Wood US idea

Some New-Old Tools

Its Sunday afternoon and I spent the morning out in Pickering, Ontario at the Tools of the Trades Show. Its a really nice gathering of vintage and antique tool dealers peddling their wares to wood geeks like me! I would have posted some info on the event sooner but I only found out about it myself this past week. Oh well, for those that missed it you can catch the Spring session in April.
I went there this morning with nothing in mind really, I dont actually have a short list of tools I currently need or even want(imagine that). Once there though I found many, many tools I would have loved to acquire but my wife would have shot me if I came home with a truck load of new-old tools!
Anyhow, I did make two small purchases- the first is a small little oil can; I wanted one of these for awhile now and this one fit the bill perfectly. Ill use it to keep my Jojoba oil in. Jojoba oil is a natural, non-toxic oil product I use on my tools to keep rust at bay. Its similar to the camellia oil you may find for sale at places like Lie Nielsen Toolworks. The main difference is its a little heavier but easily found off-the-shelf at health food stores while camellia oil is a little more rare(at least it seems to be in Toronto). The little oil can is copper or brass I believe and will live nicely above my work bench.

The second treasure I stumbled over is a beautiful example of a 1930s Stanley No.22 Transitional Smoother. If youre familiar with transitional planes you may have read reviews about the problems they seem to have with the rear totes moving and becoming loose while in use. One big plus about the No.22 is it doesnt have a rear tote, so......no problem! For anyone that isnt familiar with transitional planes they were wooden bodied planes that had a cast iron frame screwed into the body which was usually made from Beech. This perticular model has a kind of squat, mushroom shaped knob thats a little beafier than the taller, slimmer styles found on Stanleys metal planes. I like this robust little front knob and find it fits my hand quite nicely.
Stanley claimed that "Every Carpenter needs two or more wood planes in his kit, for rough outside work" and the transitional plane was the answer for it. For a wooden bodied smoother, I really like the feel of this model and the fact that it doesnt have the rear tote adds to the comfort while in use. This model was also the first with a lateral adjuster. If youd like some more information about transitional planes or any other Stanley hand planes for that matter, check out Patrick Leachs web site. Its an incredible resource of information.

This one is in beautiful shape with the original chip breaker and iron, a near-perfect condition lever cap and very-very few marks on the sole. Having the original chip breaker and iron with the added bonus of the Sweetheart logo still clearly visible was a nice touch indeed but that said, Ill rip them out of it as soon as I can and replace them with new ones from Ron Hock! What can I say Im a worker, not a collector!

So these were my finds, small treasures on a nice Sunday morning surrounded by vintage tools and friendly people. If you were there you know what Im talking about, if you missed it then maybe you can make the next one in April.
Cheers!

Welcome to the first installment of Humpday giveaway ... something fun for the middle of the week!  Im not sure how many there will be, but I will be posting in the middle of the week when I have something fun to share :)

Today I am giving away the stencil that we made for the trellis wall.


This stencil has been used, so there will be some paint on it ...

If interested enter on the widget below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

hmmmm .. busy time here in the designing and pricing and proposing department.  plus its spring, which always cuts into the free time i usually have available for blogging.  this post will be more or less a continuation of one from the end of last month, where again, i didnt take the time to write in depth about specific projects.  i think, maybe too, the writing is taking sort of a backseat to the enjoyment of living, for the moment at least.  getting out for five rounds of golf in april is pretty good for me. 
heres a quick april projects in the works lineup, and some hints of whats to come in may ... click the photos to enlarge them ..
a claro walnut coffee table from the offcut of a previous dining table ... we keep em, and sometimes we get lucky, and someone needs one exactly the right size ...
this ones heading to chicago this week.  industrial look welded steel base by sam.
speaking of sam, the metal shop is humming, and hes cranking it out.  these are parts for some large turnbuckles that will hold a building together, where the second floor floor was removed.  there are four of them total ..
 thats 1" solid round stock bent into those graceful hooks .. turnbuckles from peak supply ...
and he fabricated and installed some new custom railing projects ...
i think this one was installed a couple of weeks ago ...



and these unusual objects will support wooden poles which a local message artist will hold on to while she walks on your back ... sounds interesting, but i havent tried it yet ... a niche market for sure.
and next up we have the new design department.  thisll be a new kitchen, hopefully by this time next month ...
i finished the shop drawings using some uninterrupted time this weekend ... during the week, i often work from one interruption to the next, and drawings like these just dont flow for me unless i can concentrate.
and after a few sketches and cad iterations of this wall, we have a confirmed design for a long bedroom wall ... coming up in june sometime ...


