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About wooden plane restoration Step 2 Initial Assesment

October 14, 2015, 8:18 pm
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See here for Part 1 Identification

Now that we have some indications of its rarity and value, it is time to go over its condition to determine what need to be done to bring it back into a good user.
Collecting notwithstanding, my primary reason to buy old tools is with the intent to put them back into service.  When I look over a tool I'm thinking of buying, my first question is always: Can I make this thing work as intended or not?

The only time I will make exception to this rule is if I am after specific parts or it has some value to me as an example to understand a tool development.

The first things to look at are the overall condition of the wood parts: Body (stock) and wedge.

Is the body straight? Unless you are intent on making circular mouldings, it would be impossible to plane straight mouldings if the plane stock is bowed.
That happens more so with narrow profiles such as small sizes H&R, beaders, snipe bills etc. Anything with a narrow profile will of course be more prone to it.
The wood species used and how it was cut from the tree would of course influence that down the road. But bottom line, wide planes, because of the deep cut on one side for the side escape mouth are not immune to warp. Beware.

So one of the first thing I do is to sight down the sole.
Next, I want to see how well the iron profile is matching the sole profile.
Sometimes, the irons have been swapped and you end up with a miss matched plane.  Years ago I once brought back one from Scotland like that :-( That's when I learned that lesson!

If the blade and the profile of the sole don't match, the plane will not work, PERIOD! Oh, you'll make some sort of shavings, but the end results will be nowhere near what it is suppose to resemble and or the plane will quickly jam.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, part of my assessment routine is to give it a good cleaning and touch up the blade(s). This way I can uncover defects that are sometimes hidden under rust or grime, and stop any further deterioration.

Full disclaimer, I normally do not do that in the kitchen, but...
Yes Dear. I cleaned up after :-)

On wooden object my first step is to give it a good scrubbing with Murphy soap full strength with a soft bristle plastic brush, followed by a gentle scrub with an old 3M worn green scrubby. I followed with a rinsed brush to get most of the soap off then give it a good wipe with paper towels then a rubdown with an old T-shirt (cotton). I do the same to the wedge, paying particular attention to the surface that contact the iron, sometimes rust make hard deposits on the wood part and on the tang of the blade.  BTW, I try not to wet the inside of the plane throat.

On the one I selected for this run thru, I'm also curious if I can resolve its maker stamp better, I have a hard time making out if the first letter is an E, F or R...

Often a god scrub will reveal better a weak stamp hidden under years of grime.
Also when shiny wet, the shadow plays different.

Humm a bit better but still hard to make out, lets try the pencil rubbing method

Not easy to get a good lift, I can easily pick up MASON, 
but the first letter is still??
Sprinkle some Talcum powder (Baby powder)

Rub gently with your finger

Wipe even more gentler with a soft cloth.

Th owner name is really standing out, so does MASON, 
but again the first letter is ??

BTW, after further examinations, I'm satisfied that the first letter is an R. so R.MASON it is.
My American guide list an C.R. Mason & Co, but I doubt there is anything past MASON, and I'm pretty sure there is nothing before the R.
Need more research...

Once dry, I go over the body with a straight edge to assess its condition.

I sight along the edge toward a light.  Not looking for machinist straight, 
but no big dip or wonky surface.  It is wood, not a machined block of steel!

So overall the body (stock) of the plane is in good condition, the sole has no issues. The mouth area is crisp, the sole well burnished.
At this time the body will show some matted area as it is drying, that's OK, I'll give it a rub with oil later finished with a buffed wax finish to protect it.

Time to turn our attention to the iron. 

You did not think I was bringing my sharpening station 
to the kitchen, did you?

A quick rub on fine sandpaper, just to give me some indication of the flatness condition of the blade without removing much.

I go down to 220 sandpaper to go quicker.
Note that I'm also touching the part of the tang that will be pushed 
against the bed by the wedge.

Similarly, I pay attention to the tang part against which the wedge press against.
See the rust bloom on it?

A quick touch up of the edge follows in my version of Ralph's jig

I used my two DMT diamond paddle: Black, (coarse), Red (fine)
followed by a leather strop with LV green honing compound

At this point, that is all I do to the blade, I'm just assessing it.
Can I go past pitting at the edge? If yes, good to go!

That is the minimum routine I do to my wooden planes to assess them, they have not touch wood yet, don't know how they will perform, but don't care.
I know its condition, I have stop rust and other damages, both the wood part and metal part are protected: Wood oiled and wax.  Metal sharpen then oil wiped. Often I used WD-40, because it displace water, its a good thing.
Some time as part of its treatment, I'll also use Autosol, which leave behind a protective coating.

Bottom line, I do as little as possible not to change or alter the tool. For example, if I was to work on making the sides of the blade straight, I would be changing its radius (wich is 60 degrees of a full diameter circle). I would then just give it a quick cleaning with a rust eraser, just to stop corrosion that's all.
If more severely rust, I would drop it in an Evaporust bath.

Once fully dry would be reassembled, not before.

It is now ready to go joined the rest of its brethren in my plane till.
Whenever I have a use for it, that's when I would fine tune the blade and paying attention to the bed/blade/wedge interface.
Why stop now? Because it is strictly in storage for now.  If I were to sharpen the blade to perfection, there is no guarantee that it would remains so for my next use. I normally touch up my edges before starting work, it is just part of my routine, especially that I now have a proper sharpening bench available :-)
And the shape its in now would cut wood no problem, I'm sure, but yeah, I would refine it some more...

Next part, we will do the final tune up and make some shavings.

Bob, who has an "Hollow"-graphic memory about his tools :-)
Translation: they sometimes go into the black hole of my Random Access Memory...
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About wooden plane restoration Part 3 Fine tuning

October 17, 2015, 11:15 am
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Were we finally get ready to make some shavings...

Part 1 Identification
Part 2 Initial Assessment

I normally would go thru these steps once I have a need or an urge to do it, but for our purpose, we will just keep going.

Once the plane has been given sufficient time to fully dry and acclimatize itself to its environment (it is after all wood, remember) it is time to re-assemble it and fine tune its critical parts.

First up to bat is the critical interface between the bed, the iron and the wedge locking everything in place. If we cannot get this right, everything else is futile.

Here is a different plane to show areas in need of improvements.
Notice the gaps between the wedge and the blade and the bed.

