by special request

A size comparison of the 16mm wagons.

For props I'm using an original 80Gb iPod (not the "Clasic" re-release) in a clear Griffin wrapper, and an Argyle "Bantam" 16mm scale loco (gauged at 45mm, so it's very slightly canted away from the camera). The track is Peco SM32 flex.

Michael, do I qualify for the bonus points?

scratch 16mm

I was very fortunate to recently obtain some items via an estate sale.

I was told that the late Mike South, a talented modeller in the Calgary area, scratchbuilt these 16mm scale (1:19.1) 32mm gauge (2') wooden 4-wheeled wagons. Little latches & catches, hinges & hooks abound. I am unsure if there is a prototype for these little gems.

A counterbalanced arm is fitted under one end of each car, equipped with magnetic chain to be pulled down to allow for hands-free uncoupling. I have not been able to try them out in a moving train, and I am a bit worried that they may be too delicate to survive a typical live-steam outing.

Some minor repairs needed to be made due to damage from shipping, and examination revealed that many of the finer details are not applied in a particularly robust manner. They may offer an incentive to create a small, operational diorama using a battery-powered critter. 

up and running

As of last week, there there are now two operational lathes in the shop!

One is an Austrian built, Emco Maximat V10P,

and the other is a UK built, Myford ML7 Tri-Leva.

Please note that the 80s era, faux wood panelling was already in the room when I took possession of the property. It's not even 70s era, real wood veneer. Shameful...

The Emco needs a little more work; its 4-speed milling head is not currently functional. During the tear-down and move from the original owner's shop to my own, we cut the power cable between the headstock and milling head. It's only a 3-wire hookup, and I wanted an inline disconnect anyway. Just a slight inconvenience and delay.

Ultimately, there will be only two lathes in the shop; this Emco and a diminutive, US made Taig fitted with a variable speed, 90VDC treadmill motor for very small work. The Myford shown, plus some other equipment, will be going to new homes at some future point (hopefully sooner rather than later). 

It was difficult to chose between the machines - they are products of different design ideals and each one offers a distinct list of pros and cons. In the end I decided that the power crossfeed, quickchange "speeds & feeds" gearbox, and sump style headstock oil system made the Emco a more appropriate fit for my anticipated needs. 

I had long coveted a Myford lathe of any kind so, when this one became available (freshly rebuilt), I jumped at it. It has proven more than adequate so far and, given the number of magazine articles dedicated to improvements and accessories for this machine, I've no doubt that it will continue giving good service for decades to come. It is merely that there are a few features I miss having on the Myford which I found handy on the machines I used during my time at school (see note above). I don't really have room for both big machines so one of them must go. 

Now, if I ever found a Hardinge HLV-H in good condition locally, changes would have to be made...

looking after things

It is said, in some circles, that your possessions own you. The more stuff you have, the more stuff you must maintain, repair, store, etc. Your either resign yourself to invest the time in regular upkeep or, when you actually need to use the item, you find that it's not in serviceable condition.

I've had a couple of recent, age-related failures around the house. Some of the items are necessities; i.e. you can't live in a house without having them in working order. These things have to be fixed; no option. So out comes the chequebook and other plans change to accomodate the unexpected situation.

Other things break down and can, in many cases, simply be done without. Trivially, how badly does one need toasted bread vs plain bread for example?

Yet more are chronic conditions. Not really inoperative; you can get by with the semi-functionality that comes with decrepitude, but it's generally a pain in the arse. For most of these situations, I have bought the necessary widgets for the repair but have not yet yielded to the nagging pressure to "Do something about this annoyance!"

I'll note now that I'm glad I don't own a century home. As much as I like the visual aesthetic, I can't see physically dealing with all of the wild and wooly things that can go wrong in a 100+ year old structure. It's bad enough in this 50+ year old cracker box. My energy level and enthusiam aren't high enough to meet the former challenge.

As far as hobbies are concerned, a similar situation exists. Often you can spend more time preparing for the work (and/or cleaning up afterwards) than you manage to spend doing the work itself. For instance, I find the prep and cleanup for airbrush work to be more trouble than it's worth unless there is a pile of backlogged models to paint, though I have found an Iwata cleaning station and some new paints to try that may reduce my overall expenditure of time and tip the balance.

