Paul Sellers
Published 7 Apr 2023We live in an age when fewer and fewer people will ever use a hand plane and may never even see one in use. This super-short video shows how and why we woodworkers still use and rely on hand planes today. They are fast and effective and they reduce the need for sandpaper too because the wood comes out super-smooth and level.
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August 4, 2023
What Does A Smoothing Plane Do? | Paul Sellers
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August 3, 2023
QotD: Blacksmith forge techniques
Fundamentally, each stage of forging iron revolves around a basic cycle: by heating the metal, the smith makes it soft enough to work (that is, hammer into shape). Technically, it is possible to shape relatively thin masses of iron by hammering when cold (this is called cold-working) but in contrast to other metals (tin, copper and bronze all come to mind) nearly all serious iron-working was done “hot”. In smithing terminology, each of these cycles is referred to as a “heat” – the more heats a given project requires, the more fuel it is going to consume, the longer and more expensive it is going to be (but a skilled smith can often finish the work in fewer heats than an unskilled smith).
A modern blacksmith can gauge the temperature of a metal using sophisticated modern thermometers, but pre-modern smiths had no recourse to such things (and most traditional smiths I’ve met don’t use them anyway). Instead, the temperature of the metal is gauged by looking at its color: as things get hotter, they glow from brown to dark red through to a light red into yellow and then finally white. For iron heated in a forge, a blacksmith can control the temperature of the forge’s fire by controlling the air-input through the bellows (pushing in more air means more combustion, which means more heat, but also more fuel consumed). As we’ve seen, charcoal (and we will need to use charcoal, not wood, to hit the necessary heat required), while not cripplingly expensive, was not trivial to produce either. A skilled smith is thus going to try to do the work in as few heats as possible and not excessively hot either (there are, in fact, other reasons to avoid excessive heats, this is just one).
Once hot the metal can be shaped by hammering. The thickness of a bar of metal could be thickened by upsetting (heating the center of the bar and them hammering down on it like a nail to compress the center, causing it to thicken) or thinned by drawing (hammering out the metal to create a longer, thinner shape). If the required shape needed the metal to be bent it could be heated and bent either over the side of the anvil or against a tool; many anvils had (and still have) a notch in the back where such a tool could be fitted. A good example of this kind of thing would be hammering out a sheet of iron over a dome-shape to create the bowl of a helmet (a task known as “raising” or “sinking” depending on precisely how it is done). A mass of iron can also be divided by heating it at the intended cutting point and then using a hammer and chisel to cut through the hot, soft metal.
But for understanding the entire process, the most important of these operations is the fire weld. Much like bloomery furnaces, the forges available to pre-modern blacksmiths could not reach the temperatures necessary to melt or cast iron, but it was necessary to be able to join smaller bits of iron into larger ones which was done through a fire weld (sometimes called a forge weld). In this process, the iron is heated very hot, typically to a “yellow” or “white” heat (around 1100 °C). The temperature range for the operation is quite precise: too cold and the iron will not weld, too hot and it will “burn” making the weld brittle. Once at the right temperature, the two pieces of iron are put next to each other and hammered into each other with heavy blows. If done properly, the two pieces of metal join completely, leaving a weld that is as strong as every other part of the bar.
Bret Devereaux, “Collections: Iron, How Did They Make It, Part III: Hammer-time”, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, 2020-10-02.
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July 27, 2023
“Harvesting” Green Wood from the Side of the Road
Rex Krueger
Published 26 Jul 2023It’s just cutting up wood. Right?
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April 25, 2023
Planing & Scraping Awkward Grain | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published 9 Dec 2022I try not to be purposely controversial, but often, the wood demands a completely different tactic when it comes to truing and prepping for further steps like panel making and joinery.
Whereas some will say use this bevel-up or that bevel-down plane, use a York pitch, or whatever, the combination of methods and the addition of a #80 cabinet scraper will get you where you need to be, in very short order, but it might just defy convention.
I show you how to tame some very awkward sycamore in this video.
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April 16, 2023
Coopering a 36 gallon beer barrel with hand tools
Jamestown Cooperage
Published 28 Jun 2021I am a practicing traditional cooper who makes barrels, buckets, washtubs, and butter churns by hand. I use mostly traditional skills and handtools to build round, conical wooden vessels for history museums, national parks, and collectors.
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February 24, 2023
You may call it “interest cycling”, but I call it “normality”
Tom Knighton on what is apparently called “interest cycling” in hobbies and other leisure-time activities:
An article from a late 1950s issue of Model Railroader magazine showing a very small HO scale layout plan. The author later admitted that it’s really too small to do much with after it’s built — without some expansion — but the building can take more time than you might expect and you’d need to develop some new skills to do it properly.
