Sorry, I Don't Do Windows...

I caught a Stanley No. 10½ a few weeks ago from Jim Bode Tools. It is an "S" cast, probably manufactured around 1900, so it fits with the rest of the planes I have. It has the adjustable throat, about 85 to 90% of its japanning, the "Q" blade (now that I know what that is), and is in pretty nice shape, overall.

So the series is filling in slowly as now I have a 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10½, 48, 49, 66, 71 and 72, most sporting the "S" casts, all possibly produced between 1899 and 1902. I have a 4, 7 and 78 as well, but they are all Type 18's, purchased by my old man in the late 1940's. I will keep these for sentimental reasons, but I will add the same numbers to the older set. There are a few that I won't purchase, come hell or high water, though. The infamous No.1 is one of them, as I would never use it, not to mention I think it is way overpriced.

Once the plane set is complete, I'll do the same for saws. While I have a fair set now, there are a few I would like to add.

The joys of tool collection and being anal enough to want them all to be from the same time period. Go figure.

So here is the 10½ the day it arrived...

Here is the same shot of it after I got through cleaning and waxing it...

I stripped it down and placed it in a bath of Lee Valley's "Evapo-rust". This stuff stinks, but it is a non-acid and non-toxic and requires no work at all. I left the whole lot in the bath for 36 hours, pulled them out, wiped them off and gave them a coat of Minwax's Paste Finishing Wax. The wax is applied with #00 steel wool on the japanned parts and #1 steel wool on the raw metal, followed by more using the #00. The tote and knob are wiped down with 90% alcohol, then given multiple coats of the Minwax using #000 steel wool. I still have to check the sole for flatness and if it is out more than slightly, I'll flatten it, and I also have to sharpen and polish the back of the blade.

This process probably makes any die-hard collector cry and no doubt, costs me a few bucks in lost value, but what good is a tool if it isn't in pristine working order? I can't, for the life of me, figure out why 100 years of crud and abuse makes a tool worth more. It may, in fact, have a higher value, but not to me.

Peace,

Mitchell

Its Nice To Have a Little Pot Around the Shop...

When time becomes a commodity that is easy to come by, I hope to have everything I will ever need to while away the hours making little pieces of wood out of big ones. Hopefully, some of those little pieces will be usable as veneer.

There was a time when I thought only cheap furniture was made using veneer. Amazing what you learn when you read a book.

So now veneering is right up there on the top of my list and to facilitate it, I have been looking for vintage tools and toys of that trade. My first purchase was a disaster; the French saw that turned out to be a trim saw, but hopefully I have done right by this latest purchase.

I have no idea when this glue pot was produced, but I sure like the look of it. I have been looking for a glue pot for some time now, ever since receiving my copy of Stephen Shepherd's book, "Hide Glue, Historical and Practical Applications". I have seen a number of traditional styled pots come and go on the market, but I wanted something a bit unusual. Finally one came up on jimbodetools.com.

This was the first one I came across that was made of brass, all three pieces in fact. The outer pot reminds me of the bottom of an artillery shell, and weighs about as much. The inner pot is about half its weight with one small steam hole and the lid is just pressed sheet. Its only marking is "W. Pehrson", a producer whose name does not come up on the internet.

As we said back in the 60's - "Good stuff!" (ok, we didn't actually say "stuff", but you get the idea)

Peace,

Mitchell

Additional Comments added October 22 at 10:45 a.m.

Waking up this morning to PeteW's comment about this glue pot, I clicked on his link and checked out the very same item listed in one of MJD Tools' auctions. They had it listed with another brass item as... 

"Two Unusual Desktop Items including a brass inkwell holder by W. Pearson".

My God! Did I screw up AGAIN??????

Here is an enhanced photo of the mark...

I took this out of a shot I took of it through a loop...

The mark is definitely "W. Pehrson".

I'm no expert on inkwell holders, but I can think of no reason to manufacture an inkwell holder that has the inner pot much smaller than the outer...

Nor can I think of any reason why they would put a carrying handle on an inkwell holder or include a vent hole in the top of it...

Now I admit that logic has failed me before with calculating what a tool is or does, so I did a search of "Inkwell Holders" on Google. An "Inkwell" is "a small well holding writing ink into which a pen can be dipped". Trying to come up with an as clear definition for an "Inkwell Holder", however, was a different story. The best definition is "a hole to hold an inkwell", but there are many sales listings for these things that call the decorative base that has a hole in it to hold an inkwell an "inkwell holder", although I surmise by the very few articles on the subject that I found that this is an incorrect use of the term.

As a result of no factual information about this manufacturer or this item, I am only left with logic.

Arguments:

• There is a half inch of space all around the inner pot which would be perfect for holding heated water.
• There is the hole in the top of the inner pot aligned with that space that would be perfect for letting off steam.
• There is a handle attached to the inner pot which would make removing it easy to top-up the water bath when it runs dry and through its use, would make it unnecessary for the user to touch the heated base.
• Brass is the third most conductive metal for heat available.

Conclusion:

• If it isn't a glue pot, it sure as hell is one now!

I truly appreciate any and all comments on this blog. Sharing information and helping each other, to me, should be as natural as falling off a log. I don't understand those that see an area where a few typed words would help another individual but they don't bother for whatever reason.

Just don't scare the hell out of me first thing in the morning when you do :o)

(That was a joke, PeteW. I do appreciate you bringing that listing to my attention and please, keep commenting)

Peace,

Mitchell

Simple Solution...

I'm still messing with these new window sills. It is a stupid little job that involves a little ingenuity to overcome past poor workmanship.

