Monday, December 19, 2022

On Pencil Sharpeners

I am a great fan of pencils. I love to use them for marking but also to write and take note. The only thing that always annoyed me is pencil sharpeners.

I always found very hard to get a good sharpener that can last more than few months without becoming dull and more crushing the pencil than really sharpening it.

The following are some examples of sharpeners I used.

Some sharpeners.

All of these had common issue, they are ok when brand new, but the blade becomes quickly dull, and sharpening it is cumbersome and does not last long.

But today, I got my dream sharpener, one I saw long time ago when I was a kid at school.

My dream sharpener.

It cost me about 20$ but this one is incredibly good. It sharpened pencil very quickly and accurately, and is easy to use. It has a transparent shavings tray that can collect a lot of shavings so no need to empty it often.

Shavings tray.

It has a point selector to choose from very fine to rounder point. Personally I only use the finest setting.

Sharpening selector
The front has a slider to push the pencil toward the sharpening blades and to stop sharpening when limit is reached. The lever is used to open the pencil holder.

The two levers are used to open pencil holder.

Pencil holder in extended position.

I spend few time to play with it and I really enjoy it, from now on this will be my sharpener of choice.

Sharpened pencils







Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Stanley 55 - The beast.

I have always been wondering about the Stanley 55 universal (is it?) plane. Based on my readings it looks like a beast that needed to be tamed. So, when I found one for sale for an affordable price, I jumped on the occasion.

The plane came in a wooden box. The box is in good shape and just shows some damage at the top. The lid was missing though.

The Stanley 55 box.

The plane came with a set of 4 boxes of cutters, none was missing. Most of them show no use at all.

The cutters boxes.

I need to figure out how to sharpen/hone few of these cutters like roman ogee as they look not to have been used at all and not very sharp.

The plane itself came with no missing part to my knowledge. I check on manual and online and everything looks to be there.



Overall, the plane is in very good condition. The wood parts are not damaged. A small chip on the tote but this is it. The two fences are good.


One sure thing is that this plane is heavy, but this does not matter for me, I even feel more comfortable that way. Considering the number of moving parts, I guess it takes a while to get used to it and to set it properly, but again, this is a learning curve, maybe longer than with another tool but still not worrying me too much.

 The seller joined a printed copy of the manual so at least I have that reference.

Printed copy of the original manual.

I must admit that people who created this tool were clever. The way it is set, and working, is brilliant, but at the same time it can intimidate for sure.

I already put it at work, only with simple cutter and as a dado plane to build my greenhouse door, but I liked it a lot.

Will see with time and when using moulding cutter if I still like it or not.

I saw in the manual that a set of "special" cutters was available at that time but doing some search I only find them at an insane price that I will never be able to afford. But still with more than 50 standard cutters I guess I have enough for some time.


Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Finalizing the greenhouse

Last winter I left my greenhouse in an unfinished state as snow was coming, so I covered it and it stayed that way for winter:
Ready for winter.

Not a very glamour look but this was all I had time to do before freezing hard for 5 months.

When spring came it was time to pursue the adventure, quite some work to do. First step was to build the interior workbench and shelves.

Building the interior, part 1.


I added a sink at the back of the greenhouse so to clean tools and have easy access to water. I recycled an old sink that was unused and sitting in my basement and an old faucet removed from my boat.

Add water to the mix.


The faucet with red handle is to connect a watering hose. The sink hole will go direct under the greenhouse as it is only water with no chemical.

So after adding one shelf on each side and some hanged boxes on the wall I am done with the interior.

Finished interior.

The longer job was to build the windows. With 10 windows to build, 2 battens each it was quite a long run. I had to size the stock, do the assembly and install each of them but I got there, and I am pleased with the result even if not tinted yet.

All windows set.

The last step will be to build and install the door, hopefully before snow catch me again, but this will be the subject of another post.

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Bathroom vanity done

Finally it is there and done. After long delays due to other priorities I am finally done with my bathroom vanity and got it installed yesterday.

This was a long run but it looks good to my eyes and more important my wife is happy about it!


Now it is time to my next project, door and windows for my greenhouse, 1 door and 10 windows to build, a lot of fun ahead!


Friday, March 4, 2022

Stanley #113 Circular Plane

Quite some time flew since my last post. Never would I have believed how much busy I could be while working from home. I have more personal time but find many ways to keep me busy so at the end I need even more time!
I have always been interested about circular planes and never had a chance to try one...well until now.
Few days ago I was lucky to find one in almost perfect condition for a very reasonable price so I pulled the trigger on it.