A good visual with strong raking light would reveal any bumps on the bed area.
Often, these bumps are made up of rust incrustations and you should be able to scrape them clean.  Go easy, we don't want to cause damages, just clean up the bed.


One of my favorite tool for that operation is a chisel with a blunt 90 degrees square edge.   It will not cut, but will scrape.  Don't have one? Sure you do, take one of your chisel with a nicked edge, file it flat across the edge to take out all the nicks, you now have one... until you finish sharpening it :-)
Take care not to cause blow out at the critical mouth edge. A regular sharp chisel work also but it is too easy to dig in the bed surface, you have to be very careful and methodical.  Again and again... less is more.

The two sizes chisels I used. One has to be small enough to fit inside the wedge mortise, the other wide as possible but not too thick to injured the critical mouth area. The black crud on the bench is from scraping. That's all you need to remove to ensure a better fit, NOT wood. The black crud is rust incrustations.

Next we put the iron to the bed and slide it up and down.  Feel and see how it fit.
There shall be no rocking !
This may require a combination of touching up the back of the iron, including part of the tang and the bed itself. Go easy, check often. Stop when the blade sit solidly, no rocking, on the bed.

Insert the blade as usual, from the bottom.
Feel how it slides in.

Especially as the business end of the blade start to touch the bed

Slide up and down and ensure it is smooth, feel no bumps or rough spots

At this point you probably noticed how easy is this to bend the narrow tang. It is made of wrought iron, then there is a small piece of tool steel forged welded at the blade end (on the better blades).  Later blade (not tapered) are sometimes made entirely of tool steel. Easy to tell, the tang would be less bendy and shiny.

Notice the shiny tang, this blade is all tool steel, bonus ! 

The tang part sticking out the plane stock is not critical, but try to make sure the whole blade is straight, and flat.  NO twist.

See that small hump, it should be removed...very gently.
NO ham fist, just gentle pressure. Go very easy, you don't want to weaken and break it. As long as the area inside the mortise is flat, STOP

Once your blade is flat where it count, be careful when taking it out of the plane to sharpen it, it is very malleable iron (wrought iron) and it bend all too easily.
A gentle squeeze in your wooden faced vise would be more than sufficient and easy on it.  If you tap it with a hammer chances are you will leave marks which should then be sanded out, try to avoid that !

Next we introduce the wedge.  One thing I forgot to mentioned on my assessment part (part 2) is that I check to see how well the wedge fit in its mortise.  Reasons are, often the wedge is not original.  It either got mixed up (easy to do trust me), broke or got damaged and was replaced.

Since this one has a tapered iron, the wedge 
should obviously show a tapered fit

Checking how the wedge fit without the blade, 
don't force it, just hand pressure. The mortise opening and the wedge are often damaged when trying to wiggle out the wedge.

Good time as any to remind you how to properly set and remove the wedge, in ANY plane using a wedge.

Remember the wedging action caused by the ramp? If you rap the plane stock with a sharp blow on the toe (front) the blade will advance (rank)
If you rap the back, the blade will retract in the body, but the wedge will loosen and the blade may drop out.  Hint one of my hand is under the blade, or above the wedge if holding the plane upside down,.
ALWAYS hold the plane anticipating the wedge action so that you don't drop the blade out... And after any adjustment, tap on the wedge to lock your setting.

NEVER try to tap out the wedge with blow on the bottom of its round finial.
NEVER wiggle the wedge to loosen it. These two actions will damaged the wedge and / or the mortise mouth on top

ALWAYS used a wooden mallet (or wooden faced mallet) to tap the body or the wedge.
And preferably a metal instrument to tap the blade tang.
RULE TO GO BY Wood on wood - Metal on metal.

The size of the instrument matter less than you think.  A bigger mallet or hammer will not cause more damages than a smaller one, IF you are choking on it and using less force.
Too small one and you may have to rap sharper on the body to effect changes.
And a smaller faced mallet or hammer will leave ding marks.

Typical ding marks on the heel. Obviously using a metal hammer...

Bottom line a proper plane hammer is a good thing and a very personal choice.
After a while it becomes second nature to tap judiciously the plane body and blade to effect minute changes.

ABOUT THE WEDGE FIT

Remember that all the cuts that made the plane were mostly done by hands and there are therefore lots of small variations ( just look at the variety of bed angles found in my sizing up H&R)

The wedge was originally fitted to a specific plane body... Hint, there are sometimes marked with matching marking on the stock,  it is a good thing...

Pay also attention to the tip of the wedge, it plays an important role in ejecting the shavings.

Moulding planes are used at the bench going Right to Left, that means most of them eject their shavings toward the bench (mouth opening on the Right hand side of plane)  Others eject on the other side (off the bench) as opposed to bench planes which as you know eject their shavings on the top.

Here is an modern example of a very poorly designed rabbet plane.
The size of the mouth , the clunky wedge, poorly shaped, are all indications of modern fabrication without paying attention to all the important design features of a once perfectly executed plane design refined a long time ago...

Are the shavings ejecting to the left?

Or are the shavings ejecting to the right?

Look at the chunky wedge tip and huge gaping mouth.

The wedge tip has a triangular tip and the mouth has the same chamfered opening on both sides. Which way are the shavings going to eject?
The rounded openings are so far away from the shaving actions, it wont contributed to much...

Here is for comparison, a properly executed rabbet plane.
This one clearly eject the shavings to the left.

That rabbet plane was made by Casey Kitchell & Co, Auburn NY (inc)

In order to throw the shavings the right or to the left, the tip of the wedge is shaped with a ramp, forcing the shavings to turn right or left.
When that tip is broken or misshapen, that function is impaired and the plane will choke.  The all too familiar bunching of accordion folded shaving in the mouth.

This one has a round chamfered opening on the side of the mouth 
to help curve and eject the shavings better. Is it necessary?
 NO, but the wedge tip is still critical

A more modern metallic plane such as Stanley No 78 rely on the cap shape (equivalent to the wedge) to throw the shavings left.

See the small rounded ridge on the right hand side of the cap?

You can clearly see it here. That is all there is to turn those shavings out.
And yes, it is often choking with a bunch of shavings piling in up in there.
In this design defense, our hand location on the fence contributes to that choking.


