Best selling wood projects - Pre Owned and Pre Loved

Best selling wood projects

Since my last post, I have been asked many times where did I find the pre-loved tools that I use.  I would love to be able to say that they were passed down through my father.  Sadly, I only have his hand saw - a Warranted Superior 26 inch 8 point cross cut. It is very much like a D-8 and was probably made by Disston.  And I love using it.

Others, I have found in all sorts of places.  Garage and boot sales, Sunday Markets,  second hand and bric-a-brac stores, online and other auctions - to name a few.

It helps enormously to have a working knowledge of hand tools before looking.  Familiar names of quality tool makers, and the styles of their construction are a walk up start.  Often you can recognise a quality nameless tool because of its obvious parentage.

Here is a little gem that I found today - pre-owned but definitely not pre-loved.

Sad, isnt it.  If you saw it on the street you would probably step over it.  But .......  made by Robert Sorby, and in a useful and rare size 1-3/4 inches wide, this chisel was worth trying to save.

First step was to get rid of the rust and scale, and see what damage to the steel lurked beneath.

 

Hmmm ... lots of pitting to both sides.  Pitting on the top is ugly and deep - but is only cosmetic, pitting on the bottom is a real problem.  At this stage, the back is so bad that only the bottom half will be given help, as this is where all the cutting action will take place.

 

The pitting is quite deep here, and to hand flatten this would take days.  I used an electric linisher with quite coarse grit to begin the flattening, keeping the blade cool during the process so as not to affect the temper of the steel.

Here is the back of the blade after  introducing it to the linisher.  A big improvement, but the scoring from the coarse grit now needs to be removed. Also, the cutting edge has been radiused in the past for some reason and has a distinct roundness.  I dont want this rounding, and will grind the edge back to square.  This will necessitate re-grinding the bevel as well.                                                Many modern woodworkers now approach the back flattening, by working their way through four, five or even six ever-finer grits.

I dont believe that this would have been the practice for craftsmen in the era of these tools.  It simply would have taken too long, and Im not even sure that such a range of grinding grits was available to them in any case.

 I am using only two stones.  The first is a commonly available at any hardware store combination oil stone - coarse/fine.  First, the coarse side.  This is used to begin removing the linisher lines and also to shape the bevel.

 Next, the finer of the two sides of the stone.  To lubricate, I use a kerosene/oil mix of around 5/1. Works well for me, and doesnt clog the stone.  

Once again I work on the back and the bevel, but this time I add a micro bevel. I have become accustomed to the position of my hand and wrist relative to the stone when doing this, and I do it now from muscle memory without checking.  I guess this is the benefit from hand sharpening a few thousand times over the last forty years.  It would be an advantage to anyone starting out to use a bevel guide.

Finally, I use a very fine white arkansas stone that was passed down to me from my wifes father.  It is very hard and very fine.  Same lubrication as before.

And thats it.  The blade is good enough to use and will cut well.

Of course the chisel needs a handle, and this piece of local Eucalypt will be suitable.  I dont know what species - maybe white mahogany, but it is sturdy timber and I know it will turn well.   Ill have to leave that until another day.  

This same process can be followed in resurrecting all chisels.  Saws and planes are another matter, and Ill address those in the near future.

Happy woodworking to all.

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Best selling wood projects - Happy Australia Day

Best selling wood projects

January 26 is our national day, and is a day for citizenship ceremonies, and for reflecting on what a wonderful country we have, and are a part of. We have a population from many diverse backgrounds and ethnic origins, and we all do our best to thank and honour the way that these are shaping our national consciousness.
As I look back on the changes that I have seen in my life, I am pleased with some - and yet I have a tinge of regret about other things that we have lost along the way.
If we take woodworking as one simple example - we have almost lost the self sufficiency of manufacturing, that was such a big part of post World War Two re-construction.

This is a small sampling from my own workshop of tools that were made during that period.  It was tools such as these that built Australia during the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Here are a pair of planes made by Carter Tools Pty Ltd of NSW - a number 5 jack plane and a C1 rebate plane.  These are rugged old workhorses that are well made and have excellent blades. They serve me well.

Wooden plane manufacturing occurred for a time - and in NSW, Bergs Tools Aust used local hardwoods to produce a range of traditional European handplane designs.

We still have one quality wooden handplane maker in Alstonville NSW.  Terry Gordon has been hand making beautiful planes like this smoother for many years, and his planes are highly sought after.

I pay tribute to Terry Gordon on Australia Day in 2013.

One aspect of both planemakers is the quality of the steel used in the blades.

Bergs - at least mine anyway - show no branding (and Terry does not brand his either) but are excellent steel and hold a sharp edge well.

The Silex brand was marketed by Howard F Hudson Pty Ltd of NSW, and included many cast iron and steel handtools such as these.

These were everyday builders and carpenters hand tools, and there would have been very few tool boxes that didnt have at least one Silex product in them.

Here are a sliding bevel, a square and a dowelling jig.

Another indispensable tool that every builder treated with the care shown to cut glass crystal, was his builders level.  This is one of the most common - the Cowley Automatic Level.
It came with its own tripod, measuring staff and sighting crossbar.  Measurement was in feet and inches of course.  I have built two homes and done dozens of renovations with this one.

Of course, it wasnt long before Stanley began manufacturing in Australia as well.   True to their  proven formula of buying out their opposition, they soon acquired many of the smaller Australian hand tool manufacturers.

As well, they manufactured their own products in country.

This was my very first hand drill.  All I had until my first electric drill - a venerable Lightburn - also made in Australia.

One of the great success stories of Australian tool manufacturing was the The Titan Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd of Tasmania.  Titan chisels are highly sought after today by both craftsmen and collectors alike, and they hold their own very well against the current crop of manufactured tools from around the world.

Registered firmer chisels are not very popular these days, as bevelled edge chisels have largely supplanted them as the most versatile bench chisel style.  Nonetheless, they are still manufactured by Trent Powrie under the Harold and Saxon label.  I think that he was inspired in one of his designs by these traditional Titan firmers.

 While not strictly woodworking tools, spanners and socket sets made by Siddons were a byword for the highest quality in automotive tools.  Sidchrome tools found their way into almost every Holden or Falcon owners toolkit.
These days we have access to high quality hand tools from around the world, but I know that lots of Australian woodworkers still use those tools that were made back in the good old days.

Thanks for walking this little tour of amnesia lane with me.
Have a very happy Australia Day

...and happy woodworking to all.

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