| This blog is written by Tom | 72 entries so far |
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Half mortise chest lock - Good, bad or ugly
During the snowy weekend in New Jersey, I finally decided to install a half mortise lock in a joi...
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Isaac Youngs Clock #6: The Final Bits - Pictures
The case is built, but there are many final bits that need to be done including hinges, door fitt...
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Isaac Youngs Clock #5: Pictures Round 4 - Back Panel
There is actually a fair amount of work to prepare and fit the back panel which is just nailed in...
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Isaac Youngs Clock #4: Pictures Round 3 - Clock Case
The case for this clock is just nailed together boards, but there are various steps before pickin...
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Isaac Youngs Clock #3: Pictures Round 2 - Lower Panel Door
The lower door construction is similar to the glass upper door, but it holds a thin 1/8” pi...
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Isaac Youngs Clock #2: Pictures Round 1 - Upper door
This clock build is partly a trial run. Ultimately, I plan to have this one in my workshop since...
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Isaac Youngs Clock #1: Starting my Holiday Project
I like to take some vacation during the holidays and I usually pick out a fun project, often with...
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Office Cabinet #15: A Completed Cabinet
Sorry, I have not posted for a while. My shop time has been limited for a few months. The last ...
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Hand Tools #5: Combination Square Option
I have been looking for a good combination square for a long time. I am never really sure what t...
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Office Cabinet #14: A bit of Patience and a Base
It continues to be slow progress, but still enjoyable. Partly because it is summer and full of o...
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Office Cabinet #13: An Interesting Top
My woodworking often slows in the summer. It is time for outdoor activities and fun in the sun. ...
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Office Cabinet #12: Whew... Hanging the Doors
I was really sweating the door hanging process. I have never hung doors that are inset. The oth...
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Hand Tools #4: Cleaning Up the Brace
During my recent trip to the Ohio flea markets, I found an old Spofford brace in a pile of tools....
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Hand Tools #3: Finding Tools and a Trip to Ohio
Over the last 10 years, I have assembled a pretty decent set of tools. Most of them are old R...
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Office Cabinet #11: Raised Door Panels
I finally decided to make raised panels for the doors on my cabinet. This is a fairly traditiona...
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Office Cabinet #10: Door Frames and Sawing Tenons
I completed my door frames last week and they turned out pretty well, so far. I need these doors...
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Office Cabinet #9: Doors and Design
I have entered a sensitive period in my cabinet build. This is the first time that I am making i...
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Office Cabinet #8: Some Assembly Required - Slow progress
Not much time this past weekend. The weather is getting nice in NJ. But I was able to assemble...
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Hand Tools #2: My Tenon Saws addendum
I should have mentioned a good source for sharpening info. The link below is very useful. Vin...
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Hand Tools #1: My Tenon Saws
My woodworking hand tool purchasing experience has been fairly haphazard over the last 10 years. ...
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Office Cabinet #7: Face Frame: The fix is in...
I finally made the face frame this past weekend. It went very well and quite similar to the back...
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My Favorite Marking Knife
There are many styles of marking knives out there. There are the old traditional “striking...
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Office Cabinet #6: Tapered Sliding Dovetail: Resistance is Futile
This is one of my slower projects because I have some home improvement going on for the next coup...
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Office Cabinet #5: Stanley 45: I Tried Something
I decided to use the Stanley 45 on a lot of the joinery for this project. It works well for cutt...
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Office Cabinet #4: T&G Back Panel
The back panel can just be plywood set in the frame, but I preferred to use wood boards for this ...
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Office Cabinet #3: M&T Frame for the Back: Mostly Pictures
I will keep this pretty short. The back of my office cabinet will be a panel and frame. The fra...
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Office Cabinet #2: Pin Time
This part can be stressful. You really need to be warmed up and ready to saw accurately. Try ta...
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Office Cabinet #1: Dovetails!
I am finally starting a new project. Lately, I have been doing more home maintenance, painting w...
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Soft Beeswax for Hand Plane Lube?
I recently started a new project to make a dovetailed credenza cabinet for my home office. When ...
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Return to the Turning Saw
When I adopted woodworking as my hobby about 10 years ago, I gravitated to the hand tool methods ...
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Shaving Horse #5: Installing the Clamp and Conclusion
Time to wrap up this build. The last bit is to install the clamp. This is tricky and you have o...
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Shaving Horse #4: Forming the Clamp
The next item is to form the clamp or dumbhead. You don’t have to do it this way, especial...
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Shaving Horse #3: Fitting the Ramp
This kind of shaving horse is really not too fussy about precise construction. Installing the ra...
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Shaving Horse #2: The Stock and the Base
You need a fair amount of wood to build a shaving horse. It doesn’t matter too much how yo...
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Shaving Horse #1: Going Green
This is a project that has been on my mind for several years. I enjoy hand tool woodworking and ...
