Spoon Carving Lesson

By the way, the “lesson” here was for me.  Spoiler Alert: watch the grain.

I’ve watched the first three of Paul Seller’s videos so far.  I want to try the various projects and techniques he shows as I’m watching them, and shop time has been scarce.  6th grade finals for my son, re-org at work and assorted minor dramas that keep life interesting.

I had so much fun with the spoon carving I decided I’d do another.  Global Wood, which I’ve blogged about before, is near my office.  That can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.  I tend toward the former, other members of my family the latter.  I stopped in a few weeks ago and picked up some interesting scraps.  A couple of subtly colored bits of Claro Walnut, one interesting piece with a bold bit of sapwood and one that is sort of outrageously colored/figured.  Also a small offcut of Camphor Burl.

Interesting Scraps for Spoon Carving

The Camphor made me nostalgic.  I made a drawer for a wall cabinet years ago from a bit of non-burled Camphor.  It was a small flitch that I had to re-saw, joint and thickness plane into submission.  I ended up ankle deep in Camphor chips, the entire shop awash with the fragrance of Camphor.  It was amazing.  I think I can make a small coffee scoop from this piece.

Camphor Burl

What I wanted to get some more experience with was chiseling off the waste, especially with a denser, harder wood like Walnut.  I sketched out a few ideas for spoons…

Claro Walnut Scrap and Spoon Ideas

Marked one one on the Claro blank and made some relief cuts.

Ready to Remove the Waste from the Profile

I started with the outside curve, using the chisel bevel up.  I’m cutting across the grain with little chance of splitting bits off.  I’m using a plastic-handled Stanley chisel here, nothing fancy.  It’s one that I had laying around, it was pretty nasty but I ground and sharpened it and it does a nice job on this work.

Chiseling off the Waste

But when I started working the other way, bevel up of course, disaster struck.  Looking at the picture it’s obvious what happened and what I did wrong.  The grain is very clear, but problems are always clearer in retrospect.  I should have been taking much smaller bites when working here.  The grain is going down, the shape of the handle is going up and this piece of wood is going in the kindling pile.

Rut-Roh…What Did I Do Wrong?

Back to square one.  At least this mistake didn’t draw blood.

Starting Over, Transferring the Design

This time I resolved to pay more careful attention to the grain.  Part of the problem is that there are long gaps between time I can steal away to the shop.  When I do get out there it’s been at least a week, lately it’s been several weeks and I’m not quite focussed.  Maybe I can do a few warm up exercises to get my fingers limber and my brain engaged next time.

This time I looked at the grain, made a test cut to see how it was going to work and paid attention to it.  At the beginning of the video you can see the part on the left edge where I made a test cut.  See which way the grain wants to split?

Chisel

►

Chop off the Bulk, Pare to the Line

Success at Last

This is great practice, and fun to boot.  You could do it with a bandsaw, turning saw or even a coping saw too.  The real point, for me, is to learn how to use a chisel – not the end result.  Even more importantly, to learn how to read the grain and account for that.  And to learn how to focus on the project and take the entire effort into account so that the end result is something pleasing.

So that’s how a bicycle is made…

(In a British accent)

Careful designing,

Reliable materials,

Expert craftsmanship

in every stage of manufacturing

Turn out a British bicycle second to none.

If you remove the words “British bicycle” in the last line this stands as a fundamental truism.

This Really Bugs Me…

I got a woodworking DVD in the mail today.  That’s not really that surprising in and of itself; I got 7 of them last week (the Paul Sellers set).

Here is what is weird, and unappreciated.  We all get plenty of junk mail.  Generally it goes right in the recycle bin.

The DVD I got is from the “Woodworker’s Guild of America”.  I am not a member and I certainly didn’t order or request this.  What really bugs me is that this isn’t a free DVD, it is sent “on approval”.  If I like it I’m to pay them $13.95, if I don’t like it I’m supposed to send it back.

I’m sure if I’d tossed this into the trash I would get a bill dunning me for the cost of the DVD.  And if I didn’t pay for it I’m sure they would send it to a collections agency.  Is that even legal?

