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

OK, Shoot Me...

When I first started out seeking information about hand tools and using them, I was astonished with how many blogs and sites there are out there which are dedicated to this topic. There is literally a smorgasbord of information out there for just about every aspect of this hobby.

At first I thought every word on every digital page out there was like the Holy Grail, cast in stone and I could believe every statement. It didn’t take long for my naivety to wear thin and have skepticism take its place.

Lets face it; everyone has their own little hype and their own little sacred cows. If the online hand tool world decided to all write about their favorite smoothing plane tomorrow, it would take a few lifetimes for each of us to do follow-ups on every, “the best that ever was”. I doubt you would find two reports that would agree on the best manufacturer, length, weight, blade angle, tote style, blade hardness, blade thickness, blade edge angle, secondary bevel angle or no secondary bevel at all, adjustment strategy, stroke angle to use, which wax to use to make it slide better and which one to use to make it pretty. Each and every one of us has come up with our own “special” tool, which we all use in our own “special” way. The only thing common to all of us is that we are all very happy and willing to tell everyone else that will listen why our choices and ways are the best, and theirs are wrong.

I still read everything I can find on the subject, but the words, “So you say”, are always present in my mind as I do.

It was this way with shooting boards. I don’t know how long ago it was, but my first encounter with these shop appliances was a few posts Stephen, over on Full Chisel, did on them, discussing what he used them for. This tweaked my interest. Then Rob, over on Woodbloker, wrote a few posts about them discussing how to build one, which turned my interest in them up even more. Finally, browsing through In the Woodshop, I discovered Derek was a firm believer in them. I figured if three guys whose opinions and work I respected where into these things, then there must be something to them.

I studied every pixel in every picture of the three boards that came to be my “standards”. Stephen’s examples are workhorses. Just looking at them (he has a few) tells you it was created to get the job done. Rob has made a few shooting boards over the time I have followed his blog, making them for both friends and for his own use. Like Stephen’s, they are designed for the job at hand, made from “odds n’sods knocking around the ‘shop” and constructed to take a beating. Then I viewed Derek’s entry into the fold. Wow! Made from Jarrah and Tasmanian Oak, it just glowed. Not only beautiful, it included a number of ingenious features for adjustments, as well as a ramped stock platform and Elm adjustment knobs. This set me off on a designing frenzy.

The fact that, to this point, I had never even seen a shooting board in the flesh, let alone used one, didn’t come into the fray. I applied my own form of physics and my own thoughts on design. I considered the flat stock platform, compared to a ramped one and felt the angled one made more sense. With a flat platform, wear on the plane blade is always at the same spot, which would mean having to sharpen it more often. Derek’s example has the stock platform high at the entry end and low at the far end. This, to me, means the plane is pushing the stock up off the base all the time, so I figured reversing that so the blade is always pushing down made more sense. I also thought a ramped base for the stock would make it harder to hold, so I decided mine would have a ramped race for the plane. Like Stephen, I wanted a long one so I could do edge planning, and like Rob, I wanted a “birds house” so I could do flat miters. Because my plan is to build small boxes and such, I also wanted a whole lot more versatility in its use than my three standards offered. I thought my end design had some merit, along with its bird house and ramp, although few others shared my views.

As I still hadn’t used one, I still wasn’t sure about their worth, so building the design wasn’t at the top of my “let’s get er’ done” list. I did get as far as making two attempts to produce a 20” wooden hinge to facilitate some of the adjustments I wanted the board to do; both abysmal failures. As I couldn’t get the pin’s hole straight in either of them, the first completely cracked one flat in my first attempt at opening it and the second wouldn’t open at all. Both examples sit here on my desk and mock me every day, but as they look cool, even though neither works, I refuse to throw them away. Failure to produce a working hinge also turned me off the project a tad.