Getting to the point of this post, my workshop space had simply gotten away from me. I would buy some tools, stash them in the room for 'someday', and go on with something else - repeating this cycle several times since moving here. Last month I'd had enough of not being able to get in to the shop and move about in a purposeful manner. Without resorting to the seven basic ballet moves, I could no longer traverse the short distance from the shop door to my modelling bench. Enough!

And so, reluctantly, I began to apply the now corporately popular "5S" process to my home work space. Sort, Set-in-order (Store), Shine, Standardise, and Sustain. While progress has been slow, I can already see a measurable improvement in my access to tools and materials. Must get the first 4Ss done so that the 5th has a chance to succeed.

Now, I've said publicly many times before that I have been "cleaning in the shop", so why am I still at it? To borrow a golf term, it's a "lack of follow-through on the swing". My previous organisational efforts have been like inexpertly chopping at a golf ball without visualising the path that it needed to follow to make the green. Sure, the ball moves, but that's only part of the activity. So everything that was done merely accomodated a short task without dealing with the big picture; how am I going to undertake complete projects in this space?

I've set a goal of spending between 1/2 and 1 hour in the shop each day; whether working on projects, cleaning, determining what stays or goes, or creating improved storage solutions for the items remaining. Making it easy to get at your tools and materials pays dividends on ever task you undertake going forward. In the last 9 days I've averaged well over an hour each day, so I'm fairly pleased (for now).

As an aside, I strongly recommend thorough photo documentation for any machine teardown/rebuild that you find yourself involved in. Due to bad planning, I have manged to forget how certain things need to be re-assembled. When some of my machine tools were purchased and taken apart for transport, I assumed that I'd be putting them back together almost immediately upon delivery to my shop space. This turned out not to be the case for two significant pieces. One, I have finally managed to get back to 95% of as-bought condition while retaining what's left of my hair.With the other, I'm going to experience significant difficulty as I do not have a service manual or original paperwork. Had I taken the time to snap a series of digital pics during the teardown, I'd be far better off at the moment.

Back to the shop.

3D thoughts

I recently ranted (at some length) in a comment thread regarding 3D printing. While I am a huge fan of technology in general, I have reservations and observations in this case.

3D printing is constantly being presented as being "all things to all people". It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries. Nothing is beyond its capabilities.

One industry big shot has even gone so far as to proclaim that owning a 3D printer will automatically make you into an Industrial Designer. Presumably it will work the the same way digital cameras & photo printers made everyone into Ansel Adams, and word-processors made everyone into Ernest Hemmingway. Pure, unadulterated bullshit.

Hey, I just bought some scalpels, come and see me for your next elective surgery! 
No, I won't hold my breath waiting for your arrival.

With the advent of 3D scanning requiring no special hardware, an STL file can be generated for (almost) any object outline. The ability to transmit files anywhere in the world at the push of a button means that (virtually) no shape is out of reach of any person or locale. The plethora of problems associated with music and video piracy will pale in comparison.

If you're just talking about semi-functional representations of a real item, or as proof-of-concept, or as a development tool, then 3D printing is an acceptable route. When the finish level improves such that extensive secondary operations are no longer required, I'll adopt the technology for model-making. But I won't (for the foreseeable future) use it to make a hammer that I'd try to drive nails with.

It takes REAL skills and knowledge, that most people do not have and are not willing to obtain, to MAKE REAL THINGS. Any slack-jawed troglodyte can push a button to generate a COPY of someone else's work (see RIAA and MPAA note above).

People with the necessary skills are certainly out there making great things, but just owning a tool is not going to magically convey the hard-won abilities necessary for using it. 3D printers do not generate items with the true material properties of the original. In some cases, the resultant attributes may be sufficient, but not under all circumstances. 

Ultimately, making useful, functional and/or beautiful things depends on the talent of the maker, not upon the tools they use. 

just because I can

When I'm in Toronto, I often get a chance to visit the Harbord House pub.