I had to make the stool for one window run out of two pieces of oak and when I did a dry fit, I found they didn't line up across their surface. I cut them to hit a high spot, but the twist in the top plate did me in. Keeping the front in line with each other was easy as I am adding a 1 x 2 to the bottom front edge to give the sill a thicker appearance. The problem was the back of the joint.

The easiest solution was to add a piece to the back of the stool. The problem was, I no longer own a router and I had never done something like this by hand.

I ended up using my Veratis Small Plow Plane, adjusting the depth of the blade down with each stroke to cut deeper each time. I then cleaned it up with a chisel and laid in a piece of pine, planing it down flush when the glue dried. I didn't even bother to try to square up the ends. Instead, I just curved them so it wouldn't look like a dog's breakfast.

It worked, but it was a bit of a female dog to do. I think there must be an easier and more accurate way to do blind rabbet like this, so again, if anyone has any direction they can give me with this, it would be greatly appreciated.

The learning curve with handtools is unbelievable.

Peace,

Mitchell

Who the Devil is H. Lyons...

Another plane has been added to my H. E. Mitchell plane collection, this one being a small plow and one with a new twist. On this example, poor ol’ Henry’s stamp has been over-stamped with one for “H. Lyons” of 15 Nurse Street, although no city is included.

Goodman’s, British Planemakers from the 1700’s has a listing for a “D. Lyons” who made planes from 1873 to 1877, but no listing at all for an “H” Lyons. I have a feeling he was a dealer, not a maker, and for some reason, thought putting his stamp on top of the makers stamp was acceptable.

If any of you have run across this situation on one of your planes, or have any information on Mr. H. Lyons, I would appreciate hearing from you.

While I am asking for help here, I will add that I am trying to put together a list of common British and American plane profiles along with their common widths from the 1700’s to today. This has, surprisingly, turned out to be a difficult task. I can’t believe that I am the first person to ever think such a list might be interesting, but finding any previous lists has eluded me. Whatever information I do come up with will be posted on the web for anyone who is interested, so whatever information you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Peace,

Mitchell

Irony (ī′rə nē, ī′ər nē)...

noun pl. ironies -·nies 

A combination of circumstances or a result that is the opposite of what is or might be expected or considered appropriate

If you recognize the saw in the above image, you will appreciate that it is the saw that was the subject of some hub-bub I caused while writing about it a short while ago.

I had done some research before buying it and all that research stated it was a Veneer Saw. At 19" in length, a number of major dealers and other authorities felt that it was manufactured for cutting large sheets.

The day this saw was delivered to me, Lee Valley's July Newsletter showed up in my InBox and surprisingly, their "What Is It" article featured a perfect match to my new saw. Written by D.S. Orr, the article basically stated that there were a number of suggested uses for this saw, but cutting veneer wasn't one of them.

I was perplexed. Not only had I purchased it as a veneer saw, I had also just paid Daryl Weir to retooth this saw as a traditional French veneer saw. I went into research mode and ended up talking to one of the most respected marqueteur and 18th century furniture restorer in North America, W. Patrick Edwards. He informed me that the saw was a trim saw for use with a mitre jack, and writing about it, I got carried away and ended up inadvertently being pretty insulting to Mr. Orr.

To explain one more time, I had no idea who Mr. Orr was at the time, I had tried to contact him about it but didn't hear back and I couldn't find anything about him while doing extensive searches on the internet. Because of all of this, I stated I couldn't put weight on what his article stated simply because I just didn't know who he was.

Man, did I end up eating crow. Doug Orr is one of Canada's leading vintage tool authorities. He has contributed to a number of worthy publications and his opinions on all things in the vintage tool area is highly respected. It also turned out that he is a hell of a nice guy and I had already done business with him the previous year. I have also learned that Mr. Orr works at not being known, hence the reason I could not find out anything about him on the web.

Which brings me to starting this post with a quote from Dictionary.com, defining the meaning of "Irony".

Mr. Orr is one of the individuals behind the Tools of the Trades Show that is held bi-yearly in Pickering, Ontario, Canada in conjunction with the Tool Group of Canada. This show not only draws a fair crowd of collectors, it also boasts an impressive roster of dealers. Even Live Free or Die Auctions of Martin J. Donnelly Antique Tools fame has a booth at each event. I had met D.S. Orr about 8 months before writing this article when I purchased a couple  of wood molding planes from his booth, one of them the H.E. Mitchell ogee that I wrote about in the previous post.

I headed straight to his booth the moment I walked through the door for two reasons; to face my medicine, and to see if he had turned up any more Mitchell planes. He was gracious, funny and helpful. We talked about the article, his; not mine, thank God, and he mentioned that he had turned up more research to support his argument because, while I do not believe the saw was originally designed as a stair or floor saw as his article stated, he does not believe it was used as a trim saw either.

Are you catching the irony of all of this?

It would be ironic enough that the large Mitre Jack that is in the image that accompanies the "Scie a Recaler Boite a Recaler", a Trim Saw for use with a Mitre Jack, was purchased at that Tools of the Trade show, but I'm not done yet.

Yup, it was purchased from D.S. Orr.

Not only was he very gracious about my purchase, he even gave me a discount to boot.

Now that is a gentleman.

And that is also a textbook definition of "Irony".

Peace,

Mitchell

Getting Silly...

Strange stuff this working with hand tools. Coming from a power tool background, like most, I am used to banging off most jobs in a few short hours. Switch over to hand tools and the same job takes days.

The condo corp decided it was time to change some windows. The crew ripped out the old and popped in the new and did a relatively good job of it. The one thing they didn’t do is replace the inside sills. That would be an improvement of a private residence, and they are not paying for that, so I got stuck with the job.

