Blogs

I received this question from another Mike wondering about the „original style“ vise on the Nicholson Bench.

Mike,
I hope this finds you doing well. I have a quick question regarding your Nicholson bench. I currently have a Nicholson which has a twin-screw vise rather than a copy of the original like you included in your bench. I've heard some pretty negative comments about the original style, but it certainly looks like it takes up less room than my twin screw, which requires 34". Would be nice to get some of that space back to make planing easier and more comfortable.

I am fairly certain that Chris Schwarz and I are Luddites! Many people mistakenly think of the Luddites as being anti-technology. What the Luddites were really striving for was the ability to retain control of the weaving industry as granted to them in the 1663 Royal Charter of the Company of Framework Knitters (stockingers).

The adventure and fun that was WIA 2011 is behind us now. Only 11 months to go until WIA 2012 (unless they change the date!). It was great to see old friends and meet some new ones. The Hand Tool Olympics went well and was a big hit with those that competed. I want to thank my friends who helped out in the booth, Tom Howard, Steve Schwabacher, Jeff Hand, John Griffin-Wiesner, Emily Bonhan-Owen, Dean Jansa, Nick Stahlmann, Bob Rozaieski and Mark Hochstein. This is a great crew of people and I couldn't do it without them.

If your going to WIA be sure to stop by the Hand Tool Olympics and have a go at some of the events. We are there to help with the events with services ranging from tutelage and encouragement to heckling as is warranted. Visit with members of SAPFM and view the furniture they have on display, ask them how they made it, have fun, learn things!!
Be sure to keep an eye on the Blogger's Challenge, sure they write about woodworking but where do they stand in the pantheon of heroes? There will be teams of 3 bloggers each competing for honor, dominance and plain old fun!

Our quest to make a frame re-saw began at the first WIA when we tried out Adam Cherubini's ver­sion. Adam's saw didn't work very well and we thought it was because the blade was too thin but we weren't sure. In making our frame re-saw or veneer saw we began with a bit of research. We looked at plates in Roubo and studied photos of saws in the Hay shop at Colonial Williamsburg, we also looked at examples of Swedish saws available in our area. The saws all seemed to be about the same size with slight variations on the hardware and handle shapes.

I just finished teaching a workshop for the Des Moines Woodworkers Association. What a nice group of guys and what great facilities they have access to! The Seminar room behind the Woodsmith store is fantastic as is Bob Saunders classroom space at his Prairie Rose Studio. There were eight students building a small chest with two drawers.

I hope to see you there competing in the Woodworking Olympics! The conference is always a good time and a good place to meet up with friends and rub shoulders with the famous and infamous!

The Woodworking in America team is proud to announce the dates for the 2011 Woodworking in America conference – September 30th – October 2nd, 2011, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

Mike

Our group worked together to make bitstocks John brought in a couple of old ones and we studied some photos to come up with this fairly standard design. We made them from hard maple. The body was sawn out and shaped by hand. While the body was still a rough blank we bored a 1/2 inch hole in each end , we made sure the holes were along the same axis and centered in the stock. The lower hole was made square with a mortise chisel.

The dovetail competition at the Hand Tool Olympics during WIA is always fun. The competitors run the gamut from skilled woodworkers to those who have never cut a dovetail before. For those who have never cut a dovetail before we guide them through making the joint and show them how it is done. For those who know how to cut dovetails we sometimes challenge them to a “throw down”, a head to head competition. These head to heads are usually accompanied with lots of humorous trash talk and posturing.

I hope that all of you that participated in the Hand Tool Olympics had a good time. We do our best to enter everything accurately. Keep in mind that this is for fun. Prizes were awarded to the winning conference attendee in each event and raffled to a conference attendee that participated in an event.
A big thank you to Bad Axe Tool Works for the donation of two tenon saws
to Lee Valley for the donation of 2 bevel up jointing planes
to Jim Bode tools for the donation of two 2101 Stanley/Yankee braces
to Ron Herman for two Crosscut and two Rip saws, nicely refurbished