Show-Off Gland

Ooo, I hate you lot. Think of the bragging rights, Alf. You know you want to, Alf. Talk about attacking someone's vulnerable spot - the Show-Off Gland. Of course your confidence in me is hopelessly mis-placed, but alas I'm only human and flattery will, unfortunately, get me in deep trouble. So I spent Sunday struggling to relearn all that I'd forgotten about using Sketch-Up with the help of Dave R's excellent tutorial. For the terminally curious, the skp file is here. For the rest of you, a couple of shots, first from the front:



... and then from the back, with the back removed. The saw's a close-ish approximation to a 28" rip btw.



It wasn't 'til I'd done the pics that I realised the top groove was too close to the top of the carcass, so that's been altered in the model. As you can see it's hardly gone into great detail, but at least I think the largest saw I have should be able to fit. It's all based very heavily on Tage Frid's design in Book 3 of TF Teaches Woodworking, so while the cleat provides a good fixing point at the bottom I'm still rather up in the air about what to do at the top. The internal fitting out's obviously not sorted properly either, but maybe it'll be easier once the thing's there in the flesh anyway? Just hope there might be room for a drawer or two at the bottom for files, sets etc. Anyway, as it stands, if anyone sees anything I should change, YELL!

There also seems to be some idea that I could do this without the aid of the tailed demon. Yeah, sure I could. Is doing this at all not masochistic enough for youse guys?! Sheesh, it's going to take me long enough as it is - instead I could be knocking something up in ply using biscuits in, oooo easily under a month. Okay, maybe two.

Mind you, after all this, it dawns on me I'm going to have one heck of a time finding room on the wall to hang the blessed thing, whichever way I make it...

Helping Hand

Getting cold feet on the tambour doors again. I keep telling myself the inital pain would pay dividends if I go all tamboured for the other cabinets, but it's oh-so tempting to give in and do something altogether more hand tool-friendly. I mean it's crazy to be making storage for hand tools and having to use the evil tailed router to do it, isn't it? Well it is, isn't it? Don't look at me like that...

Meanwhile the Canadian (or possibly just LV?) obsession with hands continues. Not content with making plane handles that are either too large or too small, now some of my photos have apparently been re-shot with someone's lovelier hands doing the work. This is the big time, boys - I have a stand-in! Terribly nicely put and it's hoped I don't mind etc etc. Naturally I don't mind. I simply laughed long and loud at the fact that apparently various employees have particularly photogenic apendages on the ends of their arms and "often act as hand models". I'm sorry, Mr Bloggs, you haven't got the job; the other guy had lovelier hands... Mind you if I have to see a therapist in about 20 years because I have psychological damage caused by an unhealthy preoccupation with my mitts then I know who's getting the bill.

Benchmark

I expect long-term readers were thinking the mention of the saw till was another one of those flashes in the pan. A ruse just to have something to blog about. Hah. And I say again - hah! For lo, it has come to pass that I hauled out the unlovely, ex-chapel Sunday School benches cunningly disguised as free pine with a view to using it. One side of every board well-polished after the passage of many methodist behinds over the years, natch.



The not-at-all-Kenyon-like saw I rehandled and sharpened following Mike's advice did a bootiful hot-knife-through-butter impression, cutting away all the dross and the couple of places where nails still lingered. Then it was just a case of considerable travelling to and fro through across the planer and through the thicknesser (or over the jointer and through the planer if you're reading this in North America) to make it look a lot more welcoming as a usable material.



As long as you don't look too closely...



I'll let it sit for a bit to see if it really as stable as it ought to be after numerous years - and to make sure all the evil beasties have long gone - but it's a start. Only downside was the tape measure dying a horrible death. Not sure what make of tape the fashionable woodworker favours these days?



Oh and I've heard the Bad News about the shipping charges. Ouch...

Dear Customer

So a new year and the potentially fatal email...

Dear Customer, thank you for shopping at Lee Valley Tools...

Yes, after all this time I'm almost a customer at last. Not quite - still waiting for the follow up email with the Bad News about the shipping cost - but almost. Is this a good way to start a new year I wonder? Shouldn't one be giving up things that are bad for you rather than taking up a fresh addiction? Oh well, I've done my best to stick with largely useful, and thus boring, items like files and O1 blades in the hopes I won't get too excitable about it all. Hmm, heavy items too, it dawns on me. D'oh.

In other news I've been toying with thoughts of the saw till again. Remember that? Wadda you mean "no"? Yes all right, so it dropped off the radar a bit what with one thing and another, however I'm considering it with new enthusiasm. Sort of. Funny thing though; as soon as I did my back gave a squeak again. Are my vertebrae conspiring against me? Literally ganging up behind my back? Maybe I should only befriend straight backed saws and shun the skewed variety, as a sort of hint...

And our picture for today? Found a fascinating thing via Google Books; "The Book of English Trades, and Library of the Useful Arts" (1818). This character is The Carpenter, of which image it informs us (with an interesting extra sprinkling of punctuation):

"The Carpenter, in the plate, is represented in the act of planing the edge of a board that is held to the side of the bench, by means of a screw, which is always attached to it. On his bench, are a hammer, pincers, mallet, and two chisels; a box, also, containing the Turkey stone, with which he sharpens his tools: the shavings taken off from his plane, are scattered on his bench and on the ground. At the right-hand-corner, stands some coarse boards, and his bag, in which he carries his tools: on the other side is the saw, upon the four-legged stool, which he uses for various purposes. Behind him is a new door, some other boards, a saw hanging against the wall, and a basket, in which he puts his smaller tools."

Artists do have terrible trouble drawing saw handles, don't they?