May 24, 2012

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for wia-2008

#37. WIA: Part 2 of 3 – Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding

December 11, 2008 By

Download High Resolution
Total running time: 39 mins., 52 seconds

In this episode Christopher Schwarz, Editor of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine, presents, discusses, and points out pros and cons of several benches and their features:

  1. The European bench: He is not happy with this form, but also is not anti-European-form. His problem with this one: People take old principles and apply them to other benches. He likes to apply the kitchen door test (typical sizes we work on) and the kitchen carcase test (pushes him to narrower benches) to all benches, for suitability.
  2. Materials: For example, the Nicholson bench required only a small amount of material. He likes soft woods for his benches; SYP (Southern yellow pine) does not move much, is stiff ((no flexing), it dents (no detriment), and he can flatten a workbench in 45 minutes using a #8 jointer hand plane diagonally. Also, SYP does not sag; however, one of his benches has developed a low spot i.n the middle. He believes the critical area that requires total flatness on a bench top is the front 8 inches to 10 inches.
  3. Roman style bench: This is the one he finds in most pro shops. Pros: It is simple, and stout. Con: No planing stops, etc.
  4. The French undercarriage: Pros: Great clamping ability. Con: Requires a log of material, primarily due to its massive legs.
  5. The English bench: Pros: Requires very little wood. Con: Undercarriage clamping is tough.
  6. The Danish bench: Pro: Easy to knock down. Don: Can’t clamp easily on the front.
  7. The Shaker bench: Pros: Great looks, and storage for everything and everybody. Cons: Hard to clamp on.
  8. Tool trays: Cons: They are always full of “stuff”.
  9. The Hayward bench: The thin top flexes; but the front apron takes away some of the flex.
  10. Top thickness: At 3″ to 4″, the beam strength is enough to provide support on the legs. Holdfasts reach their holding limit around 4 inches.
  11. Bench height: For hand planing, it should hit the joint between the pinkie and the palm of the hand.
  12. Bench width: Finds that 22″ is great, but 18″ tends to be tippy.
  13. Bench finish: NO slick film. The formula he uses is 50/50 BLO (boiled linseed oil) / varnish, with solvent added to make it possible to wipe on the mixture. There is no need to finish the underside, unless the owner wants to finish it.

Next: The ending of the session on Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding.

.

Related posts: Watch more videos from Woodworking in America on this blog.

Filed Under: Berea, Blog, Conference, Tools, Video, Woodworking in America, Workbench Tagged With: , , , , , ,

#36. WIA: Part 1 of 3 – Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding

December 4, 2008 By

Download Quicktime
Run time: 40 minutes, 21 seconds

First, a lengthy apology: The lighting in the room used for this session was challenging at best. As a result, I compensated exposure in the video camera manually, as the automatic system kept being fooled by some lights in the background. An overhead light was in front of the projections screen, which interfered with a small portion of the images. And I also I continued to have tripod problems, so panning side-to-side, and tilting, were terrible at best (I tried to keep these to a minimum).

Second: Be on the lookout for the moves, now famous, that lead to The Schwarz Dances. NOW you can see them in the context of his terrific presentation. Hint: Around 31:30, and also 36:45 of this Part.

Over the years, Christopher Schwarz has built many benches – from the Roman style door-and-saw horse, to much-improved models based on old references. And he has published a book that has become a true library reference for many woodworkers: Workbenches, From Design & Theory to Construction & Use.

Now to Part 1: From my notes, a mix of some comments and facts from the presentation by Christopher Schwarz. I hope the following will get your interest in watching the video:

  • Target: How to build a bench at a reasonable cost – It must appeal to readers. Thus, the $175 bench.
  • Evolution of a simple bench, over time.
  • “Fights” with Joel Moskowitz in Joel’s apartment, while looking at his world-class woodworking library – Roubo found; Plate 11, the start of The Schwarz’s “conversion”.
  • Built the first Roubo for $300, including the crochet (pronounced “crow-shay”, not “croh-chett”…) and leg vise, and put it through its paces.
  • Some comments on the minuses of the European benches.
  • His research led Chris to ask himself “…what other early, cool benches might be buried in the literature?”

