Practice makes ...

I spent a long time on the phone this morning with the father of a friend arraigning for some private woodworking instruction. It was a pleasant conversion, most of that nature are. He just picked up a used lathe, some turning tools and some passion for turning. We talked for about a half hour, mostly about sharpening and then about turning. He told me that he was practicing on some firewood. I love turning air dried wood. But then a bit of panic struck for me.

I studied classical guitar for several years in my youth. I've taught guitar, martial arts, computers, math, all kinds of stuff. I panicked when remembered some advice I got from a flamenco guitarist I studied with in my late teens.

He said, "Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes you better."

Later I heard it better as, "Practice makes permanent."

I gave him some turning exercises on the phone and we are getting together next week. Turning is a lot like playing guitar, you can produce some interesting stuff before having any idea of what you are doing. Both also share the possibility of hurting yourself by using poor technique.


Thanks for reading. Next post should be some pictures of recent projects.

Happy New Year!

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

Some times you just have to make something silly

I made a bunch of these as Christmas gifts. I assumed I'd sell a couple. Nope, I sold eight of them before really offering them for sale.

The "dynamite" is birch, rounded to a 1 inch cylinder 10 inches long. There are seven of them in a circular bundle. The tape is for effect and is not supporting anything other than itself. There are joined by two tiny butt joints on each one. Since long grain to long grain glue joints are very strong and the rods are very light, butt joints are more than adequate.  The rods are painted a deep red using a technique that causes the surface to have a slightly rough texture.

The clock is in a piece of Black Walnut 5 inches long by 3.5 inches tall and 1 inch thick. The walnut is planed smooth and then finished in Boiled Linseed Oil.

The wires are epoxied into small holes in the center rod and the side of the walnut. I chose random colors cut to random lengths.

The clock has a diameter of 2.75 inches.

No power tools are used to make the "bomb." The rods were made with a drawknife and a spokeshave. All crosscuts were via a backsaw in a miter box. The walnut was ripped to width with my Disston #8 hand saw. The surface of the walnut was smoothed with a #4 1/2 Stanley plane that is about 80 years old -he still works hard despite his age. The edges were "shot" using my -even older- Stanley #8 on my self-made shooting board. 

I can build a few more before Christmas but probably can't be shipped for a pre-Christmas arrival. They are available for $39.00.

Even More Black Friday Tools!

Next up is a set of Robert Sorby Heavy Mortise Chisels. 

At The Best Things this set would sell for $164.85. I will sell the set for $100.00 cash (currency, check, barter, no PayPal or Credit Cards). First, "I'll take it", gets it.

I will, on request and without charge, hone the irons to 30,000 grit before it leaves for it's new home.

I replaced these chisels long ago with Lie-Nielsen mortise chisels.

Shipping price will be the actual shipping costs.
 
W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

More Black Friday Items

Next up is a Vertias Bevel-Up Smoother.

This is a Veritas Bevel-Up Smoother with 2 O1 irons. The irons are 38 and 50 degrees. Purchased new the set would total $253.50. I will sell the set for $175.00 cash (currency, check, barter, no PayPal or Credit Cards). First, "I'll take it", gets it.

I also have the matching  Veritas Bevel-Up Jointer. This also include 2 O1 irons beveled at 38 and 50 degrees. Purchased new this would total $309.50. I will sell the set for $210.00 cash (currency, check, barter, no PayPal or Credit Cards). First, "I'll take it", gets it.

If you want both I will let them go for $375.

I will, on request and without charge, hone the irons to 30,000 grit before it leaves for it's new home.


I am selling these planes because I now handle "wild" grain with a back bevel on my bevel-down planes.

Shipping price will be the actual shipping costs.

Still to come, Stanley #8 jointer plane, Stanley #5 fore plane, Stanley #605 fore plane, Stanley #10 rabbet plane, Stanley #386 plane fence, Robert Sorby mortise chisels (1/4", 3/8", 1/2'), and more. 

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you Lisa for the support and encouragement, you drive me crazy in the most awesome way.

Thank you Heather and Aaron, I could not have asked for cooler kids.

Thank you Stacy, Shiloh and Aidan. I am so proud of you.

