Humble Home

I'm back from a great trip to the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and I'm finally settling in to my new shop space here in Boston. This is going to be my first shop in 12 years that hasn't had to do double duty as a teaching shop and tool factory. Speaking of teaching, there are only two slots still open for my August 17th chair class at North Bennet Street School, so if you're interested please check it out soon.
Here are some shot of the space, lots of air and light.

 It's the same size as my other shop, but with a storeroom in the back and higher ceilings.

Working by the front door gives a great natural raking light.

Being a lefty, the lathe is strategically placed to gather the shavings into the corner to contain the mess.

 The sharpening station  has lots of real estate and light.

 Here is the view from the storeroom and workbench area.

 I've been really enjoying making spindles in this space, as you can see.

 Here is a shot of the majestic Rhodesian Ridgeback Kobe, who I am teaching to be a shop dog, but he seems to think it's a bit beneath him.

He needs to take lessons from Lil, she's a pro.

Studley I ain't

Yep, I was one of the lucky ones who got to get up close and personal with the toolchest of H.O. Studley in Iowa a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, it verges on woodworker porn, but as a composition and tribute to a lifes work, it is spectacular. Of course you can get the new book "Virtuoso" from my friends at Lost Art Press if you want more.

Here is my current version.

Not quite the tribute that I'd want to be remembered by! I'm in the process of moving my shop to my new home in Roslindale which is just on the southern end of Boston proper. I've been weeding out possessions and categorizing them by which are most used and which can be stored.

I just returned from a month on the road where I taught a class at Caleb James' shop and also in Rio Grande, Ohio. Both classes went swimmingly. I especially loved getting to watch Caleb at work making planes. Below is a detail of the seat that I carved during class at Calebs.

Here is an especially cool shavehorse that a student brought into class in Ohio.

The horses that I brought (built from the plans in the book) performed great and stacked nicely for transportation, but I must admit that they can't hold a candle to their ancestor in the beauty department.

Here is a shot of the finished seat. I have always wanted to carve a seat like this. I made the mistake of leaving the top dry fit when I went to humid Ohio and the parts locked tight. I figured that I could wait til winter and try to get it apart, but instead I just wedged it and painted it.

New Year, Old Project

It's been so quiet here at Chairnotes that you can hear the snowfalling. But it's not that I'm not writing, it's what I'm writing. I am in a push to get the drawings for my book done and am happy to say that I'm making good progress. As to the actual release date, it can't be pinned down just yet, but I will hopefully be handing everything to the book designer, and Chris Schwarz for the next phase. I thought that I'd share a couple of images to give a little preview of what I'm compiling.

 There are literally hundreds of illustrations and it's taken me a while to establish a style that is clear and fast to create.

I like communicating by drawing (as any former student will tell) because you can go straight to the concept without any confusion and you can show views and relationships that would be tough to show any other way.

The Why?

Perhaps you've seen my video showing how the Drawsharp works, and, as with most advertisements, your natural reaction was to think that this was just another gizmo that attempts to replace a valuable skill with money. I'd usually be right there with you, so I hope you'll bear with me, because I want to go beyond how the tool works, and to "the Why?", which regardless of whether you are interested in the Drawsharp, will hopefully offer you some useful information about the drawknives and how to deal with them.

The top knife was polished on the back while the bottom was a rusty pitted mess

Here are a couple of drawknives that my current students brought to the shop. The polished blade on top was a breeze because there was no chipping or pitting to deal with, but the bottom blade, which showed signs that someone had started and given up, was definitely in need of serious attention.

The bevel wasn't much better

I have tuned hundreds of drawknives and I always started with flattening back and grinding the bevel. I am happy, and a little embarrassed to say that this is wrong, plain old wrong. The reason that I used to flatten the back and grind the bevel was to create a proper bevel angle and stable surfaces to register on the waterstones. Hollowing the bevel and back made it easier to consistently reach the edge, which let's face it, is the only part that cuts the wood. And that would be the end of the story if we were talking about chisels, which always keep the flat geometry off of the stones. But a drawknife requires a slight rounding just behind the edge on the side that rides on the surface of the wood. This is so that the tool can enter and exit a cut, otherwise, when sharpened flat like a chisel, it will dig, like a chisel.

