WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE

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THE DOW C HEMICAL COMPANY WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE Volume 25 Issue 3 March 2012 February Meeting Highlights WOODWORKERS GUILD OFFICERS FOR 2012 President: Peter Leavens VP: George Hoffman

1 THE DOW C HEMICAL COMPANY WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE Volume 25 Issue 3 March 2012 February Meeting Highlights WOODWORKERS GUILD OFFICERS FOR 2012 President: Peter Leavens VP: George Hoffman Treasurer: Jeremy Noblitt Newsletter Editor: Tim Sabo Librarian: Tony Knisley Raffle Manager: Tony Knisley Webmaster: Richard Dell Program Committee: Jim Stevens Charles Given Pell Sherman Jim Kirkbride Sharpening chisel and plane blades correctly is one of those things where everybody develops their own technique and style. The objective is fairly simple and should lend itself to some individualism. However, the commercialized side of woodworking would like for us to believe success comes to those using specific tools and jigs. There is a whole industry dedicated to supplying us the latest and best tools for removing excess metal. Most of these commercial tools are well intended and help us get results quickly. Some of the more popular gadgets on the market are; slow speed grinders, water stones, hard and soft Arkansas stones, plates with diamond grit, and honing guides. There are also; strops and polishing compounds, grit laden slurries used on plate glass, and sandpaper. They all work well and achieve a good cutting edge. Choosing a preferential technique and tool over all the others is a matter of comfort. Last meeting Peter Leavens, Jeremy Noblitt, David Webber, Jim Kirkbride and Rich Libera demonstrated 5 different sharpening and honing techniques. Peter brought with him a Grizzly Viking Whetstone Grinder. It has a 125 mm (5 ) dry, white, aluminum oxide stone which spins at 2800 rpm and a 250 mm (10 ) vertical 400 grit wet stone. The tool rests are easily adjusted to fit most blades. It s a great tool for quickly transforming an extremely dull blade to one with a quality edge. The wet stone removes any roughness produced by the smaller wheel. All that s left to do is a little honing which Peter prefers to do using Arkansas stones. He aims for a micro-bevel on his chisels at 15 degrees. Jeremy also started with the grinder on the chisel he brought with him. This tool was very dull and its tip may have even been nicked. The grinder quickly straightened out the edge and allowed him to proceed with a demonstration on honing using wet/dry paper spread out on a granite block. With the paper it s best to use a lubricant. Water works well and gives the paper extra longevity. Jeremy also brought in a set of sanding films. These are washable, reusable abrasive covered polymer films that come in very small grit sizes. Woodturners use them to produce that high glossy finish on pens. Jeremy used them to put a mirror finish on the edge of his chisel. David also brought with him a few stones which he uses to sharpen blade edges and a honing guide to set the angle and hold the blade steady. He hones the final edge with a strop and yellow stone. He noted how stones become dished with use. To recondition these stones he uses loose silicon carbide grit spread out onto glass. These grits are sold by the pound and come in a wide range of sizes. They are available through Amazon.Com. Rich showed another variation where an abrasive is spread over a flat surface. Rich has found that spreading emery clothe over a glass plate produces a quality finish. Emery clothes are available in different grit sizes. Rich also brought with him the Veritas Mark II honing guide. The presets on this guide tool allow for quick setups and repeatable angles to be put on your edges along with a consistent micro-bevel. Rich grinds his plane blades at 38 degrees for rough work and 25 degrees for finished cuts. Jim brought a box full of stones and tools. Some were very old, but still usable. He discussed in detail the old leather belt he uses as a strop. Together with compound the strop produces a finished edge of the highest quality. Photos on pages 2 & 3

2 Page 2 WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE Peter Leavens David Webber Jeremy Noblitt

3 Page 3 Richard Libera Jim Kirkbride Show & Tell Ron Hasse

Page 4 2012 Meeting Schedule Guild meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month. All interested persons are invited.

