The Joiner's Shop.......French Oak Roubo Project Day 3

The third day of the French Oak Roubo Project. A day in the Joiner's shop. 16 benches are  underway in the shop of Wyatt Childs and the atmosphere is unique to say the least. It's easy to imagine that it was very much like this in the early days of the industrial revolution. A few machines running to do the heavy lifting part of the work, yet hand tool work is till occurring all around the machines and literally in every corner of the shop. The blend of the sounds is enticing to say the least.

Ron

For a direct link to a larger format version with more viewing options:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kTm2o_c5A0

French Oak Roubo Week......Fate Takes It's Course

Fate is a funny thing.

Some people meet their Fate, that's never a good thing because it's usually a description of their demise. I've heard the comment "fate takes it's course". This can be a reference to a good thing or a bad thing depending on the context. In the incidence that I'm alluding to it's a good thing and possibly a historical thing, and then again maybe it's just the continuance of history. "Fate" can also just mean that the right two people meet at the right time and participate in the right conversation and then you just have to step back and see what happens next.

A year ago this past January I invited some toolmaking friends and some woodworking friends to my house for a couple of days over a January weekend. We cooked and ate some BBQ and we talked woodworking and tools. Bo Childs attended the BBQ and struck up a conversation with Jameel Abraham.

Sometime  it only takes putting the right two people together, having the right conversation, and then you just stand back and watch an idea conceived by two very capable people come to fruition.....and that is what's happening in Barnesville, Georgia this week.

The French Oak Roubo Project is well underway and judging by the number of sweaty t-shirts and empty beer bottles showing up at my house, it is going well. Something that started with a gift of trees from Thomas Jefferson to Marie Antoinette over 200 years ago is coming to work benches in Barnesville, Georgia.........you can't make this stuff up.

The entire French Roubo Project entourage is coming to my house for dinner tonight........film at 11'........well, at the very least pictures.

Okay it's after 11:00 pm. I apologize. I was so busy attending to my guest that I completely forgot to takes pictures or video.

Ron

Fear, Disappointment......Hope and Faith

When faced with an incredibly amount of fear and disappointment, one either quits or goes forward with hope and faith. Sometimes the result is an increased fear and more disappointment and sometimes the result is this:

Ovid Eamon Brese

Born on the 7th day of the 7th month and weighs 7 lbs.

Life is Good!

Ron 

(aka Grandpa)

The Kit Plane Dilemma

Since appearing at HandWorks in May we have once again began getting inquiries about the availability of plane kits. I guess events like Handworks create traffic to the web page and when folks see that kit orders have been suspended I guess they naturally assume that at some point we will once again offer that product.

I can say with 99.9% certainty that we will not resume offering plane kits, and as of today those items have been removed from our web page.  Many of you will ask why?

 As our backlog of completed plane orders grew we had to make a change in the way we allocated our time in order to meet our obligations for those products. It seemed every time we needed a certain component to complete a plane, we had exhausted our inventory fulfilling orders for plane kits. This was having a negative impact on our ability to deliver completed planes in a timely manner, which of course is the main stay of our business.

My Mother always warned me to never say never about anything and so I won't say that at some point in the future we won't change our minds and decide to offer another plane kit product, but as of right now we have no plans to pursue that type of offering.

We certainly appreciated the customers that purchased kits from us in the past and regret not being able to offer this experience to future customers.

As a small business we have a limited capacity to produce and so it seems appropriate to pursue what we do best which is making hand planes to a very high standard.

Ron

Once Again......Did I Mention that I Like Olive Wood?

When I returned from the HandWorks Event I had a couple of days of paper work to take care. Mostly stuff I put off while finishing up the last few planes I needed to ship out to Iowa. That was okay because frankly I was pretty physically exhausted and need some downtime to re-charge.

When I returned to the shop I was reminded that I had an 812-50S plane very nearly complete sans wooden bits. This plane was for my good friend Steve Walls and I had tried my best to complete this plane so as to have it displayed at HandWorks but it was just not to be. Time ran out.

Sometimes haste makes waste and the piece of wood that was to go into this plane was not one you would want to be rushed in working. Quite a while back on a visit to my shop Steve had noticed this piece of Olive and inquired as to whether it was available for a plane of his choosing. I told him it certainly was but that it would be a while before it was dry enough to use, to which he replied, "I can wait".

The wait is over. I had anticipated the day I would turn this piece into plane parts because I knew if it survived the drying process it would be special. All looked good until I roughed out the rear profile of the tote. An internal stress check was revealed right above the curve leading into the neck area of the tote. To say I was disappointed would have been an understatement.

Misery loves company so I immediately called Steve to tell him the bad news. As I was talking to Steve it occurred to me that maybe I was throwing in the towel on this piece a bit too quickly so I decided the piece was special enough to invest a bit more time just to see how it would turn out. I'm glad I persevered. I set about forming a plan for repairing the defect in a way that would look natural with the rest of the piece. This piece has many dark contrasting streaks so I went with a dark repair that I hoped would blend. Sometimes faith and perseverance pay off.

When Steve and our mutual friend Charlie Levan make the trip to my shop to pick up a just completed plane for one of them it has become a tradition that I always make an apple pie which we mostly consume after lunch.

There will be apple pie at my house tomorrow and I'm looking forward to the pie and the company.

Oh, did I mention that I really, really like Olive Wood? Yep, I thought so. I like pie too.

