Project Update: I Can See!

Now that I'm coming out of the illness, I ended up working the day job for a week in the Bay Area. The good news: I have a day job. The bad news: It's a week of lost production. The better news: I'll be visiting a well-known harpsichordist in Berkeley tomorrow to see his personal museum of fine instruments and, maybe, hear him play a bit (more on this later).

Before I left for the week-long adventure, I was able to finish up the shop reorganization in anticipation of completing the Roubo-style workbench. Much of this simply involved putting the two shelving units together I had picked up a couple of weeks ago at The Home Depot.

As you can see, one of the main points was to get the Goby Free Box walnut organized and to clear space for the bench by moving the toolbox toward the wall. It really was a disorganized mess before I started.

Now that I've moved the 12" planer, Ridgid oscillating spindle sander, and 12" chop saw beneath the assembly table and have cleared a significant amount of space on the floor, I'm ready to get that bench together and start using it!

Along with this, I've complained from time-to-time about not having enough light at the table saw end of the assembly table. Another complaint from Random Roger Green cemented it: I purchased one of the shop LED lights from Costco and I love it!

It's installed and doing its job splendidly. As I always say, sometimes, it's the little things.

On a completely unrelated note, I recently acquired two more Stanley Bailey hand planes - a No. 5 and a No. 6, both with corrugated bottoms, which I prefer (pictured below with a No. 7 and the handwheels for the workbench's Moxon vise).

Sadly, the No. 6 is in pretty bad shape - much worse than it appeared on eBay. I'm not sure I can save it, but I'm gonna give it my best college try. If it's a goner, I can always use it as a doorstop, right?

Until next time...

Project Update: Some Tweaking Needed

As I've slowly moved back out to the shop, I've had time to notice a few things that need improvement. One that I will definitely work on today is a small separation beginning to show between the ceiling and the top of the go-bar deck. This is not good, particularly if I'm standing under it when it decides to pull free and crash down onto whatever's below it. You can see the potential disaster in the photo below.

The plan is to purchase a 3 1/2" inch carriage bolt and get the offending corners drilled and screwed in tonight.

Another nagging issue is with the throat plate that came with the Grizzly 10" table saw. Like the miter gauge, it's proving to be practically useless. I had picked up some ash to slice up and use for go-bars and got around to ripping it all up last night. One thing I noticed is that the throat plate is recessed too much, which allows the wood being pushed through to tilt and rub against the saw blade during the cut. Now, I like the pleasant smell of gently burning wood as much as the next guy, just not in my shop while I'm cutting wood.

This piece of ash was pretty great and I ended up cutting the bars to 5/8" x 3/4". Unfortunately, the go-bars I cut from it are now all decorated with unintended pyrography. And it's not that pretty.

Sure, they'll work just fine for clamping, yet I will have to look at those burn marks every time I use them from now until they disintegrate. To mitigate against future pyrography, I'm going to alter a zero-clearance throat plate I made from some of the Goby Free Box walnut I picked up months ago to accommodate the riving knife and use that plate 99% of the time moving forward. Fortunately, I possess a seemingly limitless capacity for ignoring that which is unsightly - my impending mortality, a possible Trump Presidency, burn marks on my go-bars. I can do this.

On a completely unrelated, happier, note, I rummaged through a toolbox Random Roger Green left before I came down with the creeping crud. The man owns some amazing tools that belong in the top drawer of any shop in the world. In this case, I pulled out an enormous chisel, a couple of planes, a nice auger bit, and some other trinkets.

Just holding the tools in my hands was quite motivating. Motivating enough, in fact, that I took a crack at smoothing one of the workbench leg tops a bit so I could start cutting the tenon into it. Yeah, it's on its side. No, it didn't hinder my work. It was on the assembly table, so I swung it around, clamped it, and went to town.

