The Bench

In the old shop a suggestion from my son gave me an idea that turned into the making of the best feature of the shop. Fasteners, gages, saws, files, chisels, sanders, grinders and a thousand other minutia that filled random places and boxes in the two barns, three sheds, and house that I called home. I created a massive construct of drawers to hold all the paraphernalia that I had accumulated. Thirty eight feet in length, it covered most of one side wall and all of one end wall. I used it to hold the South Bend Model C nine inch metal lathe with accompanying tooling, the Delta Wood lathe, two grinders, two drill presses, a microwave, and a multitude of little cabinets with drawers. It was a marvelous assemblage.

When I left my old shop behind I had plans for building a new and better one. To make that a reality I need a bench. I need to set up the tools that I have and the old benches in the basement and the garage were built for a family of giants. I’m six foot one and I can’t touch the wall behind the bench without a stepstool. It’s 38” tall and that would put the controls of the lathe at 46” off the floor. Just about chest high and totally unacceptable.

The new house came with a handicapped access ramp that filled half of the two car garage. It was a perfect source of wood for benches. Perhaps not the maple topped battleships that professional and wannabe professional woodworkers see as the ultimate expression of benchness. This bench is a step on the path to workshop.

I started much the same as the first bench by making a sketch of what it would look like. I measured the space it would fit in and decided it needed to be made in sections. The first bench was built in two sections. Trying to position a bench twenty feet long that had been built upside down was an enlightening experience. This bench will be four foot sections of base with a top that links them together into the twelve foot of bench that will fit in the basement shop.

The Tools

I had an idea that rather than trying to work in the garage shop and end up hauling the sections down to the basement I would build the bench sections in the basement. To accomplish this I thought I could use hand tools instead of power tools that the shop is not set up for. On the shop wall were ten or more hand saws in various states of workable. On the bench was mounted a Stanley 358 Miter box. With high expectations I set out to cut the pieces of the first prototype section. Last weekend I spent 6 hrs laying out the cuts and then another 2 hrs cutting the first frame section. I realized that the saws were too dull to cut straight.

Last night I got out the scrapers, sandpaper, saw vice, and files. I cleaned up the 5 point Disston Thumbhole Rip Saw. With an hour  worth of cleanup and sharpening the rip cuts were straight and smooth.

Today I cleaned and sharpened the Disston 12 point 28” back saw for the Miter Box. The cuts are greatly improved. I don’t have to clamp the boards in place anymore. The saw just slices through.

Next weekend I'll start assembling the frame sections.

I had considered the issue of using an auger bit for counterboringing a hole. The method that occurred to me was to place a pilot over the screw point to guide the bit in the center of the original hole.

I have tried using auger bits with damaged or less than stellar threads on the screw point. I found that they tend to stop cutting a few turns after the spurs have bottomed out and the radial cutting edges engage.

 

While randomly surfing the web tonight I find that once again what I thought was a new idea had been thought of before.

 

At the bottom of the page is a catalog listing for “Old Tools of course”.

Near the upper right side of page are Auger Bit Guides.

 

http://old-woodworking-tools.com/index/pages/050.htm

At the bottom of the catalog page under the heading “An Old Fellow” the writer suggests that the Irwin Style bit is an idea that had been thought of before also.

 

As he says “There is nothing new under the sun.”

 

Dave N.

aka Old Sneelock

Midwest Foundry

Now I know which Local I worked for back in 1969. In an earlier post I told you that I hired in at the Midwest Foundry. To work there I had to join the union. The Local 118.
Now I want find out if I can get a pension for the time I spent there. 

On the Old Tools List there was a discussion of how to create a Moxon vice. As always there are a great many good ideas and a few that are excellent.

I don’t claim this one as excellent but perhaps elegant in its simplicity.

Rather than using screw threads with all their attendant complexity of manufacture or procurement I’m suggesting an alternate method of using hold downs to provide the clamping pressure. 

Midwest Foundry in Coldwater, Michigan

When I graduated from Coldwater, High School, in June of 1969, my father had a plan. On the first of October in 1969 I would turn 18. He set out to insure my future. On my birthday Dad said I got you a job at the foundry.
Dad was employed at Midwest Foundry from 1951, the year I was born, until 1986, the year my son was born. He was a member of the union and served as union secretary for several years. He considered the job as his best hope for the future and wanted it to be mine also.
Now I come to the issue at hand. I worked for the Midwest Foundry for 3 1/2 years. During that time I paid into the pension plan. I'm now able to draw on that plan but I need to know the number of the Union Local that represented me. Unfortunately I can't remember what that number is and without it no pension. Dad and Mom have both passed and my family draws a blank on this one too. The Union Hall was at 93 East Park Ave, Coldwater, MI. Right across the street from the Midwest. It's ironic that it was about 3 houses down from my parents house, where I lived from 1962 until 1973.


Can anyone help me with this one?

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD - Repairing a smashed chisel socket.

Joe sent me a chisel. 

Why did Joe send me a chisel? 

Well Joe had a problem. 

On the 'Old Tools'<oldtools@ruckus.law.cornell.edu>; mailing list of which I am a proud member Joe sent out the following:

I've got a 3" slick (Ohio Tool Co) with a socket that is beyond
de-mushrooming. It needs the TLC of a skilled blacksmith. Someone on
this list actually has repaired/replaced such a socket and posted about
it - with pictures no less. But I can't find the name/site. I really
have no need for a 3" slick, but it's sitting there mocking me and that
just has to stop.

