She killed the bird

Session Two of Becoming a Hand Tool Woodworker: Build a Blanket Chest continued on 9/23/2012. The goals for this session were to complete creation of the reference face of all the plinth boards, create the reference edge for all of the boards and to begin to dimension the plinth boards for width. First, however, we needed to solve a problem with the bench that Megan is using.

The bench that Megan is using doesn't have a tail vice so she was having issues holding the boards for planing. The simple solution was to make a planing stop. We discussed various ways of making the planing stop. Those discussions included analysis of the physics of the forces generated and way to counteract the force successfully. We talked about screwing the boards together, but being a handtool guy I only have iron screws and I don't want to use those on a bench accessory, plus I don't want my planes to meet a chuck of iron. The design decided on was to dovetail two boards together and then clamp that 'L' to the bench to butt the boards she is working on against. So Megan's first task was to dovetail those boards into a planing stop.

I use the Alan Peters method of dovetail layout. I cut my dovetails tails first. Because I do. So together we did the layout and Megan did the labor.

Sawing out the tails

Removing most of the waste with a coping saw. 

Cleaning up the pin board with a chisel.

Megan spread the hide glue with a palette knife, we put the joint together and like real woodworkers solved our problem.

Next they both continued to flatten one face of their boards to create the reference face. This face of the board must be dead flat, untwisted, unbowed, and is the reference for all other dimensions of the board.

Kashley creating a reference face.

In the past, the plane used to create the reference face was called a try plane. Using winding sticks and a straight edge they both verified that their reference faces were correct. Then they moved on the creating the reference edge. The reference edge is absolutely perpendicular to the reference face. Making the reference edge is referred to as truing the board. When that is completed the board is "tried and true."

Kashley is shooting the board to create the reference edge.

Now that their boards are tried and true we can move on to dimensioning the boards. We chose to set the width first since that would remove the need to thickness material that wouldn't exist in the final board. We set my panel gauge to the correct width and scribed each board to the precise width. The next step is to remove the waste by either sawing, planing or both.

Kashley removing unnecessary width from one of her plinth boards.

Both ladies have proven themselves to be excellent sawyers so we tried a different method of sawing this time. We mounted the boards in the vice and cut off the waste with a rip filed panel saw.

Both Kashley and Megan know that the secret to fast accurate sawing is a gentle grip and to allow the saw to do the sawing. When I teach sawing I tell them to hold the saw handle like you would hold a baby bird, firm enough to keep it from escaping, gentle enough to not injure it.As Megan was sawing her board beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. Kashley accused her of "killing the bird."

Staying away from the line with the saw allows you to sneak up on it with a plane. We started with a scrub plane until we got close and then put the board back in the shooting board to get "down to the wire." When you plane to a scribed line a wood wire will come off the wood at the scribed line. If it will comes at once you know that you are perfectly straight and right on the mark. Since Megan sawed first, she managed to get two board to width while Kashley was sawing her boards (as opposed to the fact that Kashley had to wait for Megan to finish sawing).

Next session we will finish setting the width of the boards. Then they will plane them to the proper thickness. Followed by squaring one end and setting the length. We probably will not get to layout and cut the dovetails until the following session.

I ran into both of them this morning while getting my morning espresso. It was verified by the state of soreness that Megan had indeed, killed the bird.