Friends,
Everybody gets excited about new tools. A buddy of mine, who is a carver, came to visit last week and told me about a new apron he just got. How can anyone get excited about an apron?
He said that he got it as a safety thing. He is a carver and often carves with the carving in his lap. He said that safety is very important. I am a chip carver, and have occasionally thought about the possibility of an errant cut. He said that he found out about the apron on a carving website, which must be like Knots, (just not as good). Nothing like word of mouth, is there? Someone made a post to that site, singing the praises of this heavy leather apron which is stitched together with Kevlar!!! and goes from your neck down past your knees (depending on how tall you are, of course). So he ordered it, and it just arrived and he couldn’t see how anybody could sell anything this good for 20 bucks.
The closest I have come to an accident in woodworking was a piece of wood that got thrown back at me and hit me in the chest. I wear a face guard when using the table saw, and I am now MUCH more cognizant of avoiding kickback. But when I got hit in the chest with that piece of wood, it left a black and blue mark for a number of days. That would have been a good time to be wearing a heavy leather apron.
Given the chip carving and the thought of greater protection in the shop, I also ordered the Kevlar-stitched monster of an apron (2 lbs).It just arrived by UPS. I agree with my buddy, the carver, — well worth the money. I actually got excited about the apron too. But then again, I’m Italian, so it’s easy to get me going.
It is highly unlikely that most carvers or woodworkers would ever find this super-duper apron, because it it only sold by a website that specializes in welding supplies. It is a welder’s apron. The place is called “Northern Tool” and it’s website is:
http://www.northerntool.com/
On the site, look for the Welder’s Bib Apron, for which the item number is 170384. The website has a place to search the site. Just type “apron” into that little window.
Please note that I am not a stockholder, and I get nothing out of posting this message except the satisfaction of knowing that my woodworking and chip carving buddies might be a little safer with a heavy-duty leather apron. I am not sure what the Kevlar stitching buys you, but Kevlar stops bullets so it sounds good.
Another reason to wear a nice apron is to look more like Ray Pine. Attached is a photo of Ray and I at the Waterford Festival last year. I visited Ray’s booth (tent). He’s the younger guy in a costume “of the period” (including an apron) that is required by the festival. By the way, I got a chance to see some of Ray’s work. I have never seen better.
Have fun.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Replies
Mel,
In the land of the green woodworkers, where a drawknifed spindle might be dragged painfully end-on into your chest, they wear a plank to avoid the pain. It is hung around the neck with bailing twine or similar. To protect legs when adzing, there are straw mats wrapped in hessian.
Such accoutrements, although lacking a tad in style, are what manly green woodworkers wear and should therefore be good enough for mere cabinetmakers.
Leather aprons!? These are for the boodwahs of them folk who enjoys That Sort of Thing. However, the ladywife does have one, purely for gardening purposes. It is short, shiny and slick with [That's enough! Taunton GTP].
Lataxe, no fashion victim
PS Ray is nearly as good looking as me but you are insufficiently hairy, in my opinion. Not even a leather apron will help your there.
Edited 1/15/2007 6:35 pm ET by Lataxe
Lataxe,
You are right. Shiny leather is better suited for the bedroom than the woodshop. (at least, that is what I have heard) I mis-spoke in my original post. The apron is called "leather", but it is really a heavy suede rather than a shiny leather, so it is ok for the shop. I didn't buy the apron to look as good as you and Ray. I bought it in the hope that it would increase my skill level. I bought it for the same reason that people buy Tormeks or Lie Nielsen chisels -- to increase my woodworking skill level.Actually I had two reasons to make my original post. One was to let others know about a cheap, useful item that's hard to find. The other was to see if we could get a thread about aprons to go over 300 posts. So far, I don't think we're going to make the full 300. My new goal is three.Thanks for your reply.
Mel
PS - All humor aside, that leather apron is not an ordinary apron. It is to aprons what a Holtey is to hand-planes. It is one heck of an apron. What other apron has Kevlar thread? I hear that the British Secret Service is considering making this apron their official apron.Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
"I didn't buy the apron to look as good as you and Ray. I bought it in the hope that it would increase my skill level. I bought it for the same reason that people buy Tormeks or Lie Nielsen chisels -- to increase my woodworking skill level".
Yes, it is a good tactic to get the right tools and such, as then one feels one must measure up to the marque, so to speak. I do harbour a nagging fear that I will never measure up to a Marcou plane, however. (Note that this does not mean I will donate it to a real woodworker, not even Ray Pine).
Alas, I have no pics of myself in a leather apron - yet. So this one showing some of my more staid trouser will have to do. Notice that the axe is a for carving but also that my gripping it has caused a fugue of some kind to my emotions; an amok is in the offing. (Don't worry, they took it away from me and no one was carved, not even those who deserve such improvement).
