My friend and occasional boss (when I'm feeling Freelancing'ish) Chris Schwarz recently found out that I have a Ken Wisner Edge-Trimming Block Plane, and he put together a really nice post on his blog about it.

I got mine a while ago (1 to 2 years ago) on Ebay. However, something interesting happened late last year when another Ken Wisner plane hit Ebay.

Last November another Wisner appeared on Ebay, and it included the original Garrett-Wade "Instruction" sheet. I didn't win that plane; I don't know if I even bid. However, I emailed the Ebay winner and asked if he would be willing to scan the instruction sheet and email it to me. This fellow Wisner owner (I only know him as TOM) did indeed scan the wrinkled Garrett-Wade page and email it to me. (That was a genuinely nice thing for a fellow woodworker to do.)

Here is a copy of the original Instruction Sheet that accompanied the Wisner Planes, courtesy of a nice fella named Tom.


It is interesting to think that a different guy named TOM was working at Garrett Wade when they were selling these planes, and perhaps he is the guy who wrote up these Instructions????

Tom Lie-Nielsen: Did you write up this one pager of tips for using the Ken Wisner plane when you worked for Garrett Wade?

I am glad Ken Wisner made a few hundred planes, but I am even more happy that Thomas Lie-Nielsen picked up the mantle and ran with it....

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Designing your rooms around an ethnic theme can be exciting and fun and allows you to bring elements of other cultures and distant lands into your home. You can be more daring in your approach to colour and with such a wide variety of textures and patterns available, this can collectively add a whole new dimension to your interior design project. Unusual artifacts from different cultures can work very well as focal points in a room and as there are no hard and fast rules to stick to and because there are so many variations, you can go beyond the usual or traditional to portray a style that is not only beautiful, it is unique.

So what do we mean by ethnic?

Ethnic basically means native or indigenous people from a particular area so in relation to Interior Design it means to bring the natural elements that are representative of whatever culture, land or peoples you choose to portray into your own home to define your space.

Naturally the world is your oyster as they say so there are countless cultures to choose from, all you have to do is bring a particular ensemble of colours, patterns, materials and artifacts together to create a "look" that is recognisable and distinctive. What about a Mediterranean flavour, Native American Indian symbolism, or perhaps Tibetan Buddhism? Popular themes include African, Mexican, and Asian but you can go with whatever inspires or appeals to you. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

African Theme

Think of Africa and all that it conjures up in your mind, the landscape, the sounds, the smells, the colours, the mood, and then if you try to pick out the key points, what would they be? Colour schemes might include earthy colours like green, beige, browns and tans, set off with orange and splashes of red. Think about floor and wall coverings, natural substances would probably work best. Finishing touches can include wall hangings, African artifacts, drums, rugs, African fabrics and prints, animals made of stone, clay or wood, ceremonial masks hung on the wall, brightly coloured African bowls and pots, and so on.

Mexican Theme

What does Mexico mean to you? Perhaps desert colours with sandy tones, beige and khaki, along with reddish, rustic colours and hues. Blankets and woven fabrics in bright colours, perhaps terra cotta pots and bowls, pine wood is popular for furniture. Artifacts can include symbols of the South West or from the Spanish influence, or from the Aztecs, Mayans and other ancient civilisations, all of which can add an interesting and authentic Mexican look and feel.

Asian Theme

There are many variations within an Asian theme but two quite popular ones are Japanese and Chinese. Japanese themes tend to lean towards a more minimalist look and have a tranquil and peaceful feel. Consider a futon and using screens to get that Japanese ambiance. Colours tend to be natural and objects from nature often feature as focal points, for example, smooth stones and pebbles, water fountains and bonsai trees. Chinese themes on the other hand might involve brighter and bolder colours, lanterns, dragons and other mythological creatures, artwork depicting the traditional people colours and landscapes and Chinese handwriting.

How to get started

Once you have established which particular ethnic culture appeals to you, browse through books and magazines and the Internet to get ideas that will spark off your own imaginative flair. Identify what elements go together to make up that particular look or feel that you want to create.

Consider the walls, ceilings and floors carefully as this will provide a base for you to work from and then you can add in the details to finish it off. For example, is the texture and appearance of the walls and ceilings rough or smooth? What floor covering is appropriate, should it be wood, stone, tiles or carpets? Will rugs and mats make a difference and if so what are they made of? Are the windows better suited to drapes, blinds or shutters? What style of furniture works? What about plants, motifs, pictures and wall hangings?

The theme you adopt and the way that you choose to portray specific elements of that theme is entirely up to you and your imagination, the end result will be your own unique interpretation of a culture or a place and you will have added a touch of the exotic to your home.

