Dovetails

First attempt in alder.

Well it's been about 2 months since I've made some stuff. I've been practicing dovetails recently and here's what I've come up with. My first attempt was in class with 2 tails in alder and it's inferior to my second in poplar (both softer woods). The one in alder is not very tight and had wide gaps from bad cutting and it apart and reassembling it time and again. The second in poplar is considerably tighter with much smaller gaps. It took a couple of taps with a mallet to get it all the way in but it looks much better and was more carefully cut. From cutting the first joint I learned to look more carefully when paring towards a final fit and not to take too much. From the second joint I've learned that the chisel will wander when chiseling away the waste so be aware of that. I took some lessons here from James Krenov's book The Fine Art of Cabinet Making. I'd also recommend Krenov's A Cabinetmaker's Notebook to anybody who's interested in quality workmanship and quality.

Second attempt in tulip poplar.

I should also say a couple of things about cutting myself. First, have sharp tools. As sharp as you can make them within reason. Although it's easier to cut yourself with a sharp tool the wounds aren't anywhere near as bad as cutting yourself with a dull tool. I cut my hands about half a dozen times in the last few weeks and I'd take those cuts to a single cut with a dull tool. When using a dull knife you have to push harder and are more apt to slip and really hurt yourself. The cuts on my hands are from grazing myself while moving tools and the cuts are so shallow and fine that I don't notice I'm cut till I've bled on my work. Those small cuts heal up in a day or two. The other thing that I'm going to say is that you should blunt the side's of your chisels. I was told this by my instructor and I never thought about it again till I noticed I'd gotten a few cuts in the side of my finger where I hold the chisel when making small cuts. Since you lap the back of the chisel it makes a fairly sharp cutting edge where it meets the side. I'll include a picture to illustrate this. I guess if Roy Underhill is okay with cutting himself then so am I.

Cuts on finger from holding chisel as below.

Make sure to blunt the sides.

James Krenov for A.

Roy Underhill Woodwright's Shop on PBS

Small Keystone Retaining Wall

This wall was built in a client's yard. It used a pallet of small keystones (as far as I know there are only 2 sizes).

First we dug a trench which tougher in some areas because the elevation changed about 6 inches over the course of the wall therefore the trench was deeper by a few inches where the ground was higher. The other obstacle in the trench were roots from a dead tree. They were removed with an axe and hand mattock. The rest of the trench was dug using a Japanese hoe.

After the trench was roughed in we filled it with about 2"-6" of #2 building sand for leveling and drainage. One person poured the sand, leveled and tamped while the other person followed placing and leveling stones by adding or taking handfuls of sand till each stone is nearly dead level left to right, front to back and with the stone next to it. If the stones are not level you propagate errors as you gain height. What looks passable on the ground level may cause the wall to lean forward or backward or the stones may not sit flush on layer 4 or 5 because you were sloppy on the first layer. Let it also be said that man made stones are VERY forgiving. They're all the same shape, they stack and step back perfectly, they're soft and therefore easy to cut. Just make sure that you get the first layer pitched and leveled correctly because it's the only one you can tweak easily.

We had to move the jade from in front to the rocks to the rear

Once the first layer is set it's just a matter of stacking stones till the wall is the height you want. In this case only 3 stones high. I also cut some stones in half with the circular saw and a diamond blade to fit into the ends where they butted up against another object like a planter box so that the ends were vertical instead of stepped down. We back-filled with the remaining sand and native earth. We topped that off with about 3" nice looking stone in 2 sizes then got we fancy and bordered the specimen rocks and the keystones with the smaller decorative rock.

Different sizes of rock

View from sidewalk

Backyard Garden

8-9-2010

This project was started in a spot in my backyard that looked plain. I had some SF cobblestones and plants lying around that I got for free so I decided to design something with them. It started with clearing the area using shovels and hoes. After planting the tree aloe (Aloe arborescens) in the back I lined it with rock then I used the rest of the rock to make a number of small planting spaces and incorporated the rose and other bush into the layout. The tree aloe got planted in the back because it's tall and looks good against the fence. I thought the shorter medical aloe (Aloe barbadensis) paired well with the stump although they may get relocated later. I plan on burying the rest of the rocks into the ground about a third and filling the planting areas with extra dirt, work castings, wood chips and more free plants.

This is what I started with

Stump Planter

This is the stump planter.

Materials

• A big piece of wood
• Drill
• 1-3/8" Spade bit
• Hammer
  
• Chisel

This took me 3 days of hard on and off work to finish when it could have been done in one day with the right tools. I bored out much of the waste with the drill and spade bit then cleaned out all the waste with the hammer and chisel. The drainage holes are drilled down at 45 degrees then holes were drilled in horizontally from the back to meet them (sorry that there are no pictures to illustrate this right now). After the project was completed I consulted a woodworking professional and a gardener who both said I should have used chainsaw to rough out then the chisel to clean up. I was not a fan of using the spade bit for large waste removal because it gets dull quickly and if it catches or jumps it's really painful on the arms. The chisel was great for removing the waste and cleaning things up just make sure that your tools are sharp. A sharp tool is good to the user and the work a dull tool can hurt both and takes forever. I planted using free succulents from a friend and placed some in some native rock.

Rock Planter

This is my rock planter

Materials

• 4-1/2" 10amp Angle Grinder with a 4-1/2" Diamond Blade
• 3lb. hammer
• Masonry Chisel
• A rock. In this case SF Cobblestone

First I made a bunch of parallel cuts in the rock with the angle grinder near the center. Put the chisel in one of the grooves and smash out the waste with the hammer. You should start to create a depression in the center of the rock. Keep making parallel cuts and smashing out the waste. Alternate the direction of the cuts after you knock out each layer of waste. For example cut left to right then knock out the waste thereby eliminating those lines then make cuts from top to bottom, knock out the waste and so on. Keep the cutting area well away from your edges because the angle grinder can kick out and damage the top. Once you've gotten the hole deep enough scratch out the edges on the top of the rock and cut them. Hopefully the hole and rock are large enough to fit the blade deep enough to keep cutting. Otherwise you need a larger hole or a smaller blade or a larger rock. I know that there are 4" diamond and composite blades also there is a small Dremel diamond blade that I've not tried (it costs as much as a 4-1/2 blade ~$15). Pictures to come

This kind of stuff

This is a place for all of the stuff I've made. I'll post build logs and finished products so that you can get an idea of how to make something I've made. If you have suggestions please post them as I frequently do things the hard way.
Soon:
The Table
Rock Bowl
The Wall (and patio)
The Stump
The Garden
The other wall