So after honing, I would strop the edge, which gives a subtle rounding and allows the drawknife to follow the fibers and come out of the cut on command.  Just the right amount of rounding has always been tough to accurately reproduce. The problem is that once the edge is rounded, resharpening means either reflattening the bevel and back on the stones to reach the edge and then stropping it again to re-establish the correct shape or simply stropping the edge until the rounding becomes too much for a good cutting angle, at which point it's back to the grinder. Does this sound at all familiar?

The back is still largely a rusty mess, but after 10 minutes of work, the edge is sharp

As much as this process would give me pause before taking on a drawknife in sad shape or sharpening one that was good but not great, it would also keep me from really addressing and understanding what what going on on the real business edge of the tool.

I suppose my understanding started to change when a student, Steve Kinnane, came up with the idea of grinding the drawknife using the back (spine) of the tool as a reference. I adopted this wholeheartedly for it's ingenious simplicity. You can grind a curved or straight knife with control and ease after smoothing the spine of the tool, which is almost always soft enough to be done quickly (and only once) with a file and some abrasive.

Then one day, I thought, why not use that same unchanging reference to hone the edge? And the wheels started turning, leading to the Drawsharp. I suppose my reluctance to spend time tuning my collection of drawknives should have highlighted the problem sooner. Flattening the back of a drawknife is really just labor, not skill. Yes, honing a ground edge freehand is a valuable skill for some tools, but doesn't offer an advantage to drawknife geometry or sharpness.

I use the drawknife from the time that I split a piece from the log to the last cuts on a finished chair, so it must be as sharp as any tool that I own. Using the spine as the correct reference has made sharpening knife easier and I can honestly say that I no longer have a "favorite" drawknife. I used to coddle certain knives, never letting them touch green wood. No, these were my finish knives and unlike the other lugs, they were kept in top shape, mainly because of their seldom and restricted use. Now that I know the exact geometry of my edges and have a way to quickly and repeatedly tune them, I can get all of my blades singing. The only difference between my knives is the quality of the steel and the comfort of the handles. As far as top performance and geometry for cutting wood, the mystery is gone.

I appreciate that you've stuck with me through this and hope that you understand my intention in enlisting the help of Benchcrafted to make the Drawsharp available. I want folks to work with sharp tools instead of fussing about and eventually giving up thinking that a razor sharp drawknife is limited to those experts who possess skills that they cannot muster. After much practice, I can freehand grind a drawknife and hone it beautifully on my waterstones, but honestly, it's no longer a skill that I value. Sharpening a drawknife to work at it's peak is no more complex than using the correct references, the real skill building belongs to using the tool to make great furniture, and having fun doing it.

Soon, I will be posting a video of fully rehabilitating a drawknife in hopes of getting more folks using the most versatile tool in my shop.

The Reamers are Here!

I'm very pleased to announce that we have gotten the process down for producing the adjustable 6 degree tapered reamer.

 

I am fortunate to be working with Tim Manney to produce these. Tim is a gifted chairmaker and has worked with some of the best woodworkers in the country. He brings a lot to the table.

He has taken the design and process and pushed them to a level far beyond my expectations. The tool not only functions better than any reamer that I've used, but it's absolutely beautiful. 

Besides the precision machined parts, the key to the performance of the reamer is the adjuster screw. It's a simple mechanism that is easy to reach and can dial in a depth of cut so that you can get smoother mortises and more control over the tool, regardless of the material. When set properly, this reamer glides past the end grain, and even better, no fussing with little shims behind the blade to adjust the cut.

 The top of the body is a straight cylinder for measuring with a bevel square and has a brass point for easy sighting and durability.

One unexpected benefit of our process is that the shavings don't jam between the blade and the kerf. Shavings build up in the channels like they are suppose to and fall out when you pull the tool from the hole, so you don't have to constantly remove the blade from the body to clear them.

 One other feature that I wanted for personal reasons was a removable handle. I don't know about you, but I haven't met a toolbox yet that could accommodate a reamer, and with my traveling, I really wanted a simple way to mount the handle. So, being a reamer, it made perfect sense to use a taper to lock it in place.

It's a subtle little taper that works great thanks to the precise fit of the rest of the handle. A quick tap on the workbench and it's set, another tap and it slides right out.
Forgive me if I am gushing on this one, but Tim has really hit it out of the park.
We are offering these at $110 (plus $10 shipping). If you would like to get your name on the list, please contact me at peter@petergalbertchairmaker.com.
Thanks in advance for your patience.