David McEvoy is an expert in interior design. If you are looking for a leather sofa to give the finishing touches to a newly decorated room then please come and visit our site http://www.leathersofa.uk.com/

I have just completed the finishing touches on another A2ss. This one is 22-1/2" long and was quite different to build than its big brother. Working with the stainless was certainly more time consuming - but otherwise it felt very familiar - like the other 22-1/2" A2's I have built. It worked out wonderfully - here are a few quick pictures of the pair of jointers.





Oh, a few people have asked about the "green mallet" in the background. I will be commenting on it shortly - there is a great story behind it.

Somehow, during the course of about five years, I became a math dolt. When I left high school, my SAT scores for math were near perfect ? far higher than my verbal score.

But after four years of studying intransitive verbs, subjunctive mood and zeugmas, my math skills withered to the point where ? no lie ? I couldn?t figure out the formula for the perimeter of a pentagon during a college class we all called ?Math for Trees.? My wife still mocks me for this.

So I?ve always been at a loss to explain to readers the different curve required on the blade of a bevel-up smoothing plane vs. the curve required for a bevel-down smoothing plane.

The brain-dolt answer was always: The bevel-up planes require more curve to take the same shaving as a bevel-down smoothing plane. But that was about as good as my explanation got.

A couple weekends ago, David Powell explained the math to me during a presentation at the Northeastern Woodworkers Association?s Woodworkers Showcase. I retained the explanation and formula only until the next morning. (Honest: I had only one beer that night. Perhaps is was the lamb korma.)

In any case, I took notes during the presentation that are useful for the shop. If anyone wants the formulas, you can probably ask Powell himself. Powell was the founder of Diamond Machining Technology (DMT) and is now the maker of the Odate Crowning Plates. The plates are diamond stones with a curve built into them so you don?t have to use finger pressure to create the curve on the blade.

Powell?s numbers assume that the iron has a curve created by one of his diamond crowning plates. The plates are dished to mimic a 37-1/2?-radius circle. Powell?s numbers also assume you are using 90 percent of the iron of the tool during the cut.

So here goes: A bevel-down No. 4 handplane with a 2?-wide iron that is bedded at 45° will take a .002?-thick shaving if it has an iron that is sharpened with the Odate crowning plate.

Now let?s take a bevel-up low-angle block plane with its 1-3/8?-wide iron bedded at 12° and the iron sharpened at 25° (the angle of attack is therefore 37°). Powell says this plane will take a .0005?-thick shaving if you use 90 percent of the iron in the cut.

How about the very popular bevel-up jack plane? It has a 2-1/8?-wide iron and also is bedded bevel-up at 12°. If you have a 25° bevel sharpened on the iron, it will take a .0008?-thick cut. If you have a 38° bevel sharpened on the iron, the plane will take a .0006?-thick cut. And if you have a 50° bevel sharpened on the iron, the plane will take a .0004?-thick cut.

While these numbers don?t tell you how much extra pressure to put at the corners of your iron to make that extra curve, there is a good piece of data here. And here it is: Use the same curve for all your smoothing planes.

A plane bedded at 45° is best suited for mild woods. So its .002?-thick shaving is about right.

Planes bedded at higher angles are used for curly, exotic or just grumpy woods. So the best strategy is to take a thinner shaving (thinner shavings help reduce tear-out in my experience). So a shaving thinner than .001? is an excellent choice. And that?s exactly what you?ll get with a high pitch.

So all that math boiled down to this: Don?t bother with the math. Just stick with the same curve for bevel-up or bevel-down and you?ll be OK.

? Christopher Schwarz

Al says he "doesn't get in the zone until 9:30" and since it's only 9:00, he and Tommy sit around talking about...well, not much of anything.

On a field trip away from the sawdust of his studio, Tommy visits his old "vocal" coach, Jackson, to get some tips to audition for "American Idol." Tommy's voice is in rare form when he sings a duet with Jackson. Check it out.

Tommy has finished the box frame with front work and blocking attached. Now it's time to make the astragal for the pediment. An astragal can be an architectural element used at the top or base of a column, and it is also used as a framing device on furniture. He drank extra coffee so his hands are nice and steady for the astragal work.

Rock star T-Mac shows off a compass plane on the curves of the bombe cabinet. Also, he demonstrates a shoulder plane with a few tricks to keep the edge clean. Lastly, he cleans the side of the cabinet with a cabinet scrapper.