Good food, a good selection of beer, good service.

What more can one ask for in a restaurant?

woody wins

Thanks to my penchant for digging through piles of mouldering, tool-shaped objects, I've recently met up with a fantastically talented artisan names Nigel who restores and makes his own wooden hand planes of all varieties. I was able to visit his shop and learn a pile of cool info that would have been hard-won through mere reading. Together, we attended an antique tool show in Pickering (the next one is in November) where I was coached in obtaining a number of hollow & round planes for making a range of mouldings. I also scored some necessary bits and pieces to repair tools that I've already collected. We are going to stay in touch as I move along in this fascinating hobby.

With respect to the digging itself, I found some treats.

(clockwise from lower left) A 1/8" side-bead moulding plane, a Stanley #4 with a very heavy bed casting, a 30 degree ovolo moulding plane, a Stanley #78 duplex rabbet plane, and a mill file clamp used when sharpening hand saws. A fence and rod for the 78 were located at the vintage tool show mentioned above.

Recently, Lee Valley Tools held a series of day-long demos on joinery. I was able to make it to their Toronto West location and speak at length with woodworker John Giancola about how he approaches various tasks. During our lengthy discussion, he recommended two books - one on dovetails by Ian Kirby, and the other on a complete course of hand tool instruction by Paul Sellers. I was lucky to obtain both, although the latter of the two was the last copy (the heavily guarded display copy) in the store. Amongst many other tidbits, John stressed:

• cut the mortises first; it's easier to fit the tenon to the existing mortise
• aim for a tenon between 30-40% of the thickness of a typical joint
• divide tenons larger than ~4" into two, but retain the haunch

John also offered advice on how to adjust my rigid-frame coping saw to increase blade tension, and on upgrading some of the irons in my older, metal-bodied planes. It's great that Lee Valley offers this sort of unstructured event for Q&A.

time goes by

Yep, it's been a while since I made a post.

Events over the last couple of months (especially) trace out a line more like a roller-coaster than a steady trend of up or down.

The joys of a semi-rural locale have manifested as septic system woes (how serious and expensive has yet to be determined), random blackouts, brownouts, and sags in the power grid, and more water in the basement  than is healthy for wood and paper products. 

Lessons learned? 

• A good UPS for the computers (check), 
• spike protection for major electronics (check), 
• candles & matches (check), 
• LED flashlights (check), 
• an old-school phone that plugs into the wall (check), 
• no more cardboard boxes (in process), 
• properly adjusted & tested back-up sump pump (check), and 
• more than a little patience.

Due to moving things around in a mild panic during the flooding, I can't find much at the moment; pretty much everything is now in opaque plastic bins. Labelling is about to begin - if I can remember where the labelling materials went.

Speaking of bins, I was able to take a break from the chaos to help a friend move many bins of cool stuff to his new abode, discussing various aspects of storage, display and access to his collection. His library makes mine look tiny in comparison.

The recent weather has also proved troublesome. We've been experiencing wild swings in temperature and humidity, a particular combination of which resulted in an ice storm that damaged the two largest trees in our back garden. The willow lost three large branches, and the birch two. Had I actually gotten the garden railway track installed last season as intended, a large section would have been smashed by the willow's downed limbs. 

Luck or fate? I don't really care at this point - tardiness appears to be its own reward. Maybe I can salvage some workable raw material.

A visit to mum & dad resulted in me being trounced at cribbage yet again. Much good home cooking was consumed, and I was able to refurbish a handful of countersink drills for dad's own woodworking projects.

More on wood in a moment...

check, please!

If you decide to use commercial track products for your layout or modules, BEFORE you start laying these on the baseboard and pinning or gluing them down, CHECK the gauge of each and every piece with a proper NMRA (or other regulatory body's) measuring tool.

Seriously.

I have experienced at least a half dozen separate instances where the commercial product's rail are not in gauge, and can't be corrected. The latest instance involved removing a turnout from a ballasted right of way while making a minimum of mess. Not fun.

