Shop built tools, part 2

There will probably be many parts to this series. I actually had a chance to work in the shop 2 days in a row. I cleaned up the hickory blank that will become mallet head some more on the band saw and have the 4 sides mostly smoothed with a hand plane. In the process of cleaning up the hickory blank I noticed that the hickory blank isn't think enough by itself. I am going to sandwich the hickory between some walnut.

The hickory blank is on the left and the walnut on the right is being planed flat.

Shop Built tools

Last night I started making a wooden mallet. I cut a blank from a piece of hickory to shape the head out of, and milled a plank of cherry from a piece of fire wood. I am going to make the handle from the cherry. I can't say these are hand made tools since I used the band saw, but I did get one side of the cherry board smoothed using my hand planes.

Small Project

With limited shop time and limited supplies on hand I am trying to come up with some ideas of things to make. One item I am going to try to make soon is a wooden mallet. I think I should be able to make one from the smaller pieces of wood that I have been able to harvest from the fire wood pile. After I make it then I could use it with my chisels instead of the rubber mallet I have used while playing with the chisels. Also it would be project where I could practice making mortises. I was thinking about using walnut for the head, cherry for the handle, and some maple to pin the head on the handle.

I would also like to make a marking gauge that could be used for layout.

Garden Fencing

I know this supposed to be a wood working blog, and this does kind of belong here. Gardening with a 3.5 year old can be difficult. They don't remember to watch where they are stepping, and have a tendency to step on plants. Last year we put down straw to make paths showing where it was safe to walk which helped some. Also I dug a hole in one corner and our daughter would play in it while we worked in the garden.

This year we decided when laying out the garden to give our daughter an area of her own. To start with this was marked out by some stakes and a purple rope. I mentioned to my wife that I should build a fence to define the child safe area and she liked that idea.

Saturday morning I built the 3 sections of fencing that can be seen above. I think it looks nicer than the rope and everyone seems happy, except I was told by my daughter it needs more sides and a gate. That will probably be next weekends project.

Shop Therapy

For me there is something therapeutic about spending time in the shop, even when I am not working on anything in particular I enjoy just being out there. It helps to melt away stress and calm me.

I mentioned in my last post that I had gotten some new tools. My new chisels needed sharpened and the new block plane needed tuned up and sharpened. This was a good chance to relax in the shop.

I used some 80 grit sand paper on a piece of flat steel to flatten the sole of the plane. Once all the milling marks from the factory were gone I worked my way up in grits. I used 80, 150, 220, and 400 to bring the sole of the plane to a almost mirror like shine. I would have went finner yet still, but 400 grit was the highest grit sandpaper I had on hand.

After I flattening the sole of the plane I cleaned up a few other milling marks on the plane body, then sharpened the blade. I need to get a new sharpening stone and a angle guide, but I did a decent job sharpening the plane iron free hand.

To sharpen chisels you first polish the back of the chisel, then polish the bevel. The chisels like the plane iron would benefit from a angle guide and a new stone, but they still cut nicely in some walnut scraps I had on hand.

This all took place in a couple of therapy sessions. I think I am due for another round of therapy.

New tools!

My birthday was last week, I am lucky enough to have family that cares and supports my hobbies so that means I got some new tools to play with. My wife and I keep a list going of things we would like to have so that when Christmas and birthdays come around and people ask for gift ideas we can share some things we would like. For years now my list has had different tools on it. Some I will get for gifts, others I will eventually buy. Since I am trying to advance my wood working beyond screwing together 2x4's I needed some different tools.

I ended up getting a block plane, chisels, pipe clamps, and a pack Bench cookies.

Rainy Day

Managed to get some shop time after work yesterday since it was raining I couldn't do yard work. One day last week I cut some blanks/boards from some more fire wood pieces. Yesterday I started working to flattening the surfaces. Right now I don't have a jointer or a planer so that means I have to use a bench plane to true up surfaces. The bench plane I have my wife got me a few years ago from an antique store. I have done a little work on it , but it needs tuned up.




Even in it's current condition it works for smoothing and flattening boards. Here is a piece of apple I was working on yesterday.



The side I am working on flattening here was concave, so most the work was one the ends.