Having been long inspired by the Greene & Greene wall sconces I decided to embark on making my own as a cover to the doorbell hardware. I’m NOT a stained glass artist and as I looked at what went into making a piece I realized I didn’t have the time to learn (on this project, but I’ll definitely do so in the future).

The Wood: The wooden parts of the sconce are your basic Greene & Greene woodworking. It’s all just frame and pannel constructions with groves, mortices & tenons. The lighter wood is my standard Cherry with liberal used of ebony plugs (I had to batch out 18 ebony plugs for this project. This video by William Ng is invaluable is speeding up this process!!!). The top I carved out of a solid block of Cherry utilizing a router, rasps & carving chisels.

The Glass: In our last house the former owner has done some wonderful stained glass looking artwork on a number of our windows utilizing a product called Gallery Glass. Would this product fool someone that knows stained glass? Not even close. But it really does come out nice looking, and unless someone looks really closely it’s very hard to spot that it’s not the real thing. So I picked up some stained glass for my base piece and used the Gallery Glass as color gels on top of it.

As for lighting… since I’m using this as a doorbell hardware cover I didn’t have room for any kind of traditional bulb. So instead I used LED Flexible Light Strip and a 30 Watt 12v LED Power Supply Driver. I cut a hole in the wall behind the doorbell hardware and stashed the transformer inside the wall and ran a 110v line to it from a nearby outlet. After that it was just a matter of peel and stick the LEDs to the doorbell hardware and cutting to length.

Right now I have a photo sensor controlling the light, unfortunately the entranceway doesn’t get quite enough sun many days so the light is almost always on. So I’m going to swap it out with an analog timer control.

Modern western plane makers have two approaches to this problem. Lei-Nielsen sells replacement frogs for it’s planes that come in 50° and 55°.  The other approach is to just flip the blade over, make the plane bed a low angle, and work with the bevel up (such as the Veritas Planes).

I wasn’t quite ready to drop a couple hundred $ on a new plane so I went with a third option. Hock Tools sells very nice and very thick blades for Krenov Style plane making. A few years ago  I bought one of these blades with the plan of eventually making a small infill plane. Allas, the blade had just been gathering dust on a shelf next to the stack of steel and brass.

I have also developed an interest in Japanese style planes and had been having the thought of making this in the back of my head for a while.

The final straw was seeing this post by Wilbur Pan; I decided to make a high-angle pull plane with my Hock blade (Minus the metal mouth insert from Wilbur’s post).

True Japanese planes have a tapered blade that wedges itself into the body (Dai) due to a matching taper cut into it. (if you want to see the process that goes into cutting a Dai this page over on daikudojo.org has a nice photogallery).

The hybrid plane I made may look somewhat like a Japanese plane,  but it’s construction technique is based on Krenov Style plane making. The blade is bedded at 55°.

Matt over at mattsbasementworkshop.com has a great 2 part video series on making a Krenov plane from the kit available at Hock tools (part 1, part 2). Kari over at The village carpenter also has an article about Krenov planes. Finally David Finick wrote an article in Fine Woodworking issue #196.

I made my high angle smoother out of quarter-sawn Wenge because I  had it around, it’s DENSE, and I thought it would look cool

A quick tip: Pen Blanks
Anyone that’s done anything with any Greene & Greene style elements like ebony accents knows that ebony is body expensive.  But ebony pen blanks are relatively inexpensive.

Unless you are doing really small plugs, ripping it with even a thin kirf blade on the table saw will only get you 1-2 sticks out of each blank.

A band saw kirf is smaller at about .6 -.7mm. you may get one 2 larger medium sticks and 2 smaller ones.

…But if you use a Dozuki you only have a .2-.3 mm kirf. and can get 4 nice sticks out of each pen blank if you are careful.

Most japanese woodworkers, from what I can tell, just put a big hunk of wood on the floor and sit cross legged. Most westerners   (including me) don’t like sitting on the floor much though.

But when Japanese do work standing up, I found a number of different sawhorse styles. During my research I found a old plan by Jay van Arsdale published in American Woodworker Jan-Feb 1990. These sawhorse seems to fit my desires almost perfectly and they are all built using japanese compression joints, wedges and no glue. They are a fun fast(ish) joinery project that gives you something useful to work off of for future projects.

