The Tale of Two Planes...

Ok, I'm anal. I'll admit it. I will also admit to the fact that the older I get, the more anal I become. I have come to realize that I formed some strange ideas about mechanical things over the past ten years or so. I will also have to admit that I will go to some pretty far extremes to meet those obsessions. Did I mention that I have also realized that many of these concepts I have developed are actually obsessions. No? Well they are. To name but a few, if the manufacturer made something as a set, I want the whole set, not just part of it. If things came in pairs, I won't stop until I have them both. No matter what they are, if they are mechanical, I like them all clean and shiny, and I like them to work like the day they came out of the factory, no matter how old they are. I haven't always been this weird when it comes to these things. Lord knows my old man tried to drum a toned down version of them into my stubborn brain, but only recently did the nickel dropped. The plane that has the staring role in this post is a great example of either how far I have come over the years with these things, or how far I have regressed, depending on how you look at it.

The plane up for discussion is a Stanley No.6, a Type 18. It was part of my "inheritance package" that I bought from my old man 25 years ago. There were three Type 18 planes included in the toolbox that he made his livelihood from over his career as a carpenter; a 9½ block, a No.4 and the No.6. The 9½ was cracked, so I trashed it, but the 4 and 6 were in pretty good shape. At least they were until I got ahold of them full-time.

Up until recently, if a tool's ability wasn't measured in horsepower, I wasn't interested. When I rebuilt a 40' wood boat, I had to replace about 30% of the hull's mahogany planking. You don't know love for something until you spend hours tweaking a grand worth of Honduras Mahogany so each gorgeous plank butts up nice and snug against its equally gorgeously grained sister, then, with the grain just glowing in the sunlight, you paint over it all with a thick copper based gunk so when you through the whole lot into the lake, strange, hairy things won't grow on it. It was with this No.6 that I was able to produce that "tight" hull, thereby keeping those strange, hairy things from growing on the inside of the hull as well. Once the hull was completed, though, that plane was unceremoniously dumped into a cold, damp dockbox and left to rust its way into the ugly mess you will see in the pictures that accompany this post.

When I was forced to let the horses loose and revert to hand tools, this plane was one of my mainstays in just about everything I built. All along I thought it was a No.7. I have no idea why, but I was pretty shocked to discover it was actually a No.6. One would think, with a large "No. 6" cast predominantly into the toe of the bed, I would have noticed it long ago, but like I said, it didn't have a horsepower rating. When I walked away from the power tools, this plane was the first old tool that I stripped and soaked in Evapo-Rust. Man, I scrubbed that sucker until my fingers were raw, but it still looked like hell.

While I came to love this old plane, I hated looking at it as it bugged the hell out of me. I had given it a predominate place in the toolbox and there is sat, day in and day out, taunting me, constantly forcing me to face the results of my disregard for it over the years.

Then, one day while cruising eBay for even more planes, I came across a Stanley No.7 that was reasonably old, but looked brand new. I clicked on the link to see what it was about.

In the description, the eBayer had listed what he had done to this plane:

• Sole: Grind flat. This means grind only the bottom of the body. Finished, it will be pristine, with a flatness will have no more than .0022” maximum indicator reading.
• Frog: Fully restore. Grind the face, re-machine the mounting points and match the offset of points to points on plane body, plus clean and rework the blade adjusting knob, thread and ‘Y’ lever, making it better than new.
• Blade: Grind the sides. Machine grind the edges dead square to the faces and parallel to each other.
• Blade: Removal of harsh edges and dings. This is a hand operation that rids edge corners of any sharpness left by the original manufacturer or from abusive handling. It allows the blade to seat properly on the frog face and makes for a more ‘friendly’ blade in terms of handling.
• Blade: Complete grinding of both faces. This is a precision machine operation used to help restore flatness.
• Blade: Grind cutting edge. The blade's primary bevel is Flat ground at 25 degrees. 
• Blade: Hone cutting edge. A basic honed cutting edge is applied in order to test the plane. Each restored plane must create .002 inch thick ribbons.
• Chipbreaker: Optimize. This operatio closes any gaps that exist between the chipbeaker and blade. The chipbreaker is then polished to allow the chips an easier escape.
• Body: Clean. This operation removes rust and grease that have accumulated over the years.
• Japanning: Once the plane body is cleaned, a new coat of japanning is applied over the original.
• Level Cap: Wire brush the lever cap to smooth and clean its surface.
• Tote and Knob: If the tote and knob have chips, new wood is grafted, then they are stripped and recoated.

What really caught my eye was at the end, where the eBayer stated the following: 

• Incidentally .... I can also do restoration on your planes if they are in need of it. Email me through the Ebay “contact seller” and I can then furnish you with additional information on the service.

Now I know Chris Schwarz states, and states often, that larger planes do not need to have a dead flat sole. Chris would know better than I about this, as he is the true expert when it comes to all things to do with planes. Even as an pure, raw amateur, though, I can emphatically tell you that no plane requires engraving, but even Chris admits to being very partial to one of his that has his logo of a square engraved on each side.

Needless to say, I contacted the eBayer, sent off my No.6 and I am thrilled that I did. Next up, off goes the No.4.

