Paul Sellers
Published on 29 Jun 2018Paul assembles the legs of the trestle. Then the posts are marked out and fixed in place to make a sturdy reliable trestle, using gussets for additional strength and rigidity.
Cutting list, drawings and tool and hardware lists can be downloaded here:
https://paulsellers.com/trestles-drawings-and-cutting-list-download/Music credit:
Henry Horrell (https://soundcloud.com/henry-horrell)For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
July 19, 2018
How to Make Trestles Episode 2 | Paul Sellers
Comments Off on How to Make Trestles Episode 2 | Paul Sellers
July 9, 2018
How to Make Trestles Episode 1 | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 18 Jun 2018Trestles can be used to support stock or pieces in a variety of configurations and also as temporary work supports that are simple to make. Paul has used this style of trestle around the shop for years and used them in his workbench project to provide a solid base to work from.
Cutting list, drawings and tool and hardware lists can be downloaded here:
https://paulsellers.com/trestles-drawings-and-cutting-list-download/There is more discussion on these videos on Woodworking Masterclasses. You can sign up (for free) here: https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/trestles/
Music credit:
Henry Horrell (https://soundcloud.com/henry-horrell)For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on How to Make Trestles Episode 1 | Paul Sellers
June 23, 2018
Garage Update NO.1 | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 22 Jun 2018Have you been wondering about Paul’s new garage? In this video Paul gives you a tour and some insights into his decisions about setting up this new space.
Paul talks about his workbench, workbench customisations, wood storage, tool storage, clamp storage, shop configuration and more.
It’s all starting to come together now and we are excited to show you the progress made so far.
For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on Garage Update NO.1 | Paul Sellers
June 21, 2018
Buying quality used hand tools
I didn’t agree with everything Steve rants about here, but he does make some good points:
A small selection of bench planes: front to back, a jack plane, a junior Jack, a (garbage grade) #4 smoother, and a #3-equivalent smoother.
I’ve decided to punish humanity with a tool rant.
Back when I still had a real Internet connection, I put a video up on Youtube. In the video, I fixed up a $15 Harbor Freight wood plane, just to see if I could make it work. I got it to function, but I wouldn’t suggest anyone else try it.
A commenter said I should buy planes at garage sales. That set me off. The bag of pet peeves ruptured, and now I must rant.
Garage sales are only good for three types of people: mentally ill hoarders who buy crap, young people who live in poverty, and professional shoppers who snap up the best merchandise and put it on Ebay and Etsy.
That’s it. I will explain.
Say you’re 45 years old, and you decide you want a hand plane collection. To do woodworking well, you really need 4 or 5 planes, and you’re better off with a dozen. Different planes do different things well. Block planes are good for tight spaces and breaking corners. Jointing planes are good for jointing, obviously. Smoothing planes are good for, well, smoothing. Rabbet planes make rabbets. You can’t buy one plane and make it do everything. You’re going to need a bunch of planes.
You’ve already blown it by reaching 45 without collecting any planes. Now you have to catch up. Say you start going to garage sales.
Look at the paper or the web. There are no promising sales this week. Probably. Most of the time, the sales you read about look really bad. Action figures with missing arms and spit all over them, plus things like lamps with torn shades. IKEA furniture that ought to be burned. Maybe you’ll see a good sale in a couple of weeks. You may find 10 sales a year that are worth leaving the house for.
When you go to these sales, 9 of them will turn out to be losers. The other one will have one or two decent items.
To get those items, you will have to get up before the sun rises and do some driving. If you show up an hour after the sales start, the things you want will be gone. Tools go fast. Every city now has a fleet of professional shoppers who raid garage sales as early as possible and take all the good stuff. If you’re not there at the start, you’re dead. And what if you have two promising sales on the same day? You can get to one early enough to score, but you’ll be late for the other one
If you get the items you want, they probably won’t really be the items you want. By that I mean you won’t be able to choose brands and models. Want to collect a set of Stanley type 13 planes? Forget it. You’ll have to take a type 11, a 1990 plane from Home Depot, a Craftsman … whatever happens to be available. You will eventually get items that do what you want, but you’ll have to settle.
If you insist on good tools, you’ll have your woodworking shop equipped in about 20 years. During those years, you will have had to struggle without important tools. You will have had to forgo a lot of projects. You will become farsighted. You may get cataracts. You may get arthritis in your hands. You may need new hips. You’ll feel less like getting things done. The TV and the shuffleboard court will beckon.