So last weekend we had a party for my in-law’s sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. It scares me that two people can live with each other for that length of time and come out the other end still talking to each other, but if they can do that, then a celebration in is order. One item I did for them was to make them a rather snazzy poster of the two of them sitting on scattered letters and numerals that spell out “65th anniversary” which we set up on an easel for the all the guests to sign. Not having an easel, my wife borrowed her niece’s, who is a teacher. When it arrived, we discovered it was broken. It was a cheap wooden thing that had a framed tray that held the legs in place, but the tray had just fallen apart over time, so my job was not only to make the poster, but also fix the easel it was to sit on.

I cut the sidepieces for the tray on the same angle as the legs, but not being into the job, I cut them by hand without the assistance of the miter box. I plowed out the slots for the bottom with my Veritas Small Plow Plane, smoothed the faces with my Stanley No.2. and chamfered the edges with my Stanley No.72. When I went to assemble the thing I quickly realized I was going to have to buy Chris Schwarz’s book on hand sawing when he publishes it. What a mess. Unsure as how to fix this, I came upon the brainwave of using my little bench hook as a shooting board and my little Veritas Low-Angle Block Plane to shoot the angles.

My little makeshift set-up absolutely blew me away. I shot all eight angles and was amazed at how clean they came out and how quickly those results were realized. My bench hook is made from a 1/2 inch piece of ply with a 1/8th inch thick piece glued to the end at right angles. Because there wasn't a backing board, per se, I was surprised that there was no tear out or splitting, even on the far end. One additional bonus from this set-up was to show me that my idea of an adjustable miter fence made a hell of a lot of sense, despite the naysayers.

If you have never used a shooting board, get one. It truly is one appliance no shop can be without. If you have one, be thankful for it, and ya, I know, "So say I". On this one, though, you can take those words to the bank.

I may not come up right away with my original design, but starting this weekend, I am going to start building at least a simple example of one because I don’t ever want to cut another board without being able to shoot it afterwards.

Peace,

Mitchell

Its What Is Not Said That Says It All…

There is one thing you can count on with the experts on the Antique Road Show. If you “messed” with the antique you are showing them, they will be very quick to point that fact out.

The phrase the experts usually use is; “You know the (whatever) is not original?” I am sure those few simple words sound different to the owner of the antique, especially if they are aware that the show has millions of followers whom hang on every word the experts utter. It probably ends up resonating in their ears as, “What the hell did you do to this beautiful antique, you moron?”

I am a huge follower of this show. While I find the British series more entertaining, I find the American version more educational. There is just more variety to American antique furniture, both in materials and techniques. Great stuff, the Antiques Road Show.

This show was mentioned in a recent post on The Full Chisel Blog. It seems that Stephen did some restoration work on a piece native to Salt Lake City that was included in the episode the Antiques Road Show filmed there a few years back. It surprised me even more that Stephen did this restoration work on the piece a full 24 years before I watched that appraisal.

So here’s the point. Stephen did some serious restoration on a piece that was appraised by Leigh Keno on the Antiques Road Show. Leigh is not only one of the more knowledgeable in the show’s bevy of knowledgeable appraisers, but an appraiser who consistently uses the “not original” phrase. The only assumption I can come to for Leigh not mentioning the restoration work is because he didn’t notice it.

In his chosen profession, Leigh Keno is an absolute professional.

As it turns out, so is Stephen Shepherd.

Were there any doubts?

Peace,

Mitchell

An Interview With A Tool Dealer...

The interview with Jim Bode, the Vintage Tool Dealer, is now finished and posted for your enjoyment.

I decided to post it in its entirety in one post instead of breaking it up into a few. Because of this, it is a rather big file, so I have posted it to my server, then linking to the file from here. Just click on the image below and you should find yourself facing about twenty minutes of entertainment.

Thanks again to Jim for making this thing work. He really put himself out for us and I appreciate it.

Peace,

Mitchell

Where's that Studley guy when I need him...

Last week I purchased a great set of English Turnscrews from jimbodetools.com. The minute they came out of the box I started putting together a template of the rack I want to produce so they can hang in splendor in the tool cabinet.