4 Page Meeting Schedule Guild meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month. All interested persons are invited. Our upcoming meeting is: March 21st Mike Osborne will demonstrate rail and stile joinery for paneled doors 7:00 PM Woodcraft 166 South DuPont Highway New Castle, DE WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE Saturday April 14th Richard Libera will host an open house in his shop. Address: 5 Apple Road Newark Richard will have more information at the next meeting. For future consideration The officers would like to know if a field trip to the Wharton Esherick Museum would of interest in the spring. This would be a weekday trip, not intended to replace the monthly meeting currently scheduled. 1 Wharton Esherick ( ) was a sculptor who also made furniture. He worked primarily in wood. Born and raised in Philadelphia he eventually moved to Paoli and built his home and studio. His work spanned the Arts & Crafts style through Modernism. His studio is listed on the National Historical Registry. More information can be found at: Reservations are needed to visit and we will schedule in May if an interest is shown. Directions: Paoli, PA straight up 202 till you get to Valley Forge Park Special Notice A retired gentleman living in the Prices Corner area is house bound and requesting visitation from people interested in woodworking. He was a carpenter by trade and is described as a champion decoy carver by his family. If you would like a chance to sit with him and discuss projects you re working on or decoy carving he would love to have you stop by. If interested please contact Peter Leavens at (pbl@udel.edu, ) for details. Raffle Winner Treasurer s Report 02/01/2012 Ron Hasse won the raffle prize (Wood River 4 piece Butt Chisel set) Peter Leavens won $3 in the 50/50 Raffle Income $ /50 Income $ 3.00 Current balance $ Dues are now being collected see Jeremy for payment Yearly dues are $ 35.00

5 Volume 25 Issue 3 Page 5 Classifieds The classified section is open to any paid member. Have your classified information into Tim Sabo by the first of the month to be included in that month s newsletter. your information to: Jim Stevens has the following for sale: call (302) Rockler Clamp Storage Rack Asking $75.00 Jerry Sheeran has a mortising attachment Delta Model # with bits barely used. $50. Jerry at Pjsheer@aol.com or call (610) Tim Sabo has the following for sale: Delta Unisaw 1950 s vintage with new 3 hp motor, 220v (single phase), extra long Jetlock fence. NO motor cover. Very good condition. Ready to use, runs smooth. Asking $ Phone: (302) or Tsabo@dow.com Woodcarvers of Delaware club The Woodcarvers of Delaware club meets every Monday night (6:30-8:30), while school is in session. We meet at McKean High School in the old woodworking room. The meetings are informal. People bring and work on their projects at the meetings. Experienced woodcarvers are available to help you master the art of woodcarving. If you would like to add a new dimension to your wood working skills, come and check this club out. For additional information contact Roger Earley (president) at Dave & Anne's Sawmill Dave Peregmon Custom Sawing, Hardwood lumber for sale Hardwood Lumber for sale 33 Chestnut Street, Pennsville, NJ Phone: (856) (cell) or (215) (home)