Finally, notice the woodworker face hair (stylish circa 1978) and the hat with a decal (as you call them) proclaiming my love of wood for all to see.
Lataxe by name and axe-murderer by nature (suppressed)
PS For your interest, there is also a pic of an ex-wife dressed in smart straw leggings in order to avoid adz-bite.
Lataxe,
You have gone and done it!
You have started the Woodworker Apparel Fashion Show.
You and Ray have set the standards for male woodworkers, and your wife has set the standard for females. Your wife's leggings are wonderful. Your blue pants will set a fashion standard among discerning and discriminating woodworkers. The axe makes a nice accessory, and adds an air of mystery and danger.
Now everyone who thinks that they are better looking than you two will be sending in photos of themselves in full wood regalia (the formal stuff). Of course, that means that if no one else sends in photos, then they are, by default, just giving the titles to you and your wife. I have to decide between my cap with the Biesemeyer decal or the Shop Fox decal, and whether or not to wear the air filter, ear protection and full face mask to hide my lack of facial hair. The leather (suede) shop apron with the Kevlar thread will cover everything else. I may not look good, but I AM PROTECTED from just about everything except nuclear fallout. Let the games begin!
Mel
PS - I agree with you. Don't give up the Marcou plane!!!!!Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Ahem! The lady who sports the leggings, in that pic, is one of the many ex-wifeys. She is the first; and the mother of them daughters of mine. Her pic happened to be in the same collection (from a green woodworking week) as moi-avec-axe.
However, I have dug around the millions of pics on the hard disc to discover not only pics of the current (and only, best, youngest, most intelligent, last) ladywife but pics of her woodworking IN THE LEATHER APRON (gasp, slaver, etc).
Here they are, taken at Mike Abbott's fine chairmaking course in Herefordshire last January.
Lataxe The Lucky
Lataxe,
Great pics. You really are fueling the fire for a fashion show. I should never have posted the pic of Ray and I in front of his display at the Waterford shos/sale. Everybody said he was better looking than me, and now Ray himself posts a message saying that I should not have been standing in front of, and thus hiding, his table. I can't win for losing.I won't need to look through my harddrive for pics of my wife doing woodwork. She says that she is a "user" of wood products, and need not be present during their construction. She does like to have both input to and final approval of the design. I am going to have to see about rewriting the contract. Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Lataxe,
Some fine pictures. I particularly like the one with the pole lathe.
Now, as they say on the tube: "'Splain this to me, Lucy!" Why have we been treated to photos of the famous Lataxe shop and of the LadyWives doing woodworking (and one of them in the LEATHER APRON!!!), whilst we have seen naught of Sir/Master/Mister/Sahib Lataxe conducting activities of the woodworking persuasion????? Hmmmm.....
:-PBeste Wünschen auf ein glückliches und wohlbehaltenes Neues Jahr!
Tschüß!
Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!
James
James,
No one takes pics of little me, all lonely and making stuff in my shed. This is because I keep the boogers out of my little kingdom.
Lataxe, not too photogenic anyway.
Methinks perhaps it is not the wood that draws you to the shop, but the Dryad who inhabits the place.
-perhaps you are Lataxe, the spell-bound
Mel, could this be the beginning of a fashion parade on knots? I am at present interviewing suitable ladies to parade my unique leather apron cobbled together from upholstery leather by African Gentlemen who worked with me when I was employed in a furniture factory. The search for a suitable candidate could take some time as there is a scarcity, to put it mildly.
Regarding your 2lb apron, I beleive a full on flak jacket weighs less than that, so it may be an option. However, the need to compete with Ray Mahogany with regard to sheer rugged good looks could also have a bearing on the matter.
We await the emergence of the intrepid beetle wielding Lataxe, in full regalia....
