Category Archives: Handtools

December 2014 tool finds.

15/1/2015

This December holiday turned into a fairly successful tool solicitation exercise. I met some people dealing in antique stuff and found new tool hunting grounds for future purposes. In the picture below you can see the artifacts I managed to secure.

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This massive “treksaag” I bought at an antiques auction.

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I met a lady who is the owner of an antiques/coffee shop in Groot Brakrivier at the auction. I later bought a few old tools, including this brass and leather bound tape measure from her.

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She also sold me this old ink roller, which is destined to become a glue roller.

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This medium sized screw driver (embossed with “Yankee patent made by Stanley”) I bought for R65 (US$5,64 with todays exchange rate). They fetch between US$50-75 (shipping not included) if bought form antique tool dealers. I love these and only had the large version until now. I use them all the time, so this would probably be my favourite of the lot.

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My father in-law gave this more recent version of the Yankee patent to me as a present. This one (large size) has only the Stanley name on it. He bought it new in 1978 for R18,40 as you can see on the original box. It has a plastic red handle, as opposed to the wooden handles of the earlier models. I think this could become my son’s first Yankee!

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Speaking of Didi, I also bought this run down Stanley Bailey no. 4, which we will rehab together. It will be his first bench plane. It was R300 (US$26). I am certainly no expert, but it looks to be a Type 17 (ca 1942-1945).

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This a collection of wooden smoothers and joiners found in 2013 and 2014. I will use these for decorative purposes in the shop.

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Tour de Shop and project inventory 2014

13/11/2014

My last proper weekend in the shop for 2014 has now come and gone. It is therefore now time to start reviewing what I have managed to accomplish during this year and to take a quick look around the shop.

It all started with the rehabilitation of the two planes I happened to buy at an antiques sale in RSA over the December holidays. The Bedrock no. 606 has become one of my go-to tools.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/resurrection-of-two-cast-iron-fore-planes/

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I also bought this no.78 Rabbet plane from Stanley at the same auction, but it’s rehab took quite some time as it had several parts missing.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-78-rehabilitation/

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This was the last of my holiday shopping, a no. 45 Plough Plane from Stanley. It was covered with a thick black paint, and had no iron/s. I decided to tidy it up for shop decoration purposes.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-45-rehabilitation/

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I managed to finish turning all those file handles that I started with at the end of 2013.

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My major project for 2014 started on the 1st of February and is not finished by quite some way. I spent at least 80% of my shop time this year working on my 18th century workbench and am pleased to say that it is at least assembled by the end of 2014. You can read all about it in a series of posts entitled “My 18th Century Workbench in progress”

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My 17 m³ wood finally completed it’s journey when it took occupation of it’s purpose built shed.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/the-lumbering-odyssey/

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These exquisite chisels from Lie-Nielsen arrived after a wait of several months. I made this very basic storage to keep them out of harm’s way.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/chisel-storage/

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Didi (my son) started his woodworking journey by turning this mallet for himself.

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I used an antique brace bit from my father’s collection that had key parts of it’s business end missing to fashion this birdcage awl. It is a real winner.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/brace-bit-birdcage-awl-also-known-as-bbba/

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Didi’s next project was this bird feeder.

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I revamped and sharpened this old scissor.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/scissor-rehab/

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This shop high stool saw a bit too much action during the 14 years since I first made it. I re-upholstered it with leather and strengthened the base, while (clearly) not worrying too much about je ne sais quoi.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-high-stool-facelift/

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Didi learnt a few more skills by producing this beautiful Assegaai handle for an old axe we had lying around.

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This Miller’s Falls no. 88 joiner gauge was successfully rehabilitated.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/millers-falls-88-perfection-jointer-gauge-rehab/

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The wife and I managed to make a team effort of the re-upholstering of “die rooi bank”.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/die-rooi-bank/

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In order to hand plane the two edges of my benches top parallel, I had to first build this large panel gauge.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/makeshift-panel-gauge/

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In order to create the space for my 18th century bench, I had to rearrange  some of the power tools. This planer and radial arm saw were placed on the same steel table and lined up to become each other’s out-feed table.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/level-playing-field/

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A set of winding sticks.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-winding-sticks/

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My favourite shop made wooden plane received some cosmetic surgery. I added a thin strip of Tamboti to it’s chipbreaker/lever cap and covered the lever cap screw with Kaapse Swarthout. This is a true workhorse as it makes short work of all scrub plane and very aggressive fore plane tasks.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/scrub-plane/

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My own version of a Melencolia Square.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-melencolia-square-with-the-marxian-improvement/

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Custom made leather apron.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/custom-made-leather-apron/

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Restored a Stanley no. 10 Rabbet plane (ca 1900) and a Bedrock no. 607 Jointer.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-10-rabbet-plane-rehab/

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-bedrock-no-607-jointer-rehab/

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Replaced my ½” Lie-Nielsen mortice chisel handle with a shop made Ysterhout version. So far it is standing up to heavy abuse without breaking a sweat.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/replacing-lie-nielsen-mortise-chisel-handle/

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A custom made pairing handle for my bevel edge chisels.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-pairing-handle-for-my-lie-nielsen-bevel-edge-chisels/

 

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Finally got round to making an Ysterhout straight edge.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-ysterhout-straight-edge/

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Restored this Stanley no. 203 bench clamp.

