One of the most important early books on woodworking has been indecipherable to everyone who cannot read 18th-century French. Andre Roubo?s landmark five-volume ?L?Art Du Menuisier? is difficult to find ? reprints are available mostly in Europe and at Tools for Working Wood ? and even harder to actually use.

To my knowledge, no one has attempted a systematic translation of these books, which cover furniture-making, carpentry, marquetry, carriage-building and garden structures.

Ever since I first got a glimpse of Roubo?s books, with their exquisite oversized engravings of woodworking tools, benches and practices, I was hooked and really wanted to engage in a full translation. But rather than learn 18th-century French, I?ve enlisted the help of Bjenk Ellefsen, a woodworker, post doctorate fellow in cross-national comparative socio-economical studies and native French speaker.

Bjenk has been reading and translating volume one on carpentry and construction for us, and we are going to publish it here in installments on the Lost Art Press blog as they are completed. These installments will be free for all, but Bjenk and I have a request: If you spot errors, typos, inconsistencies, or things that just don?t make sense, please drop us a line or leave a comment below that entry. We?ll look into it. We want this translation to work for working woodworkers. (And if you want to help translate, let us know that as well. There is plenty to do.)

This section is best read with plate 11 handy. By clicking on the link below, you can download a larger version that is easier to read.

Plate11_full.jpg (848.54 KB)

This is an exciting personal project for Bjenk and me. And while I don?t know when we?ll be done or what we?ll learn, I know it?s going to be a great trip. As you?ll see as you read the first entry ? about Roubo?s famous workbench from Plate 11 ? the information is golden. During the next installment you?ll learn about preparing stock, and you?ll learn a little more about Bjenk.

? Christopher Schwarz

A note on dimensions: The French system of measurement in the 18th century is a little different than the modern imperial system. A French inch (pouce) is the equivalent to 1.066? in modern imperial. Each French inch is further divided into 12 ?lines.? Each line is equivalent to .088? today. The French foot is 12.44?.

We chose to leave the French measurements intact in the text, but we?ve provided modern equivalents in brackets when Roubo discusses ?lines? ? which is a bit foreign to modern eyes. The other measurements in feet and inches have been left intact from the original manuscript. If you need to convert a certain measurement to a modern equivalent, you can use the paragraph above to make the conversion.

Menuisier, I. Part. Chap. V
Third Section
On tools for cutting and preparing wood

The workbench is the first and most necessary of all tools for ?woodworking? (see translator?s note No. 1 below). It is made up of a top, four legs, four rails and a bottom. The top is made from a sturdy plank or table of 5? to 6? thick by 20? to 25? wide; its length varies from 6? to 12?, but the most common length is 9?. This table is made out of elm or beech wood but most commonly from the latter, which is very stout and of a tighter grain than the other.

It must be pierced with many holes into which a holdfast can be placed. These holes must have 14 to 16 lines of diameter [1-1/4? to 1-13/32?] and must be pierced through the top of the bench perpendicularly. Their number is not fixed, but in general we must avoid making too many unnecessarily. Eight to nine is appropriate; that is, four placed 8? to 10? in from the front edge of the workbench, one of which will be 14? to 16? inches from the hook, and the others of equal distance starting from the right front leg of the bench until the first hole, like those that are a, a, a, a in Figure 1. The others b, b, b, b are pierced on the other side of the workbench and laid out so that they will be placed in the middle of the spaces between the holes at front, to about 1? from each end of the workbench.

At 3? from the front edge of the top, we cut a mortise through the top that is 3? square, which must be very perpendicular and precisely straight inside so that the stop, which we insert into it with some resistance and that we raise or lower with a mallet, does not split the sides (of the mortise), which would happen if the inside was concave.

The stop must be 1? long at least and made with very stiff and dry oak so that it can resist the mallet blows we have to administer to move it. At the top of this stop we place an iron hook, which has teeth similar to those of a saw, to hold the wood in place that we work on. We must observe that the hook is tight in the top of the stop and that the teeth are raised slightly so that when working with very thin pieces, we do not strike the hook and its teeth with the iron of the tools, which would happen if the back of the hook was more elevated than the front. The shank of the hook which enters the stop must be square in form and pointed at the tip. The shank and the top must not be welded but made of one piece that we bend with fire. The teeth of the hook must extend out the front of the stop by six to eight lines [1/2? to 11/16?]; extending the teeth more would be useless and problematic because the teeth could break. See figures 5 and 6, which represent a stop with its hook and a hook by itself.

The legs of the workbench are made from hard oak, very stiff, 6? wide by 3? or 4? in thickness; they are assembled through the top with through-tenons and through-dovetails. The custom is to make the tenon flush with the back of the leg, see figure 2. However, I believe that it would be best to leave a shoulder on the back of this same leg so that the top can rest on the shoulder on the back of the legs like on the front. This is so when workbenches get older, they don?t risk sinking in on their legs like it happens sometimes. The assembly of the legs (to the top) must be extremely tight especially along their width. And to make them even sturdier, we widen the mortises on top to make room for wood shims that we insert by force into the tenons, so that they spread in such a way ?that they are as a tail? (maintained in a spread) in the mortises and consequently can?t slip back out.