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Finally, a Workbench Drawer
When I built my joinery workbench about 2-1/2 years ago, I had always planned to add a workbench ...
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Esherick Three Legged Stool #5: Shaping the Seat and Assembly
If you look at pictures of Esherick stools, you will notice that the seats have a graceful, organ...
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Esherick Three Legged Stool #4: Stretchers Design and Joinery
The Esherick stool has a simple stretcher shape that is easily turned on the lathe. They are joi...
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Esherick Three Legged Stool #3: Leg Turning and Seat Mortising
Esherick often used contrasting woods for the leg assemblies and the seat. I will do the same on...
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Esherick Three Legged Stool #2: Dimensions and Techniques
Since I do not have a plan with dimensions and angles I decided to make a rough prototype. Prior...
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Esherick Three Legged Stool #1: A Little Background on Esherick
For those who are unfamiliar, Wharton Esherick was a sculptor who worked primarily in wood. As a...
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What's that wood?
I am working on a stool project and I obtained this plank of wood. I did not buy it, so I don...
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Why Do This?! - The Hand Tool Effect
This is perhaps one of the silliest things that I have done recently. I needed a dust brush to k...
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Moravian Workbench #13: Finishing Touches and a Close Call
This will be the final installment, Lucky 13. I added a few finishing touches including a dust r...
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Moravian Workbench #12: Tool Storage
Although this Moravian workbench is meant to be portable so it can go to a job site, it also can ...
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Moravian Workbench #11: Simple Work Holding
I have been using the Moravian workbench for several months now. At first, I was not all that co...
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A Few Shop Items
It has been a strange time in recent weeks. It’s been nice to have my family all together ...
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A Mallet from a Tree
I recently had a dying oak tree taken down at my home. It was probably 30 or 40 years old, so pr...
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Not fine woodworking
I love woodworking with hand tools. I enjoy both the mental and physical exercise. But I have a...
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Starting out: My first chisel set
I think I have always had an interest in making things from wood, but it always seemed out of rea...
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My Joinery Workbench
While posting my projects, I have had several questions and comments about my joinery workbench. ...
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Drop Leaf Table #11: A Cowardly Finish
I am pretty wimpy when it comes to finishing my projects. It stems from a total lack of knowledg...
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Drop Leaf Table #10: Drawings and Dimensions
If you are interested in building this table, here are links to my drawings. You can adjust the ...
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Drop Leaf Table #9: Nails and a Knob
A few items to finish up. The drawer needs glides to ride on and keep it centered. The original...
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Drop Leaf Table #8: Winterthur, Hinges and a Quick Drawer
Really starting to wrap up the work on this drop leaf table. Over the holidays, I visited Winter...
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Drop Leaf Table #7: Working the Top
The holiday season really sucks up the free time, but I have been working the top for the past co...
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Drop Leaf Table #6: A Pembroke and The Season?
Well it happened. The season arrived at our house. The cold and flu season along with the holid...
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Drop Leaf Table #5: A Few Things before Glue
With the table joints done, I have a few things to take care of before glue up. I need to taper ...
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Drop Leaf Table #4: Back to the Table
Finally getting back to my table project. Work, family, holidays, etc. I think one of my bigges...
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Drop Leaf Table #3: A few details before....
Before I launch into the next stage of my table build, I thought I would share a few learnings an...
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Drop Leaf Table #2: Building the Frame
I am going to remake the old drop leaf table using hand tools that I think are appropriate for th...
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Drop Leaf Table #1: An Old Drop Leaf Table
My wife and I found this old drop leaf table at a local antique fair. I thought it was a nice si...
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Moravian Workbench #10: The Iron Planing Stop
The original Moravian workbench has a couple of square holes where planing stops were installed d...
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Moravian Workbench #9: A Shelf
The Moravian workbench is really designed for use with hand tools. Having a shelf below the benc...
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Moravian Workbench #8: Installing the drawer
The drawer will hang from the underside of the oak workbench top and it will extend out under the...
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Moravian Workbench #7: Building the Drawer
I enjoy having a workbench drawer to store various hand tools such as marking gauges, knife, try ...
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Moravian Workbench #6: Building the Tool Tray
I have seen that some people are not too fond of workbench tool trays or tool wells. Most of the...
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Moravian Workbench #5: Vise leather
It is helpful to add leather to the vise jaws. It greatly improves holding the work when using h...
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Moravian Workbench #4: Turning the vise screw
Now that the vise is operational, I wanted to turn a more pleasing shape on the vise hub. The ch...
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Moravian Workbench #3: Setting up the Vise Part 2: The parallel guide
The parallel guide is the part at the bottom of the vise that has a pin inserted to lever against...
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Moravian Workbench #2: Setting up the Vise Part 1: The garter
The first thing that you probably want to do when you get home is set up the leg vise. A mortise...
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Moravian Workbench #1: Moravian Workbench Build at the Woodwright's School
I was fortunate to get the opportunity to take a class at Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’...