Among the Trees

Every time that I step outside I seem to be fighting the trees. When they talk about the amazing colors of fall in New England, no one seems to mention that the clean up is worse than at Woodstock. I've been blowing leaves with abandon and clearing paths to the firewood that I split last spring.

After two eye blistering days at the computer and drawing board, I took to the woods to take down a couple of trees for next year. I know that winter is bearing down on me and I am woefully short on firewood for this year, but I still reverted to my favorite posture in the woods, playing.

I got a new hatchet at a garage sale recently and it holds an amazing edge. It's one of those blades that rings out when you tap it. So I took a few minutes and hewed one side of this ash log.

It isn't exactly a hewing axe, which would be flat on one side, but I sharpened it so that it was close to one and for a lefty too.

I got it reasonably flat. The blade held the edge and took great shavings but it would have been better with the correct geometry. It was all that I could do to keep from building a fort.

A New Site!

Last Spring, while building my maple syrup evaporator, I had an epiphany. While there were parts that I was happy to fabricate myself, when it came to the stainless steel pan, I knew that I was out of my depth and with my limited free time, I could easily justify buying one from a quality maker.

Then I realized that some folks might feel the same about the tools that I make and have featured on Chairnotes. With increasingly busy lives, perhaps grinding drill bits or making travishers isn't as captivating as getting a chair together. I get it, and when I offered some tools to my students at a recent class, the notion was confirmed.

This also dovetails with my desire to focus on writing projects for the upcoming year. I am still building for clients and designing new work, but small scale projects like toolmaking fit the bill for keeping my hands happy and my head free.

As you may know, my travishers are already available (I am almost caught  up on the backlog) and as the year proceeds, I am hoping to add some other tools to the list, such as reamers with a blade adjuster (and that don't clog!), long spur drill bits and drawknifes (tuned, refurbished and ready to go) and perhaps even an adze. 

I call the site Chairnotes Tools, and my plan is to use it as a list site where I will feature the tools as they come available. Keeping tabs on new stuff will be easy by subscribing.

I've chosen to create Chairnotes Tools as a separate site so that you can still come to Chairnotes knowing what to expect, a solid dose of my workshop ramblings with the occasional goat photo.

Perhaps it's naive of me to treat this with such delicacy, most folks are probably comfortable with the realities of commerce, but I take the trust of the visitors to Chairnotes seriously, and I'd much rather err in this direction. 

Thanks

Pete

Cool Cases

I have obviously been thinking a lot about tools lately. When I was teaching at Marc Adams School a few weeks ago, the students brought perhaps the best array of drawknives that I'd ever seen. But all to often, I saw these lovely knives knocking around in a bag or milk crate.
Of course, with Chris Schwarz teaching in the next room, I started thinking about solutions. Chris already posted about my students tool chest, based on his book. I won't go into detail (I'll leave that to the obsessed...er...I mean experts), but between watching his class unfold and having a wicked case of tool chest envy, I started seeing tool case options in my dreams.

Here is Rich's tool chest. Not practical for my airplane travels, but I could spend all day sliding those tills around.

For the first time in years, I felt inspired to work with flat wood, of course, by the time that I can get around to it, the feeling will have passed, but it was exciting to have it.

On the more realistic note, this little drawknife case might just actually get reproduced.

I though this was a cool way to honor a favorite drawknife, while protecting the edge.

 The lid slides in a tapered sliding dovetail. 

I have a few drawknives, alright, more than a few, but last weekend I displayed my wares at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, where I'll be teaching next year, and I bought one of the sweetest Barton drawknives that I've come across. While I'm still basking in the glow of this acquisition, I might just make one of these.
Have you got an interesting drawknife storage solution? I'd love to see it.

Cool Links

Here are a couple of cool links that you might enjoy.
First, a video showing the results of tests concerning the effects of chipbreakers on planing. This is the kind of nerdy stuff that I love, not only is the information fascinating, but the visuals are hypnotic. If you are stuck in front of your computer, it will definitely give you a woodworking fix. Thanks to Pat Tipton for sending me this link!

Next, you might like to check out the blog that Caleb James is writing. He was a student of mine and during our time together, I was inspired by his talent and attitude. He is definitely one to watch.
His blog is http://kapeldesigns.blogspot.com

I have loads happening around here, especially getting prepared to teach next week at Marc Adams School in Indiana, I hope Greg remembers the Scotch this time.