Anybody out there with the tools and skills to rebuild this thing for me
(at a reasonable price please!)?

Here's a couple pics of the current damage. There's 1" of socket
remaining, and the curled over end of what used to be another 1/2" or
so. The fat stuff looks to be some sort of cloth tape and although my
blacksmith skills are severely limited, I'm guessing that it holds no
structural value and could probably be removed.

http://www.joesbucketorust.com/images/OTList/OTC%20Slick%203.JPG

http://www.joesbucketorust.com/images/OTList/OTC%20Slick.JPG

Joe M.

Because the Old Tool List is a great collection of guys and gals who share their opinions, ideas, and a vast quantity of helpful advise with anyone who asks and sometimes before they think to ask Adam replied:

I sent this link to Joe this morning, but forgot to copy the list.  Dave
Nighswander posted a great series of pictures on a socket chisel repair
job (one year ago today, strangely enough):

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=205490&submit_thread=1#message

The links are split in the archives, so here's the photo page on GIC:

http://tinyurl.com/3vdpxts

--
Adam
Port Angeles, WA

Joe sent me a chisel. 

Actually Joe sent me two chisels. The top one is the Ohio Tool 3" chisel. The design is what is called a firmer chisel because it has squared off edges. The tool is made from wrought iron and a hardened tool steel blade that is welded on the business end. The bottom one is a hitchhiker that Joe sent along as a practice piece.

How does a person go about repairing a mushroomed socket chisel? First I find out what it's supposed to look like by verifying what it is.

Then I try to match it up against a pattern that is similar.

In this case it is an old unnamed chisel that resides in my chisel drawer. The the remaining section of socket on the Ohio Tool matched the taper on the no name socket. I had my pattern.

Then I need a mandrel to form the socket over. After looking through my various neatly arranged collections of miscellanious iron shapes, the scrap pile, I determined that I didn't have any object with a matching taper. I did have a rather large bar of iron that used to be a car axle. See dear I told you I would need it someday. It just needs to have a special taper on the end. Not to worry, I have a lathe and I get to claim another reason for owning said lathe.

But first I have to shorten the bar enough to fit in the lathe. I made a rather pointed argument about my feelings for hacksaws in another forum. (Old Tools) Put on your safety glasses the sparks are flying.

http://tinyurl.com/3b6th5u

Now all I need to do is chuck up the piece, center drill it, and turn it to the proper size and angle.

If you are really fascinated with South Bend Model C 9" lathes then go here: 

http://tinyurl.com/448gjtl

Otherwise go to the next picture.

Now all it needs is a 1" square shank welded on so it will fit in the hardy hole in the anvil or in the post vise in this shot.

With the mandrel made I heated the mushroomed area with an acetylene torch. The size of the chisel dictates the amount of heat needed to get the socket up to yellow where it can be reshaped. With this big of a part that little hardware store propane torch just won't cut it. On a really big object the gas forge will work quite well. If necessary the coal forge can be used but in this case it isn't needed.

(Sorry guy's I'll have to fire the cameraman. He forgot to turn it on for this step.)

After heating the curled edges of the socket the metal is pulled and hammered back into a semblance of it's original shape. Sometimes there is enough metal left to reform the entire socket. Sadly in this case there wasn't. The material had been stretched and hammered over the years until there was only 3/4" of usable socket left. 

A donor piece was found, I told you I was going to need that, and welded on the chisel. Before you ask: Yes, it could have been forge welded. I'm not a fanatic about blacksmithing with only traditional tools. Yes I do have a coal forge, anvil, post vise, tongs, hammers etc just like they had in 1860. I also have arc welders, torches, lathes, and abrasive cutoff saws. I use what works.

After heating the two welded parts, hammering them into shape, grinding and filing the socket, the chisel is back to working condition. 

I sent Joe back his chisel. 

Let's see I think I can find something else to do but then jobs just seem to show up. Maybe I'll wait and start in the morning.

Learning Curve

Today I spent an hour or so trying to work thru another learning curve.

Several years ago I tried sharpening one of my Grandfathers saws. I had little experience and no real training. My pitiful attempt created the expected result. I have since learned that the tooth configuration left on the poor thing is called cows and calves. 

Since then I have sharpened drills, chisels, planes, screwdrivers and myriad other edged devices but never another simple straightforward carpenters crosscut saw. 

I ran into my friend Sam a month ago. He congratulated me on my blog entries about sharpening auger bits. Then he said what I should really do is make a video about saw sharpening. 

I reread my sharpening books, studied videos, and went through the Galoot Central postings and pictures. The advice I gleaned from all this effort was to start with a rip saw, preferably one with a coarse tooth pattern.

Two weeks ago I was happily sorting through the remains of an estate sale and found a unnamed and badly abused rip saw with 5 points per inch. The potential victim and another crosscut saw followed me home.

Today I clamped up the victim between two boards, picked out a three cornered file, blackened the teeth and set file to metal. I ended up filing each tooth 1 stroke each over 3 passes and testing between passes. 

Not perfect but respectable results this time. Now on to crosscuts. I only have 10 or 12 to practice on.