STL245: Hope chest or nope chest?
The whole crew gets together to discuss oil stones, how they work through projects, breadboard ends, and whether it's better to build or to sometimes buy.Question 1:
From Adam:
How do you plan to approach a project, and in what order? I often find myself stumbling through something later on in a project because I have jumped the gun earlier and just had to cut that joinery too soon, or pre-pre-finish.
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Question 2:
From Andrew:
I made a toy box lid and my glue up was 4 boards wide. I did breadboard ends to stabilize the panel and account for wood movement, but my question is about the pins. If I had an odd number of boards on my glue up I’d leave the center pin fixed and make the outer pin holes oblong on the tenon. But with 4 boards I didn’t want the pin through the glue joint at the center, so I picked one board off center and held that fixed and then made the other three oblong on the tenon. Was that the right way to do that? What would you have done on an even number panel glue up for breadboard end pins?
Breadboard Ends: 4 Ways
Question 3:
From Anthony:
My Shapton Glass 16,000 is nearing the end of its life after 2 1/2 years. I have been very pleased with it, but I am considering switching to an Arkansas stone for the final polishing. Nothing against the Shapton or other whetstones – I just don’t enjoy pausing to flatten it, especially if I’m sharpening a bunch of tools all at once.
It appears that there is a Black Arkansas stone that is classified as even finer than the Translucent stones other stores market as the highest grit. It’s only slightly more expensive than a replacement Shapton, but I would value the time gained back from not flattening a stone after every tool, and it would last forever (theoretically).
So, to my question! Has anyone at Fine Woodworking used the Black Arkansas from Dan’s and are able to provide feedback on it? How high a polish/keen an edge can it produce in comparison to something like a Shapton? Will it ever really need to be flattened?
Question 4:
From Scott:
My wife wants a toy/blanket/hope chest to store kids toys and dress up cloths in. On face book market place I can find used one for less the. 100. to build one for myself is about 200$. And honestly 5-6 months of labor (few hours here and there).
When do you build vs buy??
Arts and Crafts chest
Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answers questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking‘s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast! Our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page.
Comments
Heirloom toy chest?? A box that your child will throw stuff in without any regard for your hand cut dovetails and seamless miter joints? Cheap pine or ply, trash it when they out grow those items. Use your shop time, QS white oak, and air dried walnut for something more valuable.
So yes, any Ark will need to be flattened initially and cleaned, refreshed and flattened occasionally. Lapping is done on loose Silicone Carbide, an Ark will trash a Diamond Plate in short order, they are that hard.
They are capable of much higher finishes than their “grit composition”, but because they are natural stones. the full composition of each piece is unknown they cannot be “grit rated”.
A good Black Ark should be capable of producing the exact same level of finish as a Translucent, but because they cut so slow, you really need to have a near mirror 8-12k finish on the tool when jumping to a finish Ark. The finish should be finer than that capable from a 16k Shapton.
You can hone on an Ark with plain water, but dish soap or a few drops Smith’s Honing Solution or Ballistol on a wet stone work exceptionally well.
More importantly, that you have worn out a 16k finisher in 2.5 years, you are doing something wrong. That stone as a finisher should last a lifetime.
Take a look at Micro-bevels and stropping on Chrome Oxide, CBN and Nano grit Diamonds, (Rob Crosman and David Charlesworth).Sharpening tools should only take minutes.
Ditch the studio, use this set in the future. It's more welcoming.
Oh, and were Anissa and Barry raised by wolves?
If you feel the need to put your feet up on the coffee table, take you shoes off..
STL: The Talk Show Edition. Love it.
Let's bring out our next guest....
We were joking beforehand that it felt a little Merv Griffin.
Are Barry and Anissa "sole mates", or was there a 2-for-1 sale at the shoe store. Inquiring minds.
BTW - loved the show.
Fantastic episode! It was terrific to see you folks together again, and Barry & Anissa can put their paws on my Stickley coffee table any time.
No mutinies, please. Just keep talking about woodworking, kids, cats, podcasts, your shops, and everything else that goes through a furniture maker's mind.
This will be a long and boring comment, but here goes. Regarding Adam's question about how you approach a project. The importance of this question was recently brought home to me, as I tried to reproduce Tom McLaughlin's fancy Adirondack chair using the TV episode and magazine plans as my guide. I failed miserably, and my failure was entirely down to my lack of understanding of a few key elements.
First, a stepwise process should be understood in terms of the separate steps. The TV show format doesn't really allow for much detail here, but the order of processes is often very important and not completely obvious the first time one tackles a project.
Second, the difference between basic measurements and "adaptive" measurements should be well understood. I would suggest that this distinction should be part of any project presentation, but I don't blame Mr. McLoughlin. The point here is that there is a big difference between things which should be cut to X inches, and those which should be cut to fit the thing you already made, and which will be around X inches depending on how carefully you measured the first time.
Third, Anissa's approach of actually writing out a list of procedures should be a good one. It helps if the list is correct (mine wasn't), but any list is better than none. Maybe this concept could be incorporated into some of your project articles, but even if not, suggesting a process list might be helpful.
I very much enjoy both the podcast and the magazine. I'm always amazed that such a collection of amazing and elite woodworkers can present the craft in a way that is appealing and relevant to both experts and "learners" such as myself.
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