Late Night/Early Morning Thoughts

[ken hatch]

Being old means your sleep pattern can be erratic, mine is most of the time even when younger. I often find myself awake on the back side of the clock. It can mean there is time for your mind to ramble and maybe time for the shop depending on the project. This morning was a little of both. Some work on MsBubba's kitchen trash can but also thinking while working on the project about the skills needed for working wood.

I think the two most important skills and likely the most difficult to learn are sharpening all your tools and sawing.

If your tools are not sharp they are worthless and you will never be able to sharpen all your tools using jigs unless your kit is very limited and/or your jig inventory is infinite. While sharpening is in reality very easy and can be done quickly it takes time to know "sharp". I do not know any way to get to knowing sharp other than spending time with metal on stone or file and paying attention to how the cutter or saw looks, feels, and works. If someone knows a quicker way I'd love to hear of it.

If your tools are sharp, using a chisel or a plane are almost intuitive. The plane will take a little longer to master than the chisel but not by much. Where the rubber meets the road is saw skills. Being able to consistently saw to a line and have your joint fit off the saw was the most difficult skill for me to master and sometimes I still fail. It is also the skill that makes every other part of wood working easier.

Ok back to coffee and the shop,

ken

[Charles Bjorgen]

Similar old age overnight sleep disturbances here, Ken, especially the 3 am bathroom needs. Hard to get back to sleep so I try reading. The following line came up in a book that described a character shopping for marine hardware for a boat he was building. “Things that are made not just to be used, but to be … admired.”

Lots of the work I see here and in other WW forums comes to mind.

[ken hatch]

Similar old age overnight sleep disturbances here, Ken, especially the 3 am bathroom needs. Hard to get back to sleep so I try reading. The following line came up in a book that described a character shopping for marine hardware for a boat he was building. “Things that are made not just to be used, but to be … admired.”

Lots of the work I see here and in other WW forums comes to mind.

Charles,

I know we are not alone. I feel sorry for my wife as I've never learned to be quiet. There is often an evil eye and a tapping of her foot in the doorway of the shop or office.

ken

[Jack Frederick]

Back in late May I heard the tail end of an interview with Terry Gross interviewing James Nestor, author of the new book "Breath." I stopped at the bookstore and picked it up. Interesting read and I have been doing some of the exercises. I too have attained the lofty status of the three am trots and doing some of the breathing exercises has helped me get back to sleep. Not 100%, but what is?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

If your tools are sharp, using a chisel or a plane are almost intuitive. The plane will take a little longer to master than the chisel but not by much.

Is this where I pout because I am not confident in my plane skills. I really should practice.... And just use my hand planes with others who know who to deal with things better than I (with hand planes).

[ken hatch]

Is this where I pout because I am not confident in my plane skills. I really should practice.... And just use my hand planes with others who know who to deal with things better than I (with hand planes).

Andrew,

It just takes a little time and paying attention to what is happening.

ken

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Andrew,

It just takes a little time and paying attention to what is happening.

ken

So practice practice practice :-)

[steven c newman]

So practice practice practice :-)

Works for me...
Next Project, panel plane.JPG

[Erich Weidner]

So practice practice practice :-)

But, in my limited experience, it doesn't take tons of practice to be proficient. (Maybe not efficient without much more experience/practice). I forced myself to do three projects 100% by hand. It forced me to learn to use the hand tools. And got in a lot of practice.

I suspect learning bench planes (really learning) requires you do all (planing) steps with them. For example, I just couldn't get my head around how a cambered iron could possible be better than one with just rounded/eased corners... Then I tried one in my jack plane, and it is like a whole new world flattening boards and truing edges now. I spent so much time chasing my tail with that straight edge previously... No amount of reading that it might be better convinced me to try it. Until I did. If there are life changing moments in wood working... that is the one that most comes to mind for me.

[Richard Hutchings]

I did something last night that I haven't done in years. After having some trouble planing some ebony, I decided to break out the angle thingy and check the cutting angle. After a lot of work recutting on on the 1000 stone, I should have reground on the grinder but for some reason I didn't want to, I got a nice ~25 degree bevel and finally got a wire edge on it which I couldn't get when I first tried. It was that far out. On to the 8000 and making sure I got a wire edge before stopping and followed up on the strop. I don't have the green stuff everyone seems to use, mine is yellow. It came with a kit from Woodcraft. I don't know what it is but it sure puts a mirror finish on things. I enjoyed the process but I need to set up my grinder to alleviate some of the work and start with a hollow grind. I put the blade in my #4 Stanley and put it to the ebony board and holy moly, what a nice clean cut it made. Enjoy the process and reap the rewards.

[Jerry Olexa]

As my beloved Dad used to say to me: "No rest for the wicked"

[Jim Koepke]

My "sleep on it" project is a box being made to hold a sort of birthday present for a friend. The box is being made to have a top and a bottom section. It is being made to be sawn through the center. The "sleep on it" was over how to assemble it during the glue up.

Figuring it out was easy, but it may have been better to do a dry fit first. The problem is as my dovetails have improved over the years it gets harder to disassemble when the dovetails are tight.

Oh well, my plan worked and the box went together with only a slight hitch which may remain my secret.

jtk

[Josh Robinson]

I totally agree Ken. I’ve made some progress on making sharpening part of the wood working experience rather than a necessary evil but have a ways to go on sawing to a line. I think you hit on something bigger than sharpening and sawing though and I think I’ve read a thread here that talked about making each part of woodworking a “valuable” activity including, I think the writer said, emptying the dust collector. I don’t know if wood working has helped me take a more mindful approach to things and appreciate the whole experience or if growing older does that. Whichever, I have finally, after 55 years begun to learn that the “boring” part of a task is as important and fulfilling as fitting a through beveled dove tail if they are done well and faithfully. Sermon over 😁

[Jim Koepke]

If one wants to be a woodworker they need to learn to enjoy sharpening, there will be a lot of it.

jtk

[ken hatch]

I totally agree Ken. I’ve made some progress on making sharpening part of the wood working experience rather than a necessary evil but have a ways to go on sawing to a line. I think you hit on something bigger than sharpening and sawing though and I think I’ve read a thread here that talked about making each part of woodworking a “valuable” activity including, I think the writer said, emptying the dust collector. I don’t know if wood working has helped me take a more mindful approach to things and appreciate the whole experience or if growing older does that. Whichever, I have finally, after 55 years begun to learn that the “boring” part of a task is as important and fulfilling as fitting a through beveled dove tail if they are done well and faithfully. Sermon over 

If one wants to be a woodworker they need to learn to enjoy sharpening, there will be a lot of it.

jtk

I've found the greatest aid to my sharpening is to sharpen as I work, never let the tools pile up. If I need to sharpen more than one or two cutters by the time I get to the last one I do a crappy job. Even with a new or new to me set of chisels I can take weeks to sharpen all of them because I will normally only work one at a time and then may take a day or two between, and I enjoy the sharpening process but never a pile at one time.

ken