Wood Shop

I have been using my virtual soapbox exploring the methods I use to layout dovetails. I have two strong opinions when it comes to dovetail layouts: One, its important theyre simple and straightforward to carry out, something repeatable and consistent enough to be easily repeated. And two, there is no "Unifying Theory of The Dovetail Continuum," no "One" way to do it right. As a designer and builder of fine furniture you should be versed and flexible in using several different layouts so you can use choose the right look for the right circumstance. Dont ever make the mistake of locking yourself down into one pragmatic view of your pins and tails.

If youre just joining the conversation or want a refresher of where weve been already you can find all the dovetail layout posts collected together HERE.

I believe yet one more Dovetail Maxim: Dovetail joints are meant to be created with a hand powered saw. Remove the waste however you want, but there is no replacement for the simple, straight-forward hand saw to create the lines that define the joint. I do not care if you have a whole chest of drawers in a dovetailed carcass on your plate, do it the right way. The only time you could convince me a router is the way to go is if you have to build more than fifty or so drawers in a weekend. Short of that, a Leigh Jig or other random  router dovetail template is a waste of your hard earned money.

So since we are doing the right thing and cutting our dovetails by hand, then why wouldnt you use that fact to your advantage. You are not a machine so you do not have to cut your dovetails like one either. Unless the design calls for subtle even dovetails that blend in to the background, why not add some pop with some staggered pacings and varied sizings. After all dovetails are the showoff of the joint world. They like to scream "Hey! Look at me!" So changing up the game a little can lead to some nice results that dont have to be distracting, but can instead showcase your artistry.

The key is to remember the eye likes symmetry and grouping. I repeat my sizing from the right side of the layout to the left side to keep that symmetry. I will also group two or three smaller pins together with wider spaces between them. Groupings of more than three tend to begin to look busy and too many varied widths can look amateurish. I rarely do more than two or three different sized spacings in a design. Well executed simplicity will be more dazzling than complexity.

Heres one way of accomplishing the type of layout Im talking about.
As we have gone over before, you can use dividers to help size the layouts, but I often find it faster to just use my chisels as sizing blocks. With the stock in the vise I mark my half pins on either side with a 3/8" chisel.
With that done I measure to find the center of my stock and mark it.
Shifting the rule over I then mark out for a 1" wide space. If I were to expand this across a wider section of stock I have the decision between widening this center area or adding a second area and spacing the board out in thirds instead of halves. Wider stock yet? I add more of the same spacing and judge the right amount needed by eye.
Then I grab the 1/4" chisel and eyeball the placement in the center of the remaining space. What no measurement? Thats right, you can measure if you want, but I think you should be able to trust your eyes to tell you what looks right. If it looks right now, why should it look wrong later? I just make a small mark on either side of the chisel.
 And complete the lines with a small tri-square
I make sure to "X" out the areas to be cut away . . .
. . . and mark the angles on the face of the stock. I only bother to mark my end grain and the face of my stock. Marking the angles on the backside is unnecessary, and this way makes sure I dont get turned around and put the face of the stock away from me. I want any tear out from the saw blade to be on the backside of the stock and the inside of the joint.
Ready to start sawing with all the waste marked.
Transfer your pins, mark, and cut them. Often these days I will only mark the end grain on tails, but when I was starting to learn I would transfer my lines square down the face of the stock to help guide me.
After the joint is put together and cleaned up you can see how the paired grouping and slight variety in widths gives an interesting and appealing look.

You can play around a lot with groupings and an asymmetrical / symmetrical look. Heres a quick second take with a different result.
 This time I chose to start with very wide half pins, so I used my 1" chisel as a marker.
And I repeated it on both sides. Remember, use symmetrical placement of asymmetrical sizes and you can achieve good looking results.
Everything marked out and ready to cut.
 And the finished product, a similar paired grouping to the previous set but with an altogether different appearance and feel. Consider the effect youre reaching for as you head into these layouts.

