Hi, Guys,
I am a retired Woodwork Teacher, I moved to Normandy, France 4 years ago, and I have just set up a Woodwork ‘Club’, with the intent of engendering interest in local folks. I have attracted 4 members, all male, 2 English and 2 French.
I am looking for inspiration. At the college where I worked, the students were highly polarized, with a large number who could really do little more than sand, and a few who were highly motivated, achieving beautiful dovetail joints, veneering panels and more. The 4 guys I am trying to inspire fall midway between these extremes – 3 have machines, but no hand tools worth talking of, the 4th has really no experience whatever, but has a good head.
Can any of you give me some ideas for interesting projects, please? I would like to exercise hand planing, chisels (dovetail joints, etc), as well as using machines suchas benchsaws, morticer, bandsaw, disc and oscillating sander, drill press, sliding compound miter saw and planer/thicknesser. I plan on starting them off with a really simple project – making a bench hook. This will introduce them to cross grain difficulties, as well as marking out etc, then moving on to a dovetailed tool caddy/tote.
Your suggestions will be really useful.
Take care,
Ozzy
Replies
projects
How about a wine rack with drawers? M&T joints for the frame and bottle rails, dovetails for the drawers. Opportunities for carving and inlay.
Hi, Ralph, good to meet you.
That's a good idea, many thanks for that.
Take care,
Ozzy
Need info
I'm trying to get a better picture of how your club works. You say " 3 have machines, but no hand tools worth talking of" and I'm not sure if you mean actual machines or just experience with machines. In other words do they have a shop at home or are they only using your club shop. If they have home shops or are interested in building their own shops there are lots of projects they could make for shop use that will get them started building things with less expensive wood that don't have to be perfect.
Hi there, good to talk to you.
The two French guys both have combination machines - I'm not sure if they exist in the USA, they are composite machines which combine table saw, planer (jointer?) and thicknesser, plus a spindle moulder. One of them has a single handplane - a Peugeot, and as of tonight a used Stanley No 5 that I sold him on behalf of a local widow, the other has no handtools. One of the Brits has a band saw and a table saw, and a few handtools, the other Brit has an electric planer and a chainsaw, and a couple of hand saws.
Your idea of shop items is a good one. I had them making bench-hooks tonight. What items are you thinking of?
Take care,
Ozzy,
shop items
25 years ago I started getting a magazine published here in the US called WoodSmith. It came once a month, had great plans for all levels, and had no adverts. It had a regular section called ShopNotes. Later they spun off the ShopNotes feature into a magazine of its own. For 25 years I have been adding to my 1000 sq foot shop by making projects from ShopNotes. They include shop made tools, like mallets, wooden planes and even a brass infill plane, jigs of all kinds, storage for tools and wood and hardware. Benches, from simple to refined. Shop furniture like stools. Additions to larger tools like wooden and MDF bandsaw tables, drill press tables, router tables and outfeed tables for table saws. Chop saw work stations. Complete dust collection systems made in the shop except for the motors and fans, including cyclone chip collectors. It's late at night here on the east coast and I'm two floors above my basement shop where all the back issues and indexes are. All this is coming off the top of my head. If I were downstairs with the index in my hands there would be a thousand examples. I know you can order back issues of ShopNotes and WoodSmith from August Home Publishing and that might be something to consider. As I said above, the WoodSmith mag has all kinds of projects for furniture, tall case clocks, boxes and things of that nature that would be good for ideas too.
Some examples in pix below. pix 2 is the brass infill plane made with woodworking tools, the brass is cut on the bandsaw and the finger joints that attach the sides to the bottom are cut on a table saw. pix 3 is of removable bins holding screws and hardware and the lowest bins hold 1/4 sheets of sandpaper.
It's getting late and the wireless mouse just died. I only have a couple of thousand more pictures. Let me know if any of this interests you. Good luck with your club.
Krenov saw horses
Here's a good project for the shop, Krenov style saw horses. Four of them take up little more room than one of 'em. They are sturdy, hold a lot of weight, teach the use of through and wedged tennons, and are handy as hell. They were featured in a copy of Fine Woodworking Magazine. I use mine almost every day.
Hi,
Many thanks for that, and my apologies for not getting back to you sooner - I have been in England for a few days.
You have a lovely workshop, and it's about double the size of mine - so I am very envious! Mine is an old stable, built about 300 years ago, and it's only the holes that are held together by bits of timber and brick. Impossible to work in the winter because of the wind whistling through it.
The pictures and ideas are brilliant! Thankyou very much. I love the plane, but it is possibly a bit optimistic at this stage. Did you use a commercial plan, or design it yourself?
The sawhorses are a great idea - I do actually remember seeing them in FWW - I will try to find the copy to get details.
Again, many thanks for your help. Take care,
Ozzy
The infill plane plans were in the magazine ShopNotes and believe it or not, a band saw with a woodworking blade cuts thru soft brass like a hot knife thru butter. Cuts easier than some wood. Same goes for the finger joints used on the sides and sole, only you use a table saw and a blade that has a negative pitch. If you have ever sweated solder into a pipe joint, that is how the sides are joined to the bottom. I'm not a metal worker and this project was not hard.
Another thing you might consider is a session on sharpening, water stones are my favorite. Nothing makes woodworking more fun than having sharp planes and chisels and if a new woodworker learns how to do this early on, he is way ahead of the game.
I think you can pull up the Krenov FWW piece right here on this site.
Hi, there, thanks for coming back.
