Acknowledgements And References

The new woodworking books are here, the new woodworking books are here! 20 copies fresh from the publisher.

I like to give credit where credit is due. These are the acknowledgements and references for the information in my book, Hand Tool Basics.

I'm a self-taught woodworker. That really means I had many teachers, the many live demonstrators and authors of books, videos, and magazine, online forum, mailing list, and website articles who have provided useful information.

Use the information I provide as a starting point. There's plenty more than what I cover; woodworking is a global activity with centuries of history, creating an infinite variety of techniques. I hope that I'll give you the skills and knowledge to be able to assess and incorporate any new information you find.

In general, the tools and methods I show in the book follow American and English woodworking styles. Continental European and Asian styles share many of the same techniques, but there are some differences in the tools. Where information is available, I strive to show historically accurate methods. In general it's safe to assume everything I show has at least 100 years of history. Some things have 2 or 3 hundred. Dovetails date back to the ancient Egyptians.

We are but the custodians of knowledge, passing it on to the next generation.

Acknowledgements

Below is the list of my teachers, in roughly chronological order. These are my primary references. They offer a range of perspectives that don't always agree with each other but still manage to get the job done, showing that it's worthwhile to look at the variety of techniques available.

If you'd like further information on any of the topics I cover in the book, I highly recommend seeking out their work, or even better, a chance to spend time with them in classes or demos. It's always good to have an opportunity to watch someone closeup and drink in the details. Just one new detail about an otherwise familiar technique can make it worthwhile.

My memberships in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) and the Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers (GNHW), as well as the Lie-Nielsen Open Houses and Hand Tool Events, have given me a number of opportunities to meet and watch some of them.

Don Weber: Don's cover story in the April, 2004 issue of Popular Woodworking is what set me off down this path. He built a table from a log using nothing but hand tools. I was absolutely enthralled. It took me a few years of fumbling around to gain traction, until I started following…

Christopher Schwarz: As the editor of Popular Woodworking, it was Chris' articles on hand tools that put me on the road to success, in particular his articles on sharpening and planing. His books and videos form the core of my woodworking library. He went on to found Lost Art Press, where he continues to publish excellent books and videos on hand tool woodworking. He changed my woodworking forever, and gave me the knowledge to start appreciating other teachers, like…

Roy Underhill: When I first saw Roy's PBS show The Woodwright's Shop, long before I knew anything about hand tools, I thought this guy was bouncing off the walls like a superball shot from a cannon. But once I started learning, I realized every episode was crammed with a breathtaking amount of pure gold. His books and DVDs are another core component of my library. While I'll never be the showman he is and be able to do a half-hour video in one take, I've taken a number of cues from his show in my instructional format.

Philip C. Lowe: I've been following Phil's articles for as long as I have Chris Schwarz's. He's what I call a museum-class woodworker, because when museums need to restore or reproduce a finely detailed period furniture piece, he's at the top of the list. He ran the furniture-making program at Boston's North Bennet St. School for 5 years before starting his own Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2005 Cartouche Award. I got to know him when he gave a series of live demonstrations to SAPFM members on building several magnificent furniture pieces.

Michael Dunbar: Mike ran the Windsor Institute in New Hampshire, where he taught chairmaking. He's published a number of articles in Popular Woodworking. He takes a very no-nonsense attitude, as exemplified by his "Sensible Sharpening" method of sandpaper on flat substrate. His repeated frustration at having students show up to classes with basic tools they didn't know how to sharpen or use was what led me to start teaching. My goal was to provide that basic knowledge so people could get on with the more advanced topics of the specialized classes offered by others.

Charles H. Hayward: One of Chris Schwarz's heroes, Hayward was editor and "one-man publishing phenomenon" of The Woodworker from 1936 to 1966. He wrote a number of practical books that are simply spectacular. Anything you can find by him, don't hesitate, just get it! In fact, Chris has since anthologized several volumes of his writings from The Woodworker.

Robert Wearing: Wearing, another of Schwarz's heroes and an acquaintance of Hayward in Hayward's later years, wrote an excellent book that has been re-released by Lost Art Press. This was the source of the three classes of saw cuts terminology.

Bernard E. Jones: Jones wrote two encyclopedic books in the 1910's-20's which have been reprinted several times, one of which is now available from Popular Woodworking.