I have several pages of notes, but won’t post the remainder here. It is all in the video.

Next: Part 2 of the session on Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding.

Related Posts:
More stuff from Woodworking in America on this blog.

.

Filed Under: Berea, Blog, Conference, Video, Woodworking in America Tagged With: , , , , ,

#35. WIA – Scrapers: History, Preparation and Use, Part 3 of 3

November 27, 2008 By

Download Quicktime (*.mov)
Run time: 23 minutes, 02 seconds

This is Part 3 of 3 of the session on Scrapers: History, Preparation and Use, with Christopher Schwarz. Part3 concludes the series on scrapers.

To get some continuity from Part 2 into Part 3, I included the last 3 minutes from Part 2 as the introduction to this episode. This way you can get back to speed quickly.

In Part 3 Christopher Schwarz actually draws the burr on the scraper. This Part starts with some discussion by The Schwarz on drawing the burr, and continues with the rest of his findings on the study he conducted:

  1. Best way to get a consistent angle at which to pull the burnisher: Adjust the height of the card scraper in the vise, until you find an angle that gives you the best burr. Use this height setting from now on, and lay down the burnisher on the vise chop (the moving face on the vise). This will give you a constant reference angle as you pull the burnisher.
  2. Use a lubricant when drawing the burr:
    - Use a Japanese hair tonic such as Camellia oil (a Japanese hair tonic)
    - Other accounts suggest that the Japanese hair tonic is not the best.
    - Rather, one should use oil from behind the ear, or from the nose.
  3. Make several passes with the burnisher, using light pressure. After each pass, “feel” the burr with your fingers.
  4. Up until today, Chris had always drawn the burr on the pull stroke. After the first pass, someone from the audience asked whether doing it on the push stroke would also work. In the end, it did, and even The Schwarz learned something during this session!
  5. What pressure to use? “About 12.4 lbs…” <laughter from the audience…>
  6. Effect of the shape of the burnisher: A tight radius produces a more aggressive burr, i.e., it cuts more at roughly the same pressure; for harder scrapers, use this tight-radius burnisher. But, for softer scrapers he recommends using a wider-radius burnisher. This is the main reason for differences in the shape of the burnishing rod.
  7. Always buy and use a highly-polished burnisher. He criticizes some commercial burnishers for not being polished enough, which results in jagged edges on the scraper.
  8. Chris likes to draw the burr while slowly moving the scraper away from the edge. This makes a lot of sense, as it “…keeps the oil moving…”
  9. Results: Beautiful shavings!
  10. A huge crowd gathered around Chris and his workbench immediately after the presentation. I am truly sorry I did not leave the camera running to record this!

Approximately the last half portion of Part 3 consists of a Q&A session. Several very good questions originated from attendees to this session, with (what else?) equally good answers from The Schwarz.

I hope you enjoyed this three-part series on scrapers, and hope you will return for more videos from the following sessions I attended:

  • Advanced Dovetailing, with Frank Klausz
  • Bevel-up vs. bevel-down planes, with Robin Lee, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, and Christopher Schwarz
  • Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding, with Christopher Schwarz
  • Furniture Design, with Kevin Drake and John Economaki
  • My summary and wrap-up, with scenes from the conference.

Not on video, but rather from my own notes, I will have a post on Modern Tools, Tolerances & Myths, with Robin Lee, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, Konrad Sauer, and John Economaki.

I would love to receive your Comments, and any questions or suggestions regarding the Woodworking in America series of videos, and any other content.

Filed Under: Berea, Blog, Conference, Sharpening, Video, Woodworking in America Tagged With: , , , ,

Page optimized by WP Minify WordPress Plugin