The legs at the front of the workbench must be pierced by three holes each into which ?leg holdfasts? are to be inserted. Around the workbench and 4? to 5? from the bottom of the legs, are assembled four rails of 4? wide or less by 2? thick. The bottom of the bench is filled with planks that are held with supports, figure 4, attached on the rails. Place the length of these planks perpendicular to the width of the workbench in order to give them more strength, like we can see in figure 1.

We must also place a drawer at the end of the workbench so the workmen can store their small tools like gouges, compasses, etc. There are even shops where workbenches are closed with planks all around, which is very convenient because it keeps shavings and dust out and the tools that we place inside are less likely to be lost.

The height of the workbench is ordinarily 30? but because workmen are not all of the same height, suffice it to say that the workbench must not be higher than the top of the thighs of the person working at the bench. If it were higher, it would deprive him of his strength and it would expose him to bad posture in a short time. We must also observe to place the heartwood side of the slab on top because it is harder than the other side. And if it is to move, it will only bulge on top instead of sagging.

Holdfasts are tools made of iron and are used to hold the work on the bench firmly and stably. They are ordinarily 18? to 20? and even 24? long in the shank; their thickness must be between 12 to 15 (1-1/16? to 1-5/16?) lines, and the curve of their paws is 9? to 10? long by around 10? high. They must be of very soft iron, forged in one piece so they don?t break. All their strength is in their head. That is why we will observe that from the head g to the paw k, they get thinner so that their extremity only has two lines (3/16?) of thickness at the most, which will make them more flexible and increase their pressure.

We must curve them so that when they are tightened they will only grip by the tip of the paw, because if they would carry more pressure in the middle they would ruin the work and hold less firmly (figure 4).

Moreover, it is easy to see that after long use, the shank of the holdfast will widen the holes of the workbench; and if it didn?t grip well by the tip, before long, it would soon carry all the pressure on the back of the paw and cause the problem I have mentioned above.

Engage the holdfast by hitting it on the head g with a mallet and release the holdfast by hitting the head in the other way, that is on its side and upward or on the side of the shank i. Holdfasts must never be polished because then they will not hold well. They should only be roughed up with a file or stone (see translator?s note No. 2). Only the paw must be clean and polished so it does not mar the work.

The ?leg holdfasts? are not different, other than they are smaller. They hold the wood on its edge along the length of the workbench with the help of the wooden hook m, figure 1. This hook is fastened with screws or strong nails on the front edge of the workbench's top and is sometimes arrayed with iron points. But because the points often ruin the work, it is best to remove them or to make them like in figure 5 (see the illustration of the hook).

?Ebonists? (Ébénistes) (see translator?s note No. 3) have a vise at the front of their workbenches, which is made of one piece of wood n n, figure 3 and 4, which is 4? to 5? wide by at least 2? thick. This piece is pierced in the middle of its width by a round hole through which passes the screw o p, to which the workbench leg q serves as its nut. This screw is usually wood and through its head passes an iron bolt r, with which tightens and loosens the screw. We adorn the head of the screw with an iron ring to prevent it from splitting.

The use of these vises is very convenient because not only do the vises hold the work very solidly, but they do not mar the work in any way. No matter how delicate the pieces are, we do not fear to ruin them. This is something we can?t do with a leg holdfast, which is holding the work only in one place and will sometimes break it if it is delicate.

I do not know why the ?menuisiers en bâtiments? (see translator?s note No. 4) have not adopted this method, which not only is very convenient but is also not a hindrance or embarrassing in any way because the vise can be removed from the bench when it is not needed. When it is used, a wedge of the same thickness as the work must be placed at the bottom so that the screw can apply force everywhere equally. The piece for the vise n should be made slightly concave along its length so that when it is tightened, it grips at its tip. At the rear of the workbench s s, which is opposite the hook, we place a plank of about 18? long by 6? to 8? wide that is attached to wood supports that separate it from the workbench. This plank is named ratelier [rack] and is used to store tools with handles such as chisels, fermoirs, [a big chisel solid enough to receive mallet blows. It could have been for sculpting or mortising or anything that required rough work] etc. That is why we make the plank as wide as possible so that tools that are stored in it are not placed in a way that they can hurt somebody.

Next to this rack and along the length of the workbench we attach a bracket that is lower than the top by about 2? and is pierced at the end by a mortise of 3? long through which passes the blade of a try square [which looks like a triangle] t, which we place there when it is not needed.

Under the top of the workbench, we fasten a hollow piece of wood like a box with a screw into which we put grease to be used on tools to make them slide smoothly (Figure 7).

Translator?s notes:
1 Roubo explains at the start of volume one that "Menuiserie" includes all works made of wood. In truth, all trades had its ?Menuisiers? but the term came to refer precisely to woodwork and its workers.  A ?Menuisier? in Roubo?s terms can be a joiner, a carpenter, an ?ebonist,? a cabinetmaker, etc. When we have the foreword translated, all these terms will be made clearer as Roubo does make sure to explain them all in detail and he even go through its history. Note 4 goes into this in greater detail however.