Garrett Hack: Garrett is a professional woodworker and author in Vermont. I've always loved his designs. He's a master of unique stylistic details done with hand tools.

Jim Kingshott: Kingshott was a British woodworker who put out several outstanding books and videos in the 1990's. He's like your favorite uncle. But of course, Bob's your uncle!

Adam Cherubini: Adam's "Arts And Mysteries" column in Popular Woodworking was a huge influence on my work. With his emphasis on 18th-century work, he showed me I could do everything by hand starting from the raw lumber, and taught me how to use wooden handplanes.

Patrick Leach: Patrick is one of the Internet's premier antique tool sellers, with everything from $20 user planes to $10,000 collector's items. He's partly responsible for the unusually large number of chisels you see on my tool wall; his house is dangerously close to mine. But he's also the definitive reference for information on antique Stanley tools. His website www.Supertool.com is encyclopedic, covering the entire line from the late 1800's through the first half of the 20th century.

Pete Taran: Like Patrick, Pete is another encyclopedic source of antique tool information, this time on saws at www.VintageSaw.com.

Erik Von Sneidern: And like Pete, Erik is another antique saw specialist, focusing exclusively on Disston saws at his Disstonian Institute, www.DisstonionInstitute.com.

Aldren A. Watson: Watson was a professional woodworker, author, and illustrator in Vermont.

Lie-Nielsen Staff: YouTube videos from founder Thomas Lie-Nielsen and demonstrators like Deneb Pulchalski, along with live demonstrations at their Hand Tool Events, cover a great deal about how to use and maintain their tools. I think this educational component is an important part of the company's success, completing the connection with their customers.

Alan Breed: Al is another museum-class woodworker. He's the guy high-end auction houses call when they want a reproduction of an antique that's on the block for millions of dollars, so the sellers will have something to fill the empty spot. He runs the The Breed School in New Hampshire, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2012 Cartouche Award. For a number of years, he's been incredibly generous sharing his time and knowledge in a series of live demonstrations to the GNHW Period Furniture Group on building period pieces.

Paul Sellers: Paul is a British woodworker who put out an excellent book and DVD series. He used to run New Legacy School of Woodworking in Penrhyn Castle, North Wales, possibly one of the coolest school venues around. He's another very no-nonsense guy, attempting to demystify the craft and bring it to the masses without complicated methods.

Christian Becksvoort: Christian is a professional woodworker and magazine author in Maine who specializes in hand tool work.

Peter Galbert: Peter is a professional chair maker in Massachusetts. He's also an inventor, creating several very useful tools and versions of existing tools. He was the one who showed me how to get the most out of a wooden spokeshave, and watching his YouTube videos resulted in a huge improvement in my turning skills on the lathe.

References

Some of these may be difficult to find because they're out of print. But they may be available used or as reprints.

Books (including a few useful references from authors not listed above)

Bickford, Matthew Sheldon

Mouldings In Practice, 2012

Blackburn, Graham

Jigs & Fixtures For The Hand Tool Woodworker, 2014

Fine Woodworking

Working With Handplanes, 2005

Hampton, C.W., and Clifford, E.

Planecraft: Hand Planing By Modern Methods, 1934

Hayward, Charles H.

Cabinet Making For Beginners, 1948 (several editions)

The Junior Woodworker, 1952 (don't let the title fool you, it's for any beginner!)

Woodwork Joints, Revised Edition, 1979

Hoadley, R. Bruce

Understanding Wood, 2000

Hock, Ron

The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide To Sharpening For Woodworkers, 2009

Jones, Bernard E.

The Complete Woodworker, 1920?

The Practical Woodworker, 1920? (reissued as a 4-volume set)

Kingshott, Jim

The Workshop, 1993

Sharpening: The Complete Guide, 1994

A Woodworker's Guide To Joints, 1998

Krenov, James

The Fine Art Of Cabinetmaking, 1977

Laughton, Ralph

Success With Joints, 2005

Popular Woodworking

Hand Tool essentials, 2007

Rae, Andy

Choosing & Using Hand Tools, 2002

Schwarz, Christopher

Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use, 2007

The Joiner And Cabinet Maker, 2009 (with Joel Moskowitz, update of 1839 anonymous original)

Handplane Essentials, 2009

Sellers, Paul

Working Wood, 2011 (also available as a set with 7 DVD's listed below)

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft, 1981

The Woodwright's Companion: Exploring Traditional Woodcraft, 1983

The Woodwright's Work Book: Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft, 1986

The Woodwright's Eclectic Workshop, 1991

The Woodwright's Apprentice: 20 Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop, 1996

The Woodwright's Guide: Working Wood with Wedge & Edge, 2008

Watson, Aldren A.

