a pencil. Sawed and chiseled the waste. Glued up. Marked a bottom using the box as a guide. Cut a top the same way using the outside. Finished off the top with a gouge. Used some more scraps for the iron holder. At least I know I still have a good eye for it. Not great but not awful either. Main thing is it will last and keep the tool safe. Most of all it was fun to pick up the tools again after not knowing if I would ever be able again. I have some hard maple in the shop, been there for two years, just waiting for me to tackle a real project. May have to wait for this virus stuff to clear up a bit.

  2. #2
    Glad you are back at it James. The joy of the process is indeed the way.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    7 1/2 months is a long time James. A lot of people don't understand, what it means to people like us, who got where we are with our own 2 hands, and the need to build and create. Hope you can stay well, and have more fun times.

  4. #4
    James,

    Not 7 1/2 but just over 3 months, I can feel your pain. Still no energy but at least I can make something. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

    Congrats on making something.

    ken

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
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    Missouri
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    Walking past my bench did prove to be disheartening at times. I had been working at less marking and more working. I was truly getting good at it. Nice to know I didn’t loose it all. I felt like the dovetails were good on this little box. Wasn’t worried about the overall look, it’s just to protect a tool. My goal is to get to the point that I can make 4 sides nicely cut and planed cut the joinery mostly by eye and be done. Been watching your ordeal also Ken. I had the heart go round 30 years ago. Was lucky then. Again had some problems 15 years ago with angina.,They checked it out and found I had groan my own collateral arteries and the originals were shutting down. Been okay with that. This time it’s hereditary back stuff again. Can’t grow a new spine but got thru it this time with meds and therapy. Keep going to keep your ticker going. I sure you know if you stop it’s done. Good luck, seriously good luck.
    Jim

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    Great for you getting back.

    When my chest was opened it was only ~5 months before getting back. Though there were a few times of going out and just sitting in the shop, checking on things.

    Boxes are always a fun and useful project.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Columbus, Ohio, USA
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    Comments on your box

    I like the layout and how the blades fit. Overall, very nice.

    I would love to see a picture of how the top fits. I could speculate, but I will not.

    About your blade holder, is what I see the only thing that holds the blades in place? More specifically, is there a second similar looking board below it, or did you perhaps drill a receiving divot (hole) in the base where the cutters hit?

    I really like the grain on your wood, but I usually like hard maple.

    While I am mentioning hard maple, that is a tough wood to do hand cut dovetails. I have seen better, I have done much worse. Over-all, I really like the box. Not really happy with the rough tear-out on the boards, but especially for this project, it would not prevent me from using it and over-all looks better than some of the boxes I have in use.

    I LOVE seeing these types of projects.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew Pitonyak View Post
    I like the layout and how the blades fit. Overall, very nice.

    I would love to see a picture of how the top fits. I could speculate, but I will not.

    About your blade holder, is what I see the only thing that holds the blades in place? More specifically, is there a second similar looking board below it, or did you perhaps drill a receiving divot (hole) in the base where the cutters hit?

    I really like the grain on your wood, but I usually like hard maple.

    While I am mentioning hard maple, that is a tough wood to do hand cut dovetails. I have seen better, I have done much worse. Over-all, I really like the box. Not really happy with the rough tear-out on the boards, but especially for this project, it would not prevent me from using it and over-all looks better than some of the boxes I have in use.

    I LOVE seeing these types of projects.
    Thanks Andrew. The top has stops glued to the underside. I did not want to introduce another tool, rabbet plane etc. to the process. The tool holder has another piece under to hold the irons. I never intended to do much with the exterior. I left it rough because it’s just a box for the shop. The sides aren’t thicknesses. The intent was to hold a tool to keep it safe and to get some practice again sawing dovetails by eye. I lay out the baseline using the piece then saw the pins by eye, no layout marks. I use a pencil to mark the tails from the pin board and the base lines. The wood used is cherry that was going to be trashed. I have all the tools necessary to do everything by “proper form”. I do great dovetails with all the tools but I think I should be able to do a very good job faster by eye. Hard maple is really nice to work with. I understand why you like it. My next project is hard maple. A more refined project I should say.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    Thanks Andrew. The top has stops glued to the underside. I did not want to introduce another tool, rabbet plane etc. to the process.
    So it just sets in place. That is a very good solution, I was just curious.


