You know you are filthy when...

... you stand in the shower for 5 minutes and the water does not even get through to your scalp! Seriously - I had to wash my hair 3 times before I could even feel my scalp. I think I had 4 lbs of plaster in there.



A stripped clean room... now to take out what is left of the strip flooring... but that will have to wait for another day. All in all, it was about 5 hours of some pretty hard and filthy work.

It was kinda neat to see the back of the mudroom cabinets again (the clean section at the end of the room). I even took a moment to read some of the notes I had scribbled on the backs as I was building them.


Most of mount Lathmore!

And my deepest thanks to my friend Steve for helping with this - I owe you man!



And for Aled... here is a plane I finished this morning... before starting work in the room:)

Here’s hoping we don’t find squirrels again!!

The madness has officially begun... we are renovating again. We love everything about this house... except the living room. At one point, it was two 12' x 12' rooms - as evident from the poor patch job on the walls and ceiling. Now we have a bowling alley, with a horrible & inefficient fireplace in the corner. The white oak strip floor cannot be sanded down any further - basically everything has to go.

Jill and I took off the trim this past weekend. It came off well... but removing the nails was another matter. I am hopeful we can still use some of it.



I have to admit, I took great delight in the thought of removing this fireplace. We have only had a few fires in it (we were advised it is not “safe”) and regardless of how much hard maple we piled into it - it did not give off any heat.



It was a somewhat slow and meticulous deconstruction process... I don’t like to rush things I don’t fully understand (like how a fireplace is built and if it is integrated into the chimney). It was a pretty amazing experience though - and there were several points where I felt a little bad about undoing someones work. That is until Riley noticed this charred flare on the wall...





... the big black spot on the right. There are several big cracks in the plaster, and 3/8" away... dry as a bone lathing. Now I am really glad we took this out!



Roy Orbison - aka Riley, was my big helper with the fireplace - he was a real trooper and I could not help but think back to when I was his age and just starting to help my Dad with this sort of thing. It was a pretty cool moment to see it come full circle. Anyway - the fireplace now sits outside on a tarp waiting to be taken away.



Monday is tentatively set up for tearing out the plaster and lathing ceiling and walls - and if time permits - the floor too. Then we will have a nice clean shell to work with.

Oh, and in case anyone is worried - I am still “working”... I finished this Rosewood A1 panel before Riley and I finished the fireplace.

A not-so ugly duckling

I am just finishing off four XSNo.4’s and was struck by the comical nature of them lined up on the “work in progress” table - the blonde really did look quite out of place surrounded by the brunettes. Two of these are Ebony infilled, one Blackwood and the blonde is English Boxwood.



I saved the boxwood XS for last - and worked on the balcony for the first time this year. What a treat! As I was enjoying the vitamin D (and working on altering my mayonnaise complexion) - I was reminded how much I like my Auriou rasps. I have several left handed rasps and they are in constant use. Mike Hancock called me a few months ago to let me know that Auriou was back in business - news I was delighted to hear. I have had the pleasure of meeting Michel Auriou several times over the years. Not only is he a phenomenal toolmaker and extremely knowledgeable in all things steel - he is a wonderful person. It would have been a serious blow to the woodworking community if Auriou had disappeared forever. I am so pleased to hear they have returned.



One of the toughest things about working with boxwood is the fact that any gaps between the infill and the shell will stick out like a sore thumb. I have to admit, I was a little relived (and quite pleased) when I was lapping this plane and was able to confirm the fit was good.



The SNo.4 is coming along very nicely - here are two pics to show the size compared to the XSNo.4 and the No.4. It appears to have scaled very well and I can’t wait to give this plane a try.

The thing about kids...

... is that they have this amazing ability to make you smile when you least expect it. And usually - when you need it most.

An introduction to roughing infill parts

Finding appropriate wood for infilling planes is the single biggest challenge to a planemaker. Sure the price of metal is constantly moving... but they aren’t making high quality wood anymore! At least not the stuff that I need to use.

A few years ago, I picked up this rather odd-shaped piece of African Blackwood. I knew right away it was old - from the tool marks used to cut it (an axe not a chainsaw), the color (purple black, not brown black) and how it sounded when I tapped it with a metal object (a hollow ring as opposed to a dead thud). I have been storing it for a few years now, and the need for a few more A5 and XSNo.4 sets prompted me to cut into it.



The first step is to create a few flat reference surfaces - a real challenge with such a heavy and awkward piece of wood (African blackwood has a similar weight to volume ratio as mild steel). I use a sled with my bandsaw and slowly start to establish a flat surface.



This small log had quite a bend it in - so rather than square it up and waste all that material - it made more sense to cut it at the bend. This would also give me a chance to see what was going on inside - there were several dips and pockets on the outside and I needed to know if they affected the interior. The photo above show the chalkline to mark the crosscut.

Time for a deep breath...


Phew... not too bad.



And a close up to the grain. This is pretty typical. Some of the exterior voids and pockets go absolutely no where... some lead to disasters.



I always start milling the worst piece and work my way to the best piece. Here is the short end squared up a bit more - a pretty ugly looking thing at this stage.

Another deep breath... time to split it.



And a bit of a disaster. Some pretty serious inclusions to work around. Thankfully I cut everything oversized so I should be able to get a few parts from these two pieces.



On a positive note... the moisture meter confirms what I suspected... this is very old, dry stock.



Several hours later - I was done milling the short end. Three XSNo.4 rear infills, two XSNo.4 front buns (I had a spare from the last time I milled, so I have 3 complete sets), and 5 front buns for either A5’s or A6’s.

I apply a quick coat of shellac on the endgrain, date each piece, and put them on the shelf until they are needed.