Jarrah Modem Shelf

My ADSL modem was sitting on a music stand in the laundry And looking rather untidy with cables going every which way. A friend gave me the idea of making a custom shelf for it.

I have a load of jarrah paneling which was recovered from the Port Adelaide wool sheds in the 80s.

I took a piece of this, about 100 wide and 1200 long and cut it in three and jointed four edges. I then glued the two pieces together to make a piece that was about 250x400. I wanted the shelf to be about 200x300 wide. After resurfacing the faces on the thicknesser I cut out the piece to length and then cut it length wise which  gave me one piece for the top then another which I could glue to the bottom of the back edge which I could use to secure the shelf to the wall.

I wanted a cut out at the back to take the cables so I made a template which would make about a 25x50 mm  cut out on both pieces. This would allow all the cabes to be routed via the back of the shelf to keep it tidy. I had to buy a 40mm x 12 mm patten bit since my patten bit was not long enough. I secured the patten to the pieces using double sided tape and then routed out the recess.

I then routed a 12mm round over on all of the edges except for the front top of the rear piece and rear edges of the front piece where they joined and the back of the rear piece which sat against the wall. I then glued the rear piece to the bottom back of the top at right angles. Once the glue dried I Used a couple of pocket hole screws to reinforce the joint.

After scraping off the excess glue I used a small block plane to clean up any slight overlap of the joint.

I finally sanded to 320 grit using a random orbital sander and applied 2 coats of a home made wiping oil varnish mix. This left a film of oil after it dried so I wiped that off using a clean cotton rag and then applied a finishing wax which I buffed in by hand using a cotton rag.

I mounted it to the gyprock with  some wall board fasteners. I did not bother locating it to the studs since the modem is just a few hundred grams.

The wood ended up with a nice deep red look with a natural finish. It is not subject to rough treatment so I thought that this was sufficient.

The finishing touch was some flexible cable ducting to keep it looking tidy.

It still has the marks of the various uses that the wood has had over the years which speaks of the history of the wood. I took no pains to disguise that since it does not detract from its purpose and adds character to the whole project.

I have more ideas for how to reuse the wood I have recovered as well as other unused pieces that the original owner and builder (now sadly passed) has left behind. All of the projects will have a similar character and I may even make a mounted plaque telling the story, just an idea at the moment.

My next project using this wood is a little more ambitious and will be a bathroom cabinet with glass doors.

Bandsaw Discovery

I have been looking for a bandsaw for a while now, or to be exact two bandsaws. I wanted a larger one for resaw and a smaller unit for cutting curves. There was a bargain 14" that went on Gumtree a month or so ago but I missed that one by hours.

On the other hand there was an old 24" cast iron monstrosity in Gumtree for a number of weeks. I looked it on numerous occasions but it never really struck me until I took a more detailed look. It appeared to be ok so I rang up and arranged to see it in person. It ran fine so I agreed a price ($350) and proceeded to try to get it onto my 6x5 trailer. An hour later and after some considerable exertion we had it loaded onto the trailer. Gee it is heavy!

When I got it home I then began the task of extracting it from the trailer. I backed it up to the shed and started moving the band saw back off the trailer. A torn tendon in my right elbow did not make it any easier. When it was far enough back the base lowered onto the concrete of the shed. But it was still too heavy to lift up to the vertical. I then used some trailer tie downs secured to the shed beam to lift the top of the frame until it was balanced at which point I was able to easily move the band saw into a vertical position.

Two 6" square beams were welded to the base of the saw some time in the past and using these I was able to use a long wooden pole to maneuver the band saw round and get it onto some small round bars. Using the bars as rollers I was able to move the saw into position then I used the wooden beam again to get it into its final position and remove the rods.