The original sills were just drywall, prone to the usual cracks, shrinkage and other sundry ailments of plaster in an inconsistent environment. I decided to make the change to oak, now that the opportunity arose.

The last house I built had oversized trim from crown to floor, which was v-groove and pegged, all in oak, and all stained ebony. This ran throughout the entire first floor. Within five years I hated it, but it cost so damned much, I couldn’t bare to rip it down. It may have been the dark stain that I tired of so quickly, but I think it was more the dark slashes and flecks that makes up the harsh grain in oak that got to me the most. That said, this time around only the sills are being done and they will only be varnished.

In my power tool days, lumber was only purchased rough and I would dress it on the jointer and planer. No longer having those tools available to me, I hefted my trusty Stanley No.5, then put it away and headed off to Home Depot to check out the prices. To say I was shocked at what I discovered would be an understatement. Not only was the pricing beyond ridiculous; the wood was junk; warped, twisted, full of knots and good only for firewood. After some hustling, I got a fantastic deal on some great oak, which is now stacked in my livingroom. All I could get was 1” dressed and window aprons were out of the question so I grabbed some 1 x 2, 1 x 4 and 1 x 6.

Today I put together a shorter section to make sure what I had in my head would work attached to the wall.

I cut a 1 x 6 to length and ran my new No.8 over it to make sure it was flat. I did the same to a length of 1 x 2, and when I figured they would match up tight, I glued them together to make the edge appear to be 6/8 stock.

Once glued, I set the Stanley 72 to an eighth and chamfered the lower-front edge, then set it to three-eights and did the same to the top edge.

While this structure is the typical metal studding found in high rises, the single top-plate looks more like a roller coaster track than the base of a window opening. Not only does it rise and fall, but it twists like crazy as well. There is not enough height to add a piece to it to straighten it out so my only choice is to fix the apron solid to the sill and use it as the main connection surface. I’ll just shim the back of it every three feet or so and glue the whole lot in with construction adhesive.

As I could only get 1 x 4 to use for the apron, I had to treat the lower edge and I had just the ticket for this. Last fall, while at the Tools of the Trade show just east of Toronto, I purchased a molding plane from D.S. Orr, yes, the same D.S. Orr that I posted about so disparagingly a couple of months ago. I didn’t know who he was until I spoke to him after those posts. Anyway, H.E. Mitchell made this plane, which is why I bought it. He is really a relatively unknown maker from Brighton, England who operated a shop there in the later half of the 1800’s. I think he is possibly a cousin of my great, great grandfather, and because of that, his wood planes are the only ones I will purchase now. Don’t tell my wife, but I picked up one of his plow planes on eBay the other day. Great stuff!

So with a 1 ½" wood molding plane in my hands, I tackled a 4' piece of oak, cutting a ogee along one edge. A half hour later, I was soaked with sweat, but I had a beautiful edge on that board. Its no wonder men only lived until they were about forty-five or so during the last century. Doing something like this day in and day out would kill ya real quick.

After gluing and pocket screwing the apron to the stool (don’t look at that word like that, stool is the correct name for it), I ran over the lot with a scraper card and plopped it into place to check the fit.

I then quit for the day.

Peace,

Mitchell

Is that a big plane you have there, or are you just glad to see me...

In my never ending quest to spend my son's entire inheritance, one of my latest additions to the collection is a Stanley No.8 Type 8.

It is funny how you learn things in this collecting game.

I got an email from Jim Bode of jimbodetools.com saying;

hey mitchell,

picked up an awesome no.8 type 8. it is near perfect with very light pitting on the right side any a tiny check on the front knob. q logo iron has an inch to the slot. japanning is glossy and 97%. all original parts.

I bought it simply because Jim told me to, (there's trust for you, eh?) but not before replying; "Ok, what the hell is a "q logo iron" and what do you mean, "has an inch to the slot"? The rest I understood.

So Jim patiently replied to my queries and my knowledge of all things Stanley grew a tad more.

A "Q Logo" iron is one stamped with the 1892 patent date. How you get a Q out of 1892 I'll never know.

As it turns out, "An inch to the slot" is a little easier to comprehend. What Jim meant was, the distance between the slot that is cut into the blade so it will travel on the cap iron screw and the working end of the blade is one inch, meaning I can hone away that much material before the blade is garbage. 

Once that was explained, another question popped into my head:

How many times do you have to sharpen a plane blade to wear away 2 1/2" of steel?

Peace,

Mitchell

Good Things Come To Those Who.....Oh, Hell - I Got It! I Got It!...

As my old man used to say, "Gotca', ya bugger!"

Those words usually meant I was in for it, but not this time. This time, its a good thing.

After over ten months of endless solid main gears, I finally found one...

Just about every day for ten months found me doing searches for a Stanley 624 drill on eBay, jimbodetools.com, thebestthings.com and every other site I have bookmarked. Just about every day for ten months all I found were solid main gear examples which were far too new for my collection.

Finally, one stared me in the face. I was so used to not finding one that I continued on before the nickel dropped that I had just seen what I had been looking for. I actually had to backtrack to bring it up.

With most of its original paint intact, nothing broken and not even really dirty, from my perspective, it is a fairly decent example of what I consider to be a relatively rare tool. There may be a number of them out there, but they are definitely not for sale. I have no idea how old it is or what it is worth, other than what I paid for it, but to me, its worth at least ten months of work.

I figured when I finally found one, it wouldn't come cheap as, after all, when demand outstrips supply, the price rises. As I got this one for 17 bucks and I was the only bidder, I figure the demand in all the world for one of these was yours truly, so that wiped out the demand/supply theory.