Hand Tools: Their Ways And Workings, 1982

Wearing, Robert

The Essential Woodworker, 2010

Whelan, John M.

The Wooden Plane: Its History, Form, And Function, 1993

Videos

Kingshott, Jim

Bench Planes, 1996

Special Planes, 1996

Mortise & Tenon, 1996

Dovetails, 1996

Schwarz, Christopher

Coarse Medium & Fine, 2005

Building Furniture With Hand Planes, 2007

Handplane Basics: A Better Way To Use Bench Planes, 2009

Sellers, Paul (available as a set with his book above)

Working Wood: Woodworking Essentials 1 and 2, 2011

Working Wood: Master Sharpening, 2011

Working Wood: Master European Workbenches, 2011

Working Wood: Master Housing Dadoes, 2011

Working Wood: Master Mortise & Tenons, 2011

Working Wood: Master Dovetails, 2011

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop, Seasons 1-31 (and counting, starting in 1980)

Online Forums

These are an excellent way to join with like-minded people to learn and discuss hand tools, their use, and how to deal with problems. In fact, as my skills developed, it was seeing the questions posted on these from beginners struggling through the same learning curve I had climbed that motivated me to put together a video course and book.

Some forums are extremely active. Participation is global, with people coming from all different cultural backgrounds.

I found these to be a great asset in my learning. Just be prepared for a wide range of information, often conflicting! You'll have to learn to sort through it. That's where I came up with the concept for my "Fistfights And Fundamentals" segments.

These are moderated forums to ensure that everyone stays on their good behavior, but discussions can get heated and feelings can get hurt. Read their policies and spend some time lurking (Internet-speak for reading without responding) before you join in. Don't take things personally, and don't make things personal. Be polite. Remember that different people have different experience, training, and opinions.

There are others besides these, in English and many other languages, as well as Facebook groups such as Unplugged Woodworkers.

www.SawmillCreek.com (US) - Neanderthal Haven forum.

www.WoodNet.com (US) - Woodworking Hand Tools forum.

www.LumberJocks.com (US) - Hand Tools forum.

www.UKWorkshop.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkUK.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkForums.com (Australia) - Hand Tools - Unpowered forum.

Thank You To The MBTA!

Finally, I'd like to thank the MBTA. Other than the shop work and photography, I did nearly all the work for this book and the original video series while riding the Commuter Rail. Yes, I wrote a book on the train! I did all the video editing, photo selection, and writing on my Mac laptop an hour each way to and from work in Boston.

Thank you to all the folks who took care of my commute and gave me a safe, warm place where I could focus on woodworking!

Representing PW At Lie-Nielsen Open House 2015

My hand tool journey with Popular Woodworking, from Don Weber on the cover, through learning from people like Roy Underhill, to teaching for Popular Woodworking University.

The 2015 Lie-Nielsen Summer Open House will be July 10-11 at the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, ME. This is a free event open to all, a great opportunity to see behind the scenes, try all their tools, and meet a bunch of great woodworkers.

The list of guest demonstrators is headed by the superb Roy Underhill, host of The Woodwright's Shop on PBS, one of my woodworking heroes.

I'm honored to be representing Popular Woodworking Magazine at the Open House, not as an employee, but as an instructor for their online Popular Woodworking University. Look for the PW banner, say hello, and join me making some shavings!

My new PWU course Intro To Hand Tools starts July 15; registration is currently open. On the registration page you can watch a 3-minute introductory video. The cost is $59.

In nearly 40 short online videos, I cover a wide range of beginning hand tool skills to give you a solid foundation. "Fistfights And Fundamentals" segments help sort out the various arguments about different ways of doing things.

You can watch a free lesson below from Popular Woodworking's YouTube channel: Long Grain Rabbets (2 methods: chisel, and moving fillister plane).