Ron

HandWorks Aftermath and Patina

One thing I've known for quite some time now. When the Brothers Abraham, Jameel and Father John, decide to do something, anything, they do it very well. The HandWorks Event was a perfect example of this fact, it may have been the perfect storm of hand tool woodworking. Given the weather on Saturday in Amana, Iowa the word storm certainly applies, however people were not deterred they continued to show up in large numbers. I think they all knew HandWorks was going to be a historic event and how many times in one's lifetime do you have a chance to be part of history?

Photo From WIA in Valley Forge

Jameel and Father John promoted this event as the effort of many independent toolmakers. If making ready our display of wares, traveling to the site and setting up our respective booths, and demonstrating our tools and talking to the attendees, was the effort required of us then we did our part. 

However all of us know who did the planning, organizing, created the web page, sought out the venue (which was perfect), laid out the booth spaces, unloaded the trucks, rented the screen and projector, set up the screen and projector, returned the screen and projector, cleaned up, reloaded the trucks and took the trash out, the list goes on and on. Many of these activities performed during a pouring rain. All of this was done by....who other than "The Brothers Abraham."

When considering all the above, the rest of us did very little but reap the benefits of the work of these two quite capable young men. We've thanked them already but it seemed a pitiful sentiment considering the effort they put into this event.........so I will shout from the roof top.......

ABRAHAMS ROCK, ABRAHAMS ROCK, ABRAHAMS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We displayed several tools at HandWorks that contained parts that had patina or the look of age. To me this is just an opportunity to create a different look or texture on some tools. The look is interesting and it makes the brass pieces quite maintenance free.

We received several inquiries as to how we accomplish the application of this finish. As with many finishing techniques it requires several steps performed in the proper sequence. It is best to start when you've refined the brass to a finished state. I use a cold gun bluing solution applied while the brass is freshly brite and it needs to be applied until the surface is quite dark. Darker than the final finish desired. Wipe the excess solution off and allow it to dry quite thoroughly. I typically remove the excess coloring with either #0000 steel wool or gray Scotchbrite abrasive until I have the look I desire. At this point I apply a liberal coating of Tru-Oil finish to the parts and remove the excess with a cloth. I put the pieces in my finishing kiln overnight. The dry and warm environment cures the oil finish. I then just lightly buff the cured finish with steel wool.

One of many highlights of HandWorks was the favorable response to the new Shooting Board Plane that I developed to work with the new "No Rock" Chute board from Vogt ToolWorks. Most were fascinated with the ease of use.

The past week was a testament to the continuing interest in hand tool woodworking and I was very pleased to see that many of the attendees were in the young adult age group. Regardless of what you hear, hand tool woodworking is alive and well and the increased interest by young adults proves that there is a bright future for the craft.

If you weren't able to make it to HandWorks.....We Hope to See You Next Time!

 If you attended HandWorks....Thank You!

Ron

HandWorks This Weekend

Independent Tool Makers all over our country have been working toward making ready for the HandWorks Event this weekend. I made my last two shipments to Iowa on Monday. Julie and I will be making our way to Amana on Wednesday. We're looking forward to meeting new people and seeing old friends as well. Thanks to the generosity of my customers I will have more planes on my bench at this show than any show we have participated in to date. So in this post I thought I would give a bit of a preview.

First off is the Winter Smoother  completed just this past Saturday. This plane's body is made from 0-1 tool steel and has Koa tote and Knob. It's a smallish smoother with a sole 8.125" long and uses a 1.875 wide iron pitch at 50 degrees.

This tool has a patina finish on the brass parts which gives it a very different look. It also gives the brass a no maintenance finish.

This size plane is becoming more and more popular. This tool is nimble enough for edge work yet substantial enough for working the faces of panels.

Another similar tool from the Stainless Steel line of tools is the 812-50S Smoothing plane. This plane also has Koa tote and knob and in this case the figure is curly. As of late we have upgraded the stainless used on these plane bodies to 440C high carbon stainless.

Nothing looks quite like Koa. Whether it has curly figure or not it always has interesting color variations that range from dark to light in contrast. It is lighter in weight than a lot of the dense infill woods that plane makers use, however it takes an excellent finish and feels great in the hand.

This one of my favorite planes and the next one will have Olive wood which is a material that I always look forward to working.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Over the last couple of months I've been working with Tico Vogt of Vogt ToolWorks developing a plane made for use with the new "No Rock" Shooting Board. This plane will of course work in any style shooting board but the ability to fasten to the "No Rock" board makes it somewhat unique and versatile. Like I said this is something completely different from an overall design aspect. I took a "Woodworking Goes Industrial" approach to this tool. The model number for this tool is 125-38SBP but we've taken to calling this plane the "Brute". Weighing in at around 10 lbs. we expect people will be able to shoot 5/4 stock with ease.

And here's a picture of the "No Rock" Shooting Board

The "Brute" plane will be on Tico's Bench at HandWorks this weekend and the plane below will be on my bench residing on a Vogt Toolworks 'Super Chute"

A "Colluser". (definition: Collector and User) See Below.

There will one more older relic at HandWorks this Weekend and you may have run into this relic at other woodworking events. 

Fred is a great supporter and patron of small independent toolmakers and an avid Hand Tool Woodworker. In fact there is not enough room here to list all the great things Fred does that helps the Hand Tool Woodworking World go round. Beside being a great customer Fred also helps fund product development for many small toolmaking shops. In essence he has a great influence on what tools are made available by the small toolmakers. There will be tools at HandWorks this weekend that would not be there without his support and assistance. Thanks Fred!

Hope to see you in Iowa this weekend,

Ron