 

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Restored this Stanley no. 9½ block plane.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-9½-block-plane-rehab/

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I started restoring this Stanley no. 8 Jointer (ca 1896), but there is a lot more work to do next year. I will replace both tote and knob.

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Tour de Shop at the end of 2014

This is simply a series of photos documenting the state of the shop at the end of 2014. The major change from last year has been the addition of the assembled (though not finished yet) 18th century style workbench. I also managed to collect quite a few new hand tools with the help of Patrick Leach and Jim Bode. As I am writing this my first shipment from Jim has not arrived yet despite leaving the States on the 12th of October. My guess is I will never see those tools or money again. Just one of the joys of living in Africa.

(9/1/2015 – I am very happy to report that the shipment arrived in Namibia on the 6th of Jan 2015 without as much as a scratch. I will write a post on this saga in the near future)

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Mallet facelift

17/11/2014

A week ago I damaged the non-leathered end of my shop made heavy dead-blow mallet, while getting carried away with hitting some Assegaai dowels (draw pins) home. It needed quite a bit of persuasion and I did not realise how hard those dowels are. Anyway, so I drilled out the damaged area and filled it with slow setting epoxy. I will report back on this post how it worked out after some abuse in the shop.

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Stanley no. 9½ Block plane rehab

27/10/2014

These little beauties were made between 1873 and 1981. This one is an example of the final design (in the tool’s evolution) as far as I can gather from the literature, but could still be anything between 40 to 100 years old. I bought it from Patrick Leach.

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As per usual I sent the various part off to get bead blasted. Then I applied the usual sequence of coats to the main casting and lever cap.

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Kenney also plated the lateral adjustment lever, the lever that adjusts the throat and the depth adjustment lever with Cadmium. Now I only need to sharpen the blade. The last picture shows the leather pouch I made for it.

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Shop made Ysterhout straight edge

16/9/2014

I have been looking for a suitable piece of timber to use as a straight edge for a while now. A few weeks ago I found this piece of Ysterhout that has been kicking around the shop for the past three years. I did not even consider Ysterhout as an option as it is not particularly stable in my experience. When I picked up this piece while ferreting around for a suitable piece of Witpeer, I saw that it was dead straight with grain to match. It is the piece on the right in the picture below.

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I planed it down to a thickness of a ½” over the coarse of several days and it stayed dead straight. The design I chose has the specific purpose of exposing as much end grain as possible in an attempt to help the timber to adjust to changes in ambient humidity in no time.

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After shaping it as pictured, I left the straight edge for a few days before fine tuning the business end.

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A coat of Tung oil finished the job.

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Replacing Lie-Nielsen mortise chisel handle

8/9/2014

A few weeks ago the original Hornbeam handle of my ½” Lie-Nielsen mortise chisel expired as pictured. Being smashed constantly with a shop made Ysterhout mallet does not seem to agree with Hornbeam’s constitution. Ysterhout (Olea capensis macrocarpa) at a Janka side hardness of 10,050–13,750 N and Janka end hardness of 9780–14,200 N makes Hornbeam feel like a marshmallow. It thus made sense to turn the new handle out of Ysterhout, which I duly did.

I quote from a bit of interesting info on this species for you from the website indicated below.

Uses and cultural aspects
An authoritative source (Mabberley, 2008) informs us that ironwoods have the heaviest known timber, with a recorded specific gravity of 1.49. In other words, the timber of these trees sinks like a stone when put into water. Ironwood timber has long been respected, but its weight and hardness have to some extent limited its popularity, and it is not as widely encountered in antique furniture as, say, stinkwood, yellowwood or Indian teak. However, Hartwig (1973) reports the existence of antique ploughs and harrows made at least partly of ironwood. The limited use implied by Hartwig fits well with Von Breitenbach’s (1974) observation that the early foresters left a disproportionate number of large black ironwood trees standing, because with only hand-powered tools, it was much more profitable to go after yellowwood and stinkwood – for the effort involved in felling and removing one ironwood, they could process several of the other trees. Nonetheless, Von Breitenbach reports that the wood is suitable for sleepers, piles, flooring and veneers. One can imagine that the objection to making furniture out of the solid wood is that the results would be so heavy as to be almost immovable. The use of these trees for firewood, and (while living) for shelterbelts and as ornamentals is recorded.

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/oleacapensis.htm

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I though I would turn two while I am at it.

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Straight after being seated.

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15/9/2014

After a bit of pounding.

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The Marking All-rounder

14/7/2014

I have a few of these Marples & sons cast steel centre bits that lost it’s centre pin (for the lack of a better term) somewhere between the late 1800’s and the present day. You might remember a post where I fashioned a so called Brace Bit Birdcage Awl from one of these bits some months ago. In the photos below you will see a centre bit that is still completely functional and one that I converted into a marking all-rounder. By this I mean a tool that is compact (can be carried around in my custom made leather shop apron) and functions as a marking knife as well as a birdcage awl. If you click on the pictures they will open up in a larger format, which should help to explain how the shape of the cutting end would accomplish the all-rounder status. I wrapped some leather around the shank for a comfortable grip.

