Planning
I’m planning for two sizeable projects right now. The prospect occupies much of my awake time as I work through the day and consider my options. Plywood, solid wood, weight, delivery up narrow and awkward stairs, wood type or types, a trip to buy same, costs, tools needed, joinery, time taken to make, drawings. Aside from that there is the number of episodes and the length of same. Should they be dismantleable or single piece, perhaps composites? Modern makers go more and more for MDF now and I can see why. It’s not a choice for me. Back in the early 80s when it was espoused as “the new wood” by UK magazines. They said it could be used for chair rails and spindles, took stain just like wood and indeed would look like real wood when done. Whereas it has been highly successful for manufacturers, it still lacks the integrity of real wood. If you are indeed making ‘fashionable’ styles, that are built for disposability, IKEA but not just IKEA, then there is a place for it. Otherwise, it remains a non-material for me. I feel differently about plywood. I like it.
My thoughts take me here and there in the planning of things. I always make, clean up, tidy away and sharpen every tool when I am in this mode. It helps me more than sitting with a notepad staring at walls and such. Every minute occupied with these other things gives me the freedom of mind I want. Making all of the picture and mirror frames gave me just what I needed. I finished the last one this morning when we all got back together to plan the week.
Of course, I made a rod for my own back when I disposed of the three machines most woodworkers use and utterly depend on the most. My new designs have many components and many a dozen pieces must be planed to within fractions of an inch or a millimetre before the joinery begins. I just misspelt ‘joinery‘ and the prompt suggested ‘journey‘. Not too far out.
I never realised just how much I would enjoy creating new and unseen designs for our houseful of furniture and Sellers’ Home. It’s been as much an unintended gift to me as it has been an intended one to you. My hope is that through the coming decades, the work will help to get more people to understand the validity of putting themselves and their families into the garage space making. I cannot imagine a better way to bridge some of the gaps occurring in families in our present age. It doesn’t need to be for a houseful of furniture as in Sellers’ Home: our common woodworking website gives all of the ingredients you need to start out on that woodworking journey and it is completely free. Working through that gives a truly solid foundation with the surety of a well-crafted, well-proven course to follow.
My latest offering is the mortise and tenoned picture and mirror frames. As it is with most of my work, I wanted the built-in longevity the framing joint gives us. It’s rare for such pieces to be anything more than mitred and airnailed together and that’s because of the equipment available for dead-on accuracy with a common chop saw. Of course, I avoid moulded stock and perhaps that’s less obvious to everyone than I think. To arrive at moulding, everyone would need equipment to make it or they would need to buy it. Sending everyone out to buy moulding of a particular shape is problematic in itself if you live in this or that region of the world. Size, wood type, mould type, preferences, etc. Nah! I cannot assume everyone lives within a mile or two of a big box DIY centre and that Canadian stock moulds are the same as those in Mexico or Bangladesh. I would never send anyone out to buy a power router nor will I assume people have access to one or even want to use one. Power routers come with lots of baggage ranging from protective equipment to router tables, jig building for guides and much more beyond. None of this is hand tooling anyway so there again we have an issue. Okay, so what about moulding planes? here again, we have the privileged few like myself. I own 300 moulding planes from simple to complex and 3mm wide to 60mm. 99% of woodworkers do not own a single one and may not even know such tools exist. Additionally, mouldings date the work, repeat a classicism of pretence I would rather not perpetuate. Truth is, give someone a power router and suddenly everything gets moulding on it. Let’s face it: there’s not much else you can do with a 3HP power router and they are very noisily invasive and totally messy too.
The options for facing well-made frames with thicker veneered work gives many options. Mostly it’s about contrast. Using a combination of woods or wood textures can result in some stunning work ranging from flamboyant to subtle. Using end grain against flatsawn and then quartersawn in itself displays the versatility in the options we can work with. Then you have book matching in mitred corners and friezes and such. And, of course, it doesn’t stop there. You can make cabinet doors and drawer surrounds, panels of every type too using the same methods.
The unreal world of oppulance draws hundreds of thousands to see how the other half live each year. Quite the contrast, biut you can see the skilled work of the unknowns who created it with only hand work on no machines. There is no doubt that such work is a thing of the past when the incredibly priviledged payed out peanuts for something they could never nor would ever do. I have no desire to go this route in my making and designing for my furniture but I can admire a man and a woman in the 1700s spinning, weaving, moulding and shaping life with just two hands a months and monthjs of work.
The culmination of a week’s trial and error but actually no insurmountable errors a plane stroke or a chiselling couln’t resolve to result in an extra frame here and there. I actually have three more not in the picture.
My early frame took me into alternative dimensions with subtle and not so subtle differences resulting in variety and inspiration.. That’s what I love about my work off the conveyor belt and exercising my mind and body continuously throughout the days, weeks, months and decades of my working wood.