If you are interested in having one of your planes rebuilt, the man to contact is Steve Nisbett of Wheaton, Illinois. You can contact him through this email address link.

So would the rebuilding of this plane make my old man happy? Nah. Oh, he would look at it with approving eyes and run his hands over the metal and new tote and knob, and then he would ask what the rebuild cost. After I answered him, he would put the plane down and gruffly inform me that if I wasn't such a a butt-head (he would have used stronger wording here) and had taken care of the plane in the first place, the cost of rebuilding it wouldn't have been necessary. As much as it hurts to say so, even now, he would be right, the grumpy old gas-passer (sorry, it was the politest way I could say it).

While I think the fun I have had with these images is obvious, in case some of you
missed it, these are compilations made from images I took before and after Steve
worked his magic on the plane. To clarify, all these images are of the same plane.

Peace,

Mitchell

Now That's Something I Would Have Done...

I woke up one day with a thing for Stanley 40's. I have no idea where it came from, but I suspect it has to do with nothing more than the shape of their handles. Ever the masochist, I started collecting them individually, instead of simply looking for a good, clean set from the get-go. After assembling almost a complete set, I realized they were not matching. I then decided that the ever-so slight difference in the older version's handles was sexier, so off I went in search of examples with four patent dates. I have one or two left to find, but after four or five years of searching, I'm pretty happy with what I have accomplished.

In truth, though, I have actually over accomplished with this particular collection. I will admit to being a real sucker for these chisels and I will buy up any and all that appear to be a decent length. To ever remind me of this obsession, I have a drawer full of the damned things, many of which I plan to sell in the near future. I doubt getting rid of many will stop me from buying more, though, as my plan of attack now is to complete the set, but times two; one good set for easy chiselling, and one "beater" set.

During one of my many searches through eBay, I came across a 40 that looked like it could have come out of my old man's toolbox. This poor old thing took a real wailing from someone, and I would lay odds it was probably a little schmuck of a kid who probably even looked like me. I felt so sorry for this thing, I bought it for about 25 bucks more than it was worth, which means I paid $20 for it.

It has sat in the drawer for a while now, but this weekend I decided to bring the sad little thing back to life. That rotten little kid had nailed this thing to death, wailing on it so bad that the cap was flattened and mushroomed over the leather washer. While driving the cap down, the wood handle could do nothing but follow suit and eventually the kid had it mushroomed over the shank so badly, it had no choice but to split.

I straightened out the opening as best I could with a chisel, then cut a wedge from some scrap ash, running it over a sheet of sandpaper until I got it to fit as snugly as I could. I filled the gap with glue and hammered the wedge in as far as it would go.

I let it sit for 24 hours, then chiseled away the waste. I couldn't figure out how to bring the handle back into line any other way but to chisel and sand away the mushroomed areas, both at the cap and at the shank. I reshaped the handle to as close to original as I could get it. I then filed the cap down smooth on the sides and revealed as much of the leather as dared. I then gave it eight or nine coats of shellac, rubbing it down with fine steel wool between coats and then four or five coats of Min-Wax Finishing Wax, each coat rubbed in with extra-fine steel wool.

The patch is not a perfect match, but then I don't want it to be. Having been wailed on is part of its history now, and that light wedge-shaped patch will put a smile on my face every time I look at it. It is nice to know I wasn't the first rotten little bugger the world has seen, and I doubt I'll be the last.

Here is the end result above an untouched example so the handles can be compared.

I know I didn't put any value back into this chisel, but I think I gave it back a little of its beauty.

Peace,

Mitchell

An Offer You Can't Refuse...Ok, Maybe You Can...

I'm going to try and bring myself to sell off a few tools I have that are either duplicates, unwanted or unloved. Let me stress, I am not going into the old tool business, but instead, just swapping out some unwanted tools for cash to contribute towards buying some more tools that I do want.

I figured if I was going to do this, I'd give you folks a shot at it first. The following is the listing I came up with to post with the item on eBay. I'll leave it posted here for a few days and if it doesn't sell, I'll move it over to eBay.

This Jointer Fence has been sold.

Thank you for your interest.

I am NOT taking bids on this item.

The first one that emails me saying they want it - get it.

The price listed here is the same as the opening bid if the item is moved over to eBay.

All of the details regarding the item, payment and shipping are listed below.

Once you go through the listing you may have one question, so I'll answer it here before you ask it...

Yes, I have found that eBay descriptions that are long-winded attempts at humour get more hits and higher bids than the short, blunt, in-your-face, take-it-or-leave-it style that is the usual for the "hide-behind-the-monitor" sellers common to eBay these days.

VERITAS JOINTER FENCE – USED, IN EXCELLENT CONDITION

The selling price for this item is $17.50 plus shipping

This auction listing is for a Veritas Jointer Fence and is probably the longest description ever used for a simple piece of aluminum extrusion and a couple of magnets.

Rather than mumbling on about what this amazing little item is all about, I will quote Lee Valley…

Planing a square edge on a board requires a jointer fence, whether you are using an electric jointer or a hand plane.

The Veritas® jointer fence allows you to shoot accurate and consistent square or bevelled edges with most iron or steel bench planes. The integral rare-earth magnets make it quick and easy to attach or remove the 11" long anodized aluminum fence from either side of all sizes of bench planes, from a smooth plane (#4) to a jointer (#8).