The full course includes 5 additional ways to do this. Whether you're a first-time beginner with the barest set of tools, or already have some skills and a more extensive set, you should be able to find something here.

If you'd like to see the full range of topics covered in the course, you can watch my trade show trailer below that I'll have running on a TV at the Open House. It's silent to avoid disturbing other exhibitors and demonstrators, but it shows a montage of short snippets from the entire course.



And if you'd like some suggestions for expanding your set of tools while at the Open House, I'll have a complete list of all the tools appearing in the course, from anonymous antique to modern high quality premium brand name.

It's fitting that I'll be representing PW, because the magazine has been key to my development as a hand tool woodworker. Don Weber's cover story in the April, 2004 issue led me down the garden path. From there, then-editor Christopher Schwarz's articles, books, and videos gave me the background to start understanding what Roy and others were doing.

Then it was just a small matter of making shavings to develop the skills!

Sliding Dovetails

My practice piece. First attempt at the left was too loose. Second attempt was good and tight.

A project I'm currently working on calls for sliding dovetails. This is something I'd only briefly tried in the past, so I wanted to be sure I had the process down. Roy Underhill shows two variations in The Woodwright's Shop, in seasons 12 (1992, "Moravian Chair") and 31 (2011, "The Case For Books").

I largely followed his method, but I also adapted one of the jigs from Graham Blackburn's excellent new book Jigs And Fixtures For The Hand Tool Woodworker, a dovetail chisel guide.

Making The Dovetail Socket

I made the dovetail 1/4" deep in 3/4" stock. The socket is essentially a dado with angled sides. The only extra step is the marking of the dovetail angles for sawing.

I used a 1:6 dovetail angle, which I have conveniently marked on my wide bench hook so I can set my bevel gauge.


Marking the socket depth in the edge, running between two faint lines showing the width of the other piece. I darkened the mark with a pencil for visibility.


Setting my bevel gauge to the 1:6 dovetail angle I keep drawn on my bench hook.


Marking the dovetail lines on the edge, crossing the gauge line exactly at the width lines for the other piece.


The fully marked edge.


Marking the lines for the tops of the socket walls with a knife. I scribed several passes for a deep mark.


The fully marked edge and face. I marked the far edge for depth with the marking gauge.


Running a chisel down the waste side of each knife line to form a trough for the saw.

Sawing the socket walls is just like sawing dado walls, except that you have to tip the saw to the dovetail angle. By sighting down from the back of the saw to the dovetail lines on the edge, I was able to see the correct angle, just like sawing regular dovetails. As with those, I sawed to the waste side of the marked line.


Sawing the first wall using a bench hook.


Closeup of the saw pitched over to the left.


Sawing the other wall.


The sawn walls. The left wall cut looks a bit wide of the line.

To remove the waste, I popped the chisel in at each edge, just above the gauged line, to ensure that I wouldn't blow out the wood when coming across from the other direction. Then I rolled up the bulk of the waste from each edge into the middle. That's fun! I finished off with a small router plane set to the proper depth.


Popping the chisel in at the first edge. Do it in several layers.


Rolling up the waste toward the middle, again in several layers.


Routing to final exact depth.


Cleaning up some unsawn fibers in the corner.


The completed socket with smooth bottom.


Closeup of the socket end. That left wall has definitely gone past the width line.

Making The Dovetail Tongue

The tongue is a completely new operation, not really anything like a regular dovetail or dado. As you can see in the photo above, the shoulders of the socket are very narrow, so I just marked and knifed them to the approximate depth, no sawing required.


Marking down the edge to the depth of the socket. This needs to be a precision shot edge.


Deepening the line with a knife. This is all the crosscutting required.

The real challenge here is cutting the sides of the tongue at the dovetail angle so that it matches the socket. I tried a few totally freehand, carefully running the chisel down the edge at an angle. This produced a functional joint, in that it had the dovetail wedging action, but I couldn't match the angles reliably. This compromised the fit and strength as well as the appearance.

The dovetail chisel jig Blackburn shows is a block with the end cut down to the dovetail angle. You run the chisel flat across this angled face into the endgrain of the dovetail tongue. I adapted this slightly, planing the edge of a board to this angle, so that I could set up the board in one spot and move the chisel along it.