The saw had a 1" (25 mm) blade and a single phase 2.5 HP motor. My first few tests proved that the blade was blunt, covered in resin and the motor was under powered. The blade drifted randomly and quite markedly to the left which I believe was due to a nice band of resin on the left side of the blade, the side that rids on the wheels. On investigation it transpired that the run capacitor on the motor was open circuit which caused the motor to run at roughly half power. After replacing the capacitor ($16.50) the saw started to operate without the motor constantly cutting out. I sent the blade off to get sharpened for $15. I also ordered a 5/8" (15 mm) blade for $45.

The upper guide consists of a rear bearing and two blocks of mild steel angled down to about 45 deg. It was set quite well by the previous owner. The lower guide needs some attention since the rear bearing is seized. I am contemplating replacing both the lower and upper guides with bearing guides. Whether I make a custom assembly or buy one is yet to be decided. I quite like the idea of custom making something and I am sure I have the necessary skills to do this.

 The lower cover is held on by two studs. Each stud was fabricated from a length of 3/4" round mild steel with a 1/2" W thread turned on either end. One end was screwed into the casting above either side of the lower wheel and the cover sat on the screws on the outer end of the studs on which was screwed using hand nuts to secure the cover. One of these studs was broken off in the casting. I used an easy out to remove the broken off stud from the inside of the saw. I then ground that end of the rod flat. I then used a drill and tap to create a 1/2" W thread in the stud. I cut a length of 1/2" threaded rod then re-secured the stud. However when I secured the cover it was rubbing on the lower wheel. I therefore placed a washer between the stud and the inner casting then another washer on the inside of the cover which spaced the cover perfectly.

The pulley cover (not pictured) no longer fits since it was designed for the original ,three phase motor which had a much lower mounting position. I would have to weld some studs or drill and tap new holes if I was to fit the cover to the machine as is. The other alternative is to weld some slotted mounts to make the cover adjustable.

All in all I am really pleased with the condition of the saw and how well it runs. It has a resaw capacity of just under 300mm and I think with a nice sharp blade I will not have any issues resawing very heavy timbers.

I am now in the market for a smaller saw for curved work.

Update: I got the blades back from the sharpener today and it cuts like butter with zero drift.

Veritas Minature Router Plane

I bought this plane to route a shallow (0.5mm) mortice for a label. I have only had it a day and used it on a test cut.

The plane is made from Stainless steel with bubinga knobs and A2 hardened steel blade. However the ferrule is aluminium which could be a concern considering the stability of the blade. The presentation box is a nice touch and should protect it (and prevent it from being lost in a junk drawer!)

It feels nice in the hand but I do not have overly large hands, I could imagine that if you have beefy hands it might be an issue. In use it is easy and convenient for those small jobs where space is an issue or more delicate jobs where a full sized router plane is too large.

The only issue I have is the stability of the blade. The blade needs a bit of fiddling to get it locked and stable. Every time I tightened it the blade worked its way loose. I found that I have to continuously move the blade slightly whilst locking it in with the securing screw to ensure that the blade was secured properly. I found this somewhat annoying and this made it difficult to adjust the depth accurately. This has the potential over time to wear the thread inside the aluminium ferrule. I am hoping that over time as the edges of the adjustments smooth over or I become more used to the securing mechanism it will be more reliable to secure the blade.

I paid AU$65 at my local woodworkers store which is rather expensive. Apart from the blade securing issue - which makes it feel lower quality than it really is - it is a very nice tool.

It is an extremely useful tool for doing those small jobs in tight corners.

My first project - ancient history

I took woodworking at school where I learned basic skills such as sawing, chisel, planing, sharpening and carving. After I left school I had some of my dad's tools which I supplemented with some basic tool purchases from an engineer's supply company where I worked at the time.

After I married we were not particularly well off so I decided to build a lounge suite to replace the various "fall apart" hand me downs. Since money was limited I used construction pine and selected pieces for their purpose. The lounge suite has long since gone to meet its maker so I cannot show you pictures of it.