I’ve been a tad remiss regarding this tool cabinet these past few months. The reason for this is that it is not going to work for me. The reality is, I have purchased too many bloody tools!

I think my collection totals over 300 pieces now and it is still growing. Currently, I have two pieces out being worked on by pros, and I have no idea where I’m going to put them when they are finally delivered. Hell, I haven’t even seen them yet, as I purchased them and had the seller send them straight off to the refurbishers. One of them is a beautiful French veneer saw that I purchased, again, from jimbodetools.com. Because I plan to actually use this thing, I had Jim send it to Woodnut4 to sharpen, as well as doing anything else to it that he deems necessary. In honour of Mr. Shepherd over at the Full Chisel blog, I’m now looking for a glue pot.

So you can see my problem.

While Mr. Studley was quite adapt at putting his 300 tools together like a jigsaw puzzle in his, roughly, 4 cubic feet of tool chest, it turns out I’m not so well blessed. I built this case six or seven years ago and have already reconfigured it twice, the current work being the third time I have ripped it all out and started again, trying to make it accommodate the new purchases. Sadly, I don’t live on a farm where I could take over some outbuilding, drive a bunch of nails in its walls and just hang every up around me. Compact storage is a necessity of life.

With all this in mind, I have decided, much to my wife’s chagrin, to chuck it all and start again. To this end I have been mulling things over in my head, trying to get a handle on what would work and what wouldn’t. I think I am now ready to start the plans for a cabinet that will be mainly drawers, a lot wider and deeper than the current version, with a few cupboards with glass doors so I can display some of my pride and joys and be able to look at them as I pass by. I still get a buzz just looking at this stuff.

With my current workload, that new chest is going to be something that is going to take a while, so in the mean time, I am going to do a few additions to the current one, just to get some of these tools up and out of the way. Ok. That is really not the truth. The real reason for wanting to get some of these tools mounted in the cabinet is so my wife won’t really know how this obsession with tools has taken over my life. Included what is already mounted in the cabinet, I have the two huge drawers in the bottom of it crammed full of tools, a bunch sitting on top of it, and a number spread out around the office. I even have three planes sitting beside my main computer station; the No. 3 I turned into an iPhone dock with a No. 2 on one side of it and a No. 4 on the other. Because I have no place for any new tools arriving, I have to leave them out and my wife is starting to catch on. “Is this another new tool?” she asks. “No, dear. It is one I pulled from the drawer just to have it around so I can see it” he answers, lying through his teeth.

So I started this template for the turnscrews and, speaking to a buddy this morning who is into tools, I mentioned it to him. He asked how I was creating it and was surprised when I explained it to him. I thought everyone did it this way.

I use a flatbed scanner.

I mainly work in Adobe Illustrator when I make plans. I have AutoCad and know how to use it, but I just don’t find it as workable as Illustrator when it comes to making templates and things. Illustrator is a vector based graphics program that is the best thing in the world for creating line drawings, as far as I am concerned.

I have a fair sized section in the back of the cabinet that is still empty, so it is a great spot for these turnscrews. The area is 22 ½ inches tall and is more than wide enough to accommodate these screwdrivers. I laid the set of them, all five, down on the flatbed scanner and took a scan of them. This gave me a full-sized image of each. One thing you have to be aware of when doing this is that the scan you make has to be at the same resolution as the drawing you will be creating.

I brought the image into Illustrator and traced them, resulting in a full-sized line drawing. Before I start doing any layout, I take accurate measurements of each piece, making sure it matches measurements of the critical parts of the pieces, which in this case is the collars that will be used to rest the tool on in the rack, as well as heights and widths overall.

Using these line drawings, spacing them out the same as I want the real versions to be in the finished rack, they allow me to find the centre points for each, resulting in the template that you see below. This is created full-sized, printed, and the resulting paper template is stuck to the stock with double-faced tape. This works out great for drilling the holes and reaming them and makes doing that work very easy and quick as all the sizes are listed for each.

To figure out how the rack will be configured, I use the full versions, this giving me the height and width of the space required, and if I have some space left over, I can do the same for what I want to fill that area with.