It is missing its side handle, but it just so happens I have one. Not mentioned in the listing were the three original bits that were stashed in the handle. The cap was turned on pretty tight so I doubt the seller even knew they were there. I'll get in touch with Jim soon to see if he can come up with the complete set for me.

In truth, when I opened the box and held it in my greedy little hands, I quickly realized why there are not many of these old eggbeaters around. I had read somewhere that the spoke gear was pretty fragile, compared to the Miller Falls and Goodall/Pratt. So fragile, in fact, that most were broken. They were not kidding. This was not one of Stanley's better designs.

When I get this one cleaned up and I get the Miller Falls back from wktools.com where Mr. Kuc is working his magic on it, I'll shoot some photos so you can see the difference. There is some serious metal missing from this Stanley.

That's ok, though. I like rooting for the underdog, literally.

Peace,

Mitchell

One More Bench And I'll Scream...

When Christopher Schwarz started to build his recent Roubo workbench, I thought he was nuts. I appreciated it, because I have been mulling over the bench I want to build for a couple of years now, but I still thought he was nuts. Realistically, the guy has enough workbenches to fill a barn, yet here he was, building yet another one.

What didn't dawn on me at the time, but has caught up with me since, is the fact that Chris has a sixth sense when it comes to the average woodworking hobbyist's quest for knowledge. If you think this is a bit of an overstatement, check out the flood of new posts on the web about benches, many added since Chris started his latest example. It is what I call, "the Schwarz bench tsunami".

Could I read one more post about the world's most perfect workbench?

Absolutely not!

Could I write one?

You bet!

Here's the thing, my shooting board is coming together nicely. I have almost completed the prototype for the fence adjustment which I think is pretty cool, and it should be in the mail to DAEDWoRKs sometime this week. I have asked Raney to turn the final version for me, although I think he is a little skeptical that it will work. Now that I have a working model to prove he won't be wasting his time, I am hoping we can come to an agreement for its creation. Raney does amazing work with metal, his planes being what I consider to be hands above many of the others. If I can get him to agree to build it, I know his contribution to the board will make it incredibly special.

As I now have a handle on the project at hand, I can now start to think about the next one. I have chosen to build a workbench for three reasons. The first is the most obvious, you can only work without one for so long before you start to go batty. The second reason is because of the current project. This shooting board will probably become my most used tool, but with an overall size of 30" wide by 38" deep, it is a huge sucker. It is designed to mount on its own stand, but until residences change, room for that to happen will have to wait so it, at least, needs a bench to sit on. Finally, I have been going through the processes of what I want in a workbench for at least three years now, so it is about time.

The result of all of this is...

If working on a folding WorkMate these past few years has taught me nothing, at least I have learned that no matter what, a bench needs weight. My planes and I have chased that little sucker around the room long enough, thank you very much. But how do you add weight when you don't want a huge bench? Not to mention not wanting to break the bank?

My first idea was to add storage for tools under the bench. I would think that is the quickest and most economical way to add some serious weight to anything; fill it up with what you already have. I threw this idea out the window in a heartbeat, mainly because of a bench my old man and I built years ago.

The old man got this brainwave that searching for fasteners was a waste of time, especially if you could have them right were you need them - at the bench. He came up with this design for a bunch of bins along the bench front, and when we were done building it, we had a bench with three rows of eight bins, each of which tipped out to reveal what they contained. Needed a #8 by 1 1/2 screw? No problem; middle row, forth bin from the left. It really was an ingenious system, except for one thing; every time you reached in one of those bins for a screw, nail or dowel, you came up with a hand full of sawdust and shavings. Because the bins didn't seal, every bit of trash produced on top of the bench ended up in them.

I learned very quickly to hate any bench that wasn't open to the floor as you just couldn't keep them clean. My old shop had two benches and not only were both open to the floor, but their stretchers were placed a foot off the floor so I could get the ShopVac head in to clean underneath them properly. There is nothing worse than dust-catchers in a shop.

After selling the house and moving on the boat, I inherited a whopping big bench that someone had left in the yard years earlier and it had the same arrangement; a top, four legs and four stretchers. It was a great big old thing that had sat out in that yard for years and was so full of moisture that it would never dry out, but man, it weighed a ton.

I then ended up sharing a shop with a friend. He had built his benches with a shelf under each to store everything from tools to garden paraphernalia. What a mess. You just couldn't keep anything clean, no to mention find anything.

Hence, storage under a bench was definitely out, or was it?

A month or so ago I was doing some cooking in the kitchen and grabbed a knife from the drawer. When I hit the drawer face with my hip to close it, the nickel dropped.

When I put this kitchen together, I used self-closing slides for all the drawers. Checking out the Valley site, I discovered that they sold dampeners for spring loaded doors as well. If the drawers and doors can't stay open, and they have a relatively good seal when closed, I can store tools under a bench and not have to worry about the drawers and cupboards filling up with bench top waste.

Sounds like a plan to me.

Peace,

Mitchell

Beating Up An Eggbeater...

A while ago I posted about my search for an eggbeater drill. To date, I now have three.

At the beginning of last month, while away on a weekend getaway with my wife, I came across a Miller Falls in an antique store. It was a pretty rough looking old tool, but the clincher was the fact that it had an egg-shaped side handle, making me think it was slightly more rare than the usual Miller Falls examples. Missing its cap and a tooth in the main pinion, I still grabbed it for thirty bucks.