You’ll miss out on the fun you would have had if you had bought your tools as early as possible.
You may drop dead, and then other people will buy your tools at your wife’s garage sale.
Comments Off on Buying quality used hand tools
June 14, 2018
The 3 Hand Planes Power Tool Woodworkers Should Own (How to buy handplanes)
Stumpy Nubs
Published on 17 Jan 2016
Comments Off on The 3 Hand Planes Power Tool Woodworkers Should Own (How to buy handplanes)
June 12, 2018
How to Make a Strop | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 22 May 2018A strop enables you to sharpen your bladed tools to another level. Made from a simple block of ply, this quick and easy tutorial shows you how to make your own with minimal materials.
For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on How to Make a Strop | Paul Sellers
June 4, 2018
How to turn a No.78 into a Scrub Plane | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 14 May 2018Preparing rough stock can be time-consuming. A scrub plane can really help ease this process. Old ones are hard to get hold, and new ones are expensive. Paul shows how you can easily convert a No. 78 rebate plane into an excellent scrub plane.
For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on How to turn a No.78 into a Scrub Plane | Paul Sellers
May 5, 2018
Cabinet Scraper Honing Guide | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 13 Apr 2018Getting a crisp 45° bevel on your cabinet scraper can be tricky. Paul shows how to make and use a honing guide that gives you a guaranteed angle every time.
For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on Cabinet Scraper Honing Guide | Paul Sellers
April 25, 2018
Chris Schwarz’ Campaign Chair – Pared Down!
Popular Woodworking
Published on 3 Apr 2018Watch the original (but much cooler) portable picnic chair come together in record time. As if Chris wasn’t already moving at lighting speed! Watch the whole video here: http://bit.ly/CampaignChair
Comments Off on Chris Schwarz’ Campaign Chair – Pared Down!
April 23, 2018
QotD: The knife
A simple edged tool is likely to be the human ur-tool, especially as tool-using hominids moved farther away from sources of flint or obsidian. IMO, any adult human — and most children past a certain degree of maturity — ought to carry a knife. Otherwise you’re just a chimp with a haircut.
Roberta X. “My Kershaw! My Kershaw!”, The Adventures of Roberta X, 2016-08-17.
Comments Off on QotD: The knife
April 21, 2018
How to Make Sawhorses Introduction | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 20 Apr 2018Episode 1 will be released on Monday 23rd of April 2018
Paul shows how to make a pair of sawhorses using the method he first learnt when he was 16. They are very useful around the shop for resawing stock and a many others uses. The sawhorses make use of a compound housing joint that ensures a solid construction.
THE TOOLS YOU WILL NEED ARE:
Knife
Square
Combination gauge (or marking gauge)
Tape/Ruler (or both)
Sliding bevel
Chisel hammer
Chisels (at least 1″)
Smoothing plane (No 4)
Tenon saw
*Handsaw
Hand drill and screwdriver or drill driver* = optional
JOINTS LIST:
Compound housing jointFor more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on How to Make Sawhorses Introduction | Paul Sellers
April 15, 2018
How to Use a Hand Plane
This Old House
Published on 5 Dec 2015This Old House general contractor Tom Silva demonstrates the proper way to use hand planes. (See below for a shopping list, tools, and steps.)
Shopping List for How to Use a Hand Plane:
– Machine oil, used to lubricate sharpening stone
– Wood block, used to prevent tear-out in end grainTools List for How to Use a Hand Plane:
– Bench planes
– Specialty planes
– Block planes
– Sharpening stone, for sharpening plane irons
– Clamp, used to secure wood block to workpieceSteps for How to Use a Hand Plane:
1. Bench planes are used to flatten and smooth broad wood surfaces and narrow edges.
2. Long bench planes are best suited for smoothing very long surfaces and edges.
3. Specialty planes, such as a shoulder plane or rabbet plane, have plane irons (blades) that come flush with the edges of the tool.
4. Block planes are compact, versatile, and ideally suited for smoothing edges, small surfaces, and end grain.
5. Rotate the adjusting nut to control the depth of cut.
6. Pivot the lateral adjustment lever to square up the iron to the plane body.
7. Release the iron cap and extract the plane iron from the plane.
8. Test the sharpness of an iron by standing it on your thumbnail. If the iron slides off, it needs sharpening.
9. To sharpen a plane iron, start by applying machine oil to the coarse side of a sharpening stone.
10. Set the iron against the oiled stone with its beveled end facing down.
11. Tilt up the iron until its bevel is flush with the stone. Maintain that exact angle as you slowly rub the iron across the stone in a circular motion.