I called up the Krenov saw horses - that article was published in #208 - that was 2 years ago! I couldn't believe it! Luckily, I was able to find that edition in my pile of magazines.. I will definitely get the boys to have a go at these (and, as you say - I will find them pretty useful myself!).
I really like your plane. I will have a go at calling up the plans myself. Are you pleased with the plane? Does it work well?
Funny you should mention a sharpening session - that was actually the topic of the second meet (the first was Workshop Safety). It went reasonably well. I use water stones too. I watched a video of Garret Hack sharpening a chisel - the entire back was so polished you could see your reflection in it. I obviously have a lot of work to do.
Again, thanks very much. Please stay in touch. Take care,
Ozzy
Infill plane
I love this plane. It is my favorite, the one I reach for first when I need a smootting plane. It is heavy, too. I have it set to make 1.5 thou thick shavings, the kind you can read print thru. I keep it sharp on an 8000 grit stone. The nice thing about the sawhorses is that you get to make an M&T and a thru wedged tennon and no matter how ugly it turns out, it still works and no one cares cause it's only going to be used in the shop. The current FineWoodworking, the one that came in the mail yesterday, has a Q&A piece on the thru tennon found on the sawhorse piece two years ago. It goes into the angle of the tapered mortise in more detail.
Keep having fun.
Hi, there,
Yes - I figured it would be good. I have an old Spiers smoother that gets quite a bit of use. I took a look at the web site, but I couldn't find the plane. Perhaps it's been deleted. Shame.
I haven't got my FWW yet for this month, I guess when you live in the boony's this is going to happen. I haven't done many wedged tenons, so a detailed explanation would be good.
The guys are supposed to be coming round next Monday (we meet every two weeks), but they are forecasting snow, and if it snows bad I can't get off my drive, so fingers crossed. I am thinking I will get the guys to make a tool caddy (after the saw horses) using dovetail joints. That should focus their attention!
Stay in touch, please. Take care,
Ozzy
Hi, there,
I got my FWW yesterday, and read the article about the wedged M&T joints. A very simple and straightforward approach, and I will definitely use it. My query is - do you have a simple and safe method of producing the wedges? I generally use the bandsaw, but the finish is pretty crude.
Thanks again for your input, take care,
Ozzy
I cut them into the end of a board that is as thick as the mortise is with a band saw. Crosscut to free them from the board, and then refine the shape a bit by placing each one on a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and using finger pressure to slide them back and forth. The finish doesn't have to be great, they will be burried in the slot and the ends sanded over after they are cut off. At first I had trouble with the wedges breaking up as I pounded them in, but using harder wood helped that. The only thru wedged ones I have ever made are the ones in the four Krenov saw horses I posted above.
wine & glass rack
Hi Ozzy,
As posted before a wine rack is great for cabnet making along with a glass stand above the wine cabnet. This can be as complacated as you want it to be. Another great idea is a printer/book stand. This may seem simple however, edge molding and the book shelf above the book stand can have a slider book holder on each (2) shelves. Above the bookshelf a decorative peace will help use the rest of the tools the printer stand and book shelf dont. This also uses cabnet making, routing/carving and some well thought out process to acheive a great stand alone decorative object in a room.
hope this helps,
William.
Hi, William, good to talk to you.
Many thanks for that - a good idea. Do you have any photo's I could see?
Thanks again,
Ozzy
Start simple
The fact that you want to introduce them is fantastic and I applaud you. I go back to how my shop teacher taugh us and it inspired me to a lifetime of love of wood. First talk safety with tools (don't scrimp on this subject please), and I don't mean you hold this end and this end cuts. Explain how it functions and how a tool cuts skin as effieciently as it does wood. Secondly move to dimensioning wood. People take for granted that it's easy to get stock square and flat. You want frustration to kill the love of wood try working with stock that's neither or only one of them. Next move up to explain adheseives and how they function and applications. I remember and still have my first cutting board I made in shop. I know it sounds silly but it was an easy win and hard to screw up. My mom had it till she passed away and I now have it and it will go to my son. Then pick a project with simple joinery i.e. lap, joints hand cut mortise & tenon. A simple medicine cabinet or how about a small tool box with morticed hinges with a lift out tray. As you progress them then maybe dovetails. Go slow and don't forget the finishing! that's one area we did not do in shop and I'm sure it was due to cost, but explain sanding and preping the material prior to assembly is critical because after its together you can do it easily. Anyway thats how I'd start. Good luck.
Hi, Bones, good to meet you.
I really appreciate your input on this, and your comments are really helpful. The suggestion about glue is a good one. I have to say I am quite surprised at the tools these guys have - the 2 French chaps have both got combination machines, but neither of them have a hand saw or any planes or chisels. I hope I can help them build an enthusiasm, just as your woodwork teacher did a few years back. I believe there is still quite a healthy market here in France for custom made furniture, there are quite a few guys making a living doing it, but they tend to be quite highly decorated (lots of carving), but the bread and butter stuff, like handmade dovetailed joints on drawers are, generally speaking, very poor quality (just one tail in each corner, and very poorly executed), so a lot of work to do there.
I am writing this on Christmas Day, so let me wish you and yours a great day, if you run into any pictures of suitable items, please let me have them, and thanks again for your suggestions.
Take care,
Austin
Hi Ozzy,
I read your post about your request, and I'd like to share a Shed Plan.
You can donwload it at:
Heights Woodworking
It's on right side, You have to fill out a form with your name and email. it''s free to get it. When you fill out your name and email you'll receive a very useful Guide To Woodworking in your email.
If you can't do that, go at: Heights Woodworking Shed Plan and you can download only the Shed Plan.
I hope you like it.
Regards
looks like spam
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