Travishers Part 3, Sharpening

One of the most rewarding parts of making travishers is taking them out for a test run and seeing what they can do. Here is a shaving off of some angled endgrain.

It's especially rewarding, having processed the steel from a soft, malleable blank to a razor sharp edge. Here is a video that shows the process that I use to get that edge. I hope that it helps. If there is any part of it that needs more info, please let me know.

Travishers in the works

Here is the propane powered fueled forge that I am using to heat treat the steel for the travishers. It took some figuring, but I finally settled on this method, using a pipe as a sort of double boiler, to keep the steel isolated from the gas and oxygen. Too much oxygen causes the steel to lose carbon on the surface as the oxygen bonds with carbon and steal it away, plus it can cause scaling. This process, suggested to me by a knife maker, only darkens the surface of the steel a bit, which buffs right off.
Once the pipe gets cherry hot, it only takes a minute or two to get the steel to temp and then it's ready to quench.

I'm very pleased with the results that I'm getting, ok, I'm being coy, I LOVE this thing. After tempering, the O-1 steel takes a razor edge very quickly.
I've enlisted my friend Claire Minihan to help me produce these tools (Andy is busy getting married!). She graduated from the North Bennet Street School and can build furniture that I could only dream of attempting. Here she is grinding the brass sole to shape.

And trimming the throat opening. Having such skilled folks working on my projects is a point of great pride for me.

We are making these tools one at a time, the way that I like to make everything. It keeps the focus on quality and makes a pleasant arc to the day. 

Here is a run ready to go out. If you have your name on the list and haven't heard from me, I should be contacting you soon. We have a solid process for making these and I am looking forward to catching up with all the orders.

Here is the first in a series of videos on the travisher. While I will be specifically addressing some of the attributes of my tools, I will also be talking about the travisher in general. Hopefully it will be of use to you regardless of whose tool you are using

A Smooth Back

For year, I resisted the urge to buy an angle grinder. It just seemed like such a crude tool. But then I looked at the mushrooming of my wedges, basically shrapnel in waiting, and decided to take the plunge. Just like with my buffer, I feel foolish for having waited so long. I keep finding great uses for this tool.



A while back, I saw these "Flap" wheels for the angle grinder at the store and thought that they might come in handy. When I was teaching at Kelly's last week, Roger Clark told me that he'd had great luck using these to sharpen his mower blades. Roger brought one in, but the mower had taken it's toll and it didn't work on the hardened steel we were working with. Always willing to take a $5 bet, I picked up a new one yesterday, and the results are fantastic.





I've been using regular grinding and cutting wheels on the angle grinder to knock down high spots on the back of drawknives while flattening, and it's proven to be faster and more controllable than I had expected. But the smooth action of the flap wheels and ease of control is far superior.

I haven't met the craftsman yet who lives for flattening the back of tools, but honestly, I'm having to control myself from wanting to grab all my knives of the rack and make them this lovely. Well done Roger!

Survivor Tool Chest

No, this isn't about a bookmatched, dovetailed toolchest with 50 compartments and inlay in the shape of a drawknife, although I dream of having one!
I have often been asked about the tools required to make a chair, and since I travel so much these days, it's become evident, and imperative that I figure out the necessities in my shop. One of the joys of chairmaking is the limited tool list, and in the cauldron of the classroom, I've refined this list and thought you might like to see it. There are a few things that are specific to my personal techniques, but in general, this list could get you sitting pretty after a shipwreck (on an island with ring porous hardwoods!)
EDIT: Obviously, this isn't a real survivor list, which would be just a few tools, but a list of the tools that come into use in my everyday shop experience, although, all of these tools do basically fit in a toolbag. Now if I could just get Hoadley to publish a version of his book that doubles as a floatation device!