Here is a properly wedge shape. it is from the plane we are working on, the R.Mason's one

View from side.

View from bottom, see the black oxidation spots from the iron.

View from top. It should come to a nice pointy end.

This is the wedge from the first one pictured at the beginning. 
That rust incrustation is preventing the wedge to sit properly on the iron and must be removed.

This is how I fixed my wedges. A gentle sanding action (220 grit) on the faces that mattered the most, the bottom which is pressing on the iron, which most often would be showing signs of rust incrustations. If the pointy end is not flat on the iron, chances are shavings will get trapped between it. But before you go sanding down that wedge too much, remember that will make the wedge narrower and it will go down more into the mortise.  Sometimes it is best to cut back and reshape the pointy end.  Again...you guess it;  Less is More



I also do a quick pass on all sides. Very gentle pass, I still want to ensure a good friction fit, but nothing to impair, or stop its fitting on the bearing surfaces .

With the wedge solidly locked, you should not be able to move the exposed large end of the blade.

Wedge is simply pushed in by hand, not locked.
Notice how I can move (rock) the blade between both pics.

That should not happened if wedge is locking correctly. 


You probably noticed that some planes have tapered irons (older ones) and some have a flat iron (newer ones).  The tapered one work better with the wedge action, because we have in effect opposing wedges. Tapping the top of the wedge locks things up, but the blade trying to push back up from planing wood also lock things up in this case.  Makes for a very solid connection!
But for all that to work, everything must fit nicely within the confines of the mortise for the blade/wedge.

For now just tap the wedge in to lock the blade and check how the tip of the blade is supported. If the wedging action of the tip of the wedge is further up the blade (short wedge) two things start to happens:
1- The blade will be more prone to chattering, and
2- The tip of the wedge is too far up to properly help ejecting the shavings out of the  throat.  Can you say...choking or jamming!

Looking back at the pictures of that modern, poorly designed rabbet plane above, you can guess that it will never be able to work satisfactorily!
So why on earth did I get it?  It is a perfect, bad example :-)

Think twice before starting to plane down that wedge.  Are you sure you have the right wedge?  How much are we talking about?  Hint a light sanding should be all that is required.  As with any kind of restorations, less is more.  Proper action is when the blade is solidly locked, flat to the bed, no visible gap between the interface bed/blade/wedge
Watch out for a twist in the blade, it is very easy to introduce twist while sharpening, using a jig such as Ralph's is a big help to prevent that.

Once everything is lining up solidly, it's time to check it out.
I touched up the blade some more, but understand that moulding planes do not have to be extremely sharp to work.  Nonetheless, they should be sharpen for the wood at hand. If it is tearing up, go back and revisit the edge.
If its leaving a nice burnish surface, leave it alone.
When the edge start to crumble, scratches lines start to appear. Stop and touch up the blade before you need to regrind the profile to go past those scratches.

The initial bevel on them was between 25 and 30 degrees.  If it becomes blunt too fast, make it steeper (toward 30), if you need it sharper, go toward 25 (shallower).  The type of woods you use and the bedding angle (pitch) both affect the ideal blade geometry.
Moulding planes intent to be used for carpentry work (mostly in softer pine etc) are bedded at common or regular pitch (45). Between higher pitch 50 (half pitch) and 60 (York pitch) they were intended for working hardwoods.
Harder woods need a steeper blade bevel (toward 30)

Just remember that every-time you touch up that edge, ensure you did not inadvertently changed the blade profile, nor its width.  To change the bevel angle you can use micro bevels.

Blade is sharp, bedded solidly. Profile is a good match to the sole. 
Wedging action is proper. Ready to try on wood and tweak 
the edge of the blade as required. 

The plane has no fence, and only its sole profile to guide it, it could use some help to get started ...
You could use a fence, but its kinda cumbersome and not always feasible.

You need some sort of a groove to help you get the plane started.
This is getting rather long so we will see that on the next part.

Next will also do something fun to introduce you to the possibilities afforded by having a few of them in your tool chest.

We will need:
- Ralph's moulding iron sharpening jig, and sharpening medium
- Bob's H&R table
- A stick moulding jig, sized to your bench (explained on next part)
- One pair of Hollow & Round planes
- One or two gouges (Size of Hollow and gouges depend on the scale of your work)
- A flat chisel or gouge
- A Rabbet plane or Shoulder plane, or Duplex plane (Stanley No 78)
- A template, sized to our tools
- Some pieces of clear straight grain hardwood. Avoid highly figured wood, moulding planes are designed to be used on clear, straight grain hard or softwoods.  You get crispier results in hardwoods.

A suivre... (Stay tuned)

Bob, gathering materials and tools...and sharpening
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About the sharpness levels required on moulding planes

October 21, 2015, 7:47 am
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My next posts about using them (building a moulding stick jig and making a Linenfold panel are currently in the holding pattern.  Heather is back at home having completed her first round of palliative care radiations.

She is having all kinds of side effects from it, none pleasant, but it should go
away within weeks to months, no two people being the same.
So for now, I'm playing nurse to her and don't get much shop time...


In the mean time I want to address a conversation I'm having with Ralph regarding how shiny these blades should be...

Like I said earlier, these H&R comes in a varieties of slightly modified forms:
- Various bedding angles (pitch) from Common (45) to Half pitch (50) all the way to York (60)
These various angles are to better address the types of wood you are working with.
The British planes, perhaps because their furniture makers were using more often exotic woods brought back from the "empire" and beyond (Think Mahogany, Rosewood, ebony etc),  made theirs with higher pitches (50 to 60) than the North American makers, who made theirs more often at common pitch (45 ish)
Look at the angles found on a small samples of mines.

Ralph reported that the one he is sharpening is working so so in pine but make beautiful work in cherry, and has some issues in oak (normal since being more stringy).  That would be normal. That one currently with its pitch angle, sharpening level on his blade (he like them shiny), and its bevel angle all are apparently currently tweaked to work better in close grain hardwood (Maple, Birch, Cherry etc).

So what can you do different to make it perform better in say, softer woods like pine or stringy woods like oak??

First understand that some of the criteria's affecting its results are fixed (like the pitch of the blade and the blade being straight or skewed.

That leave us with only two other variables:
- The sharpness level on the blade, and
- its bevel angle.