As supplied, the 2" tall guiding face can be used to plane edges perfectly square to the face of your workpiece. It can also be used to shoot angles less than 90° when a bevelled wooden guide is attached to the inside face of the fence.

Lee Valley added an exclusion regarding this fence, stating it does not mount to the Veritas bevel-up jointer and smoother planes (see the list of planes I have used it on below).

This particular listed item is used and does have some small nicks and dings, although none major or glaring. Make sure you have a close look at the photos so you know what you are getting. The reason it does have those nicks and dings is because the darned thing actually works. Because of that, it was actually used.

The rare earth magnets still hold with the same strength as the day it was purchased.

I used this fence often, shooting pine, oak and walnut, to name a few. I shot square and beveled with it and found it was excellent at doing what Veritas designed and produced it to do.

I have used this fence attached to a 15” Veritas Low-Angle Jack Plane, a Stanley No.6 and a Stanley No.8. It worked very well on all of them.

My wife bought me a Stanley No.386 as a gift. This Veritas is less hassle than the 386, but if you are married, you will understand why I am selling it.

The listed Canadian price for this fence on the Lee Valley website is $44.50.

Payment:

I only accept payment through PayPal.

Payment is expected within three days of emailing me to tell me you want it. The dog ate my wallet is no excuse for being tardy.

Shipping:

I ship only by mail and charge only what the Post Office asks for.

I ship worldwide.

All shipments mailed using "Expedited Parcel", a trackable service that includes up to $100 in insurance.

Item weighs 10.5 ounces (plus packaging)

Shipping Time-Frame:

The fence is shipped the following working day after receiving payment.

Returns:

If the fence I send you is not the fence displayed in the listing’s photographs, I’ll refund your purchase price. Other than that, there isn’t any return on this item.  

Contact:
If you wish to purchase this fence, please click here and let me know by email.

Peace,

Mitchell

Tried To Get My Feet Wet And Drowned...

I recently tried to run with the big boys. Scary stuff!

If you cruise the web looking for information on vintage tools you have probably come across David Stanley Auctions. It is probably one of the premiere auction sites for vintage tools out there. The tools they consign for auction are notably far and above the average. Their recent auction included both private and museum collections which meant some pretty amazing stuff. I got hooked on this company and signed up for a years worth of their catalogues. 

Their last auction was held on March 26th and on the 24th I received their catalogue in the mail. Thinking, "In for a penny, in for a pound" (little did I know), I figured I would give them a go. Not knowing how all this worked, I picked three lesser valued items to start; a 5" Brass Protractor, a Marples 15" Square and a Pair of Dowel Rounders.

The Protractor was listed as, "A 5" combination brass protractor and scale rule G++ (30-50)". The image supplied in both their printed and online catalogues showed a nice looking example so I listed my maximum bid on their Absentee Bidding Form as 50₤. It sold for 60₤.

The Square was listed as, "A 15" brass faced rosewood handled try square by Marples with bench stop G+ (15-25)". Knowing that their grading system was as high or higher than those The Best Things uses, I felt confident placing a bid for it at 30₤. It sold for 32₤.

Finally, the Dowel Rounders were listed as, "A pair of handled beech dowel rounders G++ (30-50)". I placed a top bid of 50₤, which is exactly what they sold for.

Here is what my single winning bid got me...

They are really a nice pair of cutters which look as though they didn't cut very many dowels over their lifetime. They are stamped with a previous owners name, "J. Harvey". They also have size stampings; one stamped "8" (¾") and the other "9" (1"). The "MES Howarth, Warrant Cast Steel, Sheffield" blades are probably very close to their original length, based on the very little amount of play below the mounting screws when the blade is set. As a result of all of this, I have no complaints about the tools purchased.

Now lets have a look-see what these tools actually cost me.

The invoice I received had the listed lot and selling price of 50₤.

There was then the "Premium", which I expected, of 7.50₤

Following this was a Credit Card charge of 1.98₤. I didn't see this one coming.

Then the shipping charges were added, the 17.58₤ charge being one thing, but added to that is a VAT charge of 3.52₤.

Insurance was additional, which was 0.50₤, and again the VAT charge reared its ugly head to ding me for another 0.10₤.

Now I'm not blaming David Stanley Auctions in any way for these charges. Other than the Credit Card charge, I was well aware of them before placing my bids. In actual fact, David Stanley Auctions didn't charge me the 3₤ handling charge they were supposed to, according to their literature, so they treated me more than fair.

All told, though, my 50₤ ($78.50 CAN) bid for these two Dowel Cutters ended up costing me 81.18₤ ($128.00 CAN), which means landing the tools on my desk cost more than 60% of their purchase price.

I should have expected this. When I was in London, England a few years ago, my first purchase was from a chip vendor on the street, and was just a can of Coke. When he asked me for 5₤, I didn't think twice, and just handed it to him. As I popped the tab on that can walking away, though, it hit me that I was about to drink an $11 can of pop.

England. You have to love it, but I guess only the big boys can afford to live there.