Something many ADHD people do — and maybe others, I don’t know — is what I call “interest cycling”.
Basically, I get insanely hyperfocused on one thing, devoting almost all of my time to this One Thing for weeks at a time, then suddenly stop for whatever reason and then jump onto something else.
As a result, I never become truly great at anything. What’s more, since many of these areas of hyperfocus — one article called them obsessions, and with plenty of cause — require money, I end up needing to spend large quantities of money that I really can’t afford to spend.
But, it’s a need.
And it’s a problem. For a lot of us.
See, I have obligations that surround some of my interests. I’m a group leader for the local chapter of an organization I’m part of, for example, that requires not just me to teach a class once per week, but also to advance my own knowledge.
I still teach the class because others are counting on me to do so, but I haven’t been devoting much time to the rest of it, and I should since there are some tangential benefits to what I’m trying to accomplish here at The Knighton Experiment. Sure, some of it isn’t, but that’s just part of the game, so to speak.
What’s worse is that, so far as I’ve been able to find, there aren’t a lot of ways to combat this.
Which suggests that I’m kind of doomed to go through this cycle for the rest of my life.
Now, there are upsides. I mean, there aren’t many people who could detail both how to build a chest of drawers and a 14th-century transitional plate harness, for example. While I can’t necessarily build either with a high degree of proficiency, I at least know what’s involved.
In my own case, those sound like perfectly normal interests — I share both of them — although since my income dropped precipitously several years ago, I don’t spend money as Tom still does. What I have done, however, is to accumulate future stocks of books on those topics I typically cycle through over time so that when the urge strikes I can at least ameliorate some of the need by reading about rather than actively engaging in the hobby/interest/activity. That might be the difference between Tom’s concern and my experience … I cycle among a number of interests, but not brand new ones all the time.
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February 16, 2023
Cut the Sliding Dovetail Joint with common hand tools
Rex Krueger
Published 15 Feb 2023There’s another dovetail that you might not know about. Learn to cut it and use it.
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Twist Solution | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published 7 Oct 2022Take the guesswork out of truing up a twisted board by setting lines that guarantee dead-on accuracy. When we buy wood, it is often too twisted to work with, so we must remove the twist, cup, and bow.
This quick tip gives you lines to work to with only minimal measuring and a positive outcome.
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February 9, 2023
Get flat boards EVERY TIME with this simple process // Handtool stock-prep
Rex Krueger
Published 8 Feb 2023Flattening by hand can be intimidating, unless you have a process.
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February 8, 2023
Hand Planing Awkward Grain | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published 21 Oct 2022We are often taught to plane in one direction or the other, planing along the grain, but some grain is better planed across the long axis to counter reverse grain caused by the roots of knots in the wood. This goes against the grain with many woodworkers, and yet it can be a perfect solution to get a really good surface.
I am not saying it works every time but more often than you might think; it puts you in the driving seat when wood seems to defy conventional means of planing.
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January 25, 2023
January 1, 2023
Full Cabin Build – 4K Full Length – Townsends Wilderness Homestead
Townsends
Published 29 Aug 20220:00 – Laying the Foundation
4:39 – The Walls Begin
8:22 – Prepping the Fireplace
9:52 – Finishing the Walls
15:58 – The Roof Design
17:04 – Adding the Purlins
20:29 – The Doorframe
21:32 – The Final Purlins
24:00 – Roofing Materials
25:47 – Adding the Bark Shingles
27:37 – Roof Wrap-Up
29:03 – Door Jams
29:47 – Opening the Fireplace
30:58 – Building the Fireplace
36:06 – Adding the Door
37:54 – The First Fire
39:02 – A Winter Safe Haven
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November 24, 2022
Can I make an AUTHENTIC Katana from wood?
Rex Krueger
Published 23 Nov 2022Historical weapon, beautiful construction & a great holiday gift, Katanas have it all!
Patrons get all plans early: http://www.patreon.com/rexkrueger
Get the FREE templates!: https://www.rexkrueger.com/store (scroll down to bottom of page).
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November 2, 2022
Essential Wood Finishes | Paul Sellers
Paul Sellers
Published 1 Jul 2022When it comes to wood finishes, for most, it is like watching paint dry, but we woodworkers must come up with something that makes our work look good, has durability, and is generally easy to apply. Over the years, I have tried most, and the two I lean on the most are shellac and water-based clear varnishes.
Chemicals as solvents used in paints have harmful effects, and we have become more conscious of the problems they cause. I wanted to let people know what I use in the day-to-day.
These two are the ones I rely on the most, but I do use other finishes from time to time.
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