2 Roubo?s exact words are ?mais seulement reparés avec le carreau.? There are no mentions of such a tool other than the tailors iron to remove wrinkles in the ancient dictionaries of the French Academy versions of 1740, 1762 and after. After researching many old and ancient French dictionaries, the closest approximation I arrived at was that ?carreau? is either a file or a stone. In Émile Littré?s "Dictionnaire de la langue Française," under ?carreau?; entry 15 refers to a big file used by locksmiths and entry 20 refers to a big stone of granite. The word ?carreau? appeared as quarrel in the 11th century and it is easy to see its familiarity with quarry. As for the word ?reparé? it is not meant as ?réparé? (repaired) but in the sense of ?pare,? prepared. So I am guessing Roubo is saying the holdfast is roughed out, or prepared, with something that is either a rough file or a rough stone.

3 The Ébénistes were organized as a guild of specialized menuisiers (woodworkers) in veneering and inlays in Roubo?s time.

4 The terms ?menuisiers en bâtiments? are not easily translated. Menuisier en bâtiment can only be understood in the context of how trades and crafts were defined in relation to each other in 18th -century France. Take note of the difference: menuisier refers to the worker while menuiserie refers to the craft. Crafts were grouped under guilds and had their secrets to protect. They went through extensive changes when the French Revolution abolished the guilds and later with Napoleon?s reforms. These changes are also part of the explanation why 18th century French tools are mostly no longer around but I digress. Let it be said for now that the Menuisier en Bâtiment was a highly skilled woodworker that was adept at a bit of everything.  Bâtiments, in the old French dictionaries of the 18th century referred to all constructions more particularly destined to house humans, animals or things as well as ships (Littré, 1872-1877). Note: a popular expression was also used in Paris at the time: ?être du bâtiment?; to be of the trade, of the craft. Roubo associates Menuiserie en bâtiments to assemblies of all kinds and their vast applications, all the way up to detailed work like ornamentations. The techniques and methods are described as the foundation for all other kinds of woodworking. So, Roubo refers to the Menuiserie en bâtiments as the founding craft from which branches off all the others. This could be why he focuses most of the techniques and tools under the category of ?Menuiserie en bâtiments?. Volume 1 is, after all, the biggest of all five. It is interesting to note that Roubo describes the furniture makers as the lower skilled woodworkers for reasons we will explore at a later time.

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Our annual exhibition is taking place in Nara from 1st to 6th May.

Craft and Furniture Exhibition of Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture
1-6 May, 2oo8
10:00-17:00
Nara-machi Monogatari Kan
2-1 Nakashin-ya Machi, Nara, Japan


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Last week the second year students finished their works for the exhibition and presented them in front of the teachers.
They are requested to make their original products according to what they learned during their first year.
They need to produce them in a batch within a limited shedule, calculate the cost and assess their productivity.
This 'merchandising' lesson is a part of our curriculum.

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The venue, Nara-machi Monogatari Kan is in the city centre of the old capital Nara. Hundreds of people come and see our exhibition every day. Students show their works to the public for the first time and receive many comments from them.
Please come and see our exhibition. Students are waiting for your compliments!

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Unique oval floor lamps by Ken-ichi Matsuoka


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Plates by Hajime Hoshino. Designed for his grand child.


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Stools by Atsushi Yokoi. He was commissioned them from an adult education centre in Gifu.


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Stools for backache patients by Yosuke Ueda. Easy to stand up with handles.


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Hand mirrors by Keiichi Fukushima. Inspired by details of architecture in Hida.


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Hairpins by Mako Taniyama. An image of cherry blossom falling.


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Parquetry butter knives by Hiroshi Okabe.

How you dress your windows is an important piece of your overall design and a lot of thought should go into the style and fabric used for your bedroom window treatments.

How do you know which window treatment is right in your bedroom?

There are 3 basic types of window treatments that can be used alone or in combinations. Here?s some tips on these basic types and what style of room you might choose them for.

Curtains and Drapes

Curtains and drapes are a style of window treatment that most of us can recognize but there?s many variations on this old standby. If your bedroom design is simple, you might choose just plain sheers as these will go well with many themes including a romantic theme, a modern theme and anything in between.

Valances can be used to soften the top of the window. They are great if you don?t want to cover up a great view but also don?t want the window to look too bare. Typically valances are made from fabric but you can build them form wood and decorate them with an aged or stencilled paint to go with your Tuscan or French country design. Fabric valances can go with almost any bedroom decorating theme depending on the fabric you choose and can be used in conjunction with sheers to give you a bit of privacy.

Drapes are an elegant bedroom window treatment. If you have a romantic, French or Victorian theme some heavy drapes in rich fabrics can transform your bedroom into one fit for a queen. Heavy drapes look best on tall windows, but if you short squatty windows like most homes built in the 60's - 80's don?t let that deter you from using great drapes. You can always just keep them closed to hide the window behind and no one will ever know the difference!

Wooden Shutters and Blinds

Indoor wooden window blinds are a great way to add privacy to your bedroom and can be used alone or with curtains, drapes or valances.

There are 2 styles of shutters - plantation shutters and café shutters.

Plantation shutters cover the whole window and have louvers which can be opened and closed to let light in or provide privacy. These shutters go great with a plantation style look, a country look or a coastal cottage look.

The café shutters are the kind that cover only the bottom half of the window and swing open to let light in. These also look nice in a country or beach style bedroom and are perfect for a Paris apartment style as well.

