Today worked well

Today I was busy with the class but I always have a project of some kind on the go. Putting the Aurou rasps through their paces has been fun because it’s not such a workout to get them to remove stock. Now I wish I had ordered all of them so that I could place them in appropriate categories for different areas or types of work. So far I have made spoons and a walking cane. I first used one of these rasps about five years ago. It was a lovely rasp to use. Rasps enter woodworking as a unique tool to do things other tools cannot do or cannot do as well or as easily. the best way for me to express their value is to show you through a how-to blog and so I am working on that. Some projects are rasp only and others are gouge and rasp.

 

Today I milled wood for a pair of solid saw horses, the idea being to show how they are made and that you can make really decent ones from three 2×4 8’0” studs. The studs were surprisingly dry and ready to go but I always stand my wood against the wall to allow equal air circulation around it and to allow movement to take place before I start further milling or working on it.

 

The class is going really well. Tomorrow many of the tables will be ready for assembly and on Saturday they should be done. I am writing up my findings on bench heights and at the same time quizzing them as to how they feel. I think you will be amazed at the findings.

 

I drove over to Curtis Lumber in Ballstone Spa to check out their wood. I was very pleasantly surprised that they have an even greater range than when I went a couple of weeks ago. I did something I never do and that is I bought the class materials ready machined and then machined them as I needed to specific sizes at the shop. This saved me about 50% of my time and a mega amount on wastage. So, even though I paid considerably more per board foot, I paid for that in saved time and low wastage costs. It also meant I could do many other things including writing this blog.

 

Other things that I taught today was how to use cock bead and what the primary reasons that furniture makers used this detail in their work. I installed cockbead to my tool chest drawers using only a coupe of tools. Well, actually, five tools. These are the kinds of things that flesh out the course. We also spent time on sharpening scrapers because they will be scraping their oak as of today. Hard to imagine that on Monday they will be starting their rocking chairs. You probably don’t know this, but for some of them that chair will be only their third project. Wait until you see the results and you tell me what you think.