Descending Ashtray

I’m not sure where the idea came from, but when I arrived in Des Moines last Friday, Gabe and I immediately started discussing and sketching ideas for a joint project in his newly-cleaned shop, something that would combine Gabe’s freeform and organic sculptural style with my more structured and conceptual approach. Interestingly, we both had a very similar idea, so it was easy to get going, even though I spilled some water on the sketch. Oh, and we only had one day to work.

I began Saturday morning by planing some poplar to 1/4-inch thickness so I could use it to construct the sides of the 5×5 cube that would be suspended in the tree’s branches. When that was all done, I cut the planed stock on the table saw to 5 inches with the table saw’s blade set to 45 degrees.

I took quite a few breaks to spectate as Gabe showed off his facility with the bandsaw and his sanding contraption, constructing the trunk and branches of the tree from pieces of walnut.

Did I say facility? Watching Gabe use these two tools is like watching a veteran, world-class musician play violin, so measured and intentional are his movements. I haven’t had a great deal of experience with either tool, as my work is more geometric in nature, and I was extremely impressed.

I left Gabe to his performance and made my way to the drill press, where I drilled 25 holes in each of the 6 sides I’d just cut, followed by some quick sanding.

Finally, after a quick-ish glue up (hint: use masking tape to construct a lightweight cube in this way) and some lunch, we were able to start piecing the trunk and branches together. It was a little like flower arrangement, placing the branches, and Gabe’s sophisticated spatial imagination really came into play as he sanded and molded branches to the tight geometry of the cube, weaving the branches in and out.

Too quickly, I had to leave the workshop and the nearly-complete project.

The most amazing part of the day was the speed with which the elements came together in a cohesive whole, even with a couple of setbacks and having to create a few jigs on the fly. I don’t recall ever working so collaboratively with someone else (I used to hate group projects in art school). It was the highlight of the weekend for me, and I left inspired with a lot of new ideas for my own work. Thanks, Gabe, for a great day. Now, what should we call it? And when are we doing Number 2 in Portland?

I went down to my Dad’s farm this past weekend and found this old hand plane. It was covered in rust and cobwebs but I thought I might take it home and see if I could salvage it. The topic of hand planes on DA lately has inspired me to give it a try.

I sprayed the bottom of the plane with Rust Free (with a little help from steel wool it can do wonders at removing rust from steel surfaces). Then I took it apart and sharpened the blade. After putting it all back together, I tested it out on a piece of poplar. It was a little tricky getting the depth of the blade set just right but once I did it seemed to be working as good as new!

I received an e-mail from my friend and fellow woodworking artist Josh Carlson yesterday. After reading your posts on clamp situations, he sent me these pictures of a wedge clamp that he was working on. I thought I would invite him on as a guest artist since it was pretty fitting with recent topics.

Guest Artist Josh Carlson wrote:

“Basically it is a jig for gluing up lots of rips into larger planks or countertops. It is based on the sliding wedge method of clamping pressure to glue boards tightly together as well as hold them down to a flat surface. The large moveable rail part has many wedges attached going in one direction, it is the loose wedge that is driven into place that pushes the board together. The moveable rail allows you to reposition and clamp various sizes and combinations of wood into counter top quality flats. Then just a little work with the jack plane and there it is.”

Okay, being a little silly. Taking the photo was a good excuse to make some delicious biscuits, though.

For my birthday, I received several gifts in the form of personal checks, which I used to purchase myself a new DeWalt Biscuit Joiner. I’d never used one before, but I have been gluing up a lot of panels for various projects. Now that I have one, I can’t believe I waited so long. Biscuit joinery makes gluing up wide panels a complete snap, with absolutely no baking involved (these biscuits come in jars). Here’s how it works.

After planing the stock you wish to glue up, lay it out as you would like the finished product to appear. I like to try to match grain patterns as best I can. So you don’t get confused while gluing, draw a triangle on the stock with pencil so you remember each board’s orientation. If you’re gluing up two panels, as I was, draw two triangles on the second set of boards.

Next, mark the boards for biscuits. I just draw a line across two boards, which will indicate the center of the slot the biscuit cutter will cut. Make sure you leave plenty of room for trimming the edges square later.

Then it’s as simple as aligning the tool with the pencil marks. There’s quite a bit of play in the slot that’s cut, so being dead-on isn’t critical, but it’s a good practice to strive for accuracy.

Finally, it’s just a matter of adding glue to each joint, adding a bit extra to the slots (they even make a special tool for this, but I don’t think it’s really neccessary), and putting in the biscuits. It’s so fast, you can barely see my hand moving.

Before you know it, the panel is in clamps. I generally try to clean up the squeeze-out with a wet rag or paper towel, which is I think what I’ve got in that speedy hand of mine.

Thanks to my lovely wife Sarah for braving the sawdust to help me with these photos. In case you’re wondering, the panels are for a project I’m making for my sister and her husband as a late wedding gift. More details to come …

I glued up a panel today with some really cool-looking book-matched Red Gum glued on top of a plywood substrate. Some people use vacuum presses for this kind of thing, but for better or worse, that’s not a tool I own. I had to laugh after I used literally every clamp in the shop. Hopefully it works!

Note to self: buy more clamps. I really want to try out some of these Bessey ones, but have never been able to justify their cost.

On the morning of my birthday, I woke up, made some coffee, and gathered up my tools. Sarah dropped me off at the door of 1002 SE 8th Street, home of the Northwest Woodworking Studio, where I had enrolled in a class on making brass handplanes. I hoped that by the end of the day, I’d be walking out the same door with a small brass handplane in my pocket, a birthday present I’d made for myself.

Class got off to a start quickly, with instructor Ken Altman showing off one of his beautifully handmade violin bows, then launching into the demo. He’d show one step in the process, and the students would then complete the same step on their own. It all began with solid brass stock. Here, I’ve got a large piece clamped in my vise from which I’m cutting the two pieces for the inside of the plane.

Next, I cut the side pieces, which sandwich the parts I just cut. These were cut using a jeweler’s saw, which I hadn’t used since high school, though I really enjoyed using it again. The blade is so delicate that many students broke blades, but having done it before, I managed without doing so.

Once the pieces were cut out, there was a lot of filing and fine shaping to be done. One of the students made a joke that the studio didn’t sound much like a woodworking shop with all the filing and metal sawing going on. It was pretty noisy at times. Finally, though, things took shape and the next step was putting all the pieces together, which was done by soldering.

By now it was about 2:00, and after letting the plane cool down, I set to work with some more finishing work, filing away like a madman. It was much more rewarding now, as the finished product became more and more visible. And by 3:30, I had a nice plane in my hands! And a real pain in my elbows! I’m not used to so much filing!

I was so busy with the steps, I didn’t take as many photos as I intended, but it was a very rewarding experience, and I plan on making several more planes, which hopefully I’ll do a better job of documenting!