Fabric Blinds

Fabric blinds add a nice touch to any bedroom and can be decorated and embellished with whatever you want. Fringe, pom-poms and ribbon are just a few of the great ways to make these bedroom window treatments stand out.

Roman blinds work well for childrens rooms and informal styles such as cottage or beach style decor. These shades fold up to expose the window during the day and roll down at night.

Festoon blinds are puffy with lots of fabric. They are quite ornate and work best in a romantic style bedroom such as a Victorian, French or Italian motif. Festoon blinds look best on wide windows and might not be good for small rooms as they can tend to be a bit overwhelming.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.bedroom-designs-and-decorations.com where you can learn more about popular bedroom decorating styles.

Its been a busy month. Too much to type so here is a quick video update. Topics include: Festool grand opening, visit to the offices of Popular Woodworking, The Woodwerks Store, our new DVD cover (designed by our friend Langly, the FesCool Giveaway, safety week, new project with Fine Woodworking, a Live WTO experiment, new coffee table project, the new Festool routers, and birthday wishes for Nicole.

This week’s project comes from Tim. Here’s his story:

Well, I have finally grown a skin thick enough to submit 3 project pictures of an end grain butcher block cabinet that I made for my parents recently. It just got shipped out to Singapore; cost me $800 for the freight!! I got the inspiration by watching you build your cutting boards, and have made up to about 20 so far. It’s a great way to use up scrap wood!!! Saw David Marks’ version on his woodworks show that day and thought that it would be an interesting challenge to build one. The top is larger than David’s design; it’s about 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep - a nice size for a single person to work at, and just enough counter space. You are probably wondering why I would put a semi-gloss finish on the top? Well, my parents want it as a piece for a corner in the house, so I thought I would spend a little time practicing my varnishing skills for a semi-gloss look.

I used 7 types of wood on it - purpleheart, black walnut, yellowheart, ash, mahoganey, jatoba, maple and cherry. Flattening the top was a major pain!! I have a 22-44 performax drum sander, but still had to use router rails to slowly but surely flatten one side before drum sanding the other. Touched it up with a Lie-Nielsen 7 1/2 bevel up jointer plane. The face frame is made of purpleheart (a major pain to plane, I might add), and the drawer fronts are made of ambrosia maple. Made a little effort to match the grain on the drawers + doors as well. The cabinet is finished with shellac (3 coats) via my Apollo HVLP spray unit, and rubbed out to a satin sheen with Howard’s feed n wax.

And yes, I did use casters - double locking ones - they put a strong brake on the wheel plus a lock on the swivel. They actually cost about $20 a piece from Linco Casters at Clairemont Mesa Blvd (next to the San Diego Rockler); They really do look a little utilitarian, but those were the best I could find in terms of durability and stability. Those red shop-grade ones at woodcraft were too tacky for my taste. All in all, it was tiring; but I have to give you the credit for the original inspiration via the cutting board! THANKS

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Topics: April is turning out to be a very busy month with lots of travel. Marc recently attended the Festool Grand Opening event. Matt went to a Lie-Nielsen tool seminar/demo last weekend. Improper safety techniques in a woodworking class. The announcement of the first annual Woodworker’s Safety Week (May 5th - May 9th). We get Rick Rolled. Hollow chisel mortisers. Tom’s Tip. And if you had $2500 to set up a shop, what would you buy? Leave us a voicemail and let us know!

If you want to leave us a voicemail: 623-242-2450

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Atsushi Yokoi, a student at the Craft and Furniture Department designed and made those stools for an adult education centre in Gifu. We often take such 'real' commissions from public and private clients. We call it 'projects'.
The Takumi Academy , the adult education centre, contacted us last winter to discuss about their renewal of stools. Atsushi applied to the project and submitted a couple of new stool designs. The photo shows his presentation to Takumi Academy staffs with two prototypes of the stool.

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The concept of the stool is to make the most of small diameter logs in local forest.
The hexagonal seat is made of small pieces of five different species.

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Atsushi then went to the Shinrin-Takumijuku, a furniture workshop cum educational institution in Hida. We encourage students to go out of the college and have work experience as an intern.


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Atsushi spent a month in Hida and finished 25 stools. They were delivered to the Takumi Academy early this month. They were very well received among the staffs and students there. The solid wood seat is soft and comfortable compared to the former plywood stools.
We want to produce good crafts and furniture through such industry-university cooperation projects.

Rosemary and Bob are in danger! A spider has arrived and somebody told me she is really big!

Here you have it…….

Well, she is not so big, and she doesn´t seems to be dangerous. Matilda is cute!

How to do Matilda?

Start: Ch 12

Row 1: Work SC, 1 SC in each ch.

Row 2: Work 2 SC in each SC (24sc)
Row 3: Work 1 SC in next SC, 1 SC in next SC, 2 SC in next SC (32 SC)

Row 4 , 5 and 6: 1 SC in each SC (32 SC)

Row 7: DECREASE - SC DEC (insert hook in next stitch - the same you do with SC -  insert hook in following stitch and pull hook through the three loops to decrease.) Make 2SC and 1 SC DEC (24 SC)

Row 8: Make 1 SC, 1 SC DEC, 2 SC, 1 SC DEC.

Last rows: Make SC DEC until thee isn´t a hole. (Only the hole downside)

Legs: Make 7 or 8 CH legs. I embroider some wire in the legs, that´s how Matilda is stood up on her legs in the pic. But for kids is better to take the wire out.