I purchased a Stanley 70, a complete set, a year or so ago, and I have been worried I would misplace some of the pieces ever since. The space I had under these screwdrivers would be ideal.

I took all the parts to this plane and laid those out on the scanner. The result is the image you see below; a full sized display of each part’s footprint.

In this case, I just cut out each piece in Photoshop and brought them into Illustrator, leaving them in the original image form so you can see how this works. By moving and rotating the different pieces, you can put it all together like a jigsaw puzzle, taking advantage of every inch you have. You also have to remember the “Z” factor as well; the depth of the area. There are two blades and the depth stop shown in the image below, one on top of the other. This is because they will be mounted in holes drilled into a block of wood on the cabinet base, one in front of the other. With the drawings done, I can lay down the measurements required, print it off, and get to work.

In reality, it is a real buzz doing things this way; using 21^st century technology to build something using 19^th century tools. Added to that is the fact that what you start out with is as accurate as possible, so mistakes are minimized.

Give it a shot. It works like a dream. If you run into any issues, or want some help getting the templates, give me a shout. I would be happy to help.

Peace,

Mitchell

Did they really make any of these?

Just a quick question for any of you other "Stanliholics" out there.

Did Stanley really make the 624 eggbeater drill or did they add it to their catalogues as teasers?

I have been all over the world looking for one of these; auction houses, tool dealers, museums, and I haven't seen a real live example of one - not one! The closest I get is the line drawing in the Stanley 1925 catalogue.

If anyone has any ideas or information about this drill, please let me know.

If you have one.....cool. Can I see it?

Peace,

Mitchell

Awe, the inconsistencies of it all...

Inconsistencies drive me nuts.

I set out some time ago to purchase an eggbeater drill, searching out what was available at the turn of the century, the last one, not this one, and what I should expect to pay for one.

There seems to be two manufactures that stand out as the drill of choice; Miller Falls and Goodall/Pratt.

Both of these manufacturers produced drills with the supposedly fragile open spoked main gear. I say “supposedly fragile” because of the number of unbroken ones I have seen for sale throughout this quest. Man, there sure are a lot of them. While I’m sure the solid main gear examples are great, there is something about that spoked gear that just does it for me. Great looking stuff, those gears.

Early examples of Miller Falls appear to have a lighter gear casting than their later versions. Goodall/Pratt seem to have stuck with their original light version until both switched to a solid gear in much later examples.

The Miller Falls style of frame is simple, round cornered and reasonably robust. Goodall/Pratt, on the other hand, have a frame casting with a bit more style to it; with its pinched waist and heart-shaped curves. The Miller Falls does appear to be the better made of the two, though.

Both manufacturers produced models with a solid handle, or a hollow storage handle. Miller Falls wins in this category, hands down, especially some of their very early examples that I have come across that have an absolutely beautiful mushroomed shaped cap. Man, those things are gorgeous.

So what’s my beef with inconsistencies?

Since getting into this tool collecting nonsense, the gospel according to the MWTCA gods has been beaten into me…

So I have to ask, what the hell is with this…

Great looking tool. The guy does great work. The point here is; why can an old eggbeater be rebuilt and repainted and as a result, demand a higher price in the marketplace, but a plane or a saw can’t.

It is inconsistent and just doesn’t make any sense to me.

And speaking of not making any sense, I decided I want a Stanley 624. Go figure.

Peace,

Mitchell

Things Are Sliding, But Hopefully Not Downhill...

I’ll admit to a strange habit. When a project is stalled because I’m not sure how to handle something, I often take a walk around Home Depot and take in the “stuff”. Often, I’ll see something that triggers an idea, and off I go.

I did this yesterday, walking up and down the aisles aimlessly, trying to figure out how to drill that 20” hole in the hinge in a way that would minimize screwing it up. It came to me in the plumbing section, believe it or not, when I spotted the different sized hose clamps.

This is the result of that brainwave.