The arms were wide 5x2 and the legs were 3x1 1/2. The cross members were 3x1 1/2 and the back frame was about 3x1 I think and the slats for the back were 1/2" by 2" and morticed into the frame for the back. The joinery was all mortice and tenon. A lot of the wood sizing is guesswork at this stage since it was built over 35 years ago. It consisted of a 2/3 seater and two singles. The 2/3 was wide enough for 3 average sized people or 2 larger built people. The image here is vaguely similar in style just to give you an idea. The legs were set back. The legs were narrower than the arms and the arms were curved in at the front outer edges to make them narrower at the front which gave it more of a sculpted look.

All of the joinery was hand cut and used resin glue for strength. It was finished with several coats of clear semi gloss poly.

The front and rear cross members were slotted using a circular saw for seat bottom straps and the wife made cushions for it using blocks of foam.

As I recall it did not cost a lot to build, the timber was extremely cheap. I spent more on the glue, poly and sundry tools than the timber. I was rather pleased despite my rather rudimentary skills. I recall that my joints were not particularly skilfully done but they were sound. The only annoying aspect was that the slope on the back was too steep and when you sat down and leaned back it was difficult to actually get out of it. You did not have the web sites specifying good furniture angles and dimensions as you do today. I used a lot of guess work. However I was really pleased with it as a first attempt and there were some design aspects that I was rather pleased with.

It actually (IMHO) looked quite nice and with nice cushions it functioned quite well except for the too steep back angle. It looked in proportion and did not look either clunky or spindly. It looked and felt solid. I made the arms especially wide to take a cup of tea or glass of beverage so they were in effect mini tables. It held together quite well considering the battering it got from one house move, two adults and four children. I had it for maybe six or seven years before being replaced by another second hand hand-me-down, and maybe for some time after to server as a backup.

I have rather nostalgic memories of it despite its limitations and I may make another attempt at re-making it this time with a better ergonomic design, nicer wood, more skilled joinery and nicer cushions.

Turning wooden mallets

I have some old wooden mallets of the rectangular head style with through handles, one of which has definitely seen better days and the other in the need of some attention. I thought I would try my hand at turning some carvers mallets.

I found a branch of an old gum tree (not sure of the species but it is quite resinous and extremely dense) that had fallen and dried. I cut it up with the chain saw and trimmed the side branches and made it more or less roundish. I then turned the mallets to the right on my lathe, one larger and the other for more delicate work. It is a long time since I have done any serious turning on the lathe and even then I was not that good. Hopefully I will get better with practice.

The larger one had a serious crack which I filled with epoxy then used a scraper to smooth. One of the characteristics of this wood is that it tends to shrink considerably as it dries leaving some quite significant cracks down its entire length. I turned my wife a dibber from a piece of green wood and after drying it now has some cracks, although not serious. I did finish it with oil although I probably should have used a sealer to slow the drying process.

The smaller mallet was made form a section that was mostly crack free. When the wood splits the crack seems to spiral slightly and only appear on one side. Unfortunately the tree does not grow that large and is extremely brittle and drops branches all over the shop.

I finished them by applying a coat of shellac then a couple of coats of a 321 wiping varnish (3 parts thinner (gum turpentine in this instance), 2 parts poly and one part boiled linseed oil) rubbed in with 600 grit wet 'n dry then finally a coat of wax.

I expect that these will be extremely durable given the toughness of the wood. One is about 600 grams and the other about 350 grams.

I am not entirely convinced by my first attempt and with what I have learnt may try again this time using greener wood and a more refined shape. I think if I can get a larger piece and use only one half of the branch (slice it down the centre before I start) It should not want to crack so much, just oval as it dries. Also finishing it while green may slow the drying process and hence it may want to crack less.

Restoring an old paring chisel

 I inherited an old paring chisel from my dad who was a carpenter by profession. The family has some very nice old furniture that he made, possibly using this very chisel.