Face: Make the eyes and mouth with white and red yarn. (You can use other materials, like plstic eyes or sew felt pieces)

Fulfill the spider with the material you choose: this time I used black yarn (cotton was not a good material this time: you could see the white color through the little holes.)

That´s all!

Part V 

One of my favorite lines in a movie was in one of the Naked Gun movies (with Leslie Nielsen) where Ricardo Montalban was playing the villain.  When asked by Priscilla Presley how he could be so evil his response was something like:

"You forget I spent two years as a building contractor!"

Of course that's in jest (?).  You know - there are, of course, good and bad contractors, and I've dealt with my share of each - and the concrete contractor I used for this project was quite unfortunately of the latter persuasion.  I was really disappointed in his work - and I even gave him a second chance the next year to pour the slab out front of the shop for me - but that's for a later entry...  If you are looking for a general contractor, or even just a "sub" contractor, make sure you check references and investigate your choices with the local builders' association.  Above all - you will need patience and perseverance to be successful.  Don't expect perfection - but be ready to stand your ground when needed - and pick your battles well.  Know what's important, and what's not. At the time, there was a shortage of available contractors for me to hire, and I was not patient... 

But first, I should go over the design of the foundation in a bit more depth...

The Design

There were two different foundation systems I looked into using.  My first consideration was to pour what's known as a "monolithic" slab - that's where the footings, stem wall (if there is one) and the finished floor are all poured at once, in one big pour...  The section through such a system looks something like this:

There are several advantages to a system such as this.. It is the most efficient system, combining the footing, wall, and slab all into a single, large system.  There is considerably less labor involved in the pour, but the earthwork needs to be done more precisely to save fill requirement.  And finally if termites are an issue in your part of the country this type doesn't allow anyplace for the nasty little buggers to penetrate from underneath.  It does have a couple of disadvantages as well...  One is that the bottom of the wall is more prone to water damage, as the top of the concrete can be only slightly above grade level...  and because of that, it also does not work as well on a sloped lot.  Though it's hard to see in the photos below, my lot slopes down from right to left (east to west) about a foot in the width of the shop.  It might not seem like much, but it is a lot of fill to bring in.   I prefer to work with the slope of the land rather than fight it...

Another disadvantage - at least for me - is that I wanted to have the entire floor of the slope 1/8" per foot from the back end to the front - a drop of about 4", so it would drain and I wouldn't have water puddling up in the center of the floor if I parked a snow-bound car inside.  That would make it difficult to frame up so it is level... This might not be an issue for you, but my experience has been to keep the space as flexible as possible - and that means uses other than woodworking.  The next owner of my shop might want to work on cars, for example - and so will I, for that matter.

The final disadvantage is I wanted to be able to hose down the slab in the main section of the shop if for some reason it needed it...    I can seal a rubber base down for some walls, but doing all would be too much.  So - it meant I would opt for the more expensive version (of course) - a stem wall type foundation.  Here's a typical section for that style of  foundation:

 

You can see that now the foundation wall is independent of the floor slab, so with this system I can slope the floor and not worry about framing the exterior walls plumb and level.  The slab at the far back of the shop would be about an inch below the top of the foundation wall - and about 5 inches below it at the front.  This works out well for the driveway slab to be poured out front of the shop - it will work out to be about the right height so the foundation wall can be above finish grade level by about 8".

You can also see why more labor is required to make it...  Instead of one pour for the entire foundation and slab, the work now has to be divided into three separate pours...  First you must form up the strip footing so it is below frost depth and pour it - then you must form up the stem walls and pour them; and then, finally, you pour the floor slab.  Three separate pours...  It uses the same or more concrete, and your contractor must have the form work to be able to pour the stem walls.  There are many concrete contractors out there that do only flat work - they don't want to invest the money into the forms required, and most often they can get away without investing in too much heavy machinery.  If you do it yourself, you can easily make your own forms, and rent your own machinery... but it's an added expense, and not a small one.  You could use the forms afterward as sheathing - but you need to coat the forms with a release agent (usually an oil) that can make it less than desirable for use as sheathing.  My neighbor rented a backhoe to do his shop, and by the time he was done with it, he'd spent $1100 or so just for it.

What determines how deep you put your foundation is set by the local building department and is what's known as "Frost Depth" - the depth at which the ground does not regularly freeze.  Freezing ground is bad for a foundation. Water expands when froze, and as a result lifts and stresses the foundation, and over time that stress can result in the foundation failing.

Frost depth in my area is about 2'-0" below finish grade.  With an 8" deep strip footing at the bottom, that means we can use a 2' deep stem wall - which will give us two feet below grade if we keep the finish grade at a maximum of 8" below the top of the stem wall.   Frost depth varies around the country... in warmer climates, there isn't one, just a requirement the footing be on inorganic undisturbed soil or compacted structural fill.  Where I grew up in the Dakotas, it was a full 4' below finish grade.  It's one reason you will see so many basements in the north vs. the south - you are required to go so deep anyway to get down to frost depth with your footing, there's no good reason not to make it just a couple feet deeper to make it a basement.