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Stanley Bedrock no. 607 Jointer rehab

24/7/2014 This #607 Bedrock arrived today after an arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and the Equator. It left Ashby (Massachusetts) in the US of A on 7/2/2014 as carefully packaged by Patrick Leach. I cannot say enough good things about my dealings with Patrick so far. You can find his details on the library page of this site.

I first thought that the plane only needs it’s blade to be sharpened, but eventually succumbed to my obsession to redo it completely. I have to warn you once again that it might not be a good idea if you want to sell the plane in future, but I am not a collector and do not plan to part from this plane. The only tools that I have been forced to part with are those that got stolen over the years. TIA as they say, this is Africa.

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Here are some photos of the plane as I took it apart.

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The frog screws and frog adjusting screw were a bit difficult to unscrew due to gunk and rust, but after a soaking in Q20 it could be persuaded to vacate it’s cosy abode.

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29/7/2014

Today I received the frog and blades back from Kenney at the Prop Shop who bead-blasted all the gunk and japanning to Kingdom come. You will notice the blade and chip breaker of a #10 in the picture, but I am writing a separate post on that process.

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2/8/2014

This what the main casting looks like when cleaned by a professional.

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Masking tape before makeup.

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The rust converter coat.

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The anti-rust undercoat.

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The frog with it’s enamel paint finish.

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Main casting after painting.

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Japanning finished … now for the bits of metal work … flattening surfaces, sharpening blade and prep chip breaker.

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10/8/2014

On Friday I managed to sharpen the blades of both the #607 and #10 that I am currently working on. Then on Saturday morning it was time to reassemble the #607. Interestingly I had to shorten the frog adjusting screw in order to set a fine mouth opening. I am not sure whether this is a common issue, as it was not the case with the #606 I restored previously. The blade had a bevel angle of roughly 30º, which I hollow ground back to 25º with a very slight camber. I used a honing angle (1000 grid Ohishi waterstone) of 33º and a polishing angle (10 000 grid Ohishi waterstone) of 35º as I work mostly with exceptionally hard wood.

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As you can see it was well worth the effort and works like a dream straight off.

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Stanley no.10 Rabbet plane rehab

24/7/2014

This ca. 1910 Stanley no.10 Rabbet plane arrived today after crossing the Equator and the Atlantic Ocean en route to the Land of The Brave. It is another of my acquisitions from Patrick Leach.

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Here you can see what the blade, chip breaker and lever cap looked like as I took the plane apart.

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I found ample evidence that the plane was used at some point between 1910 and 2014, as you can see.

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Initially I decided to only send these three parts (from my latest acquisition) for bead blasting, but then changed my mind and sent (second picture) all the blades, chip breakers, the #10’s frog and the #607’s main casting off too. (see posts entitled “Third acquisition from Patrick Leach” and “Stanley Bedrock no. 607 rehab”)

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As you can see here, the main casting lost some japanning during it’s 104 year tenure.

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During a very brief (less than 4 days) visit to Kenney at the Prop Shop it lost all of the rest of it’s japanning, rust and gunk.

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The lever cap were bead blasted and then plated with cadmium.

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The blade and chip breaker (left two) received the same treatment as above.

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I hope to get close to finishing this rehab over the next weekend. So hopefully will be able to post the rest of the drama next week.

3/8/2014

I first applied a coat of rust converter followed by an anti-rust undercoat (first picture). That was followed by three coats of black high gloss truck enamel.

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After removing the masking tape, it looked like this.

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Initially I I thought that the frog did not need the full treatment, but after try to clean it realised that it really should get the benefit of a bead-blast exfoliation. It is pictured with the #607 Bedrock (you will find a seperate post on this rehab) shortly after returning from the spa and after the rust converter, followed by anti-rust under coat and enamel paint.

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Starting to look like the business.

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Posing with the #607.

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10/8/2014

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Third acquisition from Patrick Leach

24/7/2014

My third shipment from Patrick arrived today. As you can see it contained a Stanley no.271 mini-router plane, a Stanley no.10 Rabbet plane (ca 1910) and a Stanley Bedrock no.607.

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I first decided not to do much more than sharpening the blade and the usual flattening of the key surfaces (of the #607), but after taking it apart my OCD kicked in. As you can see it is a plane in very good condition given it’s age (as far as I can deduct from “Patrick’s blood and gore” it should be ca 1912-1925 given the style of levercap), but I have a problem as you might know by now. Therefore the main casting were also sent off (a few days after the other bits) to Kenney at the Propshop for a beadblast-exfoliation.

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These babies were made between 1926-1973, but I have no idea when this particular specimen were fashioned. It is however the only member of the party that escaped my Rehab-compulsion.

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This is the #10 aged 113. It will receive the full wroth of my compulsive rehab-therapy.

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