another claro walnut coffee table ... waiting for its base that will hopefully happen this week.  the ant attack area is fascinating ..
and the pine sideboard is finished and gone, and now in its new home in stowe, vt ...
and this one, will whipped up week before last.  its finished now, and i hope we can deliver and set it up in the clients home early this week.  shaker influenced design, simple detailing,

and will is currently, along with a couple of new banjos, working on this slightly smaller version of a lutyens style desk he built back in 2009.  luckily, in a couple of blog posts, we documented the process as we figured out the first time so hes got a little leg up on this one.  also, four additional years of practice doesnt hurt either ...
the new onw was starting to take shape by last friday ... still a long way to go though .. lots of detail.
and trevor whipped up this little rustic coffee table last week.  it may not look so rustic in this photo, but now the base is distressed and pickled, the top has its breadboards, and the culry maple top will be distressed, stained and finished later this week.
and jim and sam made a couple of reclaimed oak tables in the bethlehem steel style .. burned, and lightly distressed reclaimed white oak from west virginia ...

and, actually one of the larger projects we wrapped up this month has been ongoing since last september.  it will start to take shape, hopefully, by early july ... we have one more approval to go, and sams new metal shop will start happening.  its been a long slog, with lots of challenging permit related details, but i think we have cleared almost the final hurdle. we have received the loan commitment, and the last detail, which i will not mention for fear of jinxing it, will be approved by the 15th of may ... and then, my free time will be gone.   life is uncertain, golf now.

So first, this is late and is actually Decembers Tool of the Month (sorry), and second, this is really two tools, but theres a connection so Im breaking my own rule (not sorry).

Heres the deal, I was frantically trying to get Claras play kitchen finished in time for Christmas (thats another post...) and worked myself into a bit of a corner (so to speak). I was ready to install the bottom, which was going to be screwed down to cleats on the sides, but I needed to drill pilot holes to keep the cleat from splitting. On one side that was not a problem, but on the other the cleat for the bottom of the oven was just a few inches above the bottom cleat, and there was not much room to work. My hand drill was out, and even my cobblers awl couldnt fit in there. Hmm.

I was just resigning myself to removing the upper cleat, which I really didnt want to mess with as it was glued in the middle (but not the ends to allow the sides to move) and I was not looking forward to dealing with that. Then, inspiration struck and less than two minutes later the holes were bored - sweet!

Heres the setup for tool #1:


The awl is a finish nail sharpened on a file and I think you can see what the handle is. It worked well with one hand applying pressure up near the awl, and the other working the handle back and forth. I love it when a problem can be solved by improvising with whats on hand!

So after solving that problem, I faced the second problem of driving screws in the same location. This one was solved by drawing on my deep reserve of tools. As youve probably noticed, I love old tools and will frequently acquire tools that I dont technically "need" but know will come in handy someday. This was one of those days.

The tool is a Mayhew 18" auger bit extension. Im not sure, but I think this may be the same Mayhew Tools that is still around today. They started back in 1856 in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. If I had to guess the age, I say this was from the early 20th century - somewhere around the 1920s. But thats only a guess, and of course, I could be wrong.

What I really like about this extension is the very simple locking mechanism it uses. Basically, there is an inner cylinder with a tapered socket for the augers square-tapered tang. Thats the inner square you can see in the image below. The outer cylinder has a larger square opening rotated 45 degrees to the inner square. This outer square opening is larger than the tapered tang of the bit, but will lock down across the shoulders of the tang due to its rotation. In use, the outer cylinder is raised by means of a threaded collar, the bit tang inserted through the outer square, rotated, then dropped into the inner socket. All that remains is to screw the outer cylinder down until the bit is locked in tight. Very simple, and much easier to do than explain.

Heres the extension with both squares visible - the Lee Valley brace hex driver adapter I use is on the bench in the background:



Heres a shot of the adapter locked in the extension with a square drive bit fitted in the adapter:



And finally, the point of using this extension - it allowed me to use a much shallower angle of approach on the screw by moving the brace further away from the cramped location:



Heres a closer shot which should make it pretty clear:

With the brace set to ratchet, I had no problem driving the screws home. I love it when a problem can be solved by having just the right tool when you need it!

This was a pretty cool evening in the shop - hitting two of the things I love about woodworking, improvising tools and techniques and getting to use a special old tool, all in the space of about five minutes! A good evening indeed.