So back to the original question: Just how sharp should you make it?
Sharper fix a multitudes of sins, but in this case, it cannot overcome the plane limitations (up to a point).
That leave us with the realization that you would need either a different pitch plane, or using a skew iron one.

Doing some research on line, I saw some advocating sharpening their moulding plane's irons to a bazillions grits (talk about shinny, should use sun glasses :-)

In my experiences, it does not make much differences. The higher the pitch, the more of a scraping action than cutting. What is more critical is how durable that edge is. That's why the blades came originally at various bevel angles between 25-30 degrees.  A lower bevel angle, bedded at a lower angle, translate into more of a paring action, I.E. it cuts easier, but the edge is more fragile and can crumble faster if used in harder woods.

Conversely in planes with higher bed pitch (toward York) the scraping action is murder on the edge, hence why the bevel angle is raised higher toward 30 to beef up behind the edge (more resistant).

BACK TO SHARPENING

A higher polished blade is going to stay sharper longer, because the level of shininess indicates less visible scratches, it should crumble slower.

But, the problem with high level of shininess is that it can easily mask a subtly rounded edge...

Understand that sharp is simply two FLAT surfaces mating with ZERO thickness. Of course that is impossible to attain, but when you approach that zero thickness, comes a point when you cannot discern anymore light reflection at the edge, because it is then too narrow to reflect light at you.

You can work for hours raising that edge to a high level of sharpness, and very shiny, just to kill it in one NY minute by poor stropping action, burying the edge in the leather and rounding the end ever so slightly... And you may not detect it, until you attempt to cut wood.

Moulding planes irons profiles poses some challenges sharpening them because of their irregular shapes.  Good news is you only have to touch up that bevel edge rarely after first working on it, you then maintain the edge sharpness by touching only the flat back. Yes occasionally you may have to touch up the bevel to take out chips etc. but not very often if you are careful.

Ever notice that a stock scraper profile is cut almost straight across with a file, then sharpened simply by working the flat faces?  We take a similar approach with our moulding plane's iron.
ALWAYS TAKE CARE NOT TO change the profile of the cutter while sharpening, work on the flat!

When I originally sharpen mine, I start with 220 Grit sand paper, then move on to my diamond paddles (black and red) and give it a quick strop on a leather strop with LV green compound, that's it! Plenty shiny, (look at the last edge pics on Step 2 initial assesment)   When using them, I will then tweak its edge depending on how it react with the wood.

This is very much like what carvers do all the time.  We stop and strop often our edges, changes the bevel angles as required for the wood and the type of work we do etc.  It soon becomes second nature and you go thru the steps quickly without thinking much about it.  We are talking minutes changes, no drastic modifications requiring grinding a new bevel angle, think micro bevels.
Either that OR change tools for the wood.  That's why carvers have so many gouges/tools tweaked for various jobs in various woods.

Similarly, you may find you need more H&R of various design (Skew, higher pitches etc) depending on what kind of woods you uses.

BOTTOM LINE

At the initial stage, work on the bevel, ensuring there is no pitting at the edge, go ahead and flatten the back (past pitting at the edge), polish it to whatever degree you like, but since we are often touching up the flat often to keep it sharp, you should keep using the last grit you use or you will kill all that shininess you work so hard to attain initially.
Of course the higher the grit, the more work to maintain the edge (slower).

SOOOOO, we have to find a compromise between blinding shiny and shiny enough to work and easy to maintain.

Truth be know, moulding planes do not required super sharp edges to work correctly, so don't waste you time going nutso on them, make shavings instead and look at the profile left.  Uses that as the ultimate determination of having achieved the right amount of sharpening for this plane bedded at X angle for this type of wood.

Before you go back and sharpen some more, try different woods, see a difference?   If its better, stick to that type of wood...or...get another plane (pitch, skew etc)

And remember stick with clear grain, straight grain woods.
Working on the edge of wood (end grain)? Good luck with that!!!
Some wood may be possible, but they were never designed for that.
Scraping and sanding will fix that surface left on the end grain.

All that to say, understand the tool and its limitations.

Bob, working at his computer "bench"


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Favourite Woodworking references; Books

October 28, 2015, 5:39 pm
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That's right; not favor but favour :-)

I am definitively not getting much shop time these days, so here goes another post from my computer bench...

A sampling from my library, you will recognize some I am sure, but there are probably a few you never heard of?

Part 1 BOOKS on Techniques for working wood.

The encyclopedia of Furniture making, by Ernest Joyce.


First published in 1970, my copy is a revised edition with Alan Peters published in 1987.  This is a very complete book covering just about any operations, joints and etc. often used as a work book by various school.  This book was THE required reference for some of the woodworking classes at Rosewood studio, when they were located in Almonte Ontario.  They have now moved close by in Perth, Ontario.

Continuing with classes texbooks, here are some oldies;

The complete book of woodworking, by Rosario Capotosto.


First published in 1975, mine is a 6th printing edition from 1978.
I know, I'm dating myself :-)... Heavily power tool oriented, typical of the day, it is nonetheless quite complete, from trees to how the wood is prepared to building various furniture design, including wall partitions in a house and some typical house repairs.  Not only does it cover the usual power tools such as tablesaw, radial arm saw, bandsaw, joiner etc. but in a nod to the home users it also covers the basic handtools operations and even the Shop Smith multi power tools contraption.


Modern woodwork, the Steck Industrial arts series, by Ralph J. Vernon


Copyright 1954. Typical  of high school woodworking classes, this book is specially targeted to students and is designed as a classbook, complete with Standard Student Accident Report Form. Throughout the various chapters there are questions with spaces provided for answers.  At the back of the book there are a few typical projects which some of you probably did if you attended woodshop in those days. I still have my first projects I build back in the 60s, an octogonal stool and a three legged table.

The handyman's book, by Paul N. Hasluck


Originally published in 1903, it is a compilation of various work by Paul, who was a very prolific writer in its day. My copy is from Bracken book and was published in 1995.  I quite like this book, it is a treasure trove of information on everything about working wood by hand, of course.  I was first attracted to it for the in depth info on how to use and care for various WW tools, some I never knew existed at the time.  This is where I first learn to sharpen center bits and etc. properly. Highly recommended.