Every turnout, every crossing, every piece of sectional or flex track needs to be checked before it is installed. Items that are not in gauge need to be returned to their place of purchase as defective. These items are produced in batches and can vary as enviromental changes and mechanical wear occur.

While you're at it, verify the electrical arrangements of each turnout's point & stock rails with a continuity tester. This is especially important in DCC applications where the optimal situation is to have each point rail the same polarity as its adjacent stock rail to prevent shorting when wheelset's back-to-back distance might be a tad tight. I have had two turnouts where the short rail section after the frog had become isolated from the rest of the route (the wire bond underneath was broken) creating a dead spot.

Save yourself some pain and check first.

a-musing rehash

I've been meaning to update my series of posts "modular musings" on this blog for quite some time.

Recent events and discussions with other modellers reveal that portable layout design, DCC systems, and electrical wiring (in general) are all topics that could stand some review and discussion.

Over the next few weeks, I will try to update these posts with more observations and links to relevant information.

Stay tuned...

timing is everything

Lots of stuff going on lately.

Model Railroadish stuff, mostly.

A trip to the Amherst Railway Society's big train show in Springfield, MA offer ample chance to blow one's mind with possibilities. Add to that a heaping goodie basket of new things from the various vendors...

Travelling with local traction modeller extraordinaire Roger Chrysler was a real treat; I'd be more than happy to repeat the process for any train show I can think of.

However, unexpectedly, I had to debug the S Scale Workshop's layout on Friday afternoon. Due to time constraints, I was attending the show for Saturday only, and had not anticipated being able to enter the show grounds ahead of time. Through sheer luck & good timing I was in the same building as the layout late in their setup phase. Workshop member Andy Malette of MLW Services spotted me while I chatted with Jeff Adam of Motrak Models. Andy hauled me back to the layout to see what was going on.

The DCC system was giving the group fits. I found several things wrong over the course of the next hour or so:

• three custom made, twisted-pair (Cat5?) LocoNet cables were causing the throttle buss to spasm
• one LocoNet UP5 panel was not daisy-chained correctly
• a rail gap had closed up at one turnout, shorting the track buss
• a damaged Tortoise had been replaced but the frog power routing had been compromised, shorting the track buss when the points were aligned for the main.

The first three issues were isolated and sorted out fairly quickly by halving the layout's busses until the faults revealed themselves. The last item could not be readily repaired as that Tortoise is part of a complex control panel comprised of momentary pushbuttons and LED route indicators that doesn't lend itself to tracing wires unless that module set is laying on its side; which was not practical at that point in the setup.

One issue I should have dealt with was to ensure that the Command Station was centrally located along the track buss. The layout was about 80' in length this time around thanks to some excellent new modules built by member John Johnston. Our habit has been to hook the Command Station into the buss about 8' from one end. Not such a big deal when the layout is in the 40-50' range, but it gets much worse as track buss lengthens. Next time...

In the end, the layout was operational for the weekend. I was able to come back on Saturday after lunch and, while the rest of the crew ran trains, chat with the general public and other modellers who viewed the modelled scenes and trains. Some great questions were asked and many compliments were made.

It came as a pretty big surprise to the crew when the Amherst Railway Society's committee stopped by at about 4 PM and awarded us "Best in Show - Layouts" for 2013. We are certainly honoured to be recognised in this manner. Needless to say, spirits were running high for the rest of the weekend.

milling about

Finally finally, finally got the Taig mill up and running again.
The only defective part has been me (ta da!).

One of my laments, before it was all disassembled and packed away for the (long ago) move to my new domicile, was the lack of workholding devices that were provided with the machine. The secondary market was also a bit thin at the time. But it's a machine tool; you're supposed to make things with it.

Taig's T-slots on the milling bed are not the same size as most other mini-mills; even a 1/4-20 threaded rod is really too big to use. Taig favours 10-32 hardware and (for the mill) includes only a couple of elongated, flat steel nuts. Injudicious use of the cap screws when tightening up will cause scoring of the T-slot bottom. A more elegant solution is demanded.

Certainly, there are 3rd parties that now sell accessory clamping kits for the Taig. However, it's time to make something (see end of 1st paragraph) for it myself.