Sharpening is the gateway skill to hand tool woodworking. Until you learn it, you won't be successful in hand tool woodworking. In fact, there is little point even trying to produce decent work without sharp tools. If you don't learn to properly sharpen your tools, you will quickly become frustrated and decide that hand tool woodworking isn't for you. Learning basic sharpening techniques is non-negotiable for Therapeutic Woodworkingâ„¢.  read more »

Here's another interview that we got a chance to do at the this years The Woodworking Show in Atlanta, GA.

In this video we interview Mark Sillay. Mark is a member of the Georgia Association of Woodturners. He also teaches at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.

Mark uses a unique grind on his spindle gouge and shows how he sharpens it. If you've never seen the Jool Tool sharpening system, you're going to be impressed. We have a whole separate interview with the CEO of the Jool Tool in an up coming interview.

After sharpening his spindle gouge, Mark proceeds to cut a very delicate finial out of a piece of 2x4! You gotta see this to believe it.

Enjoy!

Craig Stevens

www.WoodworkersResource.com

P.S. Don't forget to go to our website to sign up for our newsletter and to receive updates on when we release new videos.

www.WoodworkersResource.com

All the dentil molding is on and now it's time to add another layer. Tommy shows how the applied dentil molding looks and how the soffit and quarter round fit over it. He then attaches them to the case. Tommy cleans up the dentil molding with a chisel so it is flush with the quarter round. After gluing the final corner in place, the first part of the crown is done and Tommy can enjoy a victory cigar.

One of the least commonly understood aspects of woodworking is the art of wood finishing. Bob Flexner has probably done more than anyone anywhere to part the veil of mystery and confusion which surrounds this complex art form. His classic book Understanding Wood Finishing is generally considered to be the most comprehensive publication ever written on the subject.

We are pleased to announce that Bob is returning to Highland Woodworking February 2-3, 2008 for a two-day seminar in which he will demonstrate and explain many of the techniques that he has perfected over the years. Bob will show you how to identify any finishing product despite what the label states, how to predict its behavior, how to apply it successfully, and how to treat it thereafter. He will teach you techniques for dyeing, staining, bleaching and filling; for applying oils, varnishes and lacquers, and for "finishing the finish."

If you attend, you'll take home a thorough understanding of finishes plus the confidence to use the right finish for the right application. To avoid disappointment, please sign up early as space will be limited.

DEMONSTRATION SEMINAR
Saturday & Sunday, February 2-3, 2008 from 9 am to 5 pm

Recommended reading: Understanding Wood Finishing

Now that shop class is as common in high schools as poodle skirts, lots of woodworkers worry about passing on our enthusiasm for the craft to the next generation. In my house, I?ve started treating my kids more like apprentices, and it seems to be working.

They help clean the shop. They assist me on projects at assembly time. They can work on their own projects on the side when I don?t need them. And ? here?s the odd part ? I pay them (a pittance) for their help and swear them to secrecy on the ?arts and mysteries? of the craft.

This weekend has been a perfect example. I assembled a large run of shelving that I plan to install in the recipient?s home this week. There was a lot of tedious gluing, clamping and clean-up work involved, so I hired 7-year-old Katy to help.

First, I showed her the ?secret? to making the lacquer finish perfectly smooth to the touch ? a folded up brown paper bag. We rubbed all the surfaces vigorously, which knocked down any surface imperfections without cutting through the film finish. Katy did the shelves; I did the uprights.

?Cool,? she said. ?It works!?

As we were bagging the lacquer, both of us noticed that there were some small dings and scratches in the color. This is was the result of the parts getting moved around more than I like. So I swore Katy to secrecy again and introduced her to the mystery of stain pens. In this case, the best match wasn?t one of my stain pens (which I keep hidden away), it was a black Sharpie marker.

In fact, Katy became incredulous when I took her picture at work with the marker.

?What if someone sees the picture and figures out our secret?? she asked. ?Then they?ll know!?

Then we glued up the shelves. I applied the glue. Katy added the Dominos. We both applied the clamps and cleaned the glue squeeze-out. Assembly can be stressful for me, but Katy?s amazement at how the project came together kept my anxiety in check.

We did four major glue-ups this weekend, and by the fourth one, Katy dove into the work like she had been doing it all her life. I wonder if learning woodworking is like learning a foreign language ? it might be easier when you are young.

As I added the kicks to the cabinet, Katy worked at the bench at her own project ? she?s transforming my discarded shop jigs for this shelving project into a wooden alligator.

Then I paid her (about $1 an hour for the shop time) and I asked her if she?d come along on the installation next week. With hesitation, she said: ?Yes! Hurray!?