The complete woodworker, edited by Bernard E. Jones


Although, I cannot see any original credit for it, it is definitively 1920s by its appearance and the tools illustrated inside, there is a reference to Stanley Rule & Level Company (1857-1935), and the chapter on making moulding is devoted entirely to the Stanley No 55 (1897-1962), a planing mill in itself. In my humble opinion, you are better to stick with the classics Hollow & Rounds to make moulding, but heh!
It is quite a complete reference book on the subject of working wood.  It is billed as one of the "Great classics in the field". Never heard of it before I found that copy...
My copy was published by 10 Speed press in 1980.

Now lets jump a few years and look at more modern references...

Woodworking: The Right Technique, by Bob Moran
(to my French reader: Not to be confused with Bob Morane, the adventurer :-)


Published by Rodale press in 1996.  What I like about this book is the fact that most operations are shown using three different techniques, using different tools, either power or hand tools.  Very neat, it shows you how to get by with the tools you have. It also has a few jigs throughout to facilitate or make safer some operations using power tools. Quite complete.

THE MASTERS:

The fine art of cabinet making, by James Krenov.


Originally published in 1977, mine is a copy published by Sterling books 1992.
Not quite a How to Book Per Se, it nonetheless covers a few techniques and tool setup, along with his infamous dowels carcass construction method. A very interesting read.

Worker in Wood, by James Krenov.


Originally published in 1981, mine is a copy published by Sterling books 1997.
Definitively not a how to book, but give more insight to his way of thinking and his design process. A nice gallery of some of his work.

Furniture-making techniques, by David Charlesworth.


The best from Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazines, a collection of articles he wrote for the magazine.
Guild of Master Crafstman (GMC) Publication 1999.
Anything from setting up tools a la Charles to making some in wood such as a spokeshave and marking gauges.  Charles is well know for being quite fussy about his tools, some would say fanatic, but regardless of where you stand on that subject, you could learn from the man... 

Although not shown because I cannot locate my copy at the moment, lets not forget Tage Frid teaches woodworking in 3 volumes

GREEN WOODWORKING

Green woodwork, working wood the natural way, by Mike Abbott.


Guild of Master Crafstman (GMC) Publication, first published in 1989, mine is a 1998 publication.  Take a look at the minimalist woodworking tool kit on the cover, I count 11 tools on his tool's tote. Make that 12 with the gouge he is using to turn at the lathe, but it is still amazingly minimalist for sure. A great book on the subject of working wood, green from a British woodworker.

Country woodcraft, by Drew Langsner.


A hand book of traditional woodworking techniques and projects.
Rodale press 1978. Drew and his wife Louise have been running a school
Country workshop for many many years... 
Peter Follansbee started learning woodworking green with them years ago, need I say more? A very well illustrated book showing various details of appliances and techniques to build a variety of green woodwork.

Cedar, by Hillary Steward


University of Washington Press originally published in 1984, mine was published in 1995
I love this book, because it is all about the mighty cedar tree of our Pacific coast and how our aboriginal people (First Nations) have work this tree for eons, long before us white men shown up on the coast and introduced them to metal implements. Fascinating what you can do with wedges and etc and how you can fell giant trees without saws or axes.  If you want to learn what can be done with cedar, from long houses to small boxes and trivets etc, this is a must read.
For those who knows and respect the spirit of the cedar.

A reverence for wood, by Eric Sloane.


Originally published in 1965, mine is from Ballantine books 1974
Perhaps best knows for his drawings, Eric published various books of historical values, but none is better known to woodworker than by this book.
A real gem depicting the long relationship of man with trees and how various part were harvested for various implements. Contain some great drawings of long forgotten tools and implements, techniques etc. A must in your library!

Sawpower, making lumber in the sawmills of Nova Scotia, by Barbara R. Robertson.

Co-published by Nimbus publishing and the Department of education, Nova Scotia museum in 1986.  I was attracted to this book to learn the history of sawmills in Nova Scotia. What I did not expected to find was the levels of details to be gleaned from old photographs of saw mills employees. Leave it to a woman to see an angle must of us would have overlook. She can spot the sawmill operator (the sawyer) from the group along with the owners if present by their clothes! The premises being that the best paid employee was the head saw operator, he could make or break the operation depending on how he cut the logs for the best yield and best product. Interesting, but make sense when you think about it. He is therefore always one of the best dressed in the group pictures, and his deportment make him stand out from the bosses (when they are present in the pics) and the remainders of the employees)  I never looked at old picture the same way since I read this book many years ago...:-)
It covers the technology from the first wind power saw mills to water then steam and electricity and their impact on the traditional pit sawyers and the growth of urban sprawl fuel by the demands for wood.

Next part we will look at books on tools from identification, value and how to used them.

Bob, getting a sun tan on his scanner bed...
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Favourite woodworking reference's: Books on tools

October 30, 2015, 3:01 am
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Last we look at some of my books on working wood, time now to look at book about the stuff we are most passionate about, the tools and implements we used to work wood.

HAND TOOLS AND THEIR USES

Traditional woodworking handtools, by Graham Blackburn


Published by Gramercy books (Random House) 1998, my copy is 2000
One of my all time favourite. All illustrated with drawings, cover 400 tools, you are probably bound to find the ones you are looking for, since it is all about practical tools needed most.  Good write up on the tools development and a good "how to use" them write up, back by experience. Highly recommended.   

Choosing and using handtools, by Andy Rae


Lark books, (Sterling) 2002, a first edition for a change!
Another of my all time favourite. This book by Andy Rae, covers a vast assortment of tools and how to used them, also back up by experiences, just look at his gorgeous tool cabinet. ( I own a set of plans for it :-) Biggest differences with Blackburn book is that this one is illustrated with photography, but also it covers old and modern hand tools.
A very well rounded up books, love this book, very well organized.

Hand tools for woodworkers, principle and techniques, by Robert Wearing


Sterling publishing 1997.
Another take on the previous two books,  B&W photographs and drawings, covers a lot of the tools used daily in the shop. Perhaps not as in depth as the others but a good reference nonetheless. Robert Wearing is a well known and published woodworker in the British magazines.

Tools and how to use them, by Albert Jackson and David Day


Published by Alfred A Knopf 1978. There are many variations of this book thru the years, this one covers not just woodworking tools but tools of allied construction trades, drywall, plumbing etc. What makes this book a good one is the historical coverage by no other than W.L. Goodman...
No photographs, but two tone colored drawings throughout.