Once the vertical column was trammed, I dug out the ER16 collets and the largest milling cutter I could find in the boxes (3/8"). It turns out I have several larger ones but they wouldn't do the job any faster in this case. The Sowa toolmaker's screwless vise was installed and squared up.

A 1/2" square bar of aluminium (6061?) was inked and scribed to the dimensions required, then clamped in the vise on top of two parallels. Flakes flew off the sides as I carved a 1/8" x 1/4" step into each long face of the stock. This produces a nice sliding fit in the T-slot while still not jamming on every strand of swarf.

Tomorrow's task is to mark out the holes, drill, tap and de-function-ise the bottom threads to prevent the screws from passing completely through. Then I'll mark off and slice the individual T-nuts from the bar. Later batches will be sized for both the lathe saddle T-slots and the front lip of the mill.

a measure of treasure

About a month ago I found a (fairly) local tool dealer known as Grandpa's Treasure Chest. Owner Larry Darbyson has been keeping his eyes open for a full set of Irwin auger bits for me.

Earlier this week Larry dropped me a note saying he'd found a likely candidate. I made the time to take a trip out to meet him in person and it was one of the most pleasant visits I've had in quite a while.

Larry received me in his cozy workshop. For nearly two and a half hours we poked and prodded through stacks of vintage saws, bits, planes, chisels and other necessities of life. Too many choices, too much to consider! But, in the end, I found myself in possession of a solid Stanley #7 jointer plane, a 24"x4" steel backed Disston mitre saw, and 12/13ths of a set of Irwin bits in a neat wooden case (sans the 15/16ths size). Additionally, Larry was able to provide a fluted countersink for my brace, plus both 1-1/8" and 1-1/4" augers and a Miller's Falls #47 expansion bit.

Frankly, it was a real treat and a morning I won't soon forget. Larry is doing a stellar job of keeping these valuable devices of the past out of the scrap heap and in the hands of woodworking enthusiasts. I'm already looking forward to future opportunities to interact and converse with Larry.

smooth moves

Recently I was helping my dad wire up a 2-track staging yard for his O-16.5, Welsh inspired portable layout. Dad already had the yard built and attached, so I just packed up my VOM and other electrically necessary tools for the job. The wiring itself was easy.

The staging yard is a removable shelf that attaches to the back of the quarry section of the layout. Trains enter and leave the sceniced portion through a hole in the backdrop.

The intent is to be able to park a couple of short trains off scene, and selectively power one track or the other. The layout is controlled with a Stapleton walkaround DC throttle so a simple on-off-on toggle did the trick in the new yard. A flying lead equipped with Anderson PowerPole connectors brought power from the quarry section.

The entrance to the yard was via a curve ladi across the edge joint and, due to some dimensional assumptions, there was a short slope from the backdrop down into the yard tracks. The included 18" radius section lead directly into the point end of a Peco insulfrog turnout.

And this is where the trouble all started.

One section of rail at the frog end of the "previously enjoyed and slightly shortened" Peco turnout had an intermittent electrical connection. In addition, the points are powered from their adjacent stock rails via small wipers attached to the base of the point rails. As a loco was moving across the turnout, slight shifting of the components made the electrical contact fail unpredictably causing jerky motion or stalling.

I was performing my functional tests with an HO P2K SW 4-axle diesel that (normally) runs beautifully. However, dad only uses 0-4-2 Bachmann and Peco/Branchline locos on the layout. When placed in service they wouldn't make it across the turnout without constant poking and prodding. A bigger issue turned out to be the track geometry itself. The short slope at the backdrop caused the cab end 2-wheel truck on the Bachmann locos to drop down and leave the track entirely, and the curve leading into the shortened point-end of the turnout caused the loco wheels to pick the point tips and derail.

While the equalised chassis of the Peco/Branchlines 0-4-2 engine managed the distance better than the rigid frame Bachmann "Anglacised" On30 Porters, the consistency of operation was not sufficiently high. Something had to be done.