Having researched this drill since, it turns out I was right about the side handle. It is a Type K4, manufactured around 1885. I believe it is from a very early run as there are no markings on the tool anywhere, not even on the chuck, which is the three-jaw variety introduced with this model. All three handles are rosewood, but as the main handle’s threads for the cap are pretty thin, it will have to be replaced. It is a pretty looking tool and much larger than I expected it to be, this being the first example I have held.

Since getting it home I have tried to source a new handle, cap and pinion, but without success. As a result, I have emailed  Wiktor Kuc at wkTools.com in Albuquerque, New Mexico to see if he could work it into his schedule for restoration.

Another reason I scooped this Miller Falls is superstition. I want a Stanley No.624, but nothing was turning up anywhere and I honestly believe that the minute you buy an alternative, something you would rather not have, exactly what you want will show up out of nowhere. Well, sure enough, I bought this Miller Falls piece and within two weeks Jim, at jimbodetools,com, gave me a buzz to tell me he had a line on a Stanley No.624. I answered “Sold” without any questions and within two weeks, the drill was delivered to my door.

Sadly, I should have asked one pertinent question, “When was it made?” As it turned out, it was indeed a Stanley No.624 and it was just as Jim said, a little rough around the edges but complete and working. The problem, however, is that it is too new, being a solid main gear example while I want the older spoke type. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but it will end up on eBay soon.

Here’s the thing. I’m trying to keep my collection within a specific timeframe; 1880 to 1910, something that is turning out to be harder than one would think. I have purchased more Stanley planes over the past few weeks, all are either Type 8 or Type 9’s placing their manufactured date between 1899 and 1907. All of my saws run from 1888 to 1915 and because I try to purchase only E.H. Mitchell wooden molding planes, most of them are produced after 1875. While I do have the odd, odds and sods kicking around which fall out of this timeframe on one side or the other, the vast majority are within it and that is were I would like to stay.

Just as an aside to the H. E. Mitchell planes, God help me for saying this and not to start another controversy, but I think W.L. Goodman might be wrong about this maker in his "British Planemakers from 1700", second edition. Researching Henry Mitchell, I did find a toolmaker who was born in London, England, not far from my grandfather's home, as a matter of fact. This H. E. Mitchell had a father who became a saw sharpener after retiring from the army, ran a "Jointer's Tool Shop" in Brighton after marrying a local woman and lived at 3 North Road Brighton, according to the appropriate census information. Most of the planes that I have from this maker have his address marked as 4 North Road, Brighton, so I think I can be fairly confident that these two H. E. Mitchell's are one in the same. The thing is, if this Henry Mitchell set up shop in the year W. L Goodman stated, 1855, he would have been twelve at the time, and in fact, at that age, he was still living in London. Hence, it is my belief that H. E. Mitchell produced his tool line starting in 1863, not 1855 as Mr. Goodman states in his listings, and operated until he retired in 1897, when he moved to a small town north of Brighton where he died in 1908. While there is a huge margin of error following the British census as it was taken only every ten years, the similarities between the two are too close to ignore.

Back to relating my eggbeater story...

Disappointed with the Stanley, I returned to eBay’s drill listings and kept up the search. Within a few days, a listing from England caught my eye. After the trim saw fiasco, trying to determine its original use and being stymied left, right and centre by trying to find proper translations from French to English, I passed on the few French drills listed, but I had no qualms about clicking on this English one to see what it was about.

While pretty lean on descriptions, stating only “Hand drill with wooden handles, early 19^th century, good condition”, the pictures stated a lot more. This was probably the most robust eggbeater I had ever seen and I thought it would be a good one to have. As it turned out, my wife hauled me away from my computer when the auction was ending so I couldn’t do my usual “snipe”. For this purchase, I used my iPhone to do the deed, my first and last time for using it for this purpose. While the Apple "cult" likes to rave about this phone, it is as slow as molasses in January when it comes to working the web. To be sure I would win it, I had to overbid a few minutes before the auction ended, and, of course, everyone interested in it worked like mad to have it, but it only resulted in the price going sky high for me. I ended up winning it for $112 Canadian, which actually was only one cent short of my maximum bid.

Just before the end of that auction, I noticed one for a brace that had a very similar wooden handle as the eggbeater. The eggbeater’s listing didn’t have a manufacturer’s name, but the brace was listed as being made by E. W. Jung & Co. The web turned up nothing on this company so the only thing I could do was try to find some similarities in the images.  I screen captured every image of both and ran them all through Photoshop, enhancing whatever I could to determine any similarities. There were a number, but all were common to many different brace manufacturers’ of the time, so I had to take a chance, but given I won the brace for ten bucks,  it wasn’t much of a leap.

My reason for being so enamored with this brace is not for the brace itself, as the images showed it was shot and just junk, but because along with the brace came a small chuck, something that was missing with the eggbeater. As it turned out, the two are a close match, and I have ended up with a complete and workable eggbeater, but the two are not a true match, only a workable one.

So I’ll keep my search up for the Stanley, I’ll sell the No.624 that I have, but as for the other two, their keepers, so the worse thing that will happen when it comes time to drill a hole, I’ll have a choice of what to use. It is highly doubtful, though, that I will stop reaching for either my Ryobi 18V or my Delta Mini Drill Press as those are the two power tools that I will never give up, even with a gun to my head. In truth, I am not jumping through all these hoops to purchase a workable drill. I did all this simply because I like the look of these things.

Yes, your right. I'm nuts.

Peace,

Mitchell

Some things call for an apology...

I received a response from D.S. Orr yesterday regarding his inclusion in my posts about "The Saw That Never Was". In it, he made some very good points regarding his belief the saw's primary usage is a flooring saw. Whether or not he swayed me to his way of thinking is a topic for my next post as this one is dedicated to apologizing to him for my rather disrespectful wording in the previous posts.