Peace,

Mitchell

As an aside, I will mention that while David Stanley Auctions is a spectacular company that deals in better than the best in vintage wares, they are a tad lacking when it comes to communications. Two emails that I have sent them asking for clarifications have been left hanging. As an international company dealing on the Internet, I was quite surprised at this revelation.

The Tools of the Trade Show...

The Tools of the Trade Show took place today in Pickering, Ontario. This is one of the very few vintage tool shows that happen in Canada, so few in fact, the promoters are able to run it twice a year; a spring show in April and a fall show in October.

In the past two years I have found that the dealers had more tools on their tables than there were potential customers to buy them. This year I felt this ratio was in reverse. I think some of the dealers were gun-shy, so they cut back on their inventories and displayed less. As a sign the economy is possibly turning around, I think the buying numbers swelled this year but faced a lesser number of choices. It is possible that I also overheard more haggling over price this year than I have heard in the recent past. As an example of this, I returned to one dealer to talk price about a plane I saw about 75 minutes previous only to find that the plane gone, along with about 90% of the rest of his inventory. I mentioned that it looked like he did quite well that morning and he answered that he thought his customers made out much better than he did. Signs that displayed, "Prices are negotiable" were commonplace.

Doug Orr, the writer of all things vintage in the Lee Valley Tools' Newsletters, had his booth up and running, crammed full of wood moulding planes (sadly, no H.E. Mitchell's) and other tools of quality. We discussed a beautiful, but unmarked, ¾" steel shoulder plane with what I think was a walnut infill that I picked up off his table. This thing was amazingly built with a price of $155. He told me that it had an $85 blade in it, which barely poked out of the finest mouth I have ever seen on any plane. The mouth was so fine in fact, that I reluctantly put it back on the table. Looking at the mouth of that plane, I knew that with my limited plane abilities at this point, I was looking at buying $155 worth of pure frustration. Maybe one day, when my skills with these things improve, I won't be so quick to put things down that intimidate me, but today wasn't that day.

Doug Orr's booth is always loaded with crates of
wood moulding planes in every profile imaginable.

Doug also has a number of feature planes and other tools
displayed across his shelves and tables. They are easier
to see, but you really feel like you "scored" when you
find a needed one while routing through the bins.  

As with every show, Martin J. Donnelly Tool Auctions was front and centre. Personally, I really appreciate this company being present as it gives this show the vintage tool trades "Stamp of Approval". Too often we Canadians are treated as distant relatives by our American cousin's, and it is good to see we are worthy of Martin making the long drive up here (do you hear that you eBayers that won't ship to Canada). While here, Martin also takes on the job as speaker at the meeting held before the show by The Tool Group of Canada. Maybe there is enough of us up here to convince companies like Jim Bode Tools to share the driving chores with Martin in the fall.

I also got to hold my first Stanley No.1 Bench Plane this morning, which was quite an event, I can assure you. I saw this little plane sitting on a rack in Dave (ToolRush) Carriere's big booth. The bed was unmarked, the lever-cap was smooth with the key-hole mount, the blade had the Victory Stanley logo and the adjustment wheel was the older solid-filled style. I thought it might have been a miniature model of a No.4 or a salesman's sample, so I held it up and asked Dave what it was. When he answered, "Stanley No.1; $1300", it blew me away. I had read a number of articles on this plane and had pretty much decided I would never own one because of its size. Being able to hold an almost perfect example of one in the palm of my hand this morning, I thought to myself, "Yup. Mitchell, you will never own one of these things". Its cute, I'll give it that, but if the only way you can describe something like this is to use the word, "cute", it ain't no tool I want to own. Even though I had confirmed my suspicions about this plane, the whole experience did leave me feeling a little foolish. Some tool collector, eh? I didn't even recognize the infamous Stanley No.1.

This Stanley No. 1 caught my eye, big time,

mainly because I couldn't figure out what

the hell it was.

Dave (ToolRush) Carriere's booth displays
a smorgasbord of woodworking delights.

As if the Stanley No.1 introduction didn't make me feel foolish enough, I had to add to it at the Sauer & Steiner Toolworks booth. This world renowned plane making firm is also present at every one of the Tools of the Trade shows. Each time I passed them my eye was drawn to a mitre plane they had on display, one that appeared to be about 10" in length by about 2¼" in width. Finally, during the forth go-round I stopped to have a look. I have been thinking for over a year now of making a dedicated shoot board plane, but first I have to finish the actual shooting board. I slapped together a temporary shoot to use while I was still playing with the final one's design and use my Veritas 15" Low-Angle Jack Plane with it. I love this plane but it is just too damned light to use for shooting. What I want is a hernia-inducing slug of metal that won't deflect off the end grain like the Veritas does. When I picked up this Sauer & Steiner, it immediately just felt right for the job. I had been all over this company's website a few times and have read much about their products, which are beautifully built, by the way, so I already had a rough idea what the cost of the plane was, but hoping a miracle had happened and the prices had fallen, I asked. I don't know if it was monsieur Sauer or monsieur Steiner that answered, but whichever it was, the answer was, "About 5". That answer didn't register with the number I had in my head for some reason, and I blurted out, "Hundred?" Either not wanting to embarrass me further, or not wanting to telegraph it throughout the hall, the conveyor of the information mouthed the word, "Thousand", as he smiled and shook his head. The thing is, I was thinking $6k when I walked up to the table, but still ended up walking away red-faced and embarrassed. I can get myself into these predicaments, I tell ya.