Optimally, I would have used the detail above, with a 6" wide stem wall.  Structurally, it's plenty strong to hold up the building. it also keeps you from having problems with applying the finish material - when you install the drywall (or plywood, or whatever finish material you have) the inside of the wall will line up with the concrete.  What I ended up with was more like this, however:

 

Note the foundation is 8" wide, not 6".  One other difference that is shown on that detail that I don't have - insulation.  I got none.  Nada.  It's a sordid tale - I'll let you know as I go through the photos of the construction below just how I arrived with that detail.

Strip Footings

The first job after you dig the trench for the footings is to form up for the strip footings.  It's pretty simple, really - your biggest concern is setting them at the right height.   You want the footings resting on undisturbed, inorganic soil (or compacted structural fill), just below frost level.  Your building department will be able to tell you just how much your soil can support, and thusly how big your footing needs to be.  You can check with them to find what frost level is in your part of the country.  You then want to form so the top is level and gives the footing a minimum depth (in my case 8").  You can use the excavated soil for the sides of your forms at the very bottom - but it's best to have most of it formed with footer boards to make sure the edges are held in place correctly, which will allow you to estimate just how much concrete you need.  It's always better to overdo the forms rather than under-do them, as nothing sucks more than a blowout during a pour.

The easiest way to set the level is if you have a builder's level or transit and a pole, which can be rented for fairly little money.  You set stakes in the ground at strategic points and with the aid of a helper, shoot the top of the stake, then drive it down with a sledge until it's at the right height.  Do this with each successive stake, then using a string line, a plumb bob, and batten boards, drive a pair of stakes in about every 24" or so (more or less depending how good your soil is) and nail the footer boards on the inside of the stakes - which you've placed just for that purpose, using one of the sides as a guide.  Once in place, you can reinforce the footer boards by putting nailers across the top to help keep them from spreading apart while pouring, as this crew did:

For reinforcement, mine has two #4 rebar (#4 means 4/8" or 1/2" diameter) running the length of the tooting.  An additional rebar can be added perpendicular to these every four feet or so, but I am fortunate enough to have soil with a great load carrying capacity, so it wasn't necessary.  The next step is to pour them, obviously...  but I wanted to show the photo below for another reason:

 Look at that nice, green lawn.  By the time the concrete was done - they had torn the living snot out of my yard.  I tried to keep them from doing too much damage, and I even roped off the area where my drain field was located to keep them from driving their 574 ton trucks over it - which could easily crush the pipe.  Or should I say did?  For some reason, I'm telling you - it was like trying to keep flies of of s__t.  I came home after bringing dad to a doctor's appointment to find they drove right over my little tape barrier like it wasn't even there.  Not only did this happen once, but it happened several times over the time they were there.  My drain field still works, but it's capacity has been cut about in half from what it was - no more "super" loads in the washer for us...  and a healthy repair bill someday when I do half to replace it.  The one guy I was most worried about - the kid with the skid hoe - was easily the most careful and professional and did by far the least damage of any of them.

Stem Walls

So after the footings were poured and allowed to dry for several day, the concrete guy's crew comes back and sets the forms for the stem walls:

It was at this point that I went out back and measured them only to find out they had set them for an 8" wall and not a 6" wall, like was in the drawings.   The concrete guy wasn't to be found anywhere, this was entirely done by his crew...  Ugh.  Is it really that hard to do something I ask?  It's not like I was being disagreeable, or hard to get along with, or anything.   I bring it up to him, and he's like, well - we can tear it down and do it at 6", but then I'll have to schedule it for later because that crew's already on another job.  Jeez, can't these guys come up with something more original?  In the end, I said screw it, let it be 8".  I'll just deal with it later, and let it remind me of why I should never hire bozos like this guy again (yet I don't even listen to myself - more on that in a later entry in this series).

Reinforcement was just as described in the detail above - a #4 rebar every 4'-0" vertically, and a #4 within 6" of both the top and bottom of the wall.  Anchor bolts were placed every 6'-0" and within 12" of each end of each wall.

 After they poured the stem walls, the kid with the skid hoe came back and backfilled around the stem walls, stripped the topsoil in the center, and no - I don't know why he did it that way, but it didn't take him all that long to get the sod out and down to good soil, so what the heck?  As long as it got done right, I wasn't concerned.  There wasn't enough good fill to use on the inside of the walls to support the slab, so I ordered structural fill brought in to bring the sub-base up to grade.  They brought in a type of fill that doesn't require compaction, which I think is interesting - it's a product I was familiar with but had never seen it done before, a material called CLSM (Controlled Low-Strength Material).  It looks mostly like really sloppy wet sand, and it is brought in in a concrete truck and poured out and leveled almost like concrete. 

It's usually made up of a mixture of portland cement, fly ash, and aggregate mixed with water.  Lots of labor saved in that you don't have to compact it, and it can be put in place so very quickly...  I did need 2-1/2 truckloads of it, each costing $200 though (I ended up having to buy 3 truckloads full)  I had the remainder put out so I could use it as fill for under the driveway slab that would eventually be placed out front of the shop.

So, I think in my case, I paid dearly for it.  But at least it was ready for the floor.  I did have one problem - there was a lot of soil left over in a big pile - sod, rocks, organic soil - pure garbage to me and I had nowhere to put it.  The kid with the backhoe offered to take it - seems he was filling some ditch on his property out in the back woods, and could put it there. He loaded it and hauled it out himself, so there was some consolation. I rewarded him by getting him to put in a gravel driveway back to the shop and to redo the one out front.  He did a particularly splendid job, for a fair price.