I’ve only made a couple deviations from Jay’s plans, so refer to American Woodworker for all the dimensions.

This is part 2 of my posts for:

(part 1: tools selection can be found here)

Make sure to head over to Tom’s Workbench for more posts on getting started in woodworking by the blogging community.

1. Wood Selection

For this project  you should be able to get away with 2x 8′ long Douglas Fir 4×4′s and 2x 8′ long Southern Yellow Pine 2×6′s. I got out of the local big box hardware store for under $50. Stay away from any pressure treated wood and any wood labeled ”white wood” or “white pine”. Species of wood to look for: Southern Yellow Pine, Douglas Fir, Port Orford Cedar, White Cedar, Alder, or Poplar. What you find will very greatly depending on where you live just make sure it is kiln dried, and heavy.

Take your time at the store and buy the straitest and knot free boards you can find. Avoid any boards the came from the center of the tree and ideally get the ones that have the grain running diagonally.

2: Breaking it all down: A few Sawing Tips

Use your tape mesure and square to mark all of your cuts.

For every saw cut start your cut at the far side of the board, away from you. Saw very lightly and bring the saw cut all the way across the board back toward your body. When you hit the edge near you, start working down the face of the board keeping as much of the saw in the cut as you can until you have cut half way through the board at an angle. Then go to the other side of the board and repeat. Once you have complete cuts made on 3 sides of the board you can then just cut strait down. This is the most fool proof way to cut precisely. It means you are always only cutting lines you can see.

3. Layout all your joinery marks and cut the slopes on the feet

Sometimes a few clamps help.

A plane does wonders for cleaning up the faces.

4. Drill out as much as you can then use your chisels to square it up

5. Then do the same thing for the legs.

Eventually you have all your parts and are ready to assemble.

Bonus Points:

This is where I deviated from Jay’s plans a bit. If you cut a slope on the top tenon of the legs and make a matching slope on the mortice on the top of the horse then when you drive the wedge in place it draws the leg and top together even tighter. (it’s hard to photograph the mortice but i’ve undercut it with a matching slope).

6. Drill the holes in the feet, THEN insert the legs. Push the drill bit in and it will mark where the hole would line up. Then offset the hole on the tenon by about 1/8 of an inch. By doing this when you drive the peg in it will draw the joint together.

7. Make all the wedges out of the hardest wood you have around. I used some scrap Ash but the Southern Yellow Pine would work ok as well.

Right now I just have a SYP 2×6 on top as a work surface, and it works ok. Ideally you want to find the thickest widest board you can and put it on top. I’m considering 2 options: Getting 3 more 4×4′s or getting a 10″ wide 12 quarter piece of Ash. Either way it will be about a 6′ to 8′ long by ~10″ wide beam about 3″ thick. I’ll try and get something next week and make a post about adding a planing stop.

As I dove into this new hobby a couple years ago I stumbled across a plastic handled Marples pull saw while perusing the aisles of my local Big Box hardware store. I’m not sure what possessed me to grab that saw instead of a more traditional western saw. I had no idea about the origen of a pull saw concept, so I can’t blame my decision on my martial arts background or my love of Asian aesthetics… There was just something about that saw that seemed to make sense to me.

It certainly wasn’t the greatest saw in the world, but more and more I found myself gravitating toward that saw over my circular power saw during every construction project.

As I’ve slid down this slope into a full woodworking obsession, finding English language info on Japanese tools has been a struggle. I scour the Internet and bookstores constantly looking for more information. Along the way one of my favorite resources has been Wilber Pan’s blog at http://giantcypress.net/.

So “Get Woodworking Week” is upon us and I feel the need to somehow contribute the the scant body of English language information on Japanese woodworking.

Let me start out with tool selection. Later this week we’ll dive into making a work surface.

Saw’s: Why a pull saw over a push saw?

Anyone that takes a look at Japanese joinery will instantly be stuck by the complexity and precision of each joint. The secret to this joinery (other can skill and time)? A tool  designed for precision joinery. By pulling the saw to cut the wood, vs pushing it, it allows the saw to be MUCH thinner and this allows the woodworker to be much more precise no matter what kind of joinery they are cutting.