Next step: Getting the apprentices to fetch the small beer for the master.

? Christopher Schwarz

HI Folks
I had the pleasure of a visit yesterday from a Gent who must win the award for "Furthest Travelled Visitor". Norberto is from the Phillippines and has travelled to the UK to study at the Maritime Academy in Southampton. As a keen hobby woodworker he came across my site and contacted me to arrange a visit.
He was eager to see the workshop and we spent a few hours swapping stories (and wood - thanks!!). Bert was also kind enough to show me how to sharpen end mills free-hand - very useful!
It was an enjoyable time and a later I realised how fortunate we are to have this wonderful resource we call the Internet. It certainly makes the world a smaller place :)
Cheers
Philly

Today I want to share with you two strange desings.

The first one is a very nice pair of earrings, made of wood beads (they´re beautiful). It seems they belongs to an indian, isn’t it?

The following desing it´s a spiral. I love spirals! I made the wire structure first and then embroider the beads.

See you next craft!

Let me take a moment to preach to the choir.

Some friends that my wife and I know through our local Cycling Club are expecting their first child in a month or so. Today I received an email from him asking if I had time to make them a toybox. Immediately I came up with a beautiful idea....

It requires a point of information, though. Here goes… Some time between when God chose rainbows as a symbol of the promise to never again flood the entire earth and the Homosexual community adopted the rainbow colors as their symbol, the international cycling community chose the rainbow jersey as the prize given to the World Champion. Whoever wins the World Championship gets the high and mighty honor of wearing the rainbow jersey during competition for the next year. Also, all former world champions get to sport the rainbow stripes as accents on their clothing and bikes for the rest of their lives. If you ever see a photo of a former World Champion (Mario Cipollini, Lance Armstrong, Paolo Bettini, etc) in their regular jersey, you may see the rainbow stripes as accents at the end of the sleeve. The blue, red, black, yellow, and green horizontal stripes on a pristine white jersey is cycling’s highest prize.

So, when asked about the opportunity to build a toybox for the first born child of a bike-loving friend, I provided the following response.

----------------------

Toybox….My first thought was a lovely white toybox with World Champion rainbow stripes going around it and a raised silhouette of a road bike….start planting the seed early.

However, I am really far behind in my projects.

I would love to do a project like this, but timing is a really bad thing with me. I worry that we would work out a design and deal, and I would deliver it just in time for your first child to take it off to college as a footlocker.

Also, the cold harsh reality is that one can get “furniture� from Asia cheaper than we can even buy the raw wood for. This is why I travelled to Viet Nam and China in 2005 when I was working with Company A (a Fortune 500 consumer products company) on the design of a wooden deck box. That was when I was still working with Eric (another cycling friend of ours) up at Company B (a design firm) in Grand Haven. Eric and the Industrial Designers that work for him came up with a beautiful design that combined aluminum and wood, then I went to Viet Nam and China to find a company that could make the whole thing for $99. It is truly insane how inexpensive the stuff coming in from overseas is. It is great for us as consumers, but it makes any type of custom, hand made furniture here in the States have to be marketed as “artwork� in order for the craftsman to make a profit.

I am thrilled that you would even approach me on this, though. However, when I did a quick search and found something on the internet: (Link to a toybox website)

I realized their finished prices are just about what I would pay for materials.

If you had any other thoughts or questions about design or construction, feel free to ask.

Jeff Skiver

------------------------

So, at the moment I am torn. I would love to make a custom toybox, but I don’t know how I can do it without charging hundreds of dollars. Given how slow and detailed I am, I don’t think I could produce it in less than 12 hours and I know the wood and hardware would cost from 100 to 150 bucks. If I had nothing else to do, I could come up with the 12 hours of time and do it for close to the cost of materials. However, I have a ton of things on my plate already. Also, that brings up the debate of whether or not it disturbs the Economics of the Free Market by offering a product that has an unrealistic labor figure attached. Ya know…how can a professional furniture maker ever compete with “Uncle Jeff� doing respectable furniture quality work at a labor rate of fifty cents an hour?

Yet, it means a lot to me that someone asked me to do this.

I suppose I need to focus on the fact that I am right now 6 months behind schedule on delivering two large picture frames for the nursery of a different cycling friend out in Durango, Colorado. Right now there is a little girl in Colorado who is supposed to have two beautiful Graham Watson posters above her crib housed in frames that are trimmed with wood that came from her great grandfather’s farm. Every time I walk into the shop I feel the dreaded self-hatred of knowing that I have to finish those frames and get them out to Colorado before they break down and decide to go with the Sponge Bob wall paper.