So what did I end up carrying home after four hours of frenzy feeding on vintage tool delights?

I arrived at the show looking for three specific items and walked out with one of them. I went in looking for the bullnose attachment for my Stanley No.72 Chamfer, a Stanley No.20 square, something longer than 16", and, of course, any tool stamped "H.E. Mitchell". I left with the square.

Long Stanley No.20 squares are a rarity, indeed. Not only did I find a long one, I found the longest one made. Not only that, I found it at an excellent price. While they rarely show up, the few that I have seen for sale have sold  for anywhere from $95 on eBay for a very poor example, to $165 on a dealers' online store for a good example. I picked up this one for $75 and I think it may clean up quite nicely.

I came home with this 20" Stanley No.20 with the arm hanger still
attached, all for a cool seventy-five bucks. The image has the blade
looking waved, but that is a result of lighting and dirt, The blade
is actually dead-straight.

The Tools of the Trade Show may not be near the size and depth of some of the larger American and British versions, but for our little corner of the world, it is a little bit of tool heaven.

Peace,

Mitchell


While I am sure not many of you are asking yourselves, "why does Canada have such limited (and hidden) vintage tool sources?", I will answer it anyway.
Canada basically, when it comes to retailers with narrow and shallow inventories...sucks.
Here are some stats for you to consider...
Population
United States - 311 million (ranks 3rd)
Canada - 34.4 million (ranks 36th)
Land Mass
Canada - 3.86 million square miles
United States - 3.7 million square miles
Population Density
United States - 31.6 people per square mile
Canada - 3.3 people per square mile
Building an average 50-mile stretch of highway in Canada and the United States...
Average cost per mile - $500,000
50-mile stretch - $25 million to complete
Density along one mile of highway
United States - 316 people
Canada - 33 people


While developing a profitable retail business is more difficult in Canada than it is in the United States, we do have more and larger natural spaces for us to go to and lick our wounds after the bailiff has done his job and we have more time on our hands :o)
            All values taken from results of Internet searches and may or may not be accurate.

When the Words, "Holy Crap" Don't Cover It...

Every so often you come across somebody's work that just blows your mind. This is one of them; Aaron Radelow's site features his furniture and marquetry skills that are far and above the norm. Simply put, his work is bloody amazing.

Arron's re-creation of the 350 year old table made by Pierre Gole for
King Louis XIV's mistress. The original is currently displayed at
the J. Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles.

Peace,

Mitchell

What Do The Others Have Mitchell Doesn't...

I received an email from eBay a couple of weeks ago informing me that there was a new “Mitchell” listed. As I get these about once a week, I really didn’t get too excited as these searches have never produced the Mitchell I want. This one, however, turned out to be different.

When I opened the email there was a smoothing plane staring me in the face. The written description stated, “This a nice wood planer. On the top and side of the planer block is stamped "W.SUTER". It also has "H.E. MITCHELL 4 NORTH ROAD BRIGHTON" with a Lion trademark. The wood planer is 71/2'' long and in good condition.”

It had been listed the night before and had a long week to run, so I emailed the seller, bluehitch, and asked if he had a “Buy-It-Now”. He was great to deal with; honest, straightforward and pleasant. We ended up striking a deal and he shipped it out in record time.

So here it is…

Here’s the thing. I’m a neophyte when it comes to stuff like this and really don’t have a clue. Take away my books and I wouldn’t know a jack from a jointer.

I do know this is one of Mitchell’s later planes as it is stamped with his lion logo. I calculate he started using this logo around 1885 to 1890, using it for ten or fifteen years before he converted his business into an incorporated iron monger making products for stores and offices.

It has a 2” wide Ward & Payne Cast Steel blade that is 6 1/8” long. I know nothing about Ward blades except what I read in Goodman’s. I am saying this is a Ward & Payne as it has the crossed hammers, the W. and P. initials and the anvil stamp. It has a smaller anvil roughly stamped above the marker’s stamp as well. Goodman puts this blade between 1860 an 1900. It also has a nameless thick, heavy chipper.

This plane also has something I am definitely not sure about. On the sole, in front of the mouth is a honking piece of brass. I can’t figure out if Mitchell put it there, or if someone resuscitated the plane later in its life. The plate is 1/8” thick, wedge shaped, with dimensions of 2 ½” wide by 1 ½” deep.

While it is not badly done, it isn’t centered to the sole. Other than that, I can’t find any clue when it was fitted. The throat, if modified later in life, doesn’t give it away. The rear-facing angle looks original, and when it gets within a ½” of the mouth, it drops straight down so you see about a ½” of the brass plate. I have a feeling it is original to the maker, but even I would trust my opinion, so why should you?

It is 7 ½” long and 2 ¾” wide at the mouth. It has a few areas that have some issues which I haven't figured out what to do with yet, so all I have done so far is give it a quick rubdown with wax and steel wool.

