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My wishes

December 23, 2010 By

I wish all my friends and readers a Merry Christmas. And I hope that the New Year will be filled with with happiness and wonder.

With the holidays upon us, many of you will be spending time with loved ones and friends. I wish you safe journeys, no matter the destination.

On a personal note: Sandy and I are blessed with one daughter; our daughter and son–in-law have six girls, with a seventh child on its way, due in May. We are thankful for having them close by — as it has become a tradition, they will be joining us on Christmas morning, to open the packages that found their way under the beautiful tree.

We are expecting a white Christmas. It will be another wonderful time!

Ornaments - Christmas 2010.

Ornaments on the little tree at the entry way - Christmas 2010.

Credits: The train engine tree ornament is part of a collection of limited-edition engines and train cars made by K.D, my brother-in-law over several years. He used native woods — and exercised much patience along the way. And also showed terrific woodworking skill!

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog

Repairing an old sewing machine case

December 22, 2010 By

Sandy bought a very old bentwood sewing machine case, destined to keep the dust off a very old sewing machine. The case looked (mostly) in good condition:

Bentwood sewing machine case - full view.

The end where the lock is located looked good, even though there is some damage to the veneer – it has a hole that allows insertion of a key, to lock this top to the bottom:

Cannot tell if the veneer is damaged.

Some damage is apparent when the case is turned on its side – the veneer layers have partially delaminated from the end of the case. On inspection it appeared that hot hide glue was used to apply the layers of veneer – very brittle, and softened by water:

Lock on edge of case.

The screws securing the lock required a little manipulation, but I was able to loosen them to remove the lock:

Removing the lock prior to veneer repair.

I had already re-glued the veneer at the other end of the case – but this side was easy:

The other end of case, after veneer repairs.

When I removed the lock I weighed the options on how to proceed.

The problem: a large hole that accepts a key, to allow locking the top to the base.

Why is it a problem? Because any glue used to repair the veneer will seep through the hole into the mortise for the lock.

Options: I thought about using a wooden plug, or a cork plug, etc.

Sandy’s solution was brilliant: use foam to keep the bulk the glue out of the mortise during the glue-up.

That is what I did. I used thick wooden cauls, to distribute the clamp pressure evenly along the edge – they are wrapped with packing tape, to prevent the liquid hide glue from sticking to them:

Re-gluing the veneer on the end with lock.

Late yesterday I replaced the foam layers, as just a tiny bit of glue had seeped through the hole into the mortise. I will find out later today how well this repair turned out. Please stand by!

Glue used: Titebond liquid hide glue.

My best guess about the glue used originally: Hot hide glue.

— Al Navas

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New source of card scrapers to handle tricky grain

December 21, 2010 By

Card scrapers are the ideal tool to handle tricky grain and prevent tear-out, when no hand plane can do it. I just bought an assortment of new scrapers from my friend Dominic Greco, who is ready to supply these — the initial results are great.

How good are they? Look at this photo – see the fluffy shavings I got from the gnarly area on the  walnut board? I love seeing these results in one or two passes with a scraper — true gossamer-thin shavings, with virtually no dust:

The new stainless steel scraper at work.

I will be using a bunch of these in the near future. The standard pack Dominic sells will consist of the following:

  • (3) Standard Card Scraper (normally 3 for $10)
  • (3) Heavy Duty Card Scrapers (normally 3 for $12)
  • (5) Medium Credit Card Scrapers (normally 5 for $5)
  • (5) Light Credit Card Scrapers (normally 5 for $5)

The pack is a $32 value. He will box them all up and send them for $27 (plus $5.95 shipping and handling).

It will look something like the pack I bought:

Contents of the card scraper pack.

I will sharpen several of these, as I must tame the tear-out in the curly maple I bought recently.

My purpose with this article: To alert everyone of a new source of card scrapers at reasonable cost. To place your order, contact Dominic Greco at the following e-mail address: dominicgreco@netscape.net. Dominic is currently out of the light and the medium size scrapers; you also need to know that due to the holidays coming up, there will be a lead time to fill your order. But it will be worth it, as these scrapers are good. He told me:

…Those credit card scrapers were the real “sleeper” of the bunch. I can’t keep them in stock! They are super useful at cleaning up curved areas like on cabriolet legs, saw handles (which I use them for), and plane totes. The nice thing is that you can hold them in one hand and bow them between your thumb and fingers. Then you can hold the work in one hand and scraper with the other.

If you buy some of Dominic’s scrapers, let me know how you like them.

— Al Navas

Additional blog content on card scrapers:
Czeck Edge tools, and 3 videos from Woodworking in America: Scrapers: History, Preparation and Use, Parts 1 to 3

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Filed Under: Blog, scraper, Tools Tagged With:

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