Moving to the table saw, Tommy demonstrates how to create the bandings he reviewed in the previous video. Using a zero tolerance wood insert, he attaches a fence and shows how to cut the block. After cutting a few boards, he shows how the bandings enhance the completed table's look.

Come meet one of TV's biggest crowd pleasers, Woodwright's Shop host Roy Underhill, our special guest during our big 30th Anniversary Celebration in Atlanta on Saturday, May 3, 2008. Roy will be giving free woodworking demos all day long. He will also teach a one-day class entitled Simple Machines the Old-Fashioned Way on Sunday, May 4, 2008.

The opening building of pendopo reflected characters like wideopen, friendly and generously character, which always welcome to the guess everytime.

Pendopo has four directions of carved pillars (soko guru) with 12 (twelve) second pillars (soko penanggap) on the right and left side and 20 (twenty) third pillars (soko penitih) on its sorrounding.

Therefore, even the building looks not so high, but give the impression of "momot" which means capable to path everything, because of its wide roof also there is nothing inside the building hence represent the basic of opening.

It match with the function of pendopo that always located in front yard as a place to held official meeting, art show, or traditional ceremony, also to accept honourable guess and official guess in the huge amount.

It made pendopo fabulous and great. Beside that, pendopo can be used as a place to give courses of karawitan and dance.

Tommy discusses his progress on the upper shelf, which leads him to expound on the huge job of the secretary itself and how he's managing to get it done. Tommy's words of advice: "Sometimes the challenge is just getting the mountain of work done, just like any other job....You can't let it get to you. Have little goals and keep pushing."

HI Folks

Been reading some Douglas Adams stuff today (you know, the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy bloke). He came up with a set of rules that describes our reaction to technologies. Read on......

1: Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

2: Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

3: Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.


I think he's got it just about perfect :)

Philly

Hi Folks
For a change I've been tinkering with my guitars. The Telecaster that I recently refinished is back together and a replacement scratchplate arrived today to add the icing on the cake. Sadly it doesn't fit quite right so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for a "post tweak" picture. She looks really pretty, though. Kinda Tele Keith Richard would be proud of.
Also did a little upgrade on my Strat (yes, there is a Fender theme here!) I fitted a set of "Texas Specials" single coils, the ones in the Stevie Ray Strat. And what a difference a set of pick-ups can make - transformed! If you ever wished your guitar was a little posher sounding don't buy a new one - upgrade!
Made another pair of "Black Beauties" and thought you might like a photo. A friend has recently discovered a treasure trove of Indonesian Rosewood" and I aim to ransack some of it so stay tuned for more rosewood tinted planes soon.
Cheers
Philly

First of all - Happy New Year to all you Folks out there reading this! Its amazing how quickly time flies by, so.....

First up - Operation Norris. Remember the rusty old Norris I was going to restore? Well, to kickstart the year I have made some progress. Sadly, the rosewood I put aside for the infills was half an inch too short for the tote. After much head scratching I had to use something else - so Bubinga it is. I have made the replacement tote and two side sections and I'm shaping the front bun at the moment. Once the woodwork is done I can concentrate on the metalwork side of things. The adjuster mechanism will be a challenge, but hey, its a new year!

I am finally going to start building the new porch for the house, too. I had a new path and step built to the front of the house and the bad weather has put me behind with construction. I have loads of gorgeous European Oak sat in the workshop ready to be broken down. Stay tuned.

I've also had some great plane ideas over the holidays and shall be turning them into reality in the coming weeks. Can't beat Xmas t.v. to get the old brain daydreaming....... ;)

Cheers
Philly

Tommy builds a custom scrub plane to work the side shapes of the bombe lower cabinet. He transposes the curve to the bottom edge of the plane and the blade and then shapes the tool. Once the plane is shaped, he shows off the new plane working the sides. PLANE, PLANE, PLANE...Nothing like making a tool before you start the job.

First off - let me apologize for not posting anything for a few weeks. I have been pretty busy in the shop - working on some very cool planes and some “other work�. I will be posting about it in the next few weeks.

I have recently completed a set of 4 rebate planes - 1/2", 3/4", 1" and 1-1/4" widths. The sides and sole are 01 tool steel and the infill is Brazilian Rosewood. It has been a while since I have made a set of these - and I have to say it was a lot of fun.




They are a matching set in that all the Brazilian Rosewood came from the same piece - but I tried to maximize some of the figure by using it where it will be most visible. The 1-1/4" rebate is a good example with that wonderful swirl at the front.







Most of the wedges have either some burl or curl in them.