Philip,
I posted a message about and apron and I got two responses. Both said that Ray is better looking than I am. My self confidence is being riddled with bullets which are going right through the kevlar threads on my leather shop-apron. I was going to post a photo of me wearing my new shop-apron, but that idea is now kaput. So I asked my wife (the lovely Mary Beth) to model it for a photo, but she strained her back lifting it.) So the fashion show will have to be postponed.I can't understand the lack of women where you live. All you have to do is let them know that you are a woodworker, and they react much like they would if you said that you were David Beckham. I can't figure out what it is. Maybe its the scent of the sawdust. Maybe women can innately sense the presence of a rugged individualist when they see a woodworker. It's like catnip to a feline. (besides woodwork, my other hobby is self delusion)The idea of a woodworking fashion show is a great one. If we can only keep the women calm and orderly, the show will be the biggest draw for new members that Knots ever dreamed of. -----
Philip, it's always good to hear from you. I thought of you the other day. You know full well that my tool making skills are minimal, but the drive is there. I am trying to learn Kerbschnitzen (chip carving of the older European tradition, with large designs in big beams and in furniture). I found one book on it, written in 1922,and it recommended that you get a flat chisel of the "old style". ((That now makes it a really old chisel.)) He suggested a 3/32 inch thick, 3/4 inch wide skew chisel with a double bevel, with a skew going back at 28 degrees. Well, I found two chisels which were not quite right, and took them to the grinder. That would be a minor task for you, but it is new to me. Undaunted, I forged ahead, at what you would consider the pace of a really fast snail. I didn't overhead anything, and the chisels came out pretty close, and looking better than I expected. Then I put them to the test, and have just completed my second Kerbschnitzen project, and they work pretty well. I showed them to my wife who uttered the necessary good phrases. Then I said that I was thinking of redoing the family room in the style of the Hofbrauhaus. I hope to see her again soon. Have fun.
Mel
PS The story of modifying the chisels and doing Kerbschnitzen is true but not the part about turning my family room into the Hofbrauhaus.
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Very disappointed to hear that the fashion show has been cancelled.
It is encouraging that one may find any apron of leather construction for such a price, but have you used the thing much? I am truly curious as to whether the weight and bulk interfere with your craftsmanly fun.
SCMedLion,
The fashion show hasn't been cancelled, merely postoponed!!You asked if I have had much experience with the apron. I just got it today. I immediately put it on. At 2 pounds, it is heavier than my cloth apron, but it is comfortable and flexible. I plan to wear it while carving and furniture making. I will use the old cloth apron for finishing and painting. My shop is air conditioned. I doubt I'd wear the apron in the Sahara at High Noon on the hottest day of the year. Bottom line: at $26 including tax and shipping, I think it is an unbelievable bargain. The quality is superb, but then again, if you were a welder, you would like to believe that the sparks aren't going to to real damage to your body. It was born to be a welder's apron.Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
I always seem to reinvent wheels.
Last year I tried some chip carving on a coat rack with sufficient size to be 'archtectural' this meant chips over 1/2" wide that were very difficult to cut with a knife. I persevered and got the job done but at the cost of some patience and a fir bit of skin.
I'd like to do another of these so any tips or photos of the way you use a chisel for this (and what an 'old style' chiel looks like would be most appreciated. From you description it would be a bit like a turners skew but with longer bevels?
Dave
Dave,
I started by doing regular chip carving with a knife and basswood, and I enjoy that. But what I really want to do is to be able to do carved panels on oak, maple, and cherry chests. The knife just won't hack it on those woods. I got the three books on regular chip carving by Pam Grisham, Dennis Moor, and Wayne Barton. They are complimentary in what they cover, although the pictures of the end products look much the same. Their style is called "3 Cut" because each pyramidal chip is removed with three cuts. The old Kerbschnitzen style was done differently. The pyramidal chip is taken out with six cuts. First you draw the triangle on the board. Then you take your double bevel skew chisel (which is rather thin at 3/32"), and you cut the lines going from the center of the triangle to each of the vertices. Now you have subdivided the single triangle into three chips that have to be removed. It takes a minimum of two cuts to remove each of the three chips after cutting the original three "spokes". Thats why it is called "6 cut".I found my first book on this a month ago on EBay. It is by a man named Mankin, and it is called "Modernistic Chip Carving". It is from 1922. I described the chisel which he recommends you make or buy in an earlier post. I can't describe it any better. When you make your first cut, you see why you use a skew chisel. Makin's book is not well written, but without it, I wouldn't have known where to start.If you can find a copy of Mankin's book, I'd recommend it. He shows some nice designs. YOu asked for info. I could write for pages. Let me know as you come up with each specific question. I'd be happy to answer all of them as best I can. It is good to find another person interested in this type of carving. Keep me posted. I will do the same for you.
Thanks,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
My knife approach was a combination of the two. I figured out the '6 cut' to get the bulk of a cut out, but could not get the surface I wanted with a chisel. My #1S carving chisel didnt do the job either, although it it probably pretty close to you descritption (45* angle of skew is probably too much). Anyway, I finished off with taking the full depth and last mm out with a standard chip knife.
Result attached, sorry about the focus but all I have at the moment. The timber is Hoop Pine the piece 150*1500 with nice heavy hooks. This is a lovely close grained timber, but a fair bit harder than obeche or jelutong. I havent had a chance to use basswood.
I want to do another for a wedding present, preferably with more sophisticated carvings, but will need to make the technique much more practical than current.