In case you’re wondering, I’m mailing the DVD back right now.  Out of curiosity I watched the first 10 minutes of it.  It’s very basic power tool woodworking using plywood.  I have absolutely nothing against power tools or plywood, it’s just not interesting to me.  It’s also at such a fundamental level that I would think that anyone who has read a few woodworking magazines would be bored by it.

Please don’t ship me things I didn’t ask for and then charge me for them…

Spoon Carving

Saturday my son and I decided to carve a couple of spoons.  Why spoons?  That’s a great question.

I recently got the book and DVD set by Paul Sellers called “Working Wood”.  It’s not an inexpensive kit, about $150 depending on where you get it.  On the other hand, it includes a book and 7 DVDs, so (I reasoned) if the content was good it might be worthwhile.

I’ve watched my share of “how-to” videos over the years, and I’m not going to review this set until I’ve watched all of the DVDs and read all of the book, but I can say that it is certainly the slickest production job I’ve ever seen in the genere.  Take a gander at this bit on making a stool and you’ll see what I mean.  I want to live in a castle.

But back to the point of the post.  Why a spoon?

1. It was the day before Mother’s Day, and we wanted to make a gift

2. The first DVD starts with a wooden spatula and spoon as the beginning projects.

I ruined the first two attempts, just going to fast.  It’s been a while since I’ve had shop time and it takes me a while to get my focus.  Nothing major.  On one I carved the bowl of the spoon to deep, and on the other…  Well I carved that one too deep too.  But there were extenuating circumstances, the real problem was that I accidentally split off a piece when chiseling out the profile.

I used a scrap of wood that I believe is Mahogany, I picked it up from a scrap bin at the lumberyard.  I traced around my template in red pen and was ready to make a 3rd piece of kindling.  This is about 3/4″+ thick, I’d rather have something a little thicker next time so I can make a deeper bowl and curved handle.

Spoon Blank – Outlined

One of the great lessons in this exercise is using stop cuts and a chisel.  The entire profile was done with a handfull of stop cuts and a 1″ chisel.  The saw cuts stop maybe 1/8″ above the layout line.  Then I used a chisel to split off the majority of the waste, and then pare down to the line.  On outside curves – like around the front of the spoon bowl – I used the chisel bevel-up.  Paul had some good tips for doing this in the video.  On the concave area along the handle I used the chisel bevel-down.  Split off the bulk of the material, then pare to the line.

Stop Cuts Sawn

This process of profiling the shape took no time at all.  It was faster than sawing it with a coping saw, and instead of a rough, sawn edge you have a slick planed surface.

I sketched in the bowl shape and used a gouge to rough it out.  I need a bigger gouge next time.  I scraped and then sanded the inside of the bowl smooth.  I tried my spokeshave for shaping the handle, but it wouldn’t cut well.  I’m not sure what the problem was — it worked great on pine and cherry.  So I used the chisel to shape the bottom of the bowl, and the handle.

Spoon Profiled

The handle was sanded with 120 and 220, then I gave it a coat of pure linseed oil and wax (no driers).  I’ll let it dry until I’m sure it well cured and then wash it, and then put it to work in the kitchen.  I carved a small design in the handle to balance things out.

Finished Spoon, About 16″ Long

Overall, it’s ok.  Reasonably graceful, it feels nice in my hand.  It was a great learning experience.  I’m going to make a few more for fun.  The next project in Seller’s book is a 3-legged milking stool with a carved (windsor-ish) seat.

Close Up of the Spoon

Blue Ox Pt. 2

A few more pictures from May Day at Blue Ox Mill.  This is an interesting place, besides being a working mill that produces decorative trim it’s also an alternate high school where the kids learn blacksmithing, wood turning, printing and other crafts.  What a phenomenally cool idea.

The whole place is part museum and part working shop.  They have a bunch of old human powered woodworking machines.  This table saw scares me, I suspect it’s pre-OSHA…but it’s cool as heck.

