I’ll be teaching a class on making this dovetailed box at the end of July. This is the simplest box & lid design I could come up with that could be taught in two days. The wood is some nice curly cherry. There’s a floating panel for the bottom. Finish is padded shellac on this one. Will hopefully have time to go over French polishing in the class.

Ebony Veneer Hammer by Addington Furniture

A veneer hammer is essential for hammer veneering, one of the oldest and most effective methods of applying veneer to a substrate. This veneer hammer is made of ebony and joined with a through wedged tenon. The handle is modeled after an antique French Scraper handle. The finish is French Polish. The brass tip has a very sharp radius perfect for applying large amounts of pressure where needed.

mdakota67-deactivated20170205 asked: How did you get that chisel for a quarter of the cost?

That was 4 years ago. I’m friends with the store owner, he gave me a good deal on it because the other chisel I was looking for was out of stock. 

Some dovetails from our Dovetails For Beginners class at Woodcraft

Some dovetails from our Dovetails For Beginners class at Woodcraft

samuel-kurzeja asked: Hi, I am new to wood working and are limited in tools and funds, so my question is how can I get the most bang for my buck when buying tools?

samuel-kurzeja,

The quick and easy answer is: buy old tools and fix them up. This used to be a difficult thing for a beginner, but Lost Art Press just released this new dvd on doing exactly that. It’s called The Naked Woodworker and I highly recommend it. It takes you through selecting the tools you need, fixing them up, and learning how to use them - step by step. I would watch that dvd and then read The Anarchist’s Tool Chest. After that you will have all the information you need. 

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Luke

Transferring the tails to the pins.

Transferring the tails to the pins. 

Here is a cherry jewelry box I just finished. The wood is nice air dried stuff from my Amish friends in Ohio. The joinery consists of dovetails for the carcass, dovetails & shiplaps for the tray, and bridle joints & grooves for the lid. I like to leave the scribe lines in my dovetails but understand that others don’t. The moldings are simple miters with a nice chamfer. The adhesive for this (and all of my other projects) is hide glue. I like Old Brown Glue from William Patrick Edwards in San Diego. The finish is three coats of Tried & True oil varnish. Each coat is applied then left to dry for a week under a fan. After the first coat is dried it is burnished with Liberon 0000 steel wool. Then each additional coat is burnished with a fine linen cloth after drying. I like to heat the oil to 140° before applying nice thin coats with a linen cloth.

All work is done by hand. All of the surfaces are left from the smooth plane.

Photos are by my good friends Joe & Stephanie.

If you’d like to see the rest of the photos they’re on my website under my Portfolio or check out the blog link at the top of the page.

jrchristian asked: re; testing sharpness, whatis your sharpening system/technique?

My system is pretty simple. I use Shapton glass backed stones. 1,000 grit, 4,000 grit, 8,000 grit, and finally 16,000 grit. Most tools have a primary bevel of 25° so I hone an additional micro-bevel of 5° on the water stones. I then lap the back of the blade (if it is a plane blade) on the 16,000 grit stone using David Charlesworth’s ruler trick. If it is a chisel blade I simply lap the back flat against the stone. If you are new to sharpening I would recommend a jig (this Veritas one is nice) that lets you hone a 30° bevel on the blades. If you have more experience you can eyeball the micro-bevel. So here is what that looks like:

  1. On the 1,000 grit stone hone the 5° micro-bevel for about 10-20 seconds (this means you are honing at a total angle of 30°). After 20 seconds feel the back of the blade. There should be a slight burr. If you don’t feel a burr continue honing for periods of ten seconds and then check for the burr.
  2. Move on to the 4,000 grit stone. Hone for about 20-30 seconds. This is continuing to sharpen and refine the edge. You should feel a slight burr on the back of the blade.
  3. Hone on the 8,000 grit stone for about 30 seconds. You’re not sharpening at this point. You are refining the edge and removing the scratch patterns from the 4,000 grit stone. You probably won’t be able to feel a burr after this stage.
  4. Finish honing the bevel on the 16,000 grit stone. This does the same thing as the 8,000 grit - refine and remove the scratch pattern. At this point you will have a highly polished mirror-like edge.
  5. If you are sharpening a plane blade now is the time to lap the back of the blade. Place a 0.1” thick strip of brass or steel along the edge of your 16,000 grit stone length wise. Place the back of the edge of your blade on the opposite edge of the stone and hone for about 10 seconds, keeping the edge of your blade within 1/4” of the edge of the stone. This is the Charlesworth “Ruler Trick”.
  6. If you were sharpening a chisel do not use the Ruler Trick. Simply place the back of the blade flat against the 16,000 grit stone and lap it for 10-20 seconds (until any burr is removed).

That’s it - I don’t strop with anything or use any kind of honing paste. I generally feel that a strop rounds over your edge so I don’t like to use them (but if you do go ahead and test it, see what you like).

This is all assuming you set your blade up properly the first time you sharpened it. That is much more detailed and wouldn’t really make sense in writing - you moreso have to see it. I would suggest checking out Rob Cosman’s dvds on sharpening.

Let me know if I can help you out with any other questions.

Luke

Testing the sharpness of my Hock high carbon plane blade.

Getting the joinery finished up on a pair of Nakashima style end tables. I’ll do a lot of shaping next in line with traditional Japanese proportions.