The saw I started with is this one: Irwin Double Edge Pull Saw and it or this one: Shark Corp 10-2440 Fine Cut Saw can be found at most big box hardware stores. If your only option is a local store you can pick one of these up and get to work.

A step up I would recommend is that some Ace hardware stores in the western US sell saws by Kakuri. I picked up a 240mm Ryoba (double sided) saw and a 270mm cross cut blade a year ago and the 270mm is still my goto rough stock breakdown saw.

If you are willing to shop online, your saw options open up dramatically. My recommendation is to grab a Gyokucho Brand Ryoba in a 240mm length. This has been my goto saw for just about everything for years. http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=19%2E611%2E0&dept_id=13088 you can find them for under $40 many places online.

If for some reason you want to spend more… the saw I’m currently lusting after is a Noko-giri Kobo Ryoba. Jay van Arsdale introduced me to that saw last year at Woodworking in American and it is a smooth cutter. They ware a bit harder to find and run around $75. http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=316_318_504

Chisels:

If you are sticking to hardware store options I would get a set of 4 or 6 Stanley FatMax’s (ok) Irwin Blue Chip’s (better).

If you want to start a collection of Japanese chisels go grab a couple of the Japan Woodworker house brand, 1/4″ and 1″ sizes. $43 for the pair.

http://japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=15%2E401%2E06&dept_id=12769

http://japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=15%2E401%2E24&dept_id=12769

Planes:

This is an area where I know very little about Japanese tools. I still use western planes just because I managed to ammas a collection of nice old Baily’s from flea markets. If you are willing to take the time to learn about what is good vs what is crap you can find a some amazing deals at flea markets and yard sales.

Unfortunetly stay away from any of the offerings at the hardware store, they just aren’t quality precision tools.

If you are buying new, a decent low angle western plane block plane is the Woodriver from Woodcraft, $90 or if you can afford it the Lee Valley is really nice, $140.

If you want to go down the Japanese plane route: this is a good place to start 48mm 47-1/2º Hiroetsu Polishing Plane, $83

A few other tools you’ll need to start:

A hammer or wooden mallet, a tape measure, a drill, and an accurate 12” adjustable square (I find the PEC squares are a great quality and value). A couple of large clamps come in handy at times as well.

Later this week we’ll dive into our first project, a set of Japanese joinery sawhorses. They are a great first project and give you a work surface that will hold up the the abuse of years of hand tool woodworking.

Thanks to Wilbur Pan for a couple of the tool recommendations. If you have any questions about Japanese tools another great resource is Stu over at http://www.toolsfromjapan.com. He knows more about value and tool quality than anyone I know and is always happy to answer questions.

PS: sorry for some of the photo quality. My DSLR is down for repair, and I was shooting with my iPhone in a hurry.

Part two: Getting started in woodworking: Building a Japanese Workbench

So as Ron Hock so eloquently put it in his latest newsletter:

“Here’s the story: It all began with visionary and passionate woodworking bloggers who – ahem –  were drinking together  one evening in Covington, Kentucky, during Woodworking in America 2011.

Imagine the bar, please. Imagine the bloggers, beers in hand and orders up. Together they fret and cry aloud.

     “We are concerned that the appreciation of finely-crafted furniture will be lost in this disposable world we so love to hate! If we do not cultivate a new group or even a whole new generation of woodworkers, who will we bequeath our tools to once we’ve planed that last plank!”

So we came up with a small way we could help “get folks off the sideline and into woodworking as a hobby.” Since I was one of those bloggers — drunkards — I figured I better contribute something.

Tom Iovino, from the blog Tom’s Workbench, is coordinating our efforts. Many of us will be posting articles all week regarding first tool selections and good starter projects. This is a great opportunity for anyone to jump in and get there hands covered in sawdust. So please participate and post your results!

You can find out more over at  Tom’s Workbench. I personally plan on doing 1-2 articles on getting started with Asian style tools and setting up a basic shop. So tune in next week for those. Ok I’m out to the shop to make those projects.

This summer has been occupied by 3 major projects: a 55′x50′ garden, a flock of ducks, and a couple alpacas.

The garden is pretty self explanatory: till, plant, weed, weed, pick, can, pick, can, can, can…..