And one more off the deep end just to prove a point.
With this joint I did zero layout at all beyond marking the appropriate depth of cut with a marking gauge. I didnt mark my angles or my spacing, and I actually tried to make it very random. While this is the ugly stepsister of the whole series, it does prove a couple points. One, is it proves how simple layout can be if you are practiced at cutting these joints. If I had put effort into symmetry over randomness I have no doubt I could have turned out a workable joint with no substantial layout at all. Just my eyes, my mind, and my hands working together in a practiced way.

The other point is that from a design stand point, I can actually conceive of using this random joint as a design feature. Say I was making a box based on The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, or representing a twisted ideal in some other fashion. This joint would be perfectly at home in those instances. So understand the look youre going for and dont be afraid to make mistakes getting there. After all, those arent mistakes, they are lessons learned. The most important thing to remember is to relax, do NOT put this joint up on a pedestal, just have fun and go for it.

Im pretty sure this should wrap up my side of this discussion. Thanks for lending me your ears while I rode the soapbox for a while.

Cheers
Oldwolf

I think I might have said this before, but it bears repeating. One of the coolest things about writing this blog is the interaction it allows me with other woodworkers and like minded folks. Sometimes that interaction takes place in the comments area, sometimes on other social media sites, and sometimes via email.

Typically the emails are the most interesting because someone has a private comment or question about what Ive done or what I think. The most intimidating emails come from woodworkers who are either beginning completely or are working to add a new skill to their bag of tricks.

Since I started my foray into carving around two years ago I would say I have fielded more questions on that subject than any other. Often the question is akin to "Where do I start?" I should add that I dont consider myself an expert, a master, or any other assumed title which should give me authority to answer any questions. Im not published or recognized by anybody or entity which would provide me with any credibility, nor have I sought any of these things. I am mostly happy to be a man on my own island here.

So I try not to offer advice or instruction. Instead I try to relate my own experiences and path and offer that it has seemed to work for me. I try to first point out the resources that helped get me off the ground and then the places I stepped to go further. Over my next few posts Im going to discuss the adventure of beginning carving from my perspective starting with getting your hands on some of the tools, followed by the instruction aids and teachers that helped, and continue to help me, and finally talking about how I go about finding and capturing inspiration for making my carvings.


The first step is simply starting. As a young man I aspired to write the great american novel, this lead to me reading many books on writing and the advice I remember best is that you have to remember books dont write themselves. There are a thousand people out there with a million great ideas for the next Great Gatsby, but only a small percentage of them will ever apply their posterior to a chair and their fingers to a keyboard and bang out even a crappy first draft.

Starting a new adventure like carving can be the same issue. I remember standing before the wall of Pfiel carving tools at the Woodcraft store in Madison and struggling to not give up in dismay over the multitude of choices. For my two cents you should start small, a V tools and a couple gouges of different depths of sweep. I started with two tools, a V and a shallowish gouge.


On his blog, Peter Follansbee offers a more specific suggestion of 5 good tools to start with. That advice is found HERE. (disclaimer: PF is a woodworking superhero IMHO, I drew, and continue to draw a ton of inspiration from him in terms of carving and woodworking, your individual mileage may vary, but you will hear me refer to him a lot as I write on this subject)

The important thing here is dont cheep out on the tools. At your nearest home center you will find a vacuum sealed package of plastic handled crap masquerading as carving tools shaped objects. Do not get fooled. The items contained in that package are barely fit to open paint can lids with. Do yourself a huge favor and spend a little extra time and money getting a small selection of quality tools from quality makers. Pfiel, Ashely Iles, Two Cherries are just a couple names that scratch the surface of good modern makers.

Living miles and miles away from a Woodcraft or other woodworking specialty store? Too far to make the drive? You wont go wrong online if you visit the Tools for Working Wood website (http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/). The page for the carving tools they offer is HERE and if you need help getting the sizes to match something like Peters suggestions Im positive if you drop them a line youll get the help you need.