12. After a minute or two, flip over the iron and place it flat against the stone. Rub the iron back and forth to remove any burr from the back surface.
13. Next, flip the stone over to reveal its smooth surface. Apply oil and repeat the sharpening process.
14. Then raise the iron just a fraction of an inch, and make two or three passes across the stone.
15. Repeat the thumbnail test of Step 8 to check the iron’s sharpness.
16. When planing the narrow edge of a board, inspect the direction of the wood grain on the side of the board.
17. Always plane in the direction of the up-angling wood grain. Don’t plane against it.
18. Adjust the throat (mouth) of the plane to increase or decrease the gap between the plane iron and the bed of the plane. The proper adjustment will help prevent tearing out the grain.
19. Decrease the gap when planing end grain, and increase it when planing edge grain or making deep cuts.
20. When planing end grain, prevent tear-out by planing in from both ends toward the middle.
21. Another technique is to clamp a sacrificial wood block to the end of the board prior to planing. Then, any tear-out will occur in the block, not the board.
Comments Off on How to Use a Hand Plane
April 2, 2018
The amateur woodworker’s six stages of tool addiction
Christopher Schwarz explains the painful path most amateur woodworkers follow as they begin gathering tools:
Get Tools, Any Tools
When I first decided to make furniture, I knew I needed tools. So I went to a 24-hour Walmart in the middle of the night and bought a set of tools that looked useful, including a chisel, a block plane, a level, a coping saw and a miter box saw. I had no idea how to use them, but they looked like things a furniture-maker would own (as opposed to a plumber).The next day I started to make some shutters for our house, and realized I needed other tools. So I went to the hardware store and picked up another pile of junk. This cycle continued for a long time until I decided to start reading about woodworking instead of making things up as I went along.
Obsess Over Statistics
You get every catalog out there. You find every website that sells tools and machinery. You discover tool reviews – wait there’s something better than a Walmart block plane? And you discover statistics. Table flatness, arbor runout, Rockwell hardness, the different grades of carbide.The idea is that if you can process all of these statistics, you will be able to pick the best tools to replace your dimestore tools.
[…]
Buy Jigs to Replace Skills
The next two stages are dangerous because if you get stuck in one of them, you can go bankrupt. During the “jig” phase, you start using your statistically perfect tools and realize there is something missing because your results suck.It can’t be the tool. You did all the reading, and it is the best one out there. What’s missing is skill, but you conclude that what is missing are the jigs and accessories.
Example: Your first hand-cut dovetails look terrible, so you buy a router and an entry-level commercial jig. After weeks of messing with the jig, your dovetails look better but they are so uniform that they look boring.
So you dip back into your statistics phase and read all about dovetail jigs and buy a commercial jig that allows you to variably space your tails. But this jig only has an 18” capacity, so….
[…]
Upgrade & Stockpile
As you become more skilled, you enter the most dangerous phase of all. This is the phase where you find you have some success with a tool, such as a shoulder plane, and so you buy seven examples of it to find the one you like the best. Different sizes, different grips, different makers.You upgrade your benchtop table saw because you can finally understand the benefits of a contractor or cabinet saw. You end up with four smoothing planes, six routers and a huge credit card bill. You start comparing scratch awls and screwdrivers. You divert your online tool purchases to your workplace so your spouse doesn’t notice.
On the bright side, there is hope, or as he calls it the “Great Psychic Break”, followed (for the fortunate) by the “Please, No More Tools” phase of spiritual enlightenment.
Comments Off on The amateur woodworker’s six stages of tool addiction
March 24, 2018
How to Use a Scrub Plane | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published on 23 Mar 2018Scrub planes can be used for a variety of tasks, from stock preparation and hogging off stock in preparation for the smoothing plane to refining chamfers and texturing the surface.
For more information on these topics, see https://paulsellers.com or https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com
Comments Off on How to Use a Scrub Plane | Paul Sellers
March 20, 2018
How to buy used hand planes- How much should you pay? What to look for…
Stumpy Nubs
Published on 5 Feb 2016
Comments Off on How to buy used hand planes- How much should you pay? What to look for…