Turning
Roughing Gouge
1 in gouge
Skew
Parting tool
Tenoners ½, 7/16, 3/8,5/8
Tenon jig that sits on lathe bed for sighting tenon angle
Galbert Caliper
Sizing Tool
Spindle gouge
2MT jacobs chuck and key
steady rest
cclamps
Shaving
Drawknives
Spokeshaves
marking guage
Bead Scraper
Books
Hoadley
Alexander
Sloane
Langsner
Underhill
Santori
Carving
Adze
Travisher
Inshave
Gutter carver
Tenon trimming gouges
Flush cut saws
Depth drill
Painting
Filters
Paint
Extra Bond
Brush
Anti Foaming
Scotchbrite
Steel wool
Oil
Gloves
Splitting
Maul
Froe
Wedges
Brake
Hatchet
Sledges
Chainsaw
Gas
Oil
Wrench
Spark plugs
Sharpening
Stones
Grinders
Buffer
Holders
bear tex
auger file
Nagura
Drywall screen
Plate glass
Wood Stone Holder with wedge
Strop
Small grinding bits
Green rouge
diamond hones
wheel dresser
pin jig for drawknife grinding
magnet jig for drawknife grinding
diamond paste
Planes
Scrub
#4
#5
#7
Drilling
Drill and charger
Bits
bit and brace
irwin extension bit
Measuring and Marking
Clear Rulers
Protractors
Black rules
Extension rule
Bevel boss
Spindle blocks
Aluminum straight edges
Carpenter pencils
Accuscribe
Assembly
String
Irwin quick grip clamp
Tenon chamferer (carpenter pencil sharpener)
Rubberbands
Reamers
Holding Jigs with v notches for drilling undercarraige
Mirrors
Dead Blow
Hammer
Bevel Squares
Steel plate with holes for sizing tenons
square
target for sighting mortise drilling
tenon taperer
plumber reamer
extra bends
Misc
Wax
Pencils
Cyanoacrylate
Foil
Gluepot
Measuring spoons
Chip brushes
Spring clamps
Shavehorses
Heat gun
iron
Steamer, pot, reservoir
5/8 dowels
Tape
Scraping
scraper jig
Scrapers
Burnisher
Oil
Files

I'm sure you will have a couple of questions which I can answer in the comments page, plus you can tell me which tools you can't live with out. Cheers!

The Travisher Refined

My love affair with the travisher began many years ago when I made my first one. Watching the shavings fly while the tool rides along the curves of a seat is pure pleasure. I've made many others since, but have always suspected that there was room for improvement. So recently, I set out to make a better travisher with the goal that it would be easier to use, more precise and more durable.
Here is the result.

The shavings that you see are from the endgrain of a pine board. I've added a brass sole plate to the tool after noting how quickly the sole, even out of rosewood wears. The rest of the tool is made from walnut.

I shaped and mated the brass to the blade, which I bent and heat treated to hold an edge appropriate to the use of the tool. Andy Jack and I have worked out the process to a point where the results are consistent and can hold a great edge.

Here is throat.

The radius of this travisher is a bit tighter than I used to make, about 3 1/2" and the blade is consistently set proud of the sole plate around the radius.

For a travisher to work properly, the sole must be slightly angled upward and curved so that the contact point allows the user to vary the depth of cut. It's very rewarding to put these details into the brass plate, knowing that they will last.

Andy and I are going to produce these, in limited numbers, for $200. I'm proud of the tool and as usual, it's all just a ploy to spend more time hanging out with Andy. Please email me (peter@petergalbertchairmaker.com) if you are interested in purchasing one and we will let you know the lead time.

You may have noticed my absence from posting for a while, and a few of you might have guessed, it's Maple Syrup season! Well, this year, I promised myself to go all out as a celebration of our new home and a hard and busy year. So, with the help of my brother Andrew, my pal Dan and the generosity of Ray Duffy, I built a new evaporator from a 275 gallon oil tank and bought some lovely pans to get a boil rate of about 12 gallons an hour. That means a gallon of syrup takes less than 4 hours to make, versus about 10 hours on my old rig!

Here is the tank, with a door from a barrel stove kit.

And here it is boiling away!

The pans are set up like a snaking trough where in fresh sap is introduced on one end which pushes the condensed sap through to the end where it is near finished syrup. It was a ball to watch and you can see how we drew the syrup off of the finishing pan up front. We tinkered with the rig a good bit, and on the last boil of the season, we got the whole surface boiling beautifully.

Here is the product.

You can see the different grades. The one jar is upside down to sterilize the lid. This is the best syrup I've made, with a distinct maple flavor and no sugary bite. I can't wait for next year.

But now, I'm off to Kelly Mehler's to teach with Greg Pennington for a couple of weeks, always a great time.