Continuing with my reviews of DVD’s for the SmartFlix Hand Tools course, this time I review the David Charlesworth DVD’s: Precision Preparation of Chisels For Accurate Joinery and Chisel Techniques for Precision Joinery.
Like the earlier reviewed DVD’s on Hand Plane preparation and use, these were shot on location at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks. Again like those DVD’s, these titles completely cover the subject of sharpening chisels as well as detailing specific joinery techniques using them. To quote Charlesworth:
“Chisel work is at the heart of all of the most sophisticated joinery”
Heeding this advice, it will benefit all woodworkers to learn about preparing and using chisels to ultimately help us in efforts to perfect our joinery tasks.
Chisels – Precision Preparation for Joinery
As the title suggests, this DVD details the subject of a sharpening chisels for use in the workshop. Specifically, in this DVD Charlesworth highlights both the concepts shared with sharpening plane irons as well as new techniques that are unique to sharpening for chisels.
Starting with the definition of sharpness as the intersection of two polished surfaces, and the statement that the quality of the edge is only as good as the quality of the polish on the surfaces, Charlesworth takes you through the process of flattening the backs of chisels and honing their edges.
This instruction starts with a discussion of how to use Japanese water stones to sharpen (including the flattening of stones with a simple technique using wet/dry paper on a flat plate). Two distinct movements are discussed for flattening the chisel back with an interesting aside on why a slight hollow on a chisel back is actually a desirable trait as opposed to a belly or bow. Along the way, Charlesworth touches on different scratch patterns and how to use them to your advantage to determine when to move to the next grit stone as well as why to avoid using the second sharpening movement on narrow chisels.
The discussion on honing the bevel of chisels covers a triple-bevel technique for fast sharpening. This includes a rationale for each of the primary and micro-bevels and their angles as well as a discussion on when to re-grind the tool. Also covered was a technique for using a jig and a coarse stone to correct for an edge that may have been ground out of square.
Charlesworth shows a nice water stone holding board for use when sharpening and as an added bonus the plans for this board are included as a PDF on the DVD.
The material covered on this DVD is a nice complement to the information on the DVD covering sharpening of plane irons. Distinctions are made to compare and contrast the two techniques. The techniques for chisels are different and for good reason. Charlesworth emphasizes these differences as well as their merits for use with chisels.
Chisel Techniques for Precision Joinery
Before delving into the subject of joinery using chisels, this DVD begins with a survey discussion on various chisels types. Charlesworth speaks to the relative merits of various types and brands of chisels including both western and Japanese tools.
The chisel joinery discussions start using the half-blind dovetail as a teaching example. Here, Charlesworth covers the proper grip, hand position and use of the mallet when chiseling. While working on the dovetails in the DVD, he introduces a couple of specific techniques including: the “release cut” and “tenting” to remove waste material fromthe joints. Also discussed is the technique of horizontal paring including the proper stance and body position as well as the effective use of the hands as a breaking system for increased precision. During the discussion on paring, the concept of the “forbidden direction” is introduced and Charlesworth effectively demonstrates why you should never pare with the grain but rather across the grain in order to obtain precision results. Joinery techniques are continued with a shorter section on the mortise and tenon joint. Techniques for chopping a mortise and paring a tenon are covered. Included is the use of the tenting technique for trimming tenon shoulders as well as the proper techniques for levering and extracting chips from a mortise.
One interesting aspect of Charlesworth’s chisel technique involves the use of a hammer rather than a mallet for chopping in order to best hear the differences in sound indicating when to remove chips. In passing, Charlesworth also mentions one of the few uses for a chisel in the bevel down position – creating faceted pegs for decorative or structural use in furniture.
The material covered on this DVD is definitely useful for developing skills with bench chisels. The importance of the chisel as a precision tool in the woodshop is emphasized and reinforced. Anyone wanting to learn proper chiseling techniques and methods to improve the quality of their joinery will benefit from viewing it.
Don’t forget, if you are a new customer and interested in renting these DVD’s before the full Hand Tools course is developed, SmartFlix has offered readers of The Craftsman’s Path a $2 discount coupon for your use. Simply use the coupon code: CRAFTPATH when you check out!
Tags: chiseling, chisels, David Charlesworth, DVD review, hand tools, precision joinery, Sharpening, SmartFlix
With the rough stock for this table acclimated to my shop for a week or so, I started this project as I usually do, by viewing all of the stock and marking out all of the components for best grain use, etc.
I then broke down the rough stock into more manageable, slightly oversize, pieces. I previously wrote about my method of using the jigsaw and band saw for this process. To me this is the safest, most convenient and economical way to do this.
