Japanese Toolbox - Ash and Walnut.

Been doing a little carving tonight.

Thought I would share a Pride and Joy.

 

Made this a few years back to keep my carving tool rolls in.

But I wanted lots of Air to circulate around them.

So the boxes float while being encapsulated by the Walnut frame.

 

 

Book-matched Black Walnut.

Ash pegs.

Lots of hand cut dovetails, no jigs,

just to practise getting my eye back in.

It had been a long time.

 

LOADS of chamfers on everything!

All by hand with a block plane, because I am that sort of guy!

Wrap yourself with wonder

I have this thing where I must remind myself of the priorities.

An inspiration sheet is part of that.

 

Research what you want to make or similar inspirational products.

(this can take 1 hour or 1 year)

Make a single A4 sheet of the best images.

Print out and stick up in workshop to refer to.

Write down how long it takes to make as you go along on the sheet + notes

File when finished with a date on.

It works for me.

 

 

I do have a nice file now with lots of information in.

Oh yeah, I can't stand cheap Poly Pockets as I use them all day.

Nothing like a firm heavy duty micron plastic pocket at the end of the day.

AHHHH Stationery snobbery...

 

Oh yea I have machined out a few Holm Oak Kanna here.

Also a massive looking Spokeshavey thingy.

God knows who designed that.

What a nice Fokker

You know on the one hand I blame this on my older brother.

On the other hand I thank him I suppose.

 

For my oldest sons 7th Birthday he got an Airfix kit from my brother.

A German Fokker DR-1.

Now I am sure you all think he got him the plane to practise his Airfix skills.

Me? I think he had this wicked idea my son would go to school...

'Hey what did you do over the weekend?' a school pal would ask...

'Oh I built this cool Fokker with my Dad!' would be the innocent reply.

 

Just imagine show and tell.

Or me explaining how to pronounce it.

Ummm. He is a teacher as well, should know better.

God all 3 brothers are teachers now, crazy turn of events.

 

Anyway we made it - he loved it so all is good.

So that is on the other hand, bonding time in the workshop is invaluable.

The highlight of an often noisy and chaotic life.

He seems to know not to refer to it by name.

He knows he should not know if you know what I mean.

 





 

We do loads of Lego, REAL Meccano (not this new rubbish)

and of course designing and making,

So Airfix could be a new addition to our life!

Cheers blood, here's to the much bigger Spitfire I have my eyes on,

It is Christmas after all!

 

This is the real one below just in case you were wondering..

Holm Oak

Japanese Oak (from an old Kanna) on the left.

Holm Oak (right) from one of 2 boards I have had in the workshop for a year.

 

It just so happens this piece is about right for Mk2 (!) on the spokeshave.

It planes really cleanly, feels denser than Japanese Oak,

and it is very heavy too.

Holm is an ancient word for Holly - it is an evergreen Oak.

 

Now I have a little experience here (not much)

so will start to share my top tips for Japanese Spokeshave building.

 

1. A rectangle is best, this is 33x22mm (I have a thing about numbers)

2. Stay approx 2mm from the line when preparing the bed (to a flat line)

3. The curve is pared in slowly when the blade is tapped in a little at a time.

 

When I get making again I will show this in more detail.

Can't wait...

Confession Time

Nothing much happening around here lately.

Too sick to make.

But I do have a confession to make, the reason I have not

finished this spokeshave yet.

Over the last week or so I keep fitting Lignum Vitae mouths...

and they keep falling out!

 

 

Note - those were not my Kinder eggs in the background, honestly.

But the chocolate is very nice, apparently.

 

You can see her evidence from about 5 attempts.

So what is going wrong?

ummm...

The only thing I usually do that I have not been doing is wiping the Lignum down with acetone prior to the application of the glue, but then again I have never tried gluing to Jarrah before?

 

I have used this technique to successfully glue with EvoStick wood glue and used tools like this for many, many years.

I have of course tried Titebond Polyurethane adhesive as well...

Still came off when I applied a tap to it...

 

So a few days ago I resorted to cutting a compound angle

and dovetailing in a piece of Ebony instead.

Used Polyurethane glue - thinly applied to both pieces and got a

nice glue joint as I hope you can see.

 

Below you can see the foam after the glue has dried, typical of this glue.

 

Anyway this brings me to the last part of my confession.

I am binning this spokeshave - back to the drawing board for me.

 

WHY?

 

Well 2 main reasons:

1. I do not like the 60 degree angle (sorry David!)

2. A mistake in clearing the mouth means I have created 2 small shaving traps

these are just behind the sides of the blade and these annoy me.

 

However...

Lots of lessons learnt, here are just a few:

 

1. Do not use the best wood for the first attempt

2. Use easy to work timber for the first attempt.

3. Its great to work on  blade fitting before shaping

(in case something like this happens!)

4. Remember your own golden rule Berin...

''Most mistakes happen during roughing out''

(well they do for me anyway!)

5. When researching a Japanese tool, Google the Japanese characters.

6. As Max Ehrman said

 ''Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in times of sudden misfortune''

7. I think that I could be onto something perhaps:

Holm oak is amazing and possibly our best substitute for Japanese Oak?

You now know what I will do once I am well again...

8. There are lots of ways of making a spokeshave,

some work and some do not.

9. Keep to your original plans -

should have borrowed that Japanese Spokeshave for reference,

but then again its just a kanna with handle after all.

10. Its a lot more simpler than it looks outside and

lots more complicated than it looks inside.

I am having a hard time getting to the workshop lately.

Too many things going on, life and job in the way.

It is a hobby after all.

I don't feel great either...

 

I have gone a bit crazy here and I am using my freshly sharpened

Engineers scraper like a Sen to remove material.

Thought I could thin down this blade like a proper saw.

Just having a go - I will let you know how I get on.

 

I quite fancy making a Japanese Sen actually...

(the traditional scraper used in Saw and Sword making for example)

 

 

This is one made by Tasai:

 

 

Perhaps I should commission you Garrick?

Hey you reading this?

How much for a super hard blade to take shavings from tool steel?

Don't worry about the handles...!

 

There are loads of forums figuring this out going back to 2006.

Laminated or not - use of old files etc.

 

Spokeshave in Jarrah

Slowly but surely, about 3 hours work now.

 

Marked out, ready to cut out and pare back.

 

After lots of deliberation which amounted to simply an

aesthetic / functional consideration,

I went with the user - a strip of Lignum Vitae!

(considered using an end grain piece but...

it chipped due to the short end grain...)

 

Glued up, almost considering keeping the octagonal section...

But then again maybe not!