In retrospect, the wording I used regarding Mr. Orr was very disrespectful and the fact that I got so wound up in my quest to find the use the saw was originally designed for is no excuse for doing so. I was focused on the statements Mr. Orr made regarding the saw as they related to the discussion at hand and did not consider at all the person who made them. Having reread what I wrote, I realized that I had committed a common error in judgement that I have often criticized others for.

As it turns out, Mr. Orr is both male, and someone whose opinions and thoughts about all things to do with vintage tools is highly regarding in collectors and dealer circles alike.

I would like to sincerely apologize to Mr. Orr and assure him that I meant no disrespect. Realizing now how quickly words can become ill-mannered, especially when written unintentionally, has raised my guard to try and not commit a similar infraction in the future.

I also need to apologize to Lee Valley Tools as, because Google did not come back with any hits under Mr. Orr's name, I thought their article could quite possibly be written by one of their employees using a pseudonym, a questionable practice, ethics wise, that I have seen other companies do with this sort of thing in the past. I should have known that if any company was held to the highest of business ethics, it would be Lee Valley Tools.

Again, my sincerest apologies to Mr. Orr and Lee Valley Tools.

Peace,

Mitchell

An Early Update Regarding The Saw That Never Was...

When I posted the previous article entitled, "The Saw That Never Was" last night, I notified Mr. Edwards it was there and asked for his approval on its content (God, can you image the poor guy having to slug through all the additional nonsense in that post just to get to what he said?)

This morning, I received a reply from him which stated the following:

The "scies a moulures, pour scier sur les boltes a recaler"  is directly translated as "saw for moulding, for sawing on the mitre jack"  There is no direct word for word translation of the tool name, as it is specific to the trade of menusierie.

Of course, for me, this brought up the question of what a "menusierie" is, so it was back to Google Translate again, only to get a translation for "menusierie" as "Menusierie".

Always one to push my luck, I sent off a quick email Mr. Edwards to see if he would offer up a translation.

I didn't get what I was looking for, but I did get something better. What Mr. Edwards said was, basically, to explain what a Menusierie is, he would have to explain to me 300 years of French history. Even though his reply stated that he was "not being rude or short", my first reaction to it was, "Yes you are". Taking a few moments to investigate the translation further, though, and I quickly discovered that he is absolutely correct and truly wasn't being rude or short, but instead, actually being a good teacher.

One translation for "Menusierie" is "Carpenter", but that didn't end up making much sense to me because doing more research into the word resulted in information on plumbers, mill wrights and aluminum fabrication, just to name a few.

At this point, I still can't give an accurate translation for the word "Menusierie", but researching it has opened my eyes to the fact that in France, craftsmen are treated far differently than they are in the Anglo world. Categorization and recognition for the different crafts have been something the French government started to nurture and develop over three hundred years ago and still deals with today.

As it turns out, one little French saw has given me a great deal of joy and knowledge, and the reality is, I haven't even cut through a piece of wood with it yet. But it has also taught me my limitations. I'm the guy who has trouble ordering an omelet in a French restaurant. At my age, taking on the task of understanding the history of French woodworking is beyond my capabilities. Hell, I have enough trouble trying to figure out the Stanley plane timeline from the last century and a half.

As it stands, this is my very first purchase of a vintage French tool. It will be, I'm sad to say, also my very last.

My thanks to Mr. Edwards and Mr. Shepherd for making this such an enjoyable experience for me.

Peace,

Mitchell

The Saw That Never Was...

You really do have to love the power of the web. You really do.

On Monday, I was the proud owner of a very rare saw, one which was my only tool that originated in France, one made by an old and respected French company, one that was tuned and ready for a very specific use. Monday, I was the proud owner of a Française scie à bois de placage – a French veneer saw.

Two days later, through the power of the Internet, I now own a Française scie a recaler.

How did all this come about? Through the interaction and sharing of information on the web.

I posted an article on this blog on Monday that discussed a new purchase, one that I thought was a vintage French veneer saw. It was sold to me as a veneer saw and I accepted that this was its intended use as I had seen a few of these saws around the web and they were all labeled as veneer saws.

In the post I gave a link to an article written by D.S. Orr, which claimed this saw wasn’t a veneer saw at all, but a stair, tenon or molding saw. Having never learned to not argue with someone with more knowledge than I own, I gave arguments why I didn't agree with him.

Enter Stephen Shepherd: Tuesday morning, Stephen, from the Full Chisel blog, left a comment on this post stating he had seen the saw in a French tool catalogue and it was listed as a “scies a moulures, pour scier sur les boltes a recaler”. Stephen surmised that he thought this meant that it is probably a tenon saw used in a tenon clamp for making tenon ends of chair parts.

Stephen has a post about this type of clamp that he made, as well as one for the saw he created to go with it.

I have mentioned Stephen Shepherd often in these posts, so it is no surprise that I hold his expertise in all things to do with historical processes in woodworking in the highest regard. The man is a walking encyclopedia on the subject, so I was thrilled to finally have someone I know who is an authority on these things tell me the veneer deal with the saw is all wet.

My next order of business was to get an good translation of the French listing Stephen quoted from the catalogue.

Enter Google: To say my French is non-existent is putting things mildly. I am lucky *Canada is bilingual; otherwise I wouldn’t know that “champignons” stood for mushrooms, rather than an Olympic Gold Medal winner; a bit of French that I learned off a can of them.