I feel much the same about power routers. Noisy, messy and far too much faffing around, but I’ll admit they have their place if you are making hundreds of identical components.
I actually owned one once, purely because it was a bit of a bargain on eBay and I like buying tools. It’s how I cheer myself up if I’m feeling grumpy.
I used it exactly once and it frightened me out of five years growth so I gave it to my friend Gus who was a “proper” carpenter.
About a week later it took the tip off his finger! I learned a lesson then.
Yes. I was with a friend after a few years back in the USA and we agreed to a lunch date. He had learned hand-tool woodworking with me some years before. As he put the tray down in the cafeteria I saw four half-length fingers on his right hand. “What on earth happened? I asked. “Trailed my fingers over the end of a board on the jointer and they were gone into a thousand pieces.”
When I was in high school shop class behind a friend who was jointing a piece of wood, I suddenly saw a cloud of pink to the side.
My friend was referred to as Stumpy afterward.
I’ve been making wood picture frames for a few years, though not laminated.
Once assembled, how do you plane around the interface of the miter? The change in grain direction causes tear out for me in cherry, oak, and walnut. Thanks for this project.
It’s not hard on regular grain with all the laminated pieces along the long axis but the end grain is more of a challenge. Mostly it will be down to spending more time on sharpening than usual. On some woods it is almost every ten strokes. Also remember that no wood defies a card scraper or a #80 cabinet scraper.
Paul, you got me! I cannot figure out how you created what appears to be 5 pieces of very intricately laminated oak & walnut that looks to be at least 8 foot long and only 1/4″ thick ! WOW! I have to know the secret … I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight. Then in another version of the frame you changed the oak to end grain .. beautiful .. what a great idea ! Please point me to the link where I can watch you make/assemble one of these beautiful frames.
laminate thicker pieces and resaw them to thin strips ?
Quick work if you have a bandsaw…
You’d have to plane them afterwards I guess..
Now we know what some of the forthcoming masterclass projects will be 😉
Diego
1/8″ thick, David.
Thanks Paul.
I have taken two woodworking classes at my local college to gain familiarity with the machines. I don’t want a full shop of them for all the reasons you have mentioned over the years. However, I’d like to have some familiarity with them.
There were two machines at the school I used that made it clear to me I would never own them: an electrical powered router and an electrical powered jointer. Both were noisy and felt too dangerous for me.
All machines can be used safely provided you strongly adhere to safety practices. I personally think that most machinists survive because the near misses heightened their awareness of just what can really go very wrong. In the case of my friend, he clearly was not spacially aware and even with all the guards in place things can go seriously wrong. truth is too that the more safety guards you put in place the less care you often take. A Sawstop does not stop kickback and I have known kickbacks throw up some serious weight and power against all safety measures and practices. Truth is that wood splits mostly when you least expect it and you are pushing some part of your body towards a cutting edge flying around at high speed. Even the best push sticks can and do slip.
Paul, do you (or does someone) prepare all your stock by hand, too?
I prepare every stick and stem myself with no help from any assistant and no off-camera machining. Yes, and it’s all planed by hand, yes! I do use both handsaws and bandsaw for resizing etc.
No wonder you spend so much time at the bench! The obvious payback is your remarkable familiarity and agility with wood. Combine that with frequent sharpening and it becomes perhaps the best of your lessons. Dimensioning a piece of stock is so satisfying no matter how long it takes.
Hi. it’s very belated but I came to say thank you. I came across your videos a few years after my apprenticeship doing carpentry on building sites around 10 years ago. Your videos were a major contributor in opening up my world in regards to my career in all things timber. I also share your sentiments regarding routers and MDF but as I’m sure your aware they are unavoidable professionally.
Hi Paul just like to say a massive thanks to you for firing up the love of making things with wood which I lost for years due to circumstances I loved working with both hand tools and power technologies as long as you respect the safety requirements for the machine you will be fine I can’t forget when I was a apprentice and at college this particular day I was full of confidence working on a planer thicknesser just facing a door style the cutter guard was set perfectly I was feeding the timber my mate was receiving the timber when all of a sudden I felt the draft from the cutter at my finger tips my hand whent under the cutter guard and fingers mm from the blade my friend was white as a sheet as I quickly pulled my hand back there must have been a god that day looking down and I still have my fingers.
As a hobbyist I have acquired power tools over the years and was taught by my father 60 years ago to be very careful in their use. Today I use them less and with caution as I prefer quieter and safer hand tools when possible. At times I still use a surface planer, bandsaw or table saw. I have been teaching a son-in-law the use of hand planes and one daughter to use a panel saw or gents saw in place of power tools as well as how to use a doweling jig and drill rather than a plate joiner. Its been fun and I hope that they will continue to learn to use hand tools as I would like each to share/have and enjoy mine in the future. Thank you, Paul, I have learned a lot from you.