After much filing and adjusting, Dad & I came to the decision to alter the brackets holding the yard shelf to eliminate the slope. He then tore up the track to improve the flow by inserting a short straight section just before the points. The turnout itself will be replaced by a live-frog version so that the short wheelbase locos can enjoy fewer interruptions in electrical pickup.

I'm still waiting to hear if the planned corrections have eliminated all of the problems. The physical distance between our homes makes it difficult to collaborate effectively.

Lessons:

• avoid sharp transitions in vertical and horizontal planes
• avoid curves leading into point end of turnout
• use guard rails where necessary
• ensure close fitting joints on curves

this plane is grounded

I finally took the time to start refurbishing the Stanley "Handyman" H1204 plane I picked up a short while ago. It's supposed to be a present for my brother-in-law (as far as I know he doesn't read this blog).

as found...

Disassembly was easy; there simply aren't that many parts. As I expected, the bed and frog castings were heavily painted, so neither the bed-to-frog nor frog-to-iron matings were actually solid.

I trued the sole of the plane and cleaned up its sides using medium and fine emery papers laid on my surface plate. The mouth is in decent shape; I don't want to open it. The mating surfaces of the bed and frog had all of the paint cleaned off with my least important single-cut file.

in pieces...

I took a cabinet scraper to the tote and knob, removing a cracked, nasty, shiny black paint. I'll still need to sand these handles before I refinish them with a Minwax stain.

The tip of the cap iron was cleaned up and flattened where it will contact the iron. The iron was then sharpened using my DMT red/blue and 5000 grit ceramic "stones". I picked these up at the now defunct Bingeman's Wood Show in Kitchener a year or so ago and they are working well for me. A bit of camber was added to prevent the iron's corners digging in on wide boards.

Reassembly of the components was straightforward, BUT...

I now understand why the plane was sitting forlornly (yet not too bad looking) at the antique barn. No matter how I adjust the frog, I cannot get the iron to square up with the bed; the left edge remains out of contact unless the adjustment lever is set over to nearly its limit. I assume that the previous owner(s) had little luck using it for any but the most basic planing tasks; there was no evidence of adjustment of the frog at any point in its life so I can only assume this is how it left the factory..

The iron has been re-ground dead square on the Delta grinder + Lee Valley grinding rest combo; there were some massive nicks at the edge. The mouth opening is squarely located on the sole.

back together but not ready for prime-time

The only solution that presents itself is to accurately mill the mating surfaces of the bed (fairly easy) and the frog (more difficult) to guarantee the iron's alignment. The next task will have to be (finally) setting up the Taig mill which has been is mothballs since before the move.

I think this is a good thing.

boxed in

I was able to kill two birds with one stone recently by combining wood working with model railroading; but not building a piece of rolling stock or a structure, or even the benchwork supporting the track.

Just knocking together a couple of boxes...

My friend Trevor Marshall wanted to add the use of waybills to the operating sessions on his S scale "Port Rowan" layout. Many operations-oriented modellers use cut-down representations of prototypical railroad forms - often stuck in little Masonite pockets on the front of their layout fascia. Trevor, however, didn't want to adopt this methodology. He was after something more realistic in appearance to hold his paperwork.

After evaluating several pictures of real waybill boxes, he eventually stated a preference for the Southern Pacific style. Based on the visual aesthetic, I had to agree.

 one basic shell and the start of the second

The real boxes are made of plywood and are quite tall, but the Port Rowan layout fascia would not allow a full sized box to be attached without intruding into the scene. I scaled down the box while trying to retain the functionality.

I needed to reduce the size of the materials to effectively reduce the size of box, but they still had to be robust. Sections of 1/2" and 1/4" poplar were used to create the box, with cast brass hinges & hasps from Lee Valley Tools replacing the (likely) zinc-plated steel hardware of the original.

heavy duty hardware

Brass #8 and #4 fasteners were obtained to attach the hardware; they really should all be slot-head to match the era. The hasp screws may yet get replaced if I can locate a handy source.

Overall dimensions are 2"d x 5-3/4"w x 8"h. A forward-tilting lid (not shown here) is 7"w x 3"d and 1/2" thick. The 1/4" thick front flap is taking on a bit of a bow in an obvious effort to "weather itself".