Heading to Google Translate, I found it a little lacking as well. While trying, it came up with the English translation for, “scies a moulures, pour scier sur les boltes a recaler” as, “trim saws, for cutting on a Boltes readjust”. Ok, “Trim saw” I get, “for cutting on a” I also understand, I also can relate to the word, “readjust”, but what the hell is a “Boltes”? So I ask Google Translate to translate that single word as it is the most important word in the whole lot of them and it came back with, “Boltes” as…wait for it…”Boltes”.

Then turning to the all-encompassing Google.ca and entering this single word resulted in hits for Jill Bolte, Henry Bolte, Fredrik Boltes, Frank Boltes…you get the picture.

Reenter Stephen: Asking Stephen what a “Boltes readjust” is, he really wasn’t sure as his French, it seems, isn’t much better than mine, but I give him credit as he is doing well for someone who doesn’t live in a *bilingual country where he can learn a second language off a soup can.

Enter W. Patrick Edwards: As the use of this saw has now been reduced to determining what two words in French mean in English, something I wasn’t able to determine through the usual routes, I sat here thinking of what to do. It suddenly dawned on me that some recent posts on WoodTreks about Hammer Veneering and Hide Glues, stuff I had read so much about on Stephen’s Blog, was actually the catalyst that caused me to buy this damn saw in the first place. The reason for this was that the craftsman that Keith Cruickshank filmed doing these demonstrations had an authority about him that wasn’t cocky or anything, it was just...well… authoritative. I was so impressed, actually, that I searched out information about him on the web and even spoke to Keith about him. It didn’t take long to discover that the W. Patrick Edwards that was demonstrating how to lay down veneer on a scrap of wood in these movies was actually a rather well known and respected historical furniture restorer and conversationalist who is also renowned in these circles for his veneered creations.

Doing more research on Mr. Edwards now resulted in a conviction on my part that this was the man for the job at hand; someone to tell me, and the rest of the vintage tool world, exactly what the hell this saw really is.

I started to write out Mr. Edwards résumé here, which would not only substantiate my position that he is an authority, but also be self-explanatory as to why I call this man “Mr. Edwards”, but the reality is, this blog isn’t long enough. Just to give you some highlights, Mr. Edwards studied under Dr. Ramond at the ecole Boulle in Paris where he earned his Accreditation. His “atelier” (Google Translate states this means “workshop”) in San Diego is also accredited by ecole Boulle, a rare honour anywhere outside of France. He is also the head of the American School of French Marquetry and an affiliate of The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. If you ever bought a jar of “Old Brown Glue” (animal protein glue), he was the one that developed it. His opinions have been published in multiple magazines and he has appeared on many television programs. If you subscribe to Lee Valley's Newsletters, you might remember Mr. Edward's name from the article from the May, 2010 edition entitled; "A Return to Tradition: the Marquetry Chevalet".

The kicker for me, though, was discovering that, as part of his studies to earn his accreditation, Mr. Edwards had to learn enough French, particularly in the area of marquetry and veneering, to appease his master.

If you are still not convinced that I should take this man’s word as gospel when it comes to what this saw is, here is a picture of his latest work…

These two examples are some of Mr. Edward's latest creations,
the original table, built in 1834, was owned by Louise-Marie,
the eldest daughter of King Louis-Phillippe of France

Ok, now that any questions about his credentials are out of the way, the question now is, would this man take the time to answer my question about this saw? Simply – Yes!

Here is exactly what came back to me from Mr. Edwards about an hour after I sent off my request:

Mitchell

I am glad you asked. I have the same tool, which I got in Paris. I believe it is not found in English or American workshops. It is called a "scie a recaler" and used with a "boite a recaler". In English this would be a mitre saw used with a mitre jack. The mitre jack was placed in the workbench to hold the molding or wood so that a perfect 45 degree angle could be sawn. The mitre saw has no set so that it is flush on the back surface and does not saw into the face of the jack. The jack has a 45 degree surface and a 90 degree surface on the opposite side. Either side is functional. The saw is worked back and forth, set with a crosscut tooth. After the saw is used a mitre plane is worked across the surface on the face of the jack to smooth the joint properly. So, you need a mitre jack, mitre saw and mitre plane for the complete set.

This is not a veneer saw in any case.

On top of this complete answer, Mr. Edwards even attached images of his saw being demonstrated by Patrice, Mr. Edwards' business partner:

While Mr. Edward's definition is not exactly the same as Mr. Shepherd's, they both share the common element of the saw being designed for trimming using a jack of one type or another; Mr. Edwards stating a Mitre Jack, while Mr. Shepherd states a Flush Jack.

So, Monday I owned a “Français du bois de placage de scie” and today, I own a “Français Boite a recaler, scie a recaler”. Go figure.

My saw will now head back to Daryl to be reconfigured so it is proper for the job it was intended for; a crosscut configuration for cutting angles in a jack.

Peace

Mitchell

Note: If any French-speaking individual finds my poor attempts at dealing with the French language insulting, I truly apologize. Any comments that I made regarding my attempts at translations were solely directed towards my own incompetency, and in no way reflect upon the French language.

*How Canadian Bilingual Laws Saved My Bacon (actually, eggs)…

My wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise and after a week of rich and heavy food, we were seriously fed up with it. On this particular day, we got off the ship in St. Maarten with the plans to spend the day wandering. While it didn't take long for ether of us to realize everyone around us was speaking French, because I didn’t have to communicate with any of them, I really didn’t give it much thought.

Come lunch, we headed to a beautiful French Bistro. Seated, with the waiter standing at our table ready to take our order, I finally clued in to the fact that we were in trouble as I did not speak a word of French. As it turned out, the waiter and I were even, because he, it seems, never spoke a word of English, either.