I have rattled on about H.E. Mitchell tools for a few years now and I still can’t figure out what is up with his stuff. They are as rare as hell, yet they don’t fetch a dime more than average, if that. It is not like ol' Henry ran an assembly line producing these things. This plane brings my total collection of his planes to 10; a plow, a smoother, a pair of sashes (sizes 1 and 2) and a set of six beaders. They all seem to work well, feel right, are solid, not warped, hold a blade and everything about them seems to me to be complete and tight. In other words, from the perspective of a guy who, until recently, thought planes weren't worth a damn unless they came with a full horse motor, ol’ Henry produced some fairly well made products.

This, of course, brings to mind the question; why is it that I seem to be the only guy in the world who collects this maker’s work?

Peace,

Mitchell

Trouble Coping…

In my quest to cut a better dovetail, I have started to focus on each aspect of the process to determine where I can improve, looking at both my performance with each, as well as the tool’s.

The one area that I see problems with is the cutting away of the waste. I have accepted the common suggestion that I use a coping saw to remove it, but the problem I have encountered is finding the proper saw.

Originally, I became enamored with a specific style of coping or fret saw that started when my wife bought one for me at the Christie Antique Show about five years ago. I found the design irresistible and to say I have picked up a few more of that same design would be an understatement.

They are nice saws. They all hold their blade relatively taunt, and all have frames that have limited flex under stress. What none of them do, however, is allow for blade rotation. This means they are great for some projects, but not for cutting away dovetail waste in a wider board.

I then dug out the coping saw I have shuffled along with me for who knows how many years now. It is marked, “Great Neck No. 28”, and I probably bought it in the late 70’s, but I doubt I used it since completing the project I bought it for way back then. It allows the blade to be rotated 180˚, although not necessarily at an even rotation for both mounts. The frame, however, is quite stiff. Using it, because of the inability to fix the angle at either mount, I discovered the blade was twisting like crazy.

So the search was on for the perfect coping saw…ha! Good luck with that one. The reality is, if Chris Schwarz can’t find one, who can? He has been writing about his coping saw adventures for years.

His latest post on this subject is one where he road tests the new Knew Concepts Aluminum 5” Fret Saw. Putting my aversion to all things new aside, I went into his article with an open mind. Nice saw, but…

It isn’t the most attractive thing I have ever seen, but between the clamping mechanism and the stiff aluminum frame, I think it may be a winner. I’m still debating buying one as the thing is $95, which would mean about $130 landed here in Canada. It also limits the blade rotation to 45˚ in either direction. While this is better than the zero rotation my favorite saws provide, and the sloppy 180˚ rotation my hardware store special has, it is not the ideal rotation I would like, which would be 90˚. I also have a true dislike of all things red, and this saw is definitely that.

Figuring if I’m in for a nickel, I might as well be in for a pound, why not make my own.

Being a complete novice at this, I did my usual research and decided that the tried and true bow saw style of frame made the most sense. Because I have never even held one, let alone used one, I have no idea how they work or feel, but their design just makes sense to me.

The big attraction to me is the double handles, as I believe they would facilitate cutting the waste away with a draw stroke, and then flipping the saw over and removing the little wing left with push strokes. What I don’t like is the traditional tensioning cord. To me, it looks like a fisherman’s nightmare when it comes time to change a blade, so I figured I would replace it on whatever I built with either a turnbuckle or a simple threaded rod.

As I had no focus whatsoever as yet on the clamping mechanism, I disassembled the Great Neck saw and scooped its parts. I also wasn’t going to spend any time creating the frame either, because this exercise was simply to find out if the basic design principle would work, so I used some Eco-Dowels I already had. Because I didn’t know if a turnbuckle or wing nuts at either end of a threaded rod would be best, a trip to Home Depot resulted in coming up with the parts that would allow me to test both within one set-up. The result of all of this isn’t going to win any beauty awards, but it did give me a huge amount of feedback regarding my thoughts on the subject.

While crude and seriously ugly, this thing really works. It offers some serious control while allowing for quick cutting. It is light and reasonably robust. I was afraid that it would be top-heavy and therefore, prone to flopping from side to side but using it, I didn’t find that at all. The turnbuckle is out and the threading rod is in, but I do have to figure out a way to capture one end of it to speed up the tightening. It also definitely needs a second handle, but I am not too sure the traditional style of them is the one to go with.

So “Prototype Saw One” is a winner and it is time to start the fine-tuning.

Peace,

Mitchell

It Only Took 52 Years...

The image posted here shows my humble little sharpening setup.

When an old chisel or plane blade shows up in the mail, I get out a couple of Lee Valley Diamond Stones; one 220x, and the other 650x. I bought these because some of these old blades can eat through a fortune of 120-180x wet/dry sandpaper in a real hurry. I have no idea how they would hold up under normal use, but for my limited sharpening needs, they are the energizer bunny and will probably pay for themselves eventually. A $16.50 option is a plastic stand to hold the stone. It accomplishes a pretty mean feat as it weighs nothing, yet it seems to keep the stones fixed in one spot and as a result, there is very little chasing of the stone around the table.

Even though I cheaped out and bought the short 6" ones, there is enough surface to use my Veritas Mark II Honing Guide. I love this thing. Of all the mechanical honing guides out there, this one wins hands-down, if only for its registering and repeatability. I even purchased the Camber Roller Assembly for it so I can sharpen my No.5 blade. Cool Tool...the Guide, not the No.5.