Stanley #113


This is a Stanley #113 type 4a dated back to 1903. Except some missing japanning it is in perfect working condition.

Scale for curvature

The interlocking gears are showing a numeric scale from 0 to 3 in each directions. However I have not been able to find the meaning of the numbers if there is any.
I love the dovetail assembly of the body and sole and on this one it is tight. I saw a lot of these planes with this assembly being loose.

Stanley Rule & Level Co.

The knob used to set the sole curvature is labelled with "Stanley Rule & Level Co.".

Dovetail riveted to sole.

The dovetail pin is riveted to the sole and the rivets are ground flat to the sole. No damage there either.

I did not resist very long to give it a try so I took a scrap wood piece and tried it. I was expecting it to be quite difficult to handle but to my surprise it is not. Set the curvature, then start on one side of the curve than on the other side and done.

A planed curve.

I now need to put it at work, I am sure I will have soon a project where I will need some curved design, just to enjoy it.



 

Thursday, November 25, 2021

A story of greenhouse


Long time without any post as I have been very busy this summer, working on my boat renovation, my garden and so on. But now is a new post about some kind of woodworking, building my greenhouse.

It has been a while that my wife ask me for a greenhouse to start our seeds as well as working on flower pots, grow greens etc... So it was time to get to work and build it.

As with anything else I first made some plans of what I want to build with all the needed measurements and calculated sizes.

So here are the plans I started with:


The side walls, 10 feet long...

...the roof trusses...

...and the front.

The greenhouse will be 10' by 8' and is to be fixed to the side of the existing shed so the first thing I started with was to remove the shed vinyl siding and replace it with ship lapped boards. I had much pleasure doing this by hand and added a nice bead on each board, just because I could. AT the end I will cover all my shed that same way but this is another story.

Starting with the greenhouse itself, first thing to tackle was to install the base, made of 2"x6", supported by concrete blocks, and covered with 3/4" thick plywood.

I then built the two side wall by assembling 2"x4", nothing very fancy. The walls are screwed to the base.



The base and side walls up.

Different view angle.

The lower part of the wall are to be closed by shipped lapped planks while the upper section will receive the windows. Windows are 42" high and will be made with acrylic panels set in wood frames.

I spent the following days to build the roof trusses using 2"x4", screws and metal plates. I know that this is not fine joinery and I wish I had the time to build the trusses using tenons joinery but clock is ticking and there is not much time left before winter knock at our door.

Roof trusses.

Before starting to install the trusses I had to make the front side and paint everything.

Front side...

...note the horizontal 2"x6" to separate bottom siding.

I then installed the bottom siding. Took me few days to cut and prepare all the boards. For this I used 2"x6" too. May look a bit oversized for a siding but as this part will be in contact with snow every winter I wanted something strong.

Bottom siding installed on one side...

...and on front side.


I then installed the trusses fixed to the wall using metal plates and joined together by 1"x3" purlins.
The roof is made of polycarbonate corrugated panels.

Trusses, purlins and roof installed...

...front view.

I left the purlins longer as I did not know exactly where the roofing panels will ends. I will saw off the extra length later on.
For now this is all I can do as we expect our first snowfall tomorrow. I will temporarily close all the openings with poly tarps for winter. I will build the windows and the door in my workshop during the winter season and will install them in spring when snow will have melt. I will then also build shelves and workbench inside the greenhouse.













Thursday, March 25, 2021

On the tools...

I am from the ones who think that what we are now or at a given time is the sum of our past experiences, choices we made and people we met. The reason why I like woodworking is maybe the result of people I had the chance to meet before, who influenced my life, like my great grandfather who was a sawyer and carpenter.

Some 25 years ago, while doing some volunteering in a museum in France, I met a wood carver who was invited to that museum for a cultural exhibition. The name of that person was Norbu-la and he was coming from a Tibetan refugee village in Dharamsala in north India. The goal of that exhibition was to showcase art of wood carving in Tibetan culture by carving a Tibetan altar made of teak.

Norbu-la, Tibetan carver in front of his teak altar

During his stay I had the opportunity to spend quite some time with him and to learn about how he was working and to give it a try.


Example of the carver skills...
...and of mine!