    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    The tool holder has another piece under to hold the irons.
    The blades were sitting nicely and I found out that they do not fit as nicely as yours without something but I could not see what you did from the pictures.


    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    I left it rough because it’s just a box for the shop. The sides aren’t thicknesses.
    No shame in that. I should post my chisel boxes sometime; not nearly as nice as your box. I was just learning and in my mind I was going to come back and make something "pretty and awe inspiring", but they work and keep working and there is only so much time in a day. One might argue that your router plane box is nicer than mine, but I cannot share mine yet.

    Not fully dimensioning the sides I am sure saved a lot of time. I think it only matters for this sort of thing in that it might make the dovetails easier to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    ... and to get some practice again sawing dovetails by eye. I lay out the baseline using the piece then saw the pins by eye, no layout marks. I use a pencil to mark the tails from the pin board and the base lines.
    By eye? I tried that once after I saw Tage Frid do it. I only tried it once, my brain struggled with it.

    You do the pins first? I have always done the tails first and will probably continue to do so since that is now how my brain thinks about it now that I have done it that way for years. Spent a lot of time watching Rob Cosman doing it before I gave it a go.


    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    The wood used is cherry that was going to be trashed. I have all the tools necessary to do everything by “proper form”. I do great dovetails with all the tools but I think I should be able to do a very good job faster by eye. Hard maple is really nice to work with. I understand why you like it. My next project is hard maple. A more refined project I should say.
    I look forward to see what your next project is. My current project is a large "blessing box" that the church asked me build, but the only handwork there was things such as cutting mortises for hinges and magnetic door stops.

  10. #10
    Jim,

    Like you, I haven't made anything in months and I started a small box a week or so ago just because I could. The skills do not go but they are not as sharp after a layoff. I'm in the process of cleaning up the dovetails and need to install the lid then I'll be as brave as you and post a couple of photos.

    BTW, next up is a trestle table for the kitchen, hope I can remember how to chop a mortise .

    ken

  11. #11
    Jim,

    Here is my return to the shop box. Lots of things where the forehead met palm but it still made a box. Biggest problem after installing the hinges and mounting the top the lid started doing stupid wood tricks.

    box202045A.jpg

    box202045B.jpg

    MsBubba asked if I would show her how to make a box using hand tools. We spent a couple of hours yesterday breaking down stock by hand and getting it square and ready to mark out. BTW, ain't no way we will do anything on the machines.

    It should be fun making making a box with MsBubba because this really is starting from zero skills and it is making me think about the basics.

    ken

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Location
    Missouri
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    Nice going Ken. Sometimes it’s just fun to have fun. I do things just to try to prove a concept. I know your a flyer. I never wanted to fly power planes but very much wanted to fly. I learned to fly sail planes. In the process did some powered stuff. There is nothing quite like it the feeling coming from your butt and the telltale all you need to know. I would like woodworking to be the same. Grab a saw mallet and chisel use your senses and make nice things. It should be of enjoyment to you to work with your MsBubba on a team effort. Could make for a sanity preserver during this latest crisis.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    Nice going Ken. Sometimes it’s just fun to have fun. I do things just to try to prove a concept. I know your a flyer. I never wanted to fly power planes but very much wanted to fly. I learned to fly sail planes. In the process did some powered stuff. There is nothing quite like it the feeling coming from your butt and the telltale all you need to know. I would like woodworking to be the same. Grab a saw mallet and chisel use your senses and make nice things. It should be of enjoyment to you to work with your MsBubba on a team effort. Could make for a sanity preserver during this latest crisis.
    Jim,

    I've done a little soaring, not enough to be licensed but enough to know it can be enjoyable and can require a quick on feet pilot. Mostly I made my living strapping some kind of machine to my butt and going somewhere or for the last dozen or so years teaching someone else how to do it.

    The teaching MsBubba how to make a box my be interesting, as with all teaching it involves knowing how deep to go into "first principals", how and when to demo, when to step in and help and when to back away. There is a very fine line to walk.

    Yes the shop for me and MsBubba's studio for her are sanity preservers. I talked to a work friend yesterday, we both started self isolation at the same time, he is going stir crazy and is ready to go back to work and face the virus.

    ken

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