You may also want to consider adding a round mallet if you dont have one already. Buy one or turn one yourself it doesnt matter, but this style mallet is perfect for the light percussion that sometimes accompanies carving.


Once you have your first few carving chisels take a little time to get to know them. Learn to sharpen them, Ive always found Leonard Lees book "The Complete Guide to Sharpening" to be a bible in these matters, but there is an equally good book written by sharpness guru Ron Hock called "The Perfect Edge" available on his site HERE.

Your collection will grow organically after you start. You can go one of two routes for this. You can carefully buy one gouge at a time based on experience and need or you can spend a little time searching eBay, antique stores, auctions, or estate sales and pick up a decent sized lot of tools collected together by someone previously. I chose to buy the slug of tools, twelve in a hinged box from the shelves of an area antique store. I appreciated this route because it gave me several tool options I might not have considered buying at first and now I find myself looking for different widths and sweeps of something I may never have bought alone.


Grab some scrap cut offs and go about making a few cuts. Trace a curvy line with a pencil and follow it with the V tool. As adults we often forget the importance of "play" give yourself an afternoon to rediscover the meaning of that word. Carving is like most other hand tool skills, its a complementary relationship between the hands and the eyes. It takes some time and play to develop that relationship. like splitting the line to hand cut a dovetail, what starts as concentrated effort results in practiced confidence.

Next time I will talk about the sources I used to start "learning" to carve

Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf

Where We Started On Friday Night.

As Ive finished up the odyssey that was my shop walls over the last few months Ive thought about the floor. After the work of the walls, the floor would be quick and simple - provided I could get all my crap off of it. When I realized that my kids would be away with my Dad and my Wife away with her sister on the same weekend I knew I had a chance to install the floor that I had to take advantage of.

The gap between the wall and the XPS is filled with Great Stuff

Air sealing as I go.

Im back from a fantastic weekend with all my new best friends at Woodworking in America. While Ill eventually probably write a post about it, this week Im back to writing about The Village Carpenter. So heres a laundry list of sorts about Karis tools and benches.

Karis Saw-as-a-sawbuck-table-rack.

Following a somewhat typical arrangement, Karis Powermatic cabinet saw takes center position in the shop. When I visited it was protected under a drop cloth and the pieces of Karis Sawbuck table were laid out on the saw, in various stages of the finishing process. I think the dominant position of her table saw and its use as a finishing/assembly table is an apt metaphor for Karis appreciation of power tools and her love of hand tools.

A corner of Delta goodness.

Other power tools which surround the perimeter of the shop include a Delta benchtop mortiser and drill press, a Delta belt/disc sander, a Delta benchtop shaper, a Makita miter saw, a Delta ambient air filter, a Yorkcraft 6" jointer, a Delta lunchbox planer, two (2) Jet lathes, a Jet bandsaw, a Delta benchtop bandsaw, two (2) Delta bench grinders, a Tormak sharpening station, three (3) dust collectors and two (2) shop vacs.

Karis Bench with dog hole residing light.

There are various benches throughout the shop, mostly along the side wall. Starting at the entry door from the bedroom, there is a sharpening bench in the corner. This is followed along the side wall by an antique workbench and a modern commercial bench which have Karis wall mounted tool cabinet and her vintage plane shelves tucked between them. Between the bedroom entry door and the table saw there is a functional (and mostly complete) assembly table. The final bit of bench space is more of a counter in the far corner, between the back entry door and the French doors. This counter provides a home for the benchtop bandsaw, midi lathe and woodworking books.

Karis hand tool depository.

When all of these tools and benches are added together in their purpose built room, Kari ends up with a purpose built woodshop that caters to her needs and allows the Village Carpenter to turn out quality pieces demonstrating her dedication to, and mastery of, fine woodworking.

Next week, Ill write up my brief Q&A with Kari (Ill warn  you now my notes are lacking) and well wrap this up with more photos and Karis own shop tour video. Until then, how many power tools in your shop?