Once I have whatever I'm sharpening flattened on the Diamond Stones, its on to wet/dry paper water-stuck to a slab of granite. Once you get past 400x, the paper seems to last forever. While the 650x Diamond Stone removes metal fairly quickly, its major drawback is the inconsistent scratches it leaves behind. Reverting back to 400x or 600x emery, depending on how bad it is, will even things out. I then take the edge through 800x, 1000x, 1200x and finally, 1600x, going through these grits on both the angle, and the back. Cutting wet/dry sheets in half gives me enough room to take the Mark II for a cruise.

The big finish is the stropping, and I have two 4" x 5" strop leathers glued to a hunk of 1" by 6" poplar. By butting two together, there is lots of room to run the Mark II on one while the blade gets polished on the other, meaning I don't need to hit the joint between them. I use Veritas' Honing Compound, mainly because it works, but also because I don't know any differently. It is on the strop that I create the micro-bevels as well, which on the Mark II, involves turning the offset dial 180°.

So that is my little metal polishing heaven, at least until I dump the lot in the closet where it will sit until next time. Big deal, eh?

Thankfully, discussing sharpening isn't what this post is about. It is actually about that old Stanley Block Plane that sits centre-stage of the above image. This is the first tool I have taken photos of that has caused me to be thankful I have switched to displaying only black and white images on this blog. It is one butt-assed-ugly plane.

I think this plane is a Stanley No.220, but I'm not sure as it is the stripped down model. It was purchased in 1959. It came with no real support for the blade, so it chatters just looking at the wood, the mouth is fixed and there is no lateral adjustment for the blade. The cap is held down by a thumbscrew and the plane is void of Stanley's "Hand-y" grips. The only gizmo it has on it is what Stanley calls their "adjustable endwise" feature. It is about as basic as any block plane can be, which makes it an unattractive plane to begin with, but then a Stanley "Design-By-Committee" ruled it could be worse, so they had it painted with the ugliest colour of maroon they could find. I don't even know why they call it maroon as it has so much blue in it.

So if I think this little block plane is so bad, what's with the post about it? Well let me tell you...

This is the last remaining tool from a toolbox complete with assorted tools that my old man gave me for Christmas in 1959. This past Saturday was also a big day for this plane because after 52 years, it has finally been brought up to snuff. On top of those two humdingers is the fact that the very next time I use this plane, it will also be the very first time I have really used it.

So let me tell you about this Christmas present...

Each tool was individually wrapped and it just blew me away as my sister passed me present after present to unwrap. When I finally got them all unwrapped, my new tool collection ran from an awl to a tri-square. In-between there was a hammer, a nail set, a pair of pliers, an apron, two screwdrivers, the smallest panel saw you ever saw(ed), a 10" level, an 8' tape measure and the forever ugly; maroon-coloured block. Each and every piece was manufactured by Stanley Tools as those tools were the only ones my father would look at. The pièce de résistance, however, was a beautiful toolbox hand-made by my old man, painted bright orange and decorated with "Billy Mitchell" hand-painted on both ends. My God, that was a beautiful piece of work made even more special in the eye of an nine year old kid.

Sadly, none of it survived except for this one plane.

The first issue was the beautiful toolbox. While the old man did a gorgeous job of it, he forgot who he was designing it for. I think he actually designed it for himself, although he never used it. I do know that he wasn't thinking of a nine-year-old boy when he did come up with the cut list. When I first put those twelve tools in it, the box had such monstrous proportions, they all but disappeared. There was also the fact that I could barely lift the thing, let alone move it around.

The tools also came sans any lessons in using them. I didn't have a clue, and while I worked with the old man often after receiving them, it was always on his power tools and with his extremely high level of ability with those, there was rarely a need for hand tool work. The result was that I never learned how to use them.

As I became a teenager, my old man and I fell out of favour with each other. I'll never know what happened to the toolbox and other tools and in fact, I don't want to know. Most of the toys and things I accumulated as a kid were handed on to my sister's kids, without even an "as-you-please" from my old man to me, so if one of them does have that toolbox, enjoy it. Just don't tell me about it.

I did get this plane in the load of tools I ended up buying from the old man and I have just kept it, but never used it, mainly because I never knew how until lately. When I did start to understand the ins and outs of planing by hand, thanks mainly to Christopher Schwarz, I sharpened up the blade on this thing and took it for a test ride. What a dismal failure. The blade chattered like crazy, it would barely cut and if felt like a piece of poo in my hand. I put it back on the shelf and just let it be a dust collector.

Saturday morning, as I was heading off to Lee Valley, for some reason I picked it up and dropped it in my bag. When I got to the store, I brought it out and asked this great old guy who works there assisting the customers what blade I should get for it. I made sure his suggestion fit and brought it home. It is the 1 5/8" Veritas Blade made specifically for Stanley planes, made of A2 steel and is twice as thick as the original blade, which I have put away for now.

When I got home, I ran the new blade through the sharpening regiment and then ran it across a hunk of oak. My goodness, what a difference 30 bucks can make. The thing cut through that oak like butter without even a hint of chatter. Because of the quality of these Veritas blades, this old lump is now a very usable tool and is ready for future work, despite its lack of bling.