Dave
Patto,
Glad you figured out the "6-cut". I agree that 45 degrees is too much for the angle on the skew. Mankin called for 28 degrees. I have two chisels. One is 5/8" wide with a skew that goes back a quarter inch. The 3/4" chisel has a skew going back 3/8". I have made a few carvings now using both chisels and, as of now, I prefer the smaller chisel with the lesser skew angle. The last carving I did had large chips so as to bias it toward the use of the larger chisel. I still liked the smaller chisel.As far as getting a nice finish on the cuts, I am finding that difficult, just like you did. The flat sides of the chips and be done by taking a very thin "paring" slice off as a final touch. The ones with the curved and cupped chips, which are called for by Mankin, can only be done carefully. They will never look as good as a flat side. Mankin called for "scraping" the sides of the cuts with the edge of the chisels. He points out that this dulls the blade very fast, but it can put a nice finish on the sides of the cuts.When I find better books, I'll let you know. When you make some progress on your project, post a photo.
Enjoy,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel, tried to attach last night but the machine wouldn't play.
Your comments are interesting because those finishing cuts were absolutely necessary. I don't really like scraping on this type of thing because it seems to leave too good a surface compared with the occaisional facet from just using the knife. I do 'pick' out the corners where there is flash (using the casting term because I dont know the carving equivalent for the thin bits around the edges where the mould wasn't perfect.
Dave
Edited 1/17/2007 1:01 am ET by Patto
Dave,
It looks VERY good to me.
Keep up the good work. Thanks for the pics.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel, I will look with bated breath at this new apron but as I have a leather, a brown -looks like carhart fabric- and some very old, soft and comfortable denim machinists aprons, I protest. None of these makers take into consideration the full figured guys(oops, or gals) and the stock aprons end before the begining of your front pockets.
How about an apron that ends half way across your back pockets? It means that you'r not lookin for pocket change in a cup full of wood shavings from your front pocket. Now I was good and dropped from 267# when I believed that if one pork chop was good, then three pork chops were three times as good, to 224# and am heading to 195#(retirement reduces caloric input-aka poverty) but I am still 6'1" and of a large frame. These mfg's don't want to part with more fabric/leather or carry a larger size even at a proportional price increase. I am bummed. A pi$$ed off Paddy.
ps. now if I was as slim and trim as Ray I would have no trouble with a 1700's apron. pfh
Paddy,
Great to hear from you. Congrats on losing the weight. That's no easy task. I figured that most experienced woodworkers already have their workshop duds, and that would include an apron or two. I just put this post up because this apron seemed like phenomenal quality at a great price. "One size fits all" is always a problem!!!! I am 5'!0" and 205 lbs, and it fits me just fine.Have a good year, Paddy. Your humor keeps this place rockin'.
Enjoy,
MelPS - I think that the reason that Ray looks so much like a real woodworker is --- he is a real woodworker.Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
First of all, move over wouldja? You are blocking the view of my table. Re aprons. I have a love/hate relationship with 'em. Like 'em in theory, but they are a bother in practice. I go through spells where I try to use one in the shop, they save wear on clothing- rough lumber tends to rub through the fronts of my shirts where my six pack abs (okay its a keg) stick out. But an apron is in the way somehow, I feel bound up by it, and am always fishing around it to get to stuff in my pants pocket, and then leaving things in the apron when I take it off (tape, pocket knife, leatherman tool- all the things I fished out ogf the pants earlier.
If you want a really good apron for absorbing jolts and such, I have a friend who is a dentist. Maybe I can get you one of his lead-lined aprons. They will even absorb X-rays, and you might gain a slight weight savings over the welder's apron you just got ;-P)
By the bye, I'm off this evening to see a demo by a local old order Mennonite blacksmithing team, two brothers who, with their dad, operate a buggy shop. They will be making a hammerhead at the forge. I can't wait to see their demo of tempering, with accompanying lecture on decalcescence, austenite crystal formation and other arcane knowledge. Last year their demo of forging was preceded by a lecture on the golden mean and, with diagrams, its relevance to Greek, Roman, and present-day architecture and its use in proportioning of the scrollwork of the bracket they made.
Ray
Ray,
Sorry about blocking the table. The visit was very enjoyable. Writing message is fun, but seeing really nice products is much better. Yours are beyond "nice". The lecture tonight sounds great. Tonight is the meeting of the Washington Woodworkers Guild. Our topics are not as esoteric as what you will be into, but they are always very good.Concerning aprons - I need to use an apron when doing finishing work. At $20, the leather apron is a test. I will use it when carving items which are sitting on my lap. Let's see how it works. Enjoy,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
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