The flock of ducks involved a large, insulated, and frankly over-engendered coop.(at least I have a place to sleep if I ever get locked out of the house)

The alpacas involved fencing all our property and making a simple shelter.

I’ll be honest, most of my construction projects are pretty much by the seat of my pants.  On a whim for this one I decided I would attempt to plan a bit better and see if I could limit my trips to the store.

My criteria for this project were pretty simple:

1. Simple structure
2. Moveable to a different pasture once we build horse stalls in the front paster next summer
3. Have to be able to build it in less than a week.
4. 80+ square feet x 6-8ft tall

These criteria lead to the following structure parameters:

1. Skid foundation
2. Sloping corrugated flat roof
3. Sheet goods siding

With those parameters I dove into Google SketchUp. I started out with a simple 3 sided structure on skids. After some tinkering it evolved into this (download the SketchUp File):

This took me about an hour to design and model. Nothing fancy, but it allows me to make a very accurate shopping list.

Lumber:
pressure treated 2x6x8 – 2x
pressure treated 6x6x12 skid – 2x
2x6x12 roof – 10x
2x4x12 – 5x
2x4x8 – 35x
siding 4′x8′ pieces – 8x

Fasteners:
Galvanized nails
Construction screws
Deck screws for siding
6″ long galvanized bolts, nuts, washers – 4x

Roof material to cover – 11.5′ x 12′
Roofing fasteners.

4′ solid cinder blocks – 4x
Total cost for the shed: ~$550

Construction of this shed is pretty strait forward. I chopped a couple of lap joints into the 6×6 skids to house the 2×6’s. This allows 2×6’s to lock in and make the entire base self squaring (provided I did my layout and sawing square).

After day one I have the base and 3 walls built and in place.

Day two the roof and front small wall is in place

Day three I spent about 6 hours ripping 2×4’s in half and trimming out the shed.

Need to paint the trim when I paint the fence next week, and we are good to go.

So with the help of the ShetchUp workflow it took me just about an hour to design this shed…. and it saved me AT LEAST one trip to the store. That means that it was a time saver, and a money saver, in gas at the very least.

And here is our new fury friends.

Well, about the only thing I have a chance at is, edge jointing a board and ripping. So I embarked on an adventure to figure out this western sawing thing.

First things first… it looks like western woodworkers use something called a saw bench. Who better to teach me, than the master off all things western knuckle dragging “the Schwarz“? Utilizing this article and online access to this video i knocked it together in a few hours off and on.

I dont really have the western saws to build it like the master… so much to Wilber Pan’s chagrin I built it using my Japanese saws.

“The way I look at it, it’s doubly ironic since a western saw bench will be of little use with a Japanese saw.

On the other hand, Nik does not need to apologize for using the best kind of saw there is.” – Wilbur Pan

Even with all that, it went together great; and as usual Christopher Schwarz‘s classes and articles are amazing: educational and entertaining.

Now I just need to figure out how to use this thing.

Hmm…. that doesn’t seem to work very well. Maybe Wilbur was right?

That seems to work better, but I really  have no clue what I’m doing! Sorry guys! Our WIA team in screwed! But at least I’ve used a saw bench and a western saw once, and that nice Disston D-8 Rip saw I have isn’t just hanging on the wall.

Anyway… Supper excited about WIA later this week. Can’t wait to hang out with the online woodworking community and enjoy some great classes! Hope to see you there!

A small group of ruffians spent much of last years Woodworking in America conference hanging out together. So much so, that George Walker called us out as the “American Chopper crew”; for whatever reason, I guess we look disreputable to the design master.

Well we’ve decided to start this years conference with a bang. It started out billed as a blogger gathering, but really it’s just an online community gathering and all are welcome! (Thank goodness or I wouldn’t have been allowed)

Date and Time: Thursday, September 29, 7:00 p.m. until they give us the boot or we remember how old we really are.
Location: Keystone Bar & Grill, 313 Greenup Street, Covington, Kentucky
Facebook invite if you want to RSVP (no need)

I know no one knows me but we’ve got tentative confirmations from real celebrities. Such as: Kari Hultman, Tom Iovino, Steven Taylor, Rob Bois, and Matt Vanderlist. So get your butt there. If you show up late I can’t guarantee that I’ll have left you any of the good beer ;-P