You can see the prototype inspiration at Tony Thompson's SP blog entry about their own waybill boxes. Trevor has already created a blog post about the installation of these two items on his layout, with links to (much better) pictures of the finished product.

gathering up

I've located and/or obtained a few more items in my quest to fill out a primarily hand-tool workshop.

Last week's trip to a flea market yielded a motley collection of spiral auger bits (from various manufacturers) for my braces. I had to paw through the dimly lit and rusty piles of tool-shaped objects to locate the most promising ones. My plan so far is to try to de-rust them using electrolysis, then sharpen and polish as required. I doubt the full range of diameters is represented, but I still have an iron in the fire for a complete set of Irwin or Jennings bits.

Today's antique market visit yielded a #4 Stanley "Handyman" H1204 plane - but not for me this time. With a little rehab work it should meet the needs of my brother-in-law for his recent woodworking interests. The Handyman line was a little on the light side in terms of construction, but can still be made functional. Should he reject it, I can easily turn it into a scrub plane for my own meager efforts.

While perusing a garage sale last month, a friend of mine grabbed three drawknives he thought I might be interested in (yes, I have great friends). Two of them are in excellent condition, merely requiring sharpening. The third is a little wonky in its handle-to-handle alignment, leading me to believe it was run over at some point - it may yet be made useable, though.

I'll be very interested to try the Lee Valley froe that I picked up last week. An old maple tree on our property had to be cut down before it fell down of its own accord. I've kept the majority of the wood from the trunk; the sections may or may not prove workable at this point. A couple of old wooden baseball bats will stand in as mallets until I can fabricate a proper whacking stick for the job.

Between the drawknifes, the froe and the various bench planes I already have, I anticipate being able to extract some usable lumber from short sections of tree trunks. This could turn out to be well beyond my capabilities, but I am sufficiently interested to give it a try. I can't see simply burning the entire maple that grew for 50+ years on our property without trying to capture something permanent from it's carcass. There are a number of other possible sources of stock in my area that could yield enough material for boxes, small cabinets, and basic furniture components. Given the price of good wood at the retail level, I think it deserves an attempt on my part.

Still outstanding on the list of desired items are a shoulder plane for cleaning up dadoes & tenons, and a #7 or #8 jointer/try plane for dealing with the long edges of boards for glue-ups; there's not much else I can think of that can't be made in-house. Sure I'd love a full set of chisels, some sash & panel-raising planes, and an infill smoother but these are all going to have to wait.

There is still a good deal of work ahead of me in cleaning up and tuning the vintage items I have already gathered. In an oddly comforting way, I'm really looking forward to the process. I'd better start thinking about a proper tool chest to put them all in!

to buy or not to buy

Yesterday I visited A&M Wood Specialty (again). They were celebrating their 40th anniversary with an open house event. Lie-Nielsen Tools were there, as well as a luthier, Sauer & Steiner Toolworks, and Steve Der-Garabedian, the instructor who has taught me a lot about working with wood recently.

Sauer & Steiner make some of the most beautiful infill planes I have ever seen, but their cost is well outside my range. I didn't think anything but a scraper could take shavings as fine as I was able to make with their planes.

Had a good chat with Steve about the processes and equipment necessary for veneering using a vacuum system. He pointed me to Joe Woodworker's site for the relevant info on making your own vacuum rig. Lots of other great info there as well.

Despite the generous offers on shipping & brokerage, I did not make any purchases from Lie-Nielsen. Their staff gave great demos of many plane types and various techniques. They also took the time to describe why you would use certain blades and differing frog angles to work different woods.

Oddly enough, I have (almost) enough tools for what I want to do. I know, it sounds very unlikely but it is true. Trying to work primarily with hand tools does impose some limits on what you will buy. You can go wild accessorising a table saw, but there's just not much to add to a 7 tpi panel saw filed for ripping.

I am, of course, still looking for a few items - such as a #7 jointer plane, 3/4" shoulder plane, crosscut carcass saw and a full set of auger bits. The only critical one is the carcass saw at the moment. I will try to resurrect a small, fine pitch "toolbox" saw and give it a shot, but I fear that the lack of an integral spine will create some problems achieving the accuracy I am after.