6 Page 6 WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE New to the Newsletter Beginning this month our newsletter, Woodwords On The Brandywine, will introduce a new feature section called Around the Guild. It was created to show some of the projects we do in our home shops that don t get brought in for Show & Tell. Sometimes this work is too large to transport or it s a permanent piece of architecture. The intent is to have a staff member come to your shop, take pictures and discuss the project in detail, or you can write your own article. It s an opportunity to expand our ability to share and be proud of each other s work. If you would like a project featured in this section please contact one of the guild officers. Around the Guild Tim Sabo s shop It s become kind of obvious that the number of Show & Tell pieces seen each month has been on a decline the last few years. While talking with many of our members I realized there is still a fair amount of time we spend in our shops and are still producing quality pieces worth showing off. But, for any number of reasons these pieces aren t brought to the meetings. I m as guilty as the rest. So that s why I chose to write about my current project and describe its inspiration, challenges, modifications made along the way, and what it s going take to finish it. I m in the process of making a five tier Walnut chest of draws, photos of page 7. The idea comes from a piece Kinloch advertises in their brochure (and web site) they call Walnut Line and Berry Chest. I liked the functionality of the piece and loved the arch top drawers on the top tier. I elected not to follow the Line & Berry theme and changed the base from the country style to a more formal ogee bracket foot. I stayed with the Chippendale style pulls, but eliminated the drawer locks on the lower two drawers. The photos in the brochure only show the front and side so I m on my own for the back. Here I m planning to use vertical ship lapped yellow cherry boards for contrast. Yellow cherry is my own description for the color of heart wood from an ornamental cherry tree. It doesn t darken with age or sun light like black cherry does. I ll be finishing it with shellac and oil. The darker drawers pictured have been sanded and sealed with shellac. All of the primary wood comes from trees I milled three years ago. It was air dried for a year then stored in my basement next to two dehumidifiers for another year before it was racked. As I was selecting boards for the frame it occurred to me I could include the narrow leftover strips that have some sapwood into the parts of the frame not seen. Basically the entire frame and case are Walnut except for the bottom base plate which is a piece of 5/8 plywood. I reserved the figured wood for the panels and drawer fronts. The top two tiers of drawer fronts are cut from single boards and the grain pattern flows from right to left. The overall dimensions are 55 height x 40 width x 20 depth. The drawer sizes were scaled from the pictures I saw. The bottom drawer is 11 high and it was a challenge finding a wide enough board, without defects, in my stack. The coves on the ogee bracket feet were cut on the tablesaw. I setup a jig so that I ran the wood across the blade at an angle. After the final pass I rounded over the high spots with a handplane. The final pattern was cut on a bandsaw and the edges sanded with a set of small sanding drums mounted in my drill press. The inside corners are supported with a block of secondary wood. The feet are screwed and glued to the bottom of the case, I bought the Poplar used in the drawers from Groff & Groff. The bottoms and sides are 5/8 boards. I used my Leigh jig to cut the dovetails at the back of the drawers. The half blind dovetails in the front were created with an Incra jig. The drawer fronts have a 1/4 radius round over on the front sides and a 1/4 rabbet cut on the back inside edge. When the drawers are closed they sit proud and overlap the frame 1/4. The bottom back edge has a notch cut in it to ride a rail which keeps each drawer aligned. The two back corners of each drawer have a Teflon button attached. There are two matching buttons on the frame for the drawers to ride on. I first saw this technique used in an issue of Woodsmith and have used it with success many times. The Teflon buttons are made from bar stock on the lathe and take about 5 minutes each. I m planning to install two hidden compartments above the outer top drawers before I screw down the top. There s plenty of space and I m pretty sure the Kinloch design has a similar feature. Knowing Doug Mooberry he incorporates as much fine detail in his pieces as possible and often adds hidden compartments in many of his pieces. Sometimes they re hidden behind moldings and other times they re behind drawers. To access this space the top drawers must be removed. I started this project last summer and am looking forward to finishing it. It s been a lot of fun doing it and already have my next project planned. I have a number of large Mimosa boards in the shop and will probably attempt a Kenov style cabinet. Comments are welcome. See you at the next meeting.

7 Volume 25 1, Issue 31 Page 7

Woodworkers Guild of Delaware 38 Jay Drive New Castle, DE. 19720 WE RE ON THE WEB www.delawarewoodworkers.

8 Woodworkers Guild of Delaware 38 Jay Drive New Castle, DE WE RE ON THE WEB Open to all woodworkers novice to experts Woodworkers Guild of Delaware Benefactors of the Guild Please keep these friends in mind when you make purchases: Woodcraft Lee Valley Veritas

WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE

ROHM A ND H AAS C OMPANY WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE Volume 24 Issue 12 December 2011 WOODWORKERS GUILD OFFICERS FOR 2010-11 President: Peter Leavens VP: George Hoffman Treasurer: Jeremy Noblitt Newsletter