Sandal Woods - Fine Woodworking
The woodworking video podcast and blog of Al Navas
Often overlooked, screw clamps are great when a second pair of hands is not available in the shop. For example, as I apply glue to the edges of what will become a wide table top, I use the clamps to stabilize the boards:
Using a mallet with good technique, and without damaging a board like I did on the first try, the edge glue-up resulted in a very flat board:
Old technology can be discarded easily. My old Craftsman screw clamps came to the rescue once again – I will keep them.
— Al Navas
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As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we hosted the Guild meeting in our shop last night. Today was clean-up day, to move the metal chairs back into the storage area in the shop, and to gather up leftover water bottles, empty soda cans, and clean up cookie crumbles (yes, we do have munchies at our gatherings).
After cleaning up I headed to the Simpson & Sons saw mill, just outside town. I needed a few cherry boards for an upcoming project. As usual, Dustin, Lori, and the rest of the crew, were extremely helpful, climbing the stacks to hand-pick boards and hand them down to me. Back in the shop, I took a few minutes to handle a couple of phone calls; I cannot remember when I last sat in the open area in front of the table saw, but it felt great – it is a most unusual happening, but one I might practice more often:
Just back from the saw mill.
Not only has all the snow melted, but we have had two rainy days – actually, drizzly days and flooding of the Platte River. I make it a practice to bring lumber into the shop, to let it acclimate for a few days. To help it along, I lay out the boards and cut them to rough length; then they sit in the shop for a few days. I make sure to inspect every board carefully, marking areas I will avoid due to cracks and other defects:
Start layout on cherry boards.
In the morning I will do some preliminary machining of the cut pieces, just enough to get them flat, but nowhere near final thickness. This will allow me to check for stability much better, as I will be able to detect even the slightest cupping or twist.
On a non-woodworking note, our 5-year old granddaughter, Emily, has started using “her Mommy’s Facebook”, and sending Sandy and I messages. Last night she did it on the Facebook chat. Today I found a message from her on my Wall; and I noticed she had also written on Sandy’s wall. When I asked her tonight how she wrote on our Walls, she said “…I found ‘Al’ on Mommy’s Facebook, and wrote you a note. Then, looking in your Friends list, I found Sandy and wrote her a note, too…”
I was unable to contain my laugh. It was a pretty special day, thanks to Emily. She will be six in April.
— Al Navas
Postscript: Emily wrote on my Wall: “hi papaps this is emily hau r you?”
During a recent weekend I found myself with a little “free” time. Not wanting to just be idle, I decided to make a large wooden try square; I had read about them in several places, and the idea sounded attractive. I wanted to be able to use the large square on large assemblies; of particular interest was its reported lighter weight, compared to my rosewood and brass try square. Because I had abundant scrap maple around the shop, I used it for a prototype square.
I recalled seeing a nice try square in Moxon’s The Art of Joinery (commentary by Christopher Schwarz); I even wrote a short entry some time ago. Armed with this information, I proceeded to fashion my version of the square on the following photo, and even gave the handle an ogee pattern of my own design:
Photo by Al Navas.
However, I forgot the details. A few pages before the photo above was the following image (rats! – did I put the ogee on the wrong side of the handle?):
Photo by Al Navas.
The following photo of a modern square in the Woodworking magazine blog reinforced what I wanted to do (is it the same square as in the Moxon book? I believe it is!) – notice that the cavetto (thanks for the correction, Chris!) cyma recta (ogee) tapers toward the inside of the handle (from Schwarz’s My Favorite Try Square, in this article):
Credit: Christopher Schwarz, Woodworking Magazine blog.
Sure enough, I put the ogee on the “wrong side”, based on very old design by Roubo. Christopher Schwarz recently made a gaggle (or is it a herd?) of try squares using cavettos (coves) as the decorative detail on the handle, and showed them off in a recent article in his Woodworking magazine blog:
Credit: Christopher Schwarz, Woodworking Magazine blog.
As a result of my own confusion, I called Schwarz, but he was unavailable. However, he answered in an e-mail message:
…I don’t have enough information to say which is more common or which is correct. Seeing as the detail is decorative, I don’t imagine it makes all that much difference. I believe it to be decorative because neither Moxon nor Roubo discusses the decoration at all in regards to the functional characteristics of the tool. Heck, they don’t even mention the decoration at all…
— Christopher Schwarz, February 5, 2010
If you decide to make your own wooden try squares, and you are in doubt how to orient the decoration, make two and try it both ways- these are fun to make! The next time I have a little free time I will use a straight-grain hardwood, and I will make a really good, light, and attractive try square.
As I read the blogs this morning, I learned that Bob Easton also tried his hand at making this square, and he got it right, per Roubo; you can read his article here.
— Al Navas
If you have any questions, or would like to order an item from my Gallery, please let me know via e-mail at sandal_woods@bbwi.net.
Enjoy!
--- Al Navas [Read More…]