I guess you would call this a “Sled”, as I think the term “Feed Table” is reserved for a motorized version of this type of thing.

Seeing the hose clamps gave me the concept of how to fix the drill. It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to come up with the bed, it is just a 1x8 hunk of pine with a couple of 1x2’s used as skates and two more used as guides. A thick coat of LeeValley’s “Waxilit” made the whole thing slide back and forth with minimal force.

I still have to fine-tune the position and height of the drill and make a couple of more clamps to hold and position the hinge. Once I get that done I can take it for a test drive.

The comments from Bill and Steve in response to my last post where I asked for some ideas regarding how to handle this were good, and I appreciated the thought they put into their suggestions. The problem I had was that they both involved cutting up the hinge. Both ideas would work, but both would also take the challenge out of it and frankly, guys, where’s the fun in that?

I’ll let you know how things work out.

Peace,

Mitchell

AN UPDATE!

I produced this jig to minimize screwing up my mahogany hinge while drilling a 1/4" diameter hole through its entire 20" length.

I screwed it up.

Peace.

Shooting Board Update...

Here is where I am at with this wooden hinge for my "be-all and end-all" Shooting Board.

I have the shape roughed out and ready to fine-tune. I am not going to remove any more stock until the pin is holding the two plates together, even though I have to fight to get the barrels lined up right now. For the first time in my life I was really stingy with the material I removed, so instead of having to figure out how to add material to overcome a sloppy fit (something I still haven’t figured out after all these years), this time I have to refrain from removing more to make the joints freer.

The hinge is 20” long and 6” wide, each plate being 3”. The hinge flats are ¾” thick and the barrel is 1 ½” in diameter. I have a ¼” brass threaded rod that will act as the pin, held in by an acorn nut with twin shoulder washers on each end. Drill the ¼” hole, slide the pin in and Bob’s your uncle (he is, actually – God bless him).

I have been putting this little drilling job off now for two weeks.

So what’s the hold up?

That 20”!

I’m scared to death that I will not get the bit aligned right, especially because I will have to drill from both ends and meet in the middle. If that isn’t enough reason to stall the job, I can always add the reality that a ¼” drill bit travelling 10 or 11 inches is definitely going to have some deflection along its way, so even if I get the alignment bang on, how can I be sure the drill won’t decide to head south a quarter of the way through?

Any ideas?

Peace

Mitchell

How to talk about screws politely...

I bought this set of thread cutters recently on eBay, thinking I got a real score as they are a matched set of four and relatively old.

A couple are marked, "Henry Boker", with "Germany" underneath a symbol of an arrow, two crossed lines and a couple of stars. I did some research before I bought them and the only inference that I could find about this manufacturer was on the Davistown Museum web site. There they stated that the Henry Boker company was a prolific exporter of tools from Germany, many landing on the shores of the Americas. Nothing special there, except to me, a matched set of four average tools is much better than four different ones. I said this before in this blog, I think this comes from being raised poor and having a kitchen cupboard of mismatched glasses, cups and the like. The one shinning star in the whole kitchen was my father's matched set of beer glasses. Go figure. Anyway, I grew up with a penchant for all things matching.

Anyway, back to these thread cutters.

I need a number of adjusting and locking screws for my new shooting board so I thought this would be the perfect answer. The listing and the tools are marked; "1 1/8", "1", "3/4" and "1/2", which I assumed was the size of the d0wels used to make the screws. When they arrived, I noticed they are also marked with a second set of numbers, those being; "13", "36", "6" and "2". They make no sense to me.

The other day I stopped off a Lee Valley (just down the street from the college, tee-hee) and picked up some maple dowels, one 1/2" and one 3/4", just to give them a go. Nope, wouldn't fit. All four have sample threads or test pieces, so I measured them to try and figure things out. Just for an example, the one marked 3/4" has a test thread of 11/16", that is a measurement of the none-threaded area above the thread.

If anyone out there can enlighten me on these sizes, I would truly appreciate it.

Peace,

Mitchell