Woodworker's tool guide, getting the most from your hand tools power tools & accessories, by David Day and Albert Jackson



Published by Sterling 1997. One of the many variations of the above book, but this one is covering strictly woodworking tools. A rehash of the previous one? Perhaps, but updated with colour photographs and drawings.  The historical aspect is thinner, but covers some of the common operations.

Mastering hand tool techniques, by Alan & Gill Bridgewater.


Published by Strathearn books Ltd 2005
These two writers comes up often in this field, they too have numerous versions of this book throughout the years. Bought this book a long time ago, so did it made me mastered these tools? Hardly, but covers 180 tools and wood species within 144 pages, a bit light, not what I would call a ''comprehensive'' book on the subject.

The illustrated encyclopedia of woodworking handtools instruments & devices, by Graham Blackburn.


Published by Simon & Shuster 1974.
In typical Blackburn style, the whole book is illustrated with his drawings, what is not so typical of his later books, is the uses of his handwritten text, sample on the cover, which makes it a bit hard to read at time. A well researched book of a more historical nature than how to use them.


Stanley tool guide, various authors from the company's education Dept.


The Stanley Tools company 1952
This guide has been republished numerous times throughout the years and given a modernized view by updating some of the drawings. I own 2 more versions of it of older vintages. Lots of information packed in numerous chart style format.
Since Ralph is learning to sharpen his scrapers, here is the two charts on this subject.



Typical of the way the information is presented.  Originally, these charts were presented in loose wall chart formats, before being repackaged in booklet format. Throughout the years, not all guide contained the same charts, hence why I own three versions, lose charts and booklet form.  It is interesting to see how some have been updated throughout the years... from the 1920s to the 1980s

How to work with handtools and wood, edited by Robert Campbell, manager Stanley educational dept.


This version Stanley tools work, published by Pocket books NY, 1952, 55 and 65. Stanley published numerous books, booklets and etc throughout the years from its educational dept.  This book has been published and updated numerous time it is existence. I own an older version of this book., but this is the one you may run into the most in used bookstore, being relatively newer. Distributed from 1927 to the 80s. A complete How to book, also contains plans for bench and appliances and some furniture projects. A little gem often overlooked. 

Today numerous updated and renamed versions have shown up regularly, here's are some you may recognized, not as in depth coverage as the original version, but cover the basics.

1981, updated with color photographs

1994, projects have also been updated

BOOKS ON SPECIFIC TOOLS

Bench tools by Fine Woodworking magazine


Taunton Press 1990. A short collections of articles having appeared previously in the magazine. From the days when I actually like this mag.

Classic hand tools, by Garrett Hack


Taunton Press 2001. Beautifully illustrated, more than eye candy, it covers some history and hand tool operation by a gifted artisan. Well worth the cover price.

BOOKS ON PLANES

The handplane book, by Garrett Hack


Taunton Press 1999. I had the pleasure of meeting Garrett a few times via Rosewood studio in Almonte, even got him to autograph my copy :-)
The man has a deep appreciation for his tools and it is reflected in his work.
Beautifully illustrated by John Sheldon, this book covers many aspect of this tools, from history to use in his work. Love this book.


Working with handplanes, best of Fine Woodworking magazine


Taunton Pres 2005. If you have been a reader of the magazine, you have probably read all this collection of articles on the hand plane. Having them assembled together in this format is convenient. The variety of authors covers a good spectrum of techniques from different point of view.
  
Plane basic, by Sam Allen 


Sterling publishing 1993. The very first book I ever bought on planes. It did help me eventually figured out and tame the beast, but not at first. Some information's did not register until I had a few failures under my belt.

Planecraft, hand planing and modern methods, by C.W. Hampton and E. Clifford


Originally published by C.J. Hampton ltd (Record tools) 1959, republished by Woodcraft 1997.  This book as long become a classic on the handplane. First published in 1934, this is the revised and enlarged 1959 edition, reprint.
Contains a good chapter on the history of the plane with B&W photographs and drawings. Very complete book on the subject of setting up and using the various handplanes made by record tools.

Handplane essential, by Chris Schwarz


F&W Media 2009. Who doesn't know Chris today?  I have been reading his stuff since he started at Popular woodworking, and I follow his blogs. What can I say, I like his style. He has a knack to explain things in common layman terms helping us to better understand the subject. This book is mostly a collection of article that were published thru the years in Popular Woodworking magazine (incidentally, the only magazine I currently subscribed to).  Good thorough read on the subject. If I had this book earlier I would have mastered the handplane a lot faster and easier than by reading Plane basic...

Wooden planes, by David G. Perch and Robert S. Lee


Algrove publishing 2001. Although not a how to use book Per Se, understanding how they are made helps troubleshooting them. I always had this need to understand things, how they are made and used. One of these days, I should make my own...

So why so many books on the subject? ( I still have a few more :-) Because, although none of them covers everything completely, between them they help identify the right tools for the jobs, how to uses and care for them etc.  Besides I will admit that I am a sucker for woodworking books on tools :-)

Bob, who now has a big mess in his library and piles of books everywhere...
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Meet Rudy

November 2, 2015, 2:14 pm
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We have discussed many times getting a small companion dog, but I have always resisted since our retirement plans always involved travelling abroad and it would be easier not having any attachments at home to worry about.


Since 2002 we had no ties at home, the dog passed on, the cat and the kids left home etc, for the first time in our lives we could go anywhere on moment notice.

At the time she was quite involved with African Violets societies and we traveled around the US and Canada to convention and shows, she entered plants wherever we went (travelling with show plants is quite something!)

Years ago we did not needed a passport to go visit the States, I just show my military ID and leave pass. Once we were going down to NY State were she was invited to judge. I shown my typical identification, told the border agent I was a Warrant Officer and my wife was a judge... Didn't finished my sentence he gave me back my papers, saluted and said have a nice trip your honor... As we were driving away, I told her, I don't think he understood what I was trying to say :-)

Due to her illness she pretty well given up on her African Violets but we are still tentatively planing to go to the next AVSC convention in Calgary next spring.

Well those travelling plans in our retirement years are pretty well on the back burner and realistically may never happened so...