The Sellers Home project has been huge plus for me. It’s given an added focus to concentrate on making for the everyday. What do I use, what do I need, what will enhance a space.
It also helped me progress and get more done because I can’t use it until it’s finished.
Different focus, more suited for me.
It seems to me there are two main groups of people that tend to get injured using power tools; the novice and the veteran. I personally enjoy them though I have a great deal of respect for what they can do.
If it can make sawdust, it can make dust out of you too, regardless of whether or not it has a cord. I enjoyed this article, thank you.
Hello Paul, I’ve only lately discovered your blogs and videos and love your relaxed approach to woodworking. While I’ve been interested in woodworking for decades (through my french grandad, who when not involved in both world wars, fiddled quite a bit with wood), I’ve only recently commited to doing some actual work (being actually unemployed or on early retirement, haven’t quite decided which yet). In quite some extent, thanks to watching and reading you. Through the years, I’ve built up a nice collection of tools (some vintage/collectables, some brand new) with not much criteria, and without really having used them. I’m aware that this is totally unrelated to this current blog, but I wondered if you or anyone around the blog could help me with two questions:
I’ve found among the stuff I’ve been collecting an old sharpening stone, stored in a grimy but tight fitting box, and I have no idea whether it’s an oilstone or a waterstone. I’m initially asuming it’s an oilstone, due to its age, and being boxed (I’ve seen loads of vintage boxed oilstones on the web but no waterstones). I can send a photo if that helps
On an other unrelated matter, would you have some advice for an outdoor folding workbench? I live in the old city centre in Madrid (Spain), that is no garage or shed, which means doing most of my woodworking on my dining room table and on an old battered B&D Workmate in the kitchen… (my dad bought that in the late 60s’ when we lived in London). I do have a tiny outdoor patio (about 6 x 4 ft). Would it make sense trying to build a fold-up bench in those conditions? And if so which material and design would you recommend? The weather here is mostly dry all year round (with occasional downpour in autumn and spring), extremely warm in summer and cold in winter.
And one last query: any opinion on the milkman’s bench? That seems quite straightforward for some small indoor woodworking.
Many thanks
Manuel,
Have you considered a low, sitting bench for outside? It could even double as a seat. It’s certainly a different way of working. Or just any low bench attached/clamped to an indoor table (although it could have a negative impact on the table!). Alternatively, if you have a wall outside on your patio that you could attach a hinged benchtop too with some diagonal braces underneath that used the wall for strength and stability, but folded down (flat against the wall) after use, that could be useful (you could even design it so that the benchtop can be removed and just leave fixings in if you don’t want it there all the time.
I guess there are many options, all a bit of a compromise.
Thanks for that, Rico
The folddown (or foldup) design hinged to the wall was pretty much what I had in mind. It would still be tiny, but I’m not thinking of working on anything large, and that would at least avoid the mess I’m making in my dining room…
I’m mostly concerned about the material I should use, which would tolerate outdoor conditions. I’ve collected quite a bit of assorted scrapwood (mostly from kips) and I was hoping of using that, to some extent. Including 2 huge chipboard cupboard doors which I was thinking of cutting down to size and then glueing together. That would allow for an extremely heavy 3 1/2″ benchtop. And add some sort of roll-down plastic cover to protect the bench from the rain once it’s folded. Although I’m not sure if chipboard would stand the temperature changes. Humidity is not so much a concern since rain seldom lasts more than a few days and then it’s back to dry conditions.
In any case, I’m bound to come up with something that works fairly well.
Thanks again for your reply
When I made my workbench with a BD Workmate, I first made the workbench-top which I then clamped in the workmate; it was a great improvement and really helped making the other parts of my P.S. Workbench.
So one solution is to make an add-on to your BD Workmate (but a little higher then just the top lying on the workmate as it is quite low.
The other option is to make a Moravian workbench which can be assembled and knocked down in about one minute. When knocked down, it occupies a very limited space.
It looks more intimidating than a Paul Sellers Workbench but it not really more difficult to do.
I just bought two molding handplanes at an antique store for 14 bucks each. I am gonna clean up and sharpen them. I am pretty excited to try them out and get a feel for them. I’ve never used a molding plane before. I used power routers for many years but now I just don’t like them. The loud noise, clouds of saw dust and all the general hassle of getting everything set up just to use it are not things I want to deal with anymore. I have an old Rockwell bandsaw that I use a bit but now most of my woodworking is done with hand tools. So much nicer not dealing with loud noises and sweeping up shavings instead of being coated in saw dust like I was a powdered donut.