Guide board with edge planed to dovetail angle.


Positioning the guide board so that the chisel just meets the end grain corner all along the width of the workpiece. The guide board is sitting on a piece of 1/4" plywood to raise it up a bit.


With the chisel flat on the guide face, it just meets the corner of endgrain and face.


Pushing in for the cut, down to the knife line. This can be done in several layers to get to full depth.


Working the chisel into the end grain all the along the width of the board for the final layer of waste. Run a knife down the inside corner to free any uncut fibers.


The completed tongue, ready for dry fit.


The angles match nicely, but the socket is too wide. The tongue just drops in with no resistance. It would actually hold mechanically, and glue would swell the fibers to help close up the gap, but this is too loose a fit.

Since this was just a practice piece, I made a new socket next to the first one, but far enough away to avoid any splitting. This time I took more care to saw to the wast side of the lines. The results were much better. The fit was tight enough to require a mallet to drive it home (verging on too tight, but you can always pare away another layer if you need to).


Driving the tongue down into the socket.


A good tight fit. Even without glue, this won't come apart on its own.

This joint is surprisingly fast to make. It's worth practicing a few times to get it down. Worst case, a little glue mixed with sawdust will fill tiny gaps for perfect appearance. The chisel guide is a huge help for consistent angles.

Tapered Sliding Dovetails

This was for regular non-tapered sliding dovetail. Need a tapered sliding dovetail? As Roy showed, you skew one knife line for the socket inward by 1/8" at the far end so it makes a long gradual taper. Similarly, you draw a matching skew line on the end grain of the tongue piece.

The chisel guide piece isn't tapered, but you achieve a tapered cut simply by skewing the guide piece itself away from the end grain. Line it up so the chisel contacts the corner of end and face grain at one edge, and contacts the skewed line drawn on the end grain at the other edge.


Skewed line drawn across the end grain of the tongue.


Lining up the near edge of the tongue, as above for the non-tapered dovetail. Note how the workpiece splays away from the guide piece to achieve the tapered cut.


Lining up the far edge of the tongue, so the chisel contacts the skewed line.

The tapered joint is really no more difficult than the non-tapered joint. It just requires one extra mark, the end grain skew line. All the rest of the setup, alignment, and cutting are the same, just to the skewed lines.

The fit is a bit more finicky, since you want the sliding action to wedge up tight at a specific point. Make it stop early, then very carefully take a few tiny parings to be able to drive it in further to the stopping point.

Double-Bevel Paring Chisel Sharpening

My sharpening setup: DMT extra-extra-coarse DiaSharp plate in separate holder, then DMT Dia-Flat lapping plate, coarse DiaSharp, Ohishi 1,000 and 10,000 grit waterstones, and leather strop. In back are water spray bottle, 25 and 20 degree sight blocks, and Flexcut Gold strop compound.

When I took a class with Roy Underhill at Lie-Nielsen a few weeks ago, one of the things we did was pare the corners off a maple bench hook. I was having trouble getting my paring chisel to work well, so I asked Roy's advice. He looked at it and suggested I resharpen it closer to 20 or 25 degrees, a more appropriate range for the very fine work of a paring chisel; it was at 30.

So I used the sharpening setup in the classroom, which consisted of Ohishi 1,000 and 10,000 grit waterstones, along with a extra-coarse DMT DiaSharp plate, and an extra-extra-coarse Dia-Flat lapping plate for flattening the waterstones. The Ohishi's are a new line that LN has just started to carry; they're not yet listed on the LN website, but you can order them by phone.

I did a rough reshaping of the primary bevel to about 20 degrees on the DiaSharp, then added the secondary bevel at about 22 degrees and honed it on the Ohishi's. I was amazed at the polish left by the 10,000 stone, similar to what I get off a strop. I also liked the fact that they didn't need presoaking, just spray the surface with water.

The chisel performed beautifully at this new angle. I realized that I was going to have to resharpen all my paring chisels. This seemed like a good opportunity to revisit waterstones. I bought a pair of the Ohishi's and a Dia-Flat from the Lie-Nielsen showroom downstairs.