Is there a SawStop retrofit for these?

I like the pedal-powered lathe.  I think this idea still has merit, you could burn calories while turning out parts.  It could be a great crossover business for Nordic Track.  There are three pedals, and the seat can be adjusted from side-to-side so you can work on longer parts.  The big cast iron wheel looks like it would probably have a nice flywheel effect.

Nordic Track Wood Turning?

Hand Tenoner. It cuts a healthy shaving off one face to form one tenon cheek. It’s look like it could be made into a Nautilus-style exercise machine.

This 20 foot long two man crosscut saw is called the “Misery Whip”.  The placard said it would cut through a tree in 35 strokes.  I wonder why it’s called that?

The “Misery Whip”

There was a group of Blue Ox students working in the turning shop making pens and bottle stoppers  for sale.  We bought the Tulip wood pen this guy is working on.  I think it’s great that there are alternatives for kid these days.  They still had shop class at the public high school when I was a kid, but I was at the military school instead.  This got me thinking, I wonder if I could do a hand tool woodworking class at my son’s school?

Pen Truning

At the Blue Ox

This is too cool, can you guess what it is?

Any better?

It is a “Portland Picket Pointer”. Who knew?

I’ve been a bad boy

Hi, my name is Joe, and I’m powerless over hand tools.  The first step is to admit you have a problem, right?

When I got home from work yesterday, guess what was waiting for me?  Interestingly, it was accompanied by a flat stare from my wife.

Rut-Roh, What’s this?

Wait, I can explain.  I ordered this months ago, in fact it was technically last year.  That has to be outside of the statue of limitations for tool purchases…right?

It’s no secret that Mark at Bad Axe files a mean tooth, and not surprisingly there is a considerable wait list for his wares.  I put a deposit on one of his tenon saws and have been waiting for my turn to come up on his schedule.  I’d say “waiting patiently”, but that would be a stretch.  Deferred gratification isn’t my strong suit, and just typing those two words makes me uncomfortable,

I opened up the package this morning and was very pleased with my new saw.  This is his standard tenon saw, with black nickel back, niter blued split nuts and a mesquite handle.  It’s beautiful, it starts easily and cuts smooth and true.

Bad Axe Tenon Saw

After unpacking the saw and making exactly one cut I put my overnight bag in the car, picked my son up from school and drove 7 hours up to Eureka, CA for the annual “May Day” event at Blue Ox Mill.  They will have woodworking, blacksmithing and other crafts demonstrated, and they have a collection of human powered machines on display.  I’m looking forward to a fun weekend, but I can’t wait to get back to put my new saw to work.

No Wood Weekend

I had to do some welding today, so I haven’t been able to make progress on my saw chest.  Hopefully after I do homework with my son I can sneak in an hour or two for some woodwork.

Luckily it was cooler today, it was in the 90s yesterday.  Welding on a 90+ degree day is my favorite thing not to do.  I put on my ear buds and cranked up my favorite playlist and went to work.  I have these tanks cast in aluminum, in halves.  I TIG weld them with 1/8″ 4043 rod using a 1/8″ lanthanated electrode at 190 amps AC.  I have a newer inverter style Miller welder, my old transformer based 300ABP had to run flat out at 300 amps to do the exact same weld.

I do two passes, a root pass in a beveled joint, then a cover pass.  I go for penetration on the first pass and a nice flow out on the second pass.  The part gets quite hot along the way.  And I had Ray Wylie Hubbard cranked up.

I welded up a bunch of headlight mounts while the tanks were cooling down, then I had to grind the weld and make it disappear.  50 grit to flatten the weld bead, then A300, A160 and A65 3M Trizact Gatorback to get it to this point.

The rest of the tank is then worked up to the same point, and sent off to the chrome shop.  This is what the finished product looks like.

Now I need to get back to my saw chest.  I’m constantly shuffling my planes, saws and chisels from the welding bench to the wobbly cabinet bench to make room.  Once the chest is done at least the saws will have a home and stay clean.