 The blade is 220mm from the tang which provides very good control over the chisel and it has a primary bevel of about 18 deg and a secondary bevel of 20 deg. This makes it very hard to sharpen. The handle was made by me a long time ago on an old bargain basement  mini lathe (which has since gone to join the choir invisible). the tang ferrule is a piece of copper tubing and the end ferrule is some chrome tubing from a bed that I used to sleep in as a child. Why I thought a paring chisel needed an end ferrule is beyond me.

I think it may be time to make a much nicer handle for it but after I clean it up some more.

In any case I set to yesterday to try to give the edge some much needed TLC and I managed to get a very nice edge to it as can be seen form the photograph below.  I have  not yet had a chance to use it in anger but i tested it by taking a sliver of of a piece of scrap and it came away very nicely indeed.

After many years of being used as a paint tin opener I think that this nice paring chisel is very pleased to be used for what it was designed for. In truth it has probably never been sharper.

Too Many Chisels

Like remote controls, power tools and kitchen appliances it is impossible to have too many chisels.

Over the years I have accumulated quite a collection of chisels of various vintages and provenances.  Some are only a few weeks old and others come from my father's time as a woodworker and would be 80 or so years old at a guess. They are in various conditions but I have started to bring them all up to a useable state with my grinder and water stones. I did have a slight issue with a really nice long thin 1" paring chisel (far right, first photo) which I will get back to but they have mostly come up pretty well. I spent maybe 2 days in total (over several weeks) working on them but am pretty pleased overall with their condition. They have mostly surface rust which is not much more than cosmetic but their faces and edges are in pretty good condition and are pretty serviceable. There are some average and also some pretty good chisels amongst them.

The photo to the left is of older chisels I am restoring. the four on the right and the one on the far left are all (as far as I can remember) from my dad. The heavy chisel fourth from the right is from an old morticing machine. It was a huge affair made form cast iron with a very long counter-levered handle. It had a sliding bed into which you could secure your work then move it in either direction by a couple of large wheels. You would them plunge the chisel into the wood and move it along plunging as you go to hollow out the mortice.

The second and third from the right are firmer chisels with a high angle for roughing work or hand cut mortices and tenons. The smaller of the firmer chisels has the original handle but the larger one (1") has a handle made from scrap by me many years ago. It happened to have an embedded dowel which you can see if you look carefully, but I was never the one to let a recovered piece of furniture go to waste. The chisel on the right is a very nice paring chisel. I made a bit of a meal at my first attempt. The min problem is that the chisel angle is very low, less than 20 deg so I had another attempt (more in a later post). Again, this is a replacement handle made by me many years ago. The ferule is from a piece of copper tube and the end ferrule is a length of chromed tubing from an old bed which fell apart. The chisel on the far left is a long bench chisel with a large bevel, perfect for dovetails. This handle was also replaced by me many years ago. The leather ring on the end was recovered from the old handle. The remainder are carving tools and chisels that I have picked up over the years. Some my mother bought when she was woodworking and the gouge I bought when I worked at an industrial supply store in the early 80s.

This next lot are mainly newer chisels. The two to the right are obviously Marples blue handled chisels. I inherited them from the previous owner of my current property. They are the older type before Marples sold out. The next two are some nice Stanly chisels that I bought at a closing down sale from a local hardware store a few years ago. They have had a lot of use lately. The yellow handled chisel is a cheaper Stanley that was in the same batch as the blue Marples.

The last four on the left are brand new Veritas chisels. They were on special at a local woodworking store. The first three are part of the Veritas A2 bench chisel range and the stubby is MP-V11 steel, and very nice it is too.

I have enjoyed restoring and using the old chisels and will be interested to see how they fare against the new Veritas chisels. I think that however good the old chisels were in their time, and I think the better chisels were very good,  the technology in the new Veritas chisels make them a far better chisel. However, to replace them all with new chisels would be in the order of a thousand dollars so the set of basic Vertias bench chisels is good enough. For paring and roughing work I think the old chisels are more than good enough so long as I continue to look after them.