Previously I've shown somewhat unconventional methods for sharpening: convex bevel and a convex double-bevel hybrid, both on oilstones, and a single-bevel on DMT DuoSharp plates. Here I used a more conventional double-bevel on the Ohishi waterstones. Since I'm reshaping a paring chisel to a lower bevel angle, I also show re-grinding it on a DMT extra-extra coarse Dia-Sharp plate.

In his book Sharpening, The Complete Guide, the late Jim Kingshott explained that the reason for using a double bevel is that removing a large amount of metal by hand on a single bevel is time-consuming. Grinding a primary bevel on a grindstone reduces the amount of metal to be worked, leaving only a small strip to be honed for the secondary bevel, forming the actual cutting edge.

The centuries-old traditional grinding tool was the hand or pedal-powered grindstone, followed later by the powered grinder. Modern abrasives such as coarse diamond plates, while not as fast as grindstones, offer a reasonable alternative, although opinions vary on whether they are durable enough for extended use this way.

Because I want to develop the hand skill to do this entirely hand, I'm not using a sharpening guide. I still haven't gotten the control down for a perfectly flat face, but I expect that to come with practice. I've also worked with deliberately convex bevels enough to know that I can do my woodworking with them, though again opinions vary on that topic. Wildly.

If you feel the need to have flatter bevels than I get here, you can do this with a sharpening guide. Just realize that you may never develop the skill to do it unaided if you rely on a jig. Kingshott said that when he was an apprentice, it took a year before he was able to achieve nearly the same edge as his master. He eventually did switch to using guides, especially when training new apprentices, but said that if you wish to learn to sharpen without them, it is a mistake to ever use one.

I ground the primary bevel on the extra-extra-coarse plate, using a 20 degree sight block to show me the angle. This took less than 10 minutes for a 3/4" paring chisel. This is an extremely aggressive plate, similar to coarse sandpaper. I keep it in a separate holder because I use it as my main shaping tool with a variety of sharpening methods.

It's important to check the bevel being formed for square. It's easy to get off track, then you have to spend time correcting it. Since the primary bevel is not a functional part of the cutting edge, I'm less concerned about its flatness.


Grinding the 20 degree primary bevel on the extra-extra-coarse DiaSharp.


The resultant bevel.


The extra-extra-coarse DiaSharp produces heavy swarf. The metal particles on the wooden holder are like glitter. It's worth wearing gloves when handling this, otherwise you can end up with tiny, very fine metal splinters in your fingers.

With the main shape established, I cleaned it up on a coarse DiaSharp. This is what I keep with the waterstones for maintaining shape. Then I switched to the 25 degree sight block and ground the secondary bevel. With the bulk of the metal removed previously, this goes very quickly. Now I'm putting more care into the flatness.

I flattened the waterstones on the Dia-Flat plate. This is the same extra-extra-coarse grit as my heavy DiaSharp, but manufactured to a finer flatness tolerance. NASA could bounce laser beams off Mars with one. It also uses a new bonding process that DMT says is more durable. You can read Chris Schwarz' review of the Dia-Flat here.

Deneb Puchalski at LN told me to flatten the 1,000 grit first, then use that slurry to flatten the 10,000. Don't do it the opposite order, because the 10,000 slurry will clog the pores of the 1,000 stone.


Flattening the 1,000 grit waterstone on the Dia-Flat.

I refined the edge on the waterstones. I slowed down the motion, both to maintain better angle control, and to avoid gouging the stones. Especially on the 10,000 stone, the surface tension holds the blade so tight to the stone that the slightest little twitch while moving forward will gouge it. So there I switched to just drawing the chisel back down the stone.

Over several sharpening cycles, I experimented with several honing patterns and grips on the chisel, including holding it right near the edge and using a circular motion, and side to side up and down the stone. I didn't notice a significant difference between any of them, but it's worth trying different ones to see which works best for you. It's also worth revisiting them as your skill improves.


The near-mirror bevel off the 10,000 waterstone.

This resulted in a near-mirror polish on the secondary bevel. I tried the paper-cut test. FAIL! In repeated tests, I was not able to get to paper-slicing sharp. A quick stropping always rectified that, but you'll see in part 2 how to correct this initial failure. The problem is me, not the stones.

For the pine end-grain test, I realized that previously I had been using spruce, a tenon cheek scrap from a 2x4. While soft, this is still a little harder than white pine. So I show both in the video. The theory here is that white pine is so soft that the fibers will crush and tear rather than slice cleanly if the edge isn't sharp enough. The chisel took thin, clean shavings from both, leaving a smooth surface.