For the legs of this table I want a finished 1 3/4″ square leg at the top, tapering to about 3/4″ square at the bottom. I started with 8/4 rough stock and ripped it to 2″ square by 29 1/2″ long to accommodate a 28 1/2″ finished leg length. For the legs, I tried to utilize the stock such that the grain lines run diagonal across the ends of the leg. This yields the straightest grain along the faces of the legs. In this case I used the more quartersawn faces for the front of the legs – this helps to keep any face grain on the legs from competing with the simple design of the piece. I mention this here because it is important to realize that it is at this point in the build process where these kinds of decisions must be made. In my mind, this is just an extension of the design process that started with the initial sketch. Choosing your stock wisely here will pay dividends in the look of the finished piece.
I milled the rough leg blanks to 1 3/4″ square and then cross cut them to length on the table saw using the miter gauge with an extension fence. However, because the legs on the table will be splayed out to each side by 2 degrees, it was at this point that I needed to account for that detail. I first made a pencil mark on one face of each leg at both the top and bottom to indicate the general angles to be cut – it’s easy to get these angles turned around in your head and to make a mistake. So, a quick set of pencil marks to orient you when cutting is helpful. I then set the miter gauge for a 2 degree angle and cross cut one end of each leg. Next, I set a stop block on the miter gauge fence at 28 1/2″ and cross cut the other ends of the legs, again at 2 degrees. Batching these operations to occur at with the same setup assured me that each of the legs would be cut with exactly the same angle and also to the same length. In the picture you can see the angled cuts on the top ends of two opposing legs.
I am using loose tenons for the joinery on this table. So, while the legs were still square in cross-section I machined the mortises to accept the loose tenons for both the front and side aprons. The side aprons have only single tenon but the front and back aprons have double tenons for added strength. I used the router mortising jig that I wrote about previously to create the three 1/4″ mortises in each leg blank.
With the angled ends and mortises cut on the square leg blanks, I could now move on to the operation of tapering the legs. To start, on the two faces to be tapered I marked the legs at a point 4 3/4″ down from the top and at the bottom 3/4″ from each of the inside corners. There are many ways to taper legs. I contemplated just marking out the tapers and free-handing the cuts on the band saw. I also thought about just using the jointer and making repeated passes to achieve the tapers. Then, I noticed a little used jig in the corner of the shop.
This old jig was one that that I once used to cut straight edges on rough stock with the table saw. I thought that it could be re-purposed for the process of tapering the legs of the table. The jig is simple – it consists of a piece of melamine coated particle shelf stock from a home center and a couple of De-Sta-Co type clamps. I re-oriented the clamps on risers to account for the thickness of the legs, added a couple of stops to account for the tapers to be cut and I was ready to go.
The jig rides along the fence on the table saw. To cut the tapers I aligned the edge of the jig with the blade and positioned the fence against the jig. Each leg was positioned on the jig aligning the 3/4″ end with the edge of the jig at the leading end and the 4 3/4″ mark at the trailing end. The stock was pushed through the blade cutting a perfect taper – then the stock was rotated 90 degrees and the second taper was cut. The important thing here was to cut the faces in the correct order so that after rotating the leg I still had a square face resting on the jig. Doing so required the addition of a small block under the front clamp for each second taper cut. In the picture you can see a leg blank in the jig with a taper already cut.
Next up I’ll start the work on the aprons and the top.
Tags: lose tenon, Modern Shaker Table, router mortise jig, shaker, table saw taper jig, tapered legs
Usually, I do not design pieces with very contemporary styling. However, when I was asked to design and build a table for my brother-in-laws vacation home, I knew that I would need to change course a bit from the more traditional. My brother-in-law and his wife’s tastes lean a bit more toward the contemporary side. Also, the house where the piece is to reside features very dark wood floors so, I knew that lighter colored wood was a necessary design consideration. The immediate need was for a hall/sofa table for the main living room of the house. So, with more modern styling in mind as well as a known need for a lighter wood for the project, I set off to develop some ideas.
The dark floors in the house drove me to choose Hard Maple as the main wood for the project. My first thoughts were to start with traditional Shaker styling due to its simple lines and to modernize the look from there. Adding some curves was a consideration and with Maple as the primary wood, I also considered some other types of embellishment or accents for the piece without deviating too far from the clean modern lines.
In the picture, you can see the initial sketches for the piece. I incorporated tapered legs that are traditionally found on Shaker pieces but, I decided to also splay them by 2 degrees to each side to give the piece a more modern and graceful look. I also added gentle curves to the aprons and replicated those curves on the ends of the top to accentuate the more modern styling for the piece. As you can see in the sketch, I also explored adding some darker inlay to follow the curves. My thinking was that this detail provided a bit more of a more modern look.as well as potentially providing some embellishment to the bland Maple.
Armed with these rough sketches, I moved on to Sketchup to further develop my ideas. As you can see in the Sketchup drawing, I changed the side aprons to provide a more open and modern look. I also simplified the inlay to avoid competing too much with the simple lines of the piece.
As shown, the piece is 28 1/2″ high, 48″ wide and 12″ inches deep. This sizing should allow it to work either as a hall or a sofa table. The designed height allows for the surface of the top to sit just below the top of most sofas. The width fits nicely centered oalong the back of a standard 84″ wide sofa and also works well for a spot along a wall. The depth is enough to allow things to be displayed on the table top in either setting while not occupying too much space in a typical hallway.
This design effort is not unlike most where there are certain constraints and desires to be balanced in the resulting piece. Rarely is a design effort for a functional piece of furniture an open book. However, with the basic constraints in mind we are free to explore any alternatives for the form.
Next up I’ll work on roughing out the pieces for the table and commiting the design to wood.
Tags: design process, gentle curves, hall table, inlay, modern, Modern Shaker Table, sketch, Sketchup, sofa table, splayed legs, taopered legs
Continuing the series of reviews for the SmartFlix Hand Tools course, this time I review the Chris Schwarz DVD Coarse, Medium and Fine.
Like the earlier reviewed DVD on Hand Scraper preparation and use, this one was shot on location at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in 2005. The DVD covers the subjects of surfacing rough lumber with hand planes, plane setup and use, and joinery techniques. During the DVD, Schwarz demonstrates the various techniques while building parts of a Shaker Cabinet to add some context for how and when to use each technique.
The basic premise behind Coarse, Medium and Fine is that there is a sequence of steps that should be followed (equally valid whether using hand tools or power tools, by the way) involving tools that offer a gradually finer finished surface on the wood. Specifically:
- Coarse Tool – used to hog off lots of material from rough lumber at the early stages
- Medium Tool – used to refine the surface left by the course tool and to prepare it for finishing with a fine tool
- Fine Tool – used to bring the surface of the wood to a state that s ready for finish to be applied
As Schwarz mentions in the DVD, the important point to understand here is that you should not skip a level. If you do, you will expend significantly more time and effort to get to the end result.
With the concept introduced, the first thing covered was the process of surfacing rough lumber with coarse, medium and fine tools. Schwarz discussed both tool selection as well as proper techniques for use. This discussion included the thickness and quality of shavings to shoot for with each tool as well as where to spend the most time and when to switch from one tool to the next. Schwarz’s admonition is that most people tend to skip the medium step in the process (whether using power or hand tools) and that this presents a false economy.
Next Schwarz spent time covering the setup and merits of each kind of tool and when to use each. Included in this section were discussions on the size of the mouth of each plane, the camber of the irons and set up of the chip breakers. Also covered here was the relative importance (or unimportance) of the flatness of the sole for each level tool.
The final section of the DVD covered various joinery techniques using hand planes. This is where Schwarz utilized the Shaker Cabinet parts to illustrate when and how to refine joints with hand planes. Covered here were: fitting a shelf to a dado, rebates and fillisters, edge joints, mortise and tenon joints and creating and refining curves. As an added bonus, the plan for the Shaker Cabinet that Schwarz was building is included on the DVD as a PDF.
In summary, Schwarz defines true efficiency in the workshop as: using tools that were designed by their makers for a single purpose, in sequence. Course tools for heavy work, medium tools as a mediator between course and fine and fine tools to produce the finished surface. The process is simple and most efficient if followed as described. I found the DVD to be well done and informative. Most importantly, by understanding the designed uses for each type of tool it becomes easy to contemplate following the simple process from a rough to finished surface.
Even if you will not use hand tools to completely surface rough lumber, the process and its parallel to power tools is important. Using both power and hand tools in sequence in a hybrid approach is something that also becomes apparent after seeing the process unfold on the DVD. I think that the content is equally valid for both hand-tool-only users as well as hybrid woodworkers like myself.
Don’t rofget, if you are a new customer and interested in renting this DVD before the full Hand Tools course is developed, SmartFlix has offered readers of The Craftsman’s Path a $2 discount coupon for your use. Simply use the coupon code: CRAFTPATH when you check out!
Tags: Chris Schwarz, coarse, DVD review, fine, hand plane, hand tools, medium, SmartFlix
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