I did experience a little tearout, but nothing too bad. Of course, I posted this photo on the book of the face and got about 15 suggestions about how to do it better, most of which were really helpful. At the end of the day, I just need to smooth these a bit because I'll be cutting them of sufficient depth that they'll stick up a bit when the top is slid on. I can just trim them flush then and all will be well. Regardless, it was a little progress.

Until next time...

Project Update: Back at It, Sorta

As I've entered my second week of illness, I'm actually starting to feel a little better. Well enough, really, to get back out into the shop in spurts. The first thing I turned my attention to was the dust collection situation. I sold the big, clunky Delta dust collector on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago and rolled the money into a compact unit that fits nicely under the right wing of the table saw. Along with this, I purchased a flexible hose that extends from 4' to 21', which allows me to stretch it all over the two-car, and I picked up an accessory pack that allows me to fit a handle on one end of the hose with an adapter on each of the tools.

So far, so good.

The next task will be to assemble the two shelving units I recently purchased from Home Depot that will allow me to further organize the shop to clear some space for the Roubo-style workbench. Once I get things organized, I'll jump back on the bench so I can, ultimately, get back to completing the instrument.

Until next time...

Project Update: Still a Sick Puppy

Last Saturday, I took my cold to a performance of French harpsichord music by Owen Daly on an instrument of his own making: a beautiful French two-manual instrument "after the harpsichord by Jean-Claude Goujon, a fake Ruckers made in Paris 'sometime before 1749,' rebuilt with an enlarged compass at some point, and then extensively butchered in 1784 by one Swane (signed 'Swanen,' but the consensus is that this is simply the dative form of his German name) who chopped out the gap to make room for four registers. Originally, the compass was something like GG, AA (no GG#)-d’’’. Later stretched to the current 'standard' five octave FF-f’’’" (Quoted from Owen).

The performance was for the Western Early Keyboard Association at Reed College here in beautiful Portland. The instrument stands as a testament to Owen's skill as a maker - it was his third build dated 1984 and has hardily stood the test of time. I was fortunate enough to help him load it in and out, as well as watch him prepare with a little warmup.

Now, I have never really been a big fan of French Baroque music in general and I told Owen as much a few weeks before his performance (I do this sort of thing quite often - open mouth, insert foot). I suppose this is related to my experience with the French organ works that I find at times shrill and a little too "frilly" for my taste. In short, French Baroque music just never resonated with me. Until now. I found the Couperin and Rameau on Owen's program to be quite pleasant. Heck, I almost liked it.

Along with some excellent playing, Owen was generous enough to speak and take questions about the history of the instrument, as well as its tuning, Stephen Birkett's brass wire, and his music selections. It was a pleasant and energizing afternoon, indeed.

Unfortunately, I'm still a bit under the weather. This, combined with the build-out of the Roubo-style workbench, has prevented any progress on the instrument over the last couple of weeks. The only thing I accomplished in that time was to receive an Incra 1000HD miter gauge I ordered on eBay a few weeks ago.

The irony was not lost on me that the Incra miter gauge arrived packed in a Kreg box. As one of my woodworker friends remarked, it was probably a theft-prevention strategy. At any rate, I got the thing dialed in and onto the table saw. It's going to make working in the shop so much safer and more accurate - the tick marks on the gauge will do fractions of a degree. Why I would ever need such precision is beyond me, but it's there if and when.

Back to coughing up a lung and sleeping all day.

Until next time...

Project Update: The Saga of the Bench Continues

As you know, I've completely halted production on the instrument until I have the shop rearranged and the Roubo-style bench finished. Well, I went and caught a pretty horrible cold that began to make itself apparent Friday night and I'm still sicker than an old Tortuga. As a result, the tenons I planned to cut into the legs over the weekend never happened. What did happen, though, was the arrival of the crisscross and handwheel for the leg vise.

While I would like to have purchased a cast iron handwheel, cost and prudence dictated a polished aluminum model. Should I find it too light for my purposes, I can always replace it at a later date.