It did, however, take me 52 years to get my act together with it, but like my old man said when we reconciled, its better late than never.

Peace,


Mitchell

Isn't "Insurance" Really a Four Letter Word...

How do most of you handle insurance on your tools?

My insurance agent suddenly wants to see pictures and descriptions of all the tools I am insuring under my home policy. Having never run into this before, the request struck me as a tad odd, but then again, I am talking insurance.

My experience with insurance can be summed up in that "good hands" logo. As soon as I have a need for them, those two hands do nothing but start clapping, and they don't put down my stuff before they do.

It is not that I haven't thought of this list of tools before this came up, though.

A few years ago I started to catalogue my tools for future reference. It is a great idea, but not something I can get too fanatical about. Ok. I'll admit it. I haven't looked at the damned thing in over a year. The main reason for this is that it started out as a great idea but ended up just being a hell of a lot of work, as does most of my "Eureka Moments". I did get about 80 or 90 tools listed before I ran out of steam, and to explain why the music died for me with this, every entry I did in this "dream" catalogue includes the following:

• The name of the tool
• The manufacturer of the tool
• The date it was manufactured
• What the tool was used for
• A quick description of how to use it
• A list of articles, books and digital media that I own that relate to the tool
• What I paid for it
• When I bought it
• An estimated replacement value at the time of cataloguing

So now you know why I haven't kept it up. I must have been either drunk of bored when I came up with this idea.

That admitted, I still have about 25% of my tools already included in this catalogue, but to finish it for the insurance agent, it would take me a solid two or three months. That's nuts. 

There is absolutely no reason for posting these images of my No.2 Type 7 other than the fact that I was up most of the night creating them. After a full eight hours work, this is the only tool that got added to the list.

I think it might be time to find a new agent. What do you guys think?

Peace,

Mitchell

Look Maw, No Hands...

So I took everyone’s advice and dumped the guide block while cutting dovetails. I now know how Linus would feel if someone took away his blanket.

Here are some of the suggestions I received...

Trust your scribe line – Mike Siemsen

It is amazing how that chisel’s edge grabs that thin, little scribe line. It was just like Mike Siemsen said, “It will lock in there like a screwdriver in a slot“. Mike is the principal behind Mike Siemsen’s School of Woodworking, so I guess, if I am going to listen to advice, I might was well listen to the best. One of these days life is going to get out of my way so I can get down to Minneapolis/St. Paul and take a course or two from him.

Mark with a knife and have patience – Mark Salomon (Anonymous??)

Mark reminded me that learning to produce dovetails efficiently takes time. He is right; Rome wasn’t built in a day. I would like to point out to him, though, that it didn’t burn very quickly, either. The real deal though, was suggesting that I stop using a pencil for the pins and use a knife instead. I have been doing it with the scribe line, cutting it, and then following up with a pencil so I can see it better. Why haven’t I been doing the same with the pin lines?

Practice – David Cockey

Like the others, but more to the point, David just suggested I practice more, as the more I do, the more confidence I will have.

Stick on a piece of sandpaper – Anonymous

Mr. Anonymous had a great suggestion for using a guide board, quoting James Krenov’s tip of gluing a strip of sandpaper onto the bottom of the guide board to help keep it in place

I would also like to thank the few guys who emailed me their favorite articles and links to their favorite online videos on the subject. They gave me some unique insights into mastering this procedure, even though they have kept me up half the nights since going through them all.

I tried it

So as the image above attests, I did cut four sets of dovetails without using a guide board, as well as taking the other advice given to heart. The results were reasonably better than the last session’s, but not as good as they will be at the end of the next one, I’m sure.

I had a small issue

Here’s the thing, though. I am afraid that the next session of cutting dovetails will have to be accomplished using the guide block again. Its not that I do not see the benefit of dumping it as that point in your suggestions made real sense to me. The problem is, the eyesight thing got in the way. When you have zero vision in one eye and a limited depth of focus with some serious loss of peripheral vision in the other, your depth perception gets really wonky. So wonky, in fact, that you can’t tell if a chisel is standing square to the board, or actually bent to the southwest. Lord knows I tried, but it ain’t in me, so if I am going to beat this thing and turn out some respectable dovetails, I’m going to have to cheat a bit.

With some adjustments

Thinking things through, I think I might have it by combining some of the other advice you guys gave me with what needs to be done to beat this limitation. I think the way to work this is to score a stronger scribe line, maybe by following it up with a second cut with a little thicker knife blade and straight-edge. With careful placement of the guide block, making sure it is on the board-side of the scribe, the block won’t end up blocking the chisel’s access to it, so it can be used to “lock in there like a screwdriver in a slot”. That way, the guide block can just be used as a quick and accurate register for square and the scribe line does the work it is supposed to do – position the chisel for the cut.

We will see how revamping your suggestions to fit the bill will work the next time, but I do have to state that I truly appreciate your help with this issue. You guys blew me away with your quick and helpful responses. I hope that when the next issue rears its ugly head, you will take the time again to be as helpful to me with it as you were with this one.

Oh, ya, I still don’t like using a mallet. Too noisy.

Peace,

Mitchell