She wanted a small dog companion, how am I to say no to her.
She could ask for the moon and I would get it for her....
So yesterday we went to an interview and meet her chosen puppy for the first time, and would you know it, it follow her home :-)


A small detour to the pet store and a visit to our friend's Blue Bell, she jokingly told Rudy she was taking him to see his older girlfriend :-)


They got along fine, he is well mannered and calm and not a barking dog, bonus.

Rudy is a Chinese crested powder puffed dog  the nearly perfect dog for his intended purpose, be a constant companion to Heather till the end.

Heather with our friend's Blue Bell

Of course I had to be on board with it since I'm the one who would likely be around the longest with him. Have no fear, we bonded rather quickly :-)
He would becomes my next shop dog. I doubted he will ever be able to carry 2X4 around the shop like Jake did (Bearded Collie) which is OK with me since I now have a smaller shop :-) Jake was a herding dog who like to herd everything in piles, wood included :-)

Jake our faithful companion of 15 years

So now I better puppy proof my shop and make sure he does not chew my wood supplies or tools :-)

Rudy with his little Elvis jacket han han han


Bob, falling for puppy love
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The cutting edge

November 4, 2015, 10:53 am
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In our recent discussions between Ralph and I about sharpening, I often mentioned the importance of tweaking the edge with a micro bevel if the edge seems to crumble too fast for a given wood. He mentioned on numerous occasions that he never saw any references to that in older text, so what gives?

So here is my take on this.
There always was, it just wasn't called micro bevels like we do today...

Let me try to explain this.


Every text I ever read about sharpening always makes mention of two angles;
The grinding angle and the whetting angle. 
Top the primary or grinding angle, need to be shallow.
Bottom, angle A is the primary, B is the secondary.
You want to add a third one? Be my guess, but its not necessary...

So what are they and why bother with two angles??

You need a shallow angle to penetrate easily into the wood. That shallow angle is referred to as the primary bevel or the grinding angle. It is usually between 20 and 30 degrees, as seen in older text. Today we seems to favored 25 degrees (smack in the middle).
If you are using a chisel for paring, 20 would be fine, but it would crumble pretty quick if you were chopping mortise.

Nobody really likes to spend too much time sharpening, we all rather spend our time actually working wood.

The next angle is the secondary angle or referred to as the whetting angle in older text. That is the angle that we use on our stones after the grinding operation. Which grinding is usually done on a mechanical or electrical grinder, but I do mine on stones as well, as I am not a big fan of a hollow edge, produced by a round wheel. A bigger wheel will give you a shallower hollow, but it is still there.

Why that second angle? Because if will significantly reduced the time required to sharpen, since we are not doing the whole bevel again, AND perhaps more importantly, it will beefed up the edge (more metal behind the edge)

That small land of steel at a higher angle makes a lot of difference for the edge retention, but it is too small to make much of an effect on how the tool feels into the wood. If you were not adding that small secondary bevel and instead were to sharpen two chisels, one at 25 the other at 30, you will find a  difference in how it penetrate the wood. Now touch up that 25 degrees by adding a 30 degrees micro bevel and compare it to the other still at 30. The one with the whole edge at 30 will be harder to push still than the one with the micro bevel of 30.

I called that secondary bevel MICRO, because really you do not need to have a wide land of steel at that secondary bevel to affect its performance.

I know some would argue that what we call micro bevel today are really a tertiary bevel (3rd one) but to me that is semantic.
I do my edge usually at 25 then tweak the edge by whatever work for the wood I'm working with. The exact angle?  Don't know don't care!

What does that mean? If my edge is crumbling too fast, I'll simply touch up the edge with a steeper secondary bevel.
I do strop my edges often as I work, an habit I picked up from my carving days.
It keep my edge sharp longer and delay the inevitable trip back to the stones...

Other than that, that is all I do.
Oh, I do the back first real good the first time around (past pitting at the edge), then...
i'll just continue to polish it to remove the small burr introduced by whetting.

I do not care to take my edge to a blinding shine level, I stop at my finest stone, a 6000 grit waterstone, and I most certainly do not test my edges on any of my body parts. Nail, hair on my arms etc, paper or whatever (those test proves nothing, except that you are about to cut yourself and probably damaged that edge :-)

I'll have you know on good authority that blood cause rust on tools, so clean up immediately, save the tool, don't worry about your body parts, i'll grow back right?


 I simply look at the edge under a strong lite trying to catch reflections and I test the actual edge on a scrap piece of pine.
 
My all times favourite knife.
German chip knife No 8  
Bought that knife in 1998, has been sharpened a bazillions times by now...

Can you tell if its sharp or not?

Same picture, blown up.
See the white bright white spots on the edge??
These means that there is sufficient thickness to reflect light, 
it is overdue for sharpening :-)


Why pine? Being a softwood, the end grain crumble easily if the edge is not properly sharpen.
Once I got a shiny burnished surface left on the end grain cuts, I am done!

First cut with nicked edge shown above.
Cut easily still, but look at the scratches left 

After a couple strokes on my 6000 stone
Better but I can still see lite spots on the edge

A few more strokes followed by stropping.
Pretty good, it is leaving a burnished surface


BUT... I will tweak that edge depending on how it react to the wood I am working on, by raising the edge a tad. Whetting angle, secondary bevel, micro bevel, whatever you want to called it...

Brazillian hardwood, forgot the name.

Look at the clean pore holes, cuts are shiny, burnished

AND I do not put any back bevels what so ever on my edges thank you very much... Not on my plane irons, and never on my chisels.
I may be lazy but never that lazy (ruler trick) ... :-)

Bob, sharpening his keyboard with help from Rudy.

That is his little stool to go up on the couch.
Its starting to shows some signs of puppy chew...

Must really puppy proof my shop... :-)
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Small distraction ...

November 12, 2015, 5:31 pm
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Lately, I'm overdue to even go close to the shop, but somehow, I just can't do it...

So the other day, when a friend ask me for some help replacing his water heater, I said, sure... (could uses the distractions) :-)

The older one, removed. 
There was a mess of elbows on it to connect to the water lines!


Redid the hot water line from the T, added a valve and a 45 degrees elbow 
to match the other side. Only had to add a thread adapter on the cold side.
Flex lines, stainless braided, will not burst, connect the water tank to the house plumbing. Next swap would be a breeze. (Within 10 years) 

Did not trusted the wiring in place, the line (14/3) was coming from a light fixture ceiling box...???