Making Stuff in 1931

My blog buddy Marilyn sent me a link to a cool video that I want to share.

As best I can tell, based on my rusty high school Spanish and attempting to read French, this is a film that was made in 1931 that shows students at several “professional” schools around France.  There is blacksmithing, machining, pattern work in preparation for casting parts, foundry work, drafting, electronics and radio, and of course carving and cabinet making.  Actually I figured that out from the pictures, my high school Spanish doesn’t even cut it for ordering lunch at the local taqueria.

There are also more berets than you can shake a stick at, and a general dearth of safety glasses.  One of the things that caught me interest was the number of people working at once.  My experience is primarily working in my own shop.  At one point I had five people come to my shop on Saturdays to grind, sand and polish chopper parts – but most of my experience is working alone in my shop.  To see a dozen people vigorously planing, chiseling, sawing and hammering is pretty amazing.  The slightly stiff, slightly sped-up-ness of the video helps too.

The video is available here: http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/vie-economique/video/VDD09005638/les-ecoles-nationales-professionnelles.fr.html

My friend Ron wanted to know if wearing a beret would help my dovetails.  Honestly, some days I’d be willing to try.

Paring Dovetails in France, 1931

The Cabinet Shop, Right Side

The Cabinet Shop, Left Side

Chopping Mortises

I started making the top for my saw chest recently.  It’s going to be a frame and panel construction with the stiles having tenons that fit into blind mortises in the rails.  Or maybe through mortises, we’ll see.

I made the frame, and wasn’t satisfied with it.  There were a few problems:

First the groove I cut with my plow plane was a little rough.  I added a wood extension to the fence on the plane to help stabilize it, and reduced the depth of cut – that seemed to take care of most of the problem.  The rest is just paying attention and keeping the cuts consistent.

Second, the tenons weren’t snug enough I think.  They weren’t loose, they didn’t wiggle around, and they fit right from the saw – but I think I want to be able to have the fit be a little tighter.

Finally, the frame didn’t lay flat when it was dry assembled.  At first I thought it was one of the tenons, but it turned out to be one of the mortises was chopped slightly at an angle.  If I assembled the frame with one corner not inserted into the mortise that stile would angle up in the air while the other three sides laid flat on the bench.  Rats.

So, three strikes and it was kindling (or as my son says “Epic Fail”).

I decided to practice chopping mortises.  The new “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” book from Lost Art Press has some great information on chopping mortises.  I tried to apply what I read to my practice.  Now I need to go back and re-read it to make sure I didn’t miss the point.

I started by working with the chisel at an angle, with the bevel almost vertical.  One or two whacks with the mallet – I’m not trying to reach the bottom of the mortise yet.  This practice part has the groove for the panel plowed, but that has nothing to do with the mortise itself.

Then turn the chisel around so the bevel faces the other direction and make a cut to meet the first cut.

If all goes well you should have a smal triangular chip just pop out.  By the way, see that black “patina” on the tenon in the background?  That is polishing residue.  We’re going to make some shop setup changes to avoid that kind of mess in the future.

Now continue working from the sides, at an angle, until you reach the bottom.  Stay away from your layout lines  until you are at full depth for the entire width except for an 1/8″ or so at the shoulder.  With each angled cut you can go a bit deeper and still pop the chip out without trouble.  Make sure you’re holding the chisel plumb to the sides of the mortise – that was one of my mistakes.

You should be able to accumulate a pile of chunky chips fairly quickly.  This 1/4″ x 2″ mortise 1 1/2″ deep took no time at all in white pine.  I’m going to make some practice mortises in other kinds of wood for comparison.

To do the final cleanup of the bottom and get the last of the chunks out I used a swan neck chisel.

The finished mortise.  It’s not perfect, I bruised the side of the plowed groove prying a chip out, but I’m comfortable with the process now.  I think I’m ready to have another run at the lid for my saw chest now.  I also picked up some better quality pine, clear pine, at Southern Lumber.  All clear pine is 20% off for the next week!