So I was a bit sneaky this morning and went to the shed for ten minutes before heading off to work. I’d prepped the part for the end cap on the toolbox last night but because I’d clamped up the base I couldn’t glue it on without risking either it or the base shifting when clamping. So this morning I went out, took off the clamps from the base, made sure I had clean gluing surfaces and glued up the end cap and clamped it.… Read the rest
A few hours in the shed today that felt productive (it’s a false positive; it was just that a few end stages happened at the same time). Started off with the final fettling of the carcass for the locker and then smoothed all the interior surfaces and rounded the corners I won’t be able to readily reach after glueup.
20 minutes with #04 and card scraper and we’re ready to glue up.… Read the rest
So, another housing joint to chop…
Giving the new chisel mallet a workout. So far, it’s working very well. Chopped the housing joints as per yesterday (had to take a pause to take the #08 to the edges in the vice, I’d missed a small bow in the edge so I wanted to correct that before marking out for the new joint).
All grand. Did a test assembly and everything fitted and was square.… Read the rest
So with the bandsaw down, my plans for the box are on hold and I moved back to the locker. I started off by planing the roughcut pieces I was going to use to get them flat and smooth, then I cut the dovetails for the main carcass, and of course, that means sharpening time 😀
And marking up time…
And sawing time…
No, I didn’t do all the sawing with the fretsaw, I just used that to get the bulk of the waste out.… Read the rest
So I had a 2330h callout last night after finishing in the shed and got to bed around 0100h; and then had another callout at 0430h that wrapped at 0530h and then went into work about 40 minutes later than usual because the last remaining scrap of the morning routine was blown out of the water when junior came down with a temperature (he’s caught the cold Claire and I have had for the last week).… Read the rest
The rails were all prepped and squared last night so today at lunch I hobbled out to the shed and started grooving them with the #044.
First off, checking the position of the groove and the shadow lines (if we have any) with the long rails.
Line up the reference face of the rail with the stile and nick the corner with the marking knife at the edges of the groove on the stile. Then use the marking gauge to run those lines around three of the four edges and reinforcing the lines on the edge with the groove using the cutting gauge.… Read the rest
So back to work today. Checked the thermometer in the shed before leaving the house around 0715 or so…
And given the ice on the decking outside the shed, I doubt that was the low point either. Must remember to put another layer of paste wax on the planes this week to prevent surface blooms of rust.
I figured it’d be warmer by the time I got home but by 2000h…
Hmmm.… Read the rest
Part of the tidy-up in the shed meant getting the scrapers off the little holder they were in and up on the wall…
And then the second thing was going through every single plane and chisel on the wall, going over all the unpainted parts with 600 grit wet&dry paper and WD40 to take off the surface rust, then rubbing briwax into the steel as a barrier against rust (renaissance wax would be better and some’s on the way).… Read the rest
It’s been one of those weeks where you don’t get a huge amount of time in the shed, but the chisel rack is finally done. And I have new toys…
The breast drill was in spectacularly good condition for something made somewhere in the 1950s. And used too, there are small marks here and there on it that say this thing wasn’t living in its original packaging until now.… Read the rest
So, don’t get me wrong, I know this is a nice problem to have, but still…