Thankfully, Canada is a bilingual country, our food labels listed, by law, in both French and English.

Visualizing a can of mushrooms, I remembered the French label stating it was “champignons”, my mind holding it simply because it looks so much like “champion”, something an idiot like me can remember. Racing around inside my mind for an image of a package of cheese, I finally remembered, “Fromage”. Where I ran into real trouble was that omelets, at that time, were not pre-packaged, so I had to settle for the two out of three.

With great gusto and trying to act the world traveler, I looked at our kind waiter and said, “Champignons uh, fromage, aww ohmalet”, and added, “deuo Coca cola, mercy”.

We did have the best lunch we had had in a long time, whatever the country, but I am sure that waiter turned to the chef after we left and said, “Jezzez, Fred, I thought I was going to bust a gut when I heard that idiot trying to speak French?”

Peace

Trempé Coulaux & Co Veneer Saw...

While I was yacking a while back in one of these posts I mentioned that I had purchased a new veneer saw that I hadn't seen yet. Well now the thing is sitting on a shelf right over my main computer station so I can sit back and look at it occasionally. I get a fair buzz out it, I have to tell you.

This isn't a veneer saw for the weak at heart. The thing is 20" long and 5" wide. The mahogany handle runs its full length and shows all the dings, dents and divots of having seen some serious use over its lifetime.

From the latter part of the 19th century, it was produced by Trempé Coulaux & Co. This meant nothing to me until I researched the company. As it turned out, this is the offshoot of the company that used to make Napoleon's swords. I do not hold Napoleon with anywhere near the high regard that many do, but I will acknowledge that the man knew quality when he saw it.

After purchasing it from Jim Bode Tools, I had him ship it to Woodnut4 so he could work his magic on it. A previous owner had tried to change the teeth to a rip configuration and had done a very poor job of it, so Daryl's first order of business was to joint the teeth, which served to display some very real problems.

The main problem was some missing teeth. According to Daryl, the steel is seriously hard, so when whoever tried to set the teeth, some simply snapped off. This resulted in Daryl jointing the teeth down to nothing and starting again.

With the blade off the handle, some other issues arose with the saw. Someone had added a shim between the blade and the handle, cocking the top of the blade away from it, I assume to give a more comfortable grip. What it also did was helped to throw the blade out of true, so I had Daryl dump it.

Next was a serious crack in the handle. To me, this is not a big deal. I mean, lets face it, if we don't have a crack or two somewhere when we are a hundred plus years old, it will be a miracle.

Daryl glued the crack up using CA glue.

Once the handle was secure, he jointed it with his Stanley No.10. Nice looking plane, by the way.

With the handle back to true, it was ready to accept the blade again, this time holding it true which I believe is the purpose of this type of full length handle.

As this is a French made saw, we decided to file the new teeth in the traditional French manner. There isn't a set to these teeth, each one filed like a "Peg Tooth", with equal rake front and back. The teeth configuration is so the blade can butt up against a guide and not have to worry about damaging them in the process. Completely done by hand, as you can see, Daryl has a very good eye for this sort of thing.

Assembled, the saw is now ready to ship to me so I can finally take a gander at it.

It was quite a coincidence that the Lee Valley Newsletter that arrived around the same time as the saw had the following image displayed in its, "What Is It" column. In it, D.S. Orr, a well respected authority on vintage tools, states that he believes the saw is not a veneer saw at all, but instead, suggests that it is either a dedicated tenon saw used by furniture makers or a molding trimming saw or even a stair saw. He does not think it is a veneer saw at all.

Hey, far be it from me to differ with an authority in tools, but...

I do not think that you can go by what teeth a vintage saw has as teeth configuration change over time.

Mr. Orr suggests, because Lee Valley's example has the secondary plate on top of the blade, it was used to rest on the floor, the secondary plate keeping the teeth from dragging on the floor while it was used to trim baseboards. If this is its intentional use, why is that plate so far back from the teeth? 

Mr. Orr also suggests that the handle was created for a two-handed grip. Maybe, but I don't have to stretch my imagination too far to quickly come up with a more comfortable tote arrangement that would be a hell of a lot more comfortable while cutting a baseboard on my knees. And while we are on the discussion of cutting baseboards on your knees, I would certainly want a saw with more aggressive teeth while doing it.

The article also suggests that chair makers and furniture makers might have used this saw from trimming tenons and such on partially assembled pieces. My saw is 5" wide. I haven't built much furniture with hand tools, but the little I have resulted in using a much, much smaller and narrower saw when fine-tuning joints.

If you look at any example of a currently produced French veneer saw, while much shorter, coming in on average at about 5 inches, you will instantly see similarities in design. They still use the same style of handle, the handle still runs the full length of the saw, and the saw has the same teeth configuration as Daryl laid on mine. This configuration matches other examples of this same saw that I have seen in the past.

My final argument against Mr. Orr's suggested uses for this saw is simple - both Lee Valley's and mine, along with every other example of these long versions that I have seen, come with a hanger ring on one end. To me, this makes it a shop tool, something that is hung on the wall or in a large cabinet. If it was intended to cut baseboards, molding or stairs, that ring wouldn't exist because the saw would normally be stored in a chest, and chests are not high enough to hang a 20" saw from a hook.

For me, this is a veneer saw produced to cut very large sheets of veneer. Right or wrong, that is what it is configured for now and that is what its future use will be for as long as I own it.

Veneer, stair, molding or tenon saw, it is still one very cool looking saw.

Peace,

Mitchell