I ended up purchasing nothing at all; not even more wood for projects. This time it was the knowledge that was of the most value.

draughty in here...

I used to own a draughting board. I made it in the Wood shop at high school. Most of a 3/4" thick, 4'x6' sheet of cabinet grade ply ended up as the top. The frame and legs were made from 5/4 poplar, with through mortises and lapped mitres. Based on the finished results, the teacher asked me to make him a table, too (a great compliment, frankly). Everything from deck design to charcoal sketches and Dungeon maps happened on this spacious worktop. Many years later, it was sold to a fellow who did technical illustrations. I vaguely regret the decision to do so, but I'm sure it did the job for him.

One of my classmates had made a smaller "artists" table with a tilting top which was equally adept at doing small draughting jobs (up to C size). I inherited this board when he passed away and enjoyed using it as a sketching surface for several years. A fairly talented watercolour artist was thrilled to become the new owner of this table as her primary work space; I'm sure its creator approves.

Fast forward a few years; I was required to take a course on technical drawings as part of the machining programme at a local college. It was supposed to be "Interpretation of Engineering Drawings" which, as the title suggests, is an analytic exercise. However, by the time this course was to begin, it had somehow magically transformed into "Introduction to Basic Drafting" (sic). Back to the drawing board, indeed. Surprisingly, I was able to locate my cache of supplies from high school, avoiding an extra cost but not the disappointment at this ham-fisted re-jigging of the curriculum.

The college was in the middle of an upgrade effort at the time and, as luck would have it, I was able to obtain one of their old, parallel-equipped boards for homework completion. A good size and more convenient than using my venerable T-squares. Upon finishing this programme, the board went on to a college girl undertaking Interior Design. I hope it serves her well.

While I have some facility with CAD software (both 2D and 3D) there are still many tasks which are made more pleasant by having an actual, physical board to putter about upon. My better half recently located a portable board of decent size which I quickly commandeered and re-assembled. It is equipped with a sliding parallel and is meant to be used while resting on another table top, making it dead easy to put away when not needed (a triumph compared to having a 4'x6', limited purpose table sitting in the room). Once again the pencils & erasing shields are out...

Seems I can't really live without a draughting board of some kind. I guess I'm just old fashioned.

vote early, vote often

Shopping has become a necessary evil.

Some stores take the evil part too seriously.

All you need are a few small items. That's it. Nothing rare or exotic. No special orders.

You get to the shop, and are presented with any or all of the following:

• no items left in the bin, despite assurances from the online inventory check
• a single item left in bin, but damaged in some way
• item in the wrong bin
• item with no bar codes
• staff that don't know what they sell (notes 1 and 2)
• staff that don't know what you're talking about (notes 3 and 4) 
• you are forced to use "self checkout"
• the self checkout is filthy and badly labelled with poor instructions
• the self checkout scanner is scratched up so badly it can't actually read the barcodes
• the on-hand staffers are computer illiterate and can't actually help you

You can help!

Vote with your money! 

Stop spending your cash at places like this! 

With luck, it will make them go away!

note 1: The staff didn't know the difference between aircraft shears and tin snips, nor did they know why the handles on the shears come in different colours. 

note 2: After hunting through the shop fruitlessly looking for "stain pens" to touch up damaged furniture, the staff said "we don't sell those kinds of things". On the way out via a different aisle, a wide array of these items were found hidden in an area that had nothing whatsoever to do with stain, furniture, or even pens/markers.

note 3: On two seperate occasions, I needed elevator bolts and Chicago bolts. The fastener aisle was, as usual, a mess in terms of any logical presentation. Not a single person had any clue what these items might look like, and only a couple had the vague idea that I might want to "look in the section where the bolts are".

note 4: I needed to mount some pictures in frames with glass and backing boards so I went looking for glazier's points. Blank stares from the shop staff. I did get sent to a big aisle full of pre-hung windows. That salesperson also had no idea what these strange mystery items might be or where they could be found.