This was also an opportunity to look at the tools he was using, especially that these were mostly homemade.


The carver tools, squares, saw, chisels, marking gauge.

Among these tools some are particular to notice.

First of all, the coping saw. That saw was made with a piece of bamboo, shaped into a U form. Bamboo being very flexible it was keeping the tension on the blade like a spring, very clever. 

The saw blade itself was very particular. It was made using a steel wire reclaimed from old tires inner reinforcement wires. The steel was quite mild but still very resistant. The wire was rolled on one side of the bamboo frame, serving as a reserve, and attached at the other end. Before being usable, the carver was cutting very small teeth in the wire using chisel and mallet. When the blade was broking, he would just unroll a new piece, cut the teeth and back to work.

Surprisingly that saw was cutting very well even in hard wood and was very nice and easy to use. The bamboo frame being very well balanced and the saw was easy to handle.

Other tools to notice were the carving chisels. A lot of them, the smallest ones, were made from motorbike wheel spokes. From what he told me the steel used for spokes is a very good quality steel that can handle a heavy tension. They used the spokes as the raw material that was forged into the final chisel. I can assure that these chisels were razor-sharp, my finger will never forget how easily it was to deep cut it.

To sharpen these chisels, the carver was using a black stone, that he carefully selected in the bed of a river and broke in two pieces to have a flat face. I do not know what kind of stone it was but it was very soft to touch and had a fine abrasive grain. He poured water on the stone and honed a chisel for a minute and he was done. 

So looking at the quality of his work, and the simple tools he was using, one question comes to my mind:

Are the tools making the man, or the man who makes the tools?

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Another box

Following one of my previous post the last part of my box to be done is the cover and handle. The cover is a simple pine board but I wanted the handle to stand out of the box so I used a piece of mahogany to make it.

I started with a small 11/2x5x1/2 mahogany piece that I marked to cut each end round. I then roughly saw the corners and got the final round shape with a chisel.

Rough cut with a saw...
...final shape with a chisel












I then rounded the edge, first using a plane to get a bevel all around then sanding the remaining waste.

First handle part done.

I did the same for the second part, except that I started from a 1x41/2x1/2 piece of mahogany that will only be half rounded on its edge.

Two parts done.

The handle is made by gluing the two parts stacked.

Handle final shape.

I applied 4 coats of wiping varnish, by penetrating in the wood it highlights the reddish color of the mahogany.

Handle afixed to the box.

The handle is set to the box using four small wood pegs dark stained. The little wood pegs are protruding 1/16" from the top of the handle to give a "nailed" look.

Overall I am pleased with the end result. The handle could have been a bit more evolved in its shapre or better designed but I like the way it stands out from the box.



It was initially planned to be used to contains my wife birthday gift but as usually I was late so it became another gift by itself.


A simple box



Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Anatomy of a Peugeot plane

Few days ago, I received an email from Simon living in Netherlands about the dimensions of one of my Peugeot plane. Simon got a Peugeot blade assembly and wants to build the plane that goes along. So I made some pictures and drawings with measurements and here is the anatomy of a Peugeot plane.

Introduction


Peugeot 48


The plane is a Peugeot 48 (what is also the blade width measured in mm) and is made with Cormier wood (French naming) or Service Tree in English. For the naturalists, its scientific name is Sorbus Domestica.

Its length is about 93/8 inches (or about 238mm) what makes it a smoother plane.

Its particularity is the mechanism to move the blade.

Blade assembly, top view
Blade assembly, side view


I tried to be as precise as possible in my measurements, in inches as well as millimeters, but there may be some small deviations.

Side view

The picture below shows the side view of the plane wooden body (blade assembly and wedge removed).

Plane body, side view.

Below is a drawing with all the dimensions I was able to measure.

Plane body side dimensions.

One thing that surprised me is the 80 degrees angle of the front side of the mouth that I believed was vertical but is not.

Top view

Below is a picture of the plane body top view.


Plane body, top view

Note the notch in the blade bed that receives the adjustment screw mechanism.
Below are the corresponding dimensions on a drawing.

Plane body top dimensions

About the wedge

Below are two pictures of the plane wedge. Sorry for the shadow but I have no professional studio light so this as the best I could do.

Wedge, top view
Wedge, side view











Finally below is a drawing of the same views with the corresponding dimensions.

Wedge dimensions

Hope this will help, and if anybody is making a clone of it, please send me a picture.