You may have seen the update to my last post in which I included a photo of the bench top cut to size as it sat in Random Roger Green's enormous van.

Roger continues to be my savior on this project. As he loans me tools and gives me advice, I realize a little more every day that I was a bit foolish to think I could complete the workbench on my lonesome. Sort of like making a harpsichord from scratch on my own. I am so thankful for Roger's friendship and guidance - he is a man among men.

One example of Random Rog going above an beyond is the help he has given me with cutting the bench top to size. He and I loaded the 300-pound piece into his van and he ran it to Creative Woodworking NW where they used their table saw with a 22" blade to first rip it.

Then, they threw it on their huge jointer to clean up the cut side in preparation for the final rip to 22" in width.

When they finished with the width cuts, Random told them to just trim up the ends.

I had been planning on the top coming back at 7' long based on some damage to the piece that was, fortunately, cut out when they ripped it to width. When they were done cleaning up the ends, I ended up with a piece 4" x 22" x 98 5/8". Yeah, that's over eight feet long. This falls directly in line with Owen Daly's advice to make the bench "as long as you can fit in your shop." Fortunately, it will fit just fine.

I'm still pretty sick, so I don't anticipate getting back out into the shop for a few more days. When I do, I will work on flattening the legs on one end and cutting the tenons. More on that later.

Until next time...

Project Update: Bench Top Trimming

After conferring with Random Roger Green about how best to go about cutting the Roubo bench top to size, he made an obvious suggestion: Have Creative Woodworking NW do it. As you may recall, this is the place Owen Daly and I went to have his Port Orford cedar log sliced up. Roger tells me they have a table saw with a 22" blade, which will more than suffice to cut the 4" top to size. We settled on 22" x 84" for the final width and length.

Roger will take it for me and bring it back slim and trim. Thanks, Roger!

On an unrelated note, we recently received some new tools at Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters: Four small convex-bottomed finger planes and a marking knife. While it's highly unlikely I'll use the planes on the instrument (or any harpsichord), the marking knife will become an invaluable part of my building efforts. The planes are for other lutherie projects that I'll describe on another blog at another time. The marking knife is on loan from Random Rog and will be returned to him with the Chris Schwarz bench book he also loaned me (Roger is pictured in the book!).

While the top is out for trimming, I'll continue to work on the legs. The first step is to flatten the tops using a nice, little Lie-Nielsen low-angle block plane on loan from - you guessed it - Random Rog. When I'm satisfied the tops are flat, I'll begin the exacting process of cutting the tenons into them. This will test my burgeoning hand tool skills and involve a back saw, a chisel or two and my abiding patience.

Yes, the Dude abides.

UPDATE: Random Rog just sent me a photo of the trimmed bench top and I must say - it looks GREAT!

Another big thanks to Random Roger Green!

Until next time...

Project Update: I'm Getting Roubo Legs

Random Roger Green showed up as promised last night and he brought books, tools, a crisscross and knowledge with him. It was interesting to see the crisscross since mine has yet to arrive. I was pleased that he agreed the Benchcrafted Crisscross Solo was the correct choice. I finally got one right - please alert the media.

Roger and I will continue to work on the bench until it's completed. I'm hoping it will take only a couple of weeks and I can get back to work on the instrument soon. In the meantime, the work last night was centered on cutting the legs long enough that I could cut some practice tenons into the ends in preparation for the real thing.

The original stick was a 12' 6x6 that I had cut in half at Parr Lumber. They're not going to be the prettiest legs in the world, but I'm okay with that - it's just a bench. Some of the parts for the leg vise arrived last night and I was pleased to see the precision screw was more robust than I had imagined.

It's 30mm wide, so it should work great, and Random ROG says it's definitely long enough. Interestingly, he is recommending I also create a Moxon vise for the bench - something I had not considered but that I'm completely open to doing. In this case, I'll be getting help from both Roger and Chris Schwarz. It's nice to have such knowledgeable and helpful friends.

Until next time...