Are you kidding me??
Green wire coming out on top is the 220V line to the water heater.

What we have is the switched 120V power from the light switch to the bulb and a dedicated (?) 240V line spliced inside same light junction box. 
That is a big No-No. They even tied the red to ground??

When we pulled the fuse block (service entrance is the older fuse panel) for the water heater, there was some serious overheating damages to it and on one of the fuse itself (Discolored metal, Bakelite crumbling).
Something went very wrong and was probably over fused... Cannot read the fuse rating on the discolored ones.

Ran a new dedicated line, 12 Gauge to water heater straight from service entrance to water heater. Used a different unused slot in service entrance and a new fuse block, fused correctly. Removed old 240 V line from ceiling box.
Everything is back working...safely.

Had a look at where the old water heater leaked.  Normally they always go on the bottom, caused by rust.  Not that one!!

It bursted at the seam...
In theory, the safety valve is supposed to avoid pressure build up inside.
Somehow, that one bursted... Could had been much worse...

They were lucky, it could have caused a catastrophic water failure and it very well could had caused a electrical fire.

In theory, we are supposed to once a year, flush the sediment from the bottom of the tank, to avoid early rust failures. And test the safety valve to ensure it is not stuck closed. But honestly, who of us do that every year....
At best I do mine once in a while, but at  least, it does get flushed and the valve exercised... once in a while.

Service life of these electric water heater is usually less than 10 years, hence why when you buy a house in Canada, if the water heater tank or the oil tank, if present... They must be less than 10 years old in order for your insurer to insured your house.  Of course if you never sell your house, you may very well end up with the actual one until failure, whenever that is...

House maintenance, it never ends...

Bob, the age old maintainer, whose water heater is coming to the end of his service life...sigh!

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Yet another mitre box and saw

December 2, 2015, 5:49 am
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Yap, picked up another Stanley No 60 MB off Kijiji (like Craig list in Canada) while we were staying in the city for her treatments.

As picked up, I did not knew what kind of MB and
 in which condition it would be.

For the low price of $15, I was more interested in the saw, but was glad to find a very good condition Stanley No 60 with it.

It used to be, I could never find a half decent miter box, locally, now thanks largely to Kijiji, they seems to be coming out everywhere. If you live in Canada, look up Kijiji, or Craig list in the US.  Ebay? Not unless you are prepared for high shipping charges, and even then, there are no guarantee that it would make it safely home. If you must have it shipped, instruct the dealer to take down both saw post, otherwise they run the risk of being damaged in transit.

This MB is in very good shape, would need a good cleaning and a new bed piece.

Here we can see the two screw points poking out (arrows) which are adjustable in and out. Their function is to grab the piece so it would not shift during the cut.
The wooden bed piece is the correct height (could be original) but it is chew up pretty bad and there is a chunk missing.

No big whoup to fix. If you recall my previous one, the bed piece was too thick and was covering up those two grab screws.

The post are both solid, with no play and are pretty well complete, except for one little screw.
Front post and release trip lever. There is one small screw missing, but I just happened to have a spare MB 60 for parts :-)

Rear post and release trip lever. That part was missing on the other one.
I may used it to manufacture a new one for the other one? 
The front and rear one look identical.

The 24 in saw (60.96 Cm for Ken :-) that came with it, does not appear to be stamped Disston, and the medallion is marked Warranted Superior. The handle shape is very similar to my other one (stamped Disston) except that this one is more blocky and the hang angle is changed a bit. That means it is a bit newer than my other one. 
Guessing early 70s?

The teeth are still sharp at the heel, but shows signs of being worn at the front (toe and mid section) I doubt it was ever sharpen and judging by the score marks on the wooden bed piece had lots of uses.  It came from an older gentlemen who is retiring from woodworking for heath reasons. He was very happy to hear I fully intend to put it back in service, it will go on for a few more generations :-)

Rudy checking out "our" new toy.

It's OK dad, I think it is a good one...

It came mounted on a board, which I will replaced.

Rudy, happy to be back home with his Mommy and Daddy :-)

Bob, back from the city with Heather and Rudy.
Heather is showing signs of improvements, less pain, discomfort and more flexibility in her neck. She has even regained some appetite, bonus!
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Battling technology and putting up lights

December 7, 2015, 1:18 pm
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For the longest time, since the kids have grown up, I always refused to put out outdoor Christmas lights,
Oh Humbug! Waste of time, money, and I'll be the kind of guy who leave them year round... I hate to see that :-)

But this year, I figured, I'll surprised her and try something different... (Insert huge grin here). So got myself a set of fancy LED icicles programmable... Can we say: Ouuuuhhh :-)


Still don't like to go up ladder, my feet and calves always hurt after.  Spend a good time of my life up a tree, a pole, a transmission tower etc. Been involved with Radio-Electronic since a young kid. I was always building all kinds of electronics devices. Built my first video game as a teenager, PONG,  all with TTLs chips, and so forth. Full disclaimer, I have always earned my money doing electronics repairs, since I was a teenager.

My shop in my parent's basement 1973

So you would think that I would be the first in line for the latest techno-crap, but Noooo. Similarly I most enjoy working wood unplugged. Have no intention of bringing one of these new fangled CAD machine in my shop thank you very much...

I hate useless gizmo or dumb interface, and I rather have a button to touch than navigate thru a stupid drop down menu... Prime example, I drive a 2010 Lincoln MKZ.


Love the creature comfort and convenience of having each our programmable car keys, which memorized our seating arrangements, mirrors etc. She is short, I am tall, we don't have to remember our driver's preference, it knows. Yeah it does more, but that is all I care. And dual temperatures. She like it hot, I like it cold. Harmony return to the interior cabin... I like that :-)

Summer 2014, I had some service to be carried out on my car while we were on vacation visiting family and friends in Ottawa.
They loaned me a 2014 MKZ. Hated it with a passion. Barely any buttons inside the cabin, now it is all on the touch screen.  And every times I raised my arm toward the screen, I would, unknowingly brushed up on the touch bar below the screen.  The interior cabin fan would go full speed, blasting cold air. She would say to me: What did you do? I would answer: I don't know, I did not touched anything Tabarnac!! (for my readers around the world, it means $%#@&^)

I also like to travel