Last night I taught SketchUp for Woodworkers I in Grand Rapids at Woodcraft. I didn't get any photos but it's really not a "Let's get a picture" sort of class. Everyone seems stoked for the second class despite that fact that we didn't get as far as I usually do. We ran out of time just before we added dovetails and mortise/tenon joins to the table we were building together. Due to that the November 26 SketchUp for Woodworkers II class will begin with joinery and then progress into designing from photos, photo-realistic output, templates and more. If you have taken any of my SketchUp for Woodworkers classes and want access to the notes and models I used just send me a request and I will share it with you via google docs. Everyone in the class signed on to the newsletter so welcome to all the new folks.
Last Sunday the Becoming a Hand Tool Woodworker: Build a Blanket Chest class continued. In this session I had Kashley build a small box to give her some pre-carcase construction dovetail practice. As she worked I managed to get what is my current all time favorite photo of dovetailing.
If you look at the full sized image you can see the reflection of the wood in the saw plate. Notice the wood in the reflection is perfectly straight relative to the actual board. This is how you can tell that she is holding the saw perfectly plumb. I also like that you can feel her focus right through the picture. Kashley's knife layouts were spot on and all of her saw cuts were dead plumb.
A little chisel and mallet work.
Followed by some precision clean up in the vise.
And...we ran out of time.
Mean while Megan practiced sawing plumb and to a line.
Megan's sawing is getting quite good. All but 1 (out of 30-ish) were perfect. It looked like a hair pick when she was done.
I try to teach at least two skills that will perform each operation that is needed in building the project. Megan is now dimensioning her plinth pieces for width. After sawing as close to the line as she was comfortable last time I had her use a scrub plane to remove most of the waste. This time she used a draw knife. The expression on her face is priceless.
But it wasn't long before she was quite comfortable pulling that big old knife toward herself.
Next she sawed them to length and then shot them with the #51.
If you've noticed the blue left handed glove, that is not a fashion statement. It is the result of getting bitten by a tenon saw. The lesson was well learned and she jumped right back up on the horse.
It looks like we may start cutting our "for reals" dovetails next week. First, however, we have to dimension the lumber for thickness.
As always, comments are welcomed and questions are answered.
Bill
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