For more information on CSLM, visit the Portland Cement Association's web site.

The Floor Slab

So - another appointment for dad, and I knew they were going to pour the floor - when I got back, this was the scene:

It was a good thing I got back when I did...  I noticed two things were completely wrong.  First - there was no insulation laid down around the perimeter.  Second - he hadn't dug out for the two pier footings I would need for the two columns I had designed for the structure.  You know, I don't think he actually ever looked at the drawings...  Guess there might have been too much information there for him to handle.  Anyway, it was already too late for the insulation, but I did at least get him before the concrete had reached where the pier footings were to go - and stood there while he dug them out and made sure they were the right size, even as the concrete was flowing closer to the pit.  Essentially, the pier footings can be poured as a part of the floor, like a monolithic slab would be - so it's fine if done that way.  It would have sucked if he hadn't done them though - I wouldn't have known about it, and would have wondered why the floor slab cracked so badly around the columns later...

At long last - I had a foundation on which to build my shop.   Woohoo!  The rest would be all up to me and me alone.

 

Up next - walls!

Sometimes there's just time for life and all woodworking becomes a fix-it project. This morning it was extremely cold and our front door lock wouldn't lock from the outside. I looked at it and decided that the wooden door had contracted enough that the strike plate was plate was no longer positioned properly. Wood movement in action.

Thanks to a short conversation with my brother's neighbor, a professional carpenter, I thought I understood shimming well enough to fix this quickly. I removed the strike plate, cut a thin piece of cardboard (about 1/16" thick, and 1/4" wide), put it into the position under the corner of the strike plate nearest the door. In theory, this would create a fulcrum to force the holes of the plate closer to the door. I screwed the strike plate back in and turned the lock. Turns out I had the mechanics right: the door locks now and I did it all before breakfast.

We'll see if I have the opposite problem when it gets warm out and the door expands.

The Festool Kapex KS 120 Miter Saw has shipped in North America and is now in stock at Highland Woodworking. The culmination of years of testing and engineering, the Kapex KS 120 was developed with one goal in mind: to be the best sliding compound miter saw ever manufactured. The Kapex KS 120 is the first miter saw with variable speed, enabling the user to match the speed of the blade with the requirements of the material for perfect cuts, every time. Finally, a sliding compound miter saw that combines a large cutting capacity with a compact lightweight design. The Kapex delivers 12" miter saw capacity in a revolutionary 10" miter saw design.

Festool, founded in 1925 by Albert Fezer and Gottlieb Stoll in southern Germany, has constantly set new benchmarks for innovative tool design and development, and the Kapex KS 120 Sliding Compound Miter Saw does so again. The innovative twin-column forward rail design gives the Kapex saw greater precision in an extremely small footprint. And Festool's meticulous engineers designed the saw to capture 91% of the saw dust when used with a CT dust extractor when using a 36mm hose.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Power Consumption: 1600 Watts
• Speed: 1,400-3,400 RPM
• Cutting Depth 90°/90°: 12" x 3-1/2"
• Special Cutting Depth: 4-23/32" x 3/4"
• Crown Nested Capacity: 6-5/8"
• Max Bevel: 47°/47°
• Miter Range: 50°/60°
• Dimensions: 28" x 19-3/4" x 18-1/2"
• Weight: 47 Lbs

Highland Woodworking is located in Atlanta, Georgia USA. Call 800-241-6748 for sales or visit www.highlandwoodworking.com for more information.

Back in the day when I did power tool woodworking (at the exclusion of hand tools), I never did feel the need to cut a mortise and tenon joint. Somehow, using hand tools, it just feels right to do it.

However, there is a problem. I have never done it and didn't know how to do it properly - with any kind of tools. I started to work cutting tenons for the base on the workbench I am making and somehow, it just didn't seem to be coming out right.

I took a break from that and started a little stool for my daughter to reach the kitchen sink. Somehow, it just seemed right to dovetail the legs into the ends. Also, I felt like I needed the practice before going any farther on my bench.

I was right. I DID need more practice. As it turns out, the stool will be usable for children, but it will hardly be pretty or even that strong. I realized that I needed more help. A LOT more help.  read more »

Just think about when today’s kids become woodworkers….things are going to be a lot different. I say this based upon their choice in automobiles.

To give a foundation for the validity of my statements, let me give you my resume.

I am a car guy. I didn’t see it coming. I was a cyclist, and cars were just the things that could potentially kill you out on the narrow country roads of Indiana. However, when I turned 16, I decided I needed a car. I just wanted a car…any car would have done. So I took all of my money from my paper route, and my parents helped me out by giving me some additional funds, and we went out looking for cars.

I remember we were down in Acton (southeast of Indianapolis) when we looked over and saw a car for sale. It was hard to miss it. It was orange. Those hood scoops were factory original…not some stupid aftermarket crap. The center caps on the Ralley II wheels indicated the car was part of PMD (the Pontiac Motor Division of GM). However, PMD was not the important 3 letter acronym associated with this car. I would say the more important letters were GTO. It had rusty quarter panels, perfect white vinyl interior, and everything was original…including the lady who sold it to us. She had bought it brand new from Tom Wood Pontiac back in 1972. She wanted $1000, and we got it for $900 cash. It was the fall of 1986, and I still didn’t know what I had. I just knew I had a car.