Fine shavings on white pine end grain.

The Ohishi waterstones did a very nice job, and while just as messy as other waterstones, are more convenient since you don't have to pre-soak them.

A note on bevel maintenance: this primary grinding will last for a number of secondary honings. Eventually the secondary bevel will grow to be a significant portion of the face, so I'll regrind the primary bevel. However, I won't take it all the way to the edge. Why spend the time and metal to ruin a perfectly good secondary bevel edge?

I'll take it down near the edge so that further honings will start to work their way back up. In this way the two bevels chase each other up and down the end of the chisel over its lifetime, never going all the way, always preserving some of the other. In addition to time efficiency, that maximizes the life of the chisel.

(Continue to part 2)

CGSW Class: Mortise and Tenon

This morning I taught the fifth class at the Close Grain School of Woodworking, mortise and tenon joinery. My students were Reeve Goodenough and Colin Bourne.


Reeve chopping a mortise with a mortise chisel.


Colin chopping a mortise with a regular bench chisel.

Colin is one of my old Boy Scouts. Sadly, his father passed away in May from cancer, just four years older than me. I wanted to do something nice for him, so I thought he might enjoy joining us for some classes. I always thought he was the greatest kid, so I wasn't surprised when, a couple years after I had stepped down as Scoutmaster, I received an invitation to his Eagle ceremony. He awarded me his Mentor pin. Thank you, Colin!

His father was a US Army tank mechanic. Now Colin is following in his father's footsteps in the Army Reserve, something he's wanted to do as long I've known him since the age of 9. 

My best memory of him in Scouts is a winter backpacking trip two weeks after a huge snow and ice storm that damaged tens of thousands of trees in central Massachusetts. We were on snowshoes with backpacks and sledges, but the trail was so heavily obstructed by downed trees that we set up camp barely a mile in. I had previously shown the boys how to pile up snow, let it set, then tunnel it out for a shelter, slide a sleeping bag and pad in, and spend the night in it. So that's what Colin did. That's what I like about him, he's always willing to try things.

I started the class by going over a variety of tools for making mortises. This includes several styles of chisels for chopping them, and brace and bit for the quieter bore-and-pare method. Then I covered the saws for sawing out tenons, and the various tools for cleaning them up: chisels, shoulder plane, #10 bench rabbet plane, and router plane.

I went over the differences between through and blind mortises and the options for shoulders, pinning, and wedging. Finally, I went over ways it can go wrong, and how to clean it all up.

I demonstrated making a fully-shouldered through-mortise and tenon, showing three different methods for working the chisel while chopping. As usual, cleaning up and fitting the tenon took as much time as all the rest put together. Since they both liked the idea of wedged tenons, I ramped the mortise and sawed two slots down the tenon, then carved two wedges and drove them in. They also got the benefit of the pointers I picked up taking a class from Roy Underhill last week, where we made a mortise-and-tenon-framed door.


Colin sawing out a tenon cheek.


The guys hard at work.


Colin driving a wedge in.


Planing the joint down flush after trimming the slightly proud end of the tenon.


I love the fine shaving with the rectangular mortise hole in it! The shoulders were a bit rough, but considering that's Colin's first ever joint, it came out pretty well.


Reeve paring a cheek for a snug fit.


Testing. It fits!


Ramping the mortise prior to wedging.


Driving in a pair of wedges.

As always, I told them the thing to do is go home and practice this. It's probably better to start with looser tenons and practice making them more and more snug, rather than repeatedly spending lots of time tuning and fitting. That allows for faster repetition to get the skill down. You can also get a sound structural joint pretty quickly, even if it doesn't look the greatest. 

Reeve didn't waste any time. Later in the day he emailed me to tell me how excited he was to get the fit shown below on his third try. He said it was a testament to my class. Thanks, Reeve!


Reeve's third mortise and tenon joint. That looks pretty snug! He said he'll try harder wood for the wedges next time, since these squished down pretty flat. Photo by Reeve Goodenough.

The final class in the series will be dovetails. If you're interested in taking a class, you can sign up for one of the pre-scheduled group classes, or schedule a private class.