Richard Proenneke Using only hand tools to build his life in the Alaskan Wilderness.I just had to share this video, its got everything from log cabin building, to furniture making and even some spoon carving - and all with only very basic hand tools. Amazing!...
Two other films about this remarkable man are also available to view.
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Last weekend was Woodworking in America 2012 Midwest. Between WIA and hurricane Sandy, its been hard to get to posting. Im going to try to a make up for that by sharing all that I can about WIA and the great woodworkers we met there. |
| We are the Modern Woodworkers Association. Meet us when you can. |
Since I was busy manning the Modern Woodworkers Association booth, I wasnt able to partake in classes at WIA as much as Id hoped too. Luckily, the first class I took was worth many.
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| Paul Schürch, Master Marquetry Guy |
Marquetry for Furniture by Paul Schurch was a fantastic introduction to marquetry. Paul took us through his journey of discovering marquetry and wading through the many choices of doing it until he found his own. While continually reminding us that there were many choices to do it, and all were perfectly valid, he emphasized that his method of packet cutting was what worked for him.
Ill admit that Ive not given much thought to marquetry before this class. That said, Pauls artistry and easy explanation certainly make is seem within reach for anyone with even modest experience to try.
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| One of Pauls beautiful, marquetried tables (photo from his website) |
Paul, of course, has a full featured web site (http://www.schurchwoodwork.com/) with instruction, DVDs & marquetry supplies. As it happens, his book/DVD combo pack is currently on sale at Shop Woodworking. Its a great set for anyone interested in marquetry.
editors note - after this post was written, but before I published, Paul-Marcel of Half-Inch Shy posted a great blog and video about Paul. Its nicer than this post and well worth the read.
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Up until now I have been struggling with work holding on my little bench and its poor excuse for a face vice, especially if I need to hold a wide board for dovetailing for example.
My usual solution is to stand the end of the board on something below the vice and pinch one side of the board in the end of the vice and use an offcut to minimise the vice racking and hope it holds... Far from ideal!
Therefore, with my last dry (it hasnt stopped raining over here in the UK) scaffold board, I decided to make a poor mans version of the Moxon Vice (Utube).
Life started out by rough cutting the board to length. Raised beds function really well as saw horses. While sawing the board the cross cut saw started to bind indicating that there seemed to be a lot of internal stresses inside the wood. I had to finish the cut from the opposite side, at least its only a rough cut.

The next step was to rip the board into two pieces using my 5 ppi rip saw.

Again the saw started to bind and the wood actually split apart about ten inches before I completed the cut. Thankfully, the split was pretty accurate and not far from my marked line. After a quick assessment with the winding sticks it was time to get the boards flat and smooth.

For each board, I used my no#6 Foreplane to remove the rough saw mill marks and get a face basically flat and wind free before finishing it with my new Lie Nielsen no#7 Jointer plane. After the face I made one of the edges straight and square to the reference face.
Lastly, using a marking gauge, I marked all around the edge of the board before flattening the other face side to thickness and making it parallel with the first side. One thing I have learnt is alchoices plane this second side across the grain towards the unfinished edge. If any spelching occurs, it will get cleaned up when completing the final edge. Finally, I made the last remaining edge square and parallel to the first edge.
With both boards basically four square, all that remained was to cut and square the ends on the bench hook.
After flattening, I ended up with one board being 1 1/4" thick and the other 1 3/8" thick. I glued a piece of 2"x2" timber as a cleat to the thinner of the two boards, this would be the back vice chop. I thought that the added cleat would make up for the slight lack of thickness.
The last remaining step to get a functional vice was to bore the holes in each end to accept the F-clamps.
With the vice essentially finished, all that was required was to soften the corners with a block plane and give the whole thing a light coat of Linseed oil to provide a bit of protection. I used a pair of holdfasts to attach the vice to my bench.

The distance between the clamps (width of board the vice is capable of holding) is just under 24" and I didnt think to make sure it was over 24" when cutting the ends square as the thing looked more than adequate for my needs. With hindsight, 24" is a good minimum capacity, as a lot of furniture uses 24" wide boards.
One last note, the vice might be handy for work achoice from the bench as it fits really nicely on my Saw Bench. If the sun ever shows up, maybe some dovetailing in the garden?...