Then, I drove myself to school the next day and something happened…I pulled into my parking spot when a bunch of guys I didn’t know were suddenly surrounding my car and asking me questions about my “Goat.� GOAT?!?!?!? Wow, these guys aren’t dumb…they’re just dyslexic. Well, somehow thanks to an orange Pontiac GTO my life as a Gearhead was jumpstarted.

A couple of years later, in college, I fell hard for convertibles, and I kept myself going knowing that my Rose-Hulman degree would land me an engineering job and enough salary to get a new convertible. During rainy college nights, when I would be fixing Thumper (my 1981 VW Rabbit) on the side of I-70, I vowed that I would get a new car (a convertible) the moment I graduated.

By the way, going from the GTO to Thumper was quite a change. Thumper only had compression in 3 of its 4 cylinders, so even though I thought I was Ayrton Senna when I would shift the four speed manual transmission, the car sure didn’t perform like his F1 car. Thumper didn’t perform or sound like my GTO. However, the GTO only got 8 miles to the gallon. (Honest to God…it got 8 mpg). Thumper was far more economical for a college student even with the cheap fuel we had in the early 1990s. Still, I always loved the sound of the V8.

Today, Gail and I have four cars, and we cover a wide spectrum. We have a 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler with a full roll cage, Skid Plates galore, a Warn Winch, and ARB Air Lockers with 4.56 gears. (Our rock crawling history was done with Low Gearing…not high HP.) Gail has a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with a V8. We have the amazingly economical 2006 VW Jetta TDi (Diesel), and we have a Mercedes SLK with AMG Sport Package. So we have a 4 cylinder, a 6 cylinder, an 8 cylinder, and a diesel. We fix EVERYTHING ourselves, and we keep our cars forever. (I am a true Gearhead...)

When we got the Mercedes, Gail said I had to get rid of the convertible I got 5 days after I graduated from Rose-Hulman, so I gave it to my mother. (I am a very good son).

I love my Mercedes. I love the fact that it is soooooooooo smooth. It idles like a finely engineered automobile, but when you plant the right foot hard, it opens up an adrenaline flood of tsunami proportion. If I am getting on it, the traction control kicks in on the 2-3 shift. Do you know what it takes to break loose those huge back tires while letting out the clutch on the shift into third gear?

However, when the SLK is cruising along, the guy driving next to it has no idea what that silver beauty can do. He probably thinks, “Wow that car is beautiful.� And when it is suddenly gone he thinks, “WOW!!!! That beautiful car is FAST!!!!!!!�

By comparison, this week while driving home from work, my Diesel Jetta was passed by a Husqvarna chain saw. It wasn’t really a chain saw; it was actually a WeedWhacker. You’ve seen them. Little cars driven by 18 year old guys with some kind of coffee can sticking out from under the rear bumper that makes the car sound like something you’d use to clean up a fence line. So the Weed Whacker passes me, and at the next stop light it couldn’t accelerate as fast as my Diesel Jetta that only has about 98 hp. And I, as a Mechanical Engineer and a Gearhead, just couldn’t figure it out. What is the appeal in that sound? Why would a kid want fancy wheels and a coffee can that makes WeedWhacker noises when there are so many other options?

I think I want to do an intervention. I want to work with the local schools and get all of the kids together at the racetrack when they turn 15 and go through a little Scared Straight program.

We’ll start with a Shelby Cobra. I’ll make sure the side pipes are nice and loud, and we’ll just take each kid for a couple of hot laps and let them see what real hp and real exhaust rumble is all about.

Then, I can pack 4 kids into an AMG Mercedes Sedan (let’s go with an S65). And we’ll start by just sitting there letting them play with the interior toys and feel the leather seats and just generally get the feel of what you get with a $200,000 Mercedes. Then, I’ll turn to look at the collection of 15 year old kids, and say, “Let’s see what this 4 door Family Truckster car can do.� (I won’t necessarily tell them that this particular 4 door has a bi-turbo V12 that pumps out over 600 street legal and factory warrantied horsepower.) It just looks like a beautiful 4 door Mercedes that blows away just about anything on the road without having to make any funky WeedWhacker noises.

This is my true calling. I need to work with America’s youth to let them know that WeedWhacker Mufflers are just wrong. You only have three choices:

If I don’t do this, then we are going to lose this generation to the mistaken belief that the WeedWhacker sound is not only acceptable, but that it actually symbolizes performance.

Think of what that attitude will do to the future of woodworking. My nephews will end up saying things like, “My uncle Jeff thinks that 5 hp Unisaw is tough, but give me a 7 ½� Skil saw with an exhaust rattler any day.� “Uncle Jeff thinks his 18 inch Bandsaw is cool, but I would much rather just use this jig saw with the optional motor Rattler.� These little punks won’t even have the decency to build upon the foundation of a Festool Plunge saw. They’ll be buying saws from Harbor Freight and bolting on aftermarket equipment to accentuate the screaming of the cheap Chinese bearings. And in their mind, they’ll be cool.