Thank you Ellie, you are the most loving being I have ever met. Thanks for sharing your life with me.

Thank you Cannon, for being a big, happy, clown, and certified Scaredy Cat. I hope you like your new shirt.

Thank you Hickory & Oak for the amazing lumber you make available to me.

Thank you Woodcraft of Grand Rapids for allowing me to teach in your store.

Thank you Rob Cosman for your tools, mentoring and encouragement.

Thank you nature for the amazing variety of trees that make what I do possible and fascinating.


Thank you for reading my little blog.

Black Friday Sale?

Despite the fact that I have not marketed this blog to fellow woodworkers the stats indicate that several woodworkers are readers. In light of that fact I am going to offer to you first some tools that I will soon place on eBay. These are tools that I have picked up along the way and have since replaced or they no longer fit in my plan. There will be roughly a dozen tools offered.

First up is a Stanley #4 1/2. I replaced the original puny iron and cap iron with IBC replacements. The IBC set is much thicker that the original so the mouth needed to be opened. I opened it as little as possible since I used this exclusively as a smoother and wanted the finest shaving possible for the best obtainable result.

I flattened the sole with a progression of sand paper from 80-220 grits. The 80 and 120 grits were put on my jointer bed - a good use for it now that it doesn't see wood anymore. The 220 grit paper was on my laboratory grade granite stone. The sole is very flat with the exception of the extreme rear of the heel.

It is easy to get shavings like the one in the photo above.

As well as super fine wispy shavings as in this photo.

Side by side for comparison.

I am selling this plane because I replaced it with a Lie-Nielsen 4 1/2.

The Pinnacle matched chip breaker and blade set is now selling for $85. I have several hours into fettling this plane. I will sell it here for $125.00 cash (currency, check, barter, no PayPal or Credit Cards). First, "I'll take it", gets it. I will, on request and without charge, hone the iron to 30,000 grit before it leaves for it's new home.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

How I did it.

Here is a slide show of the process of inserting the nail into the board.

I hope you enjoy it.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner & Cabinetmaker

Wood comes from What?

My woodworking teacher often comments that we have an entire generation of people that don't know that wood comes from trees.  I thought that was an exaggeration until one day when I was discussing furniture with a young man thought I was making a joke about making furniture from trees. I had to call my mentor and apologize for doubting his observational skills.

On Saturday November 12, 2011 I took a friend to one of my favorite places to buy lumber Hickory and Oak. Hickory and Oak is owned by Steve Van osdol. Hickory and Oak is a small custom saw mill that specializes in custom wood flooring and taking good care of craftsmen.
 

The first, and smallest, advantage of buying lumber directly from the sawyer is price. I can save the middle man's cut by going directly to the producer. The second advantage is that I can pick out the pieces that I need for a specific project. The advantage of buying from Hickory and Oak is that they will actually help you do that.

  

 

 Roger is an employee at Hickory and Oak. In the picture above he is actually sorting wood as Jeff reads specification from his cut list. I've never gotten that kind of assistance from a retailer

In order to to differentiate my work from similar pieces that you can buy from a retail outlet I need both meticulous craftsmanship and extraordinary raw materials. The next advantage of buying from Steve at Hickory and Oak is that Steve understands the needs of craftsmen like me and sets aside the best and most unusual pieces of lumber.

For example, check out this piece of poplar. The picture doesn't do justice to the amazing purple and brown accents surrounded by creamy white. Poplar is a wood that I would normally avoid because of its streaks of drab green mineral stains and dull off-white appearance. Without a custom sawyer looking out for my needs that piece would have speant the rest of its life cut into thin strips as a piece of a pallet or as fire wood.

 Another piece Steve set aside was this wide board of red oak. I tend to avoid red oak because it is so common. This board looks like a bird's eye effect.

Steve and I went into another building to check out this maple monster.

I asked Steve to step into the picture to add some perspective.

I then put my hand in view to show the thickness of this piece. Overall it is (going from memory) 8 feet long, 2 feet wide (at the narrowest) and over 3 inches thick. My mind's eye sees an amazing table in there. Contact me if your living room needs an amazing conversation piece.

A trip to Hickory and Oak is not complete without meeting and throwing sticks for "Log Dog."

So my friend, Jeff, picked up 150~ board feet of some of the most beautiful quarter sawn white oak (we'll discuss quarter sawn soon) I've ever seen to build two cribs. Me, I was there not to buy lumber but because I have a giant truck to bring home Jeff's future baby's future bed so I only bought these:

A big piece (8' x 6"x 2") of quarter sawn beech, for making tools.

A short piece of walnut for inlays and small gift items.

A beautiful piece of gummy cherry. I can't wait to see this when I'm finished. What can I make for you?

Yep, I couldn't resist. A big ole board of a wood I rarely use. I think I see a Christmas gift or six in there.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

Weird stuff you can do with wood

This is not an optical illusion.

Without any help, can you explain how I did that?

If you absolutely know the answer please don't be first to comment.

I will detail the technique in a few days.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker. 

Care to watch me work?

 On Wednesday, November 16, 2011 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm at the Woodcraft store in Grand Rapids I'll be conducting a "seminar" on hand cut dovetails. During the two hour seminar I will prepare wood, layout, cut and fit dovetails using traditional methods.

I intend to photograph the event as much as possible. Since I will be both photographing and photographed there will be some limitations. I will post any interesting photos here.

If you are interested in traditional woodworking this is an excellent opportunity to both observe and to ask questions. I will explain and demonstrate the following tools: rip saw, cross-cut saw, shooting board, long-grain shooting board, joiner plane, skew block plane, smoothing plane, fret saw, various chisels, marking gauge, bevel gauge.

Last year I taught this as a class with good success. Switching the format to seminar is a touch uncomfortable for me. I believe that attendees want to take something home that they built by hand, their own hands. Ah, well, this time they can take something home built by my hands. I intend to have both through and half-blind dovetailed Potpourri Boxes and Shaker Candle Boxes on sale at the seminar.

Woodcraft charges a $10 admission fee and I am compensated for the seminar.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker. 

C(102)H(151)O(39)N(31)

Speaking of being green...

None of my techniques are green for the sake of being green. Most are "green" quite by accident. I choose my materials and techniques based on what I feel are best. What makes them best is probably more subjective than I care to admit.

Some are not, however, subjective. Case in point is my choice of glue. My glue choice is non-toxic, renewable, non-polluting and stronger than its toxic, non-renewable, polluting counterparts.

My glue is C(102)H(151)O(39)N(31). That looks pretty scary. It is the oldest form of glue known to man. A mural showing it being used first appeared in about 1500 BC by Thutmose III. King Tutankhamen's casket was glued together with this stuff in 1350 BC.

This amazing stuff is made from cattle hide, trimmings from a leather factory. Boiled until the collagen is released, then dried and packaged. I reconstitute it by adding water and heating it to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is hygroscopic, as is wood, so it changes with the humidity in the air, just like the wood it is securing. It does not affect finishes. Most glues cause blotching of the finish if it is not completely removed from the surface of the piece.

The biggest advantage is that joints held by it can be repaired. By applying heat and moisture (steam?) the glue joint can be reversed. It seems pretty important to me that you are able to repair a piece rather than disposing and purchasing a replacement.

Hide glue is another of those old techniques/materials/skills...that are nearly lost.

If you are interested in Hide Glue, the book "Hide Glue" by Stephen A. Shepard or Stephen's blog at http://www.fullchisel.com/ are highly recommended.

Coming up: Finishing with wax, milk and pill coatings!?!?!

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

The Joy of Sharp

I taught a class on sharpening at the Woodcraft store in Grand Rapids tonight. I really enjoy teaching sharpening. It a skill that is basic and necessary in order to be a successful woodworker. Yet it seems to be misunderstood by almost everyone. I think that the skill is lost because there are so many companies selling machines to make it easier.

I usually start the class by asking how long it will take to sharpen a chisel. The responses range upward from a few minutes. I counter with fifteen seconds. I explain that unless you can find a method that is quick and easy you will try to avoid sharpening. Using dull hand tools will lead to myths like; hand tools are slow, hand tool woodworking is hard,... Then I sharpen a chisel or plane blade in 13 seconds and use it to produce a surface that is ready for finishing in a few more seconds, without breaking a sweat. Then I bask in the comments expressing surprise over the simplicity of the method.

Within 30 minutes or so all of the students are producing edges nearly as fine as mine. We go on to sharpen things like scissors and kitchen tools but all of that is meaningless compared to the feeling of power all of the students have. They know that their wood working skill set has been elevated and that their projects will be of higher quality. They actually look forward to doing a task that they previously dreaded.

To top it all off...I didn't get cut tonight.

Ahh...the Joy of Sharp.


W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

An experiment!

I mentioned last time that I use hand planes and I avoid sand paper. The main reason for this is that the plane produces a superior surface. A secondary reason is that wood dust is dangerous stuff to breath.

Sand paper works by scratching the surface of the wood with an abrasive. Proper use dictates that you progress through a series of finer grits. Each grit replaces the scratches from the previous grit with finer scratches. You continue until you reach a scratch pattern that is hidden to your eye.

A hand plane is essentially a holder for a blade. The blade finishes the wood by shaving a thin slice of wood from the surface. I am capable of adjusting my planes to remove a shaving that is 0.0005 inches thick. That is significantly thinner than a human hair.  

I did a little experiment for you. I took a scrap of wood from a discarded crate, selected a nice chunk about eight inches long. One side I sanded using the progression of grits 80, 110, 220. Most woodworkers agree that 220 grit is a good place to stop before applying finish. I sanded carefully to get the best surface I could, this is an experiment and we want to measure results not prove what we hoped for. The process took about 5 minutes.

The other side I planed with a fore plane and then with a smoother. We'll discuss another day the difference between the planes. The planing took less than 2 minutes.

This is the sanded side of the board under my digital microscope. You can see the scratches moving from the lower left to the upper right. The wood is flat enough to reflect the light from the microscope. If I were to apply a clear, film finish you would be pleased with the appearance.

This is the planed side of the board at the same magnification. You can see that there are no scratches. The surface of the board is so smooth that it reflects light in a way that reveals the texture of the wood even at this high magnification. When a clear finish is applied it will "glow."

Hand planes allow me to do other things that are difficult or impossible with machine tools. An easy example is fitting a door on a cabinet. With the plane a can remove whisper thin shavings until I achieve a perfect fit. Attempting the same on a powered saw would be frightfully dangerous and wouldn't be even close in the level of precision.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

Joiner and Cabinetmaker

Joiner and Cabinetmaker.

What does that mean? In centuries past woodworkers were divided into three groups; carpenters, joiners and cabinetmakers. A carpenter would construct buildings. A joiner would finish the building, i.e. trim, mouldings, etc. A cabinetmaker built furniture; chairs, tables, dressers and...cabinets.
While carpenters and joiners would also build furniture they were limited by the regulations of the guilds. Carpenters, for example, would nail together their furniture, while a cabinetmaker would use high end joinery such as mortise and tenon or dovetail joints. Clearly the cabinetmaker was building furniture designed to be attractive and to last for generations. While the carpenter was building functional furniture.

My work is meant to be attractive and to live at least as long as its owner. I don't use nails or screws, except when they are appropriate as decoration or for a period correct piece. I don't use polyurethane or poly anything as a finish, there is enough plastic in the world.

I don't use electrically powered tools. I'm green. But not necessarily for the sake of being green. However, I'm not particularly concerned with being "period correct" for any period. I prefer to choose the right tool for the job. We'll talk about that.

I use North American lumber nearly exclusively. The fact that I am using sustainable lumber is a plus, but not the only reason. I like to purchase my lumber from a couple of local small lumber mills. They will cut what I need and I like supporting small businesses.


What's the point of the blog? First, I want you to have some of my work in your home. Second, I want to make a few bucks from the first reason. Third, I enjoy writing about things I like. At this point I don't know how often I will update the blog. I'm going to write only when I have something to say. I certainly hope that will be fairly frequently. I will post some pictures soon. I will also post some items for sale in time for Christmas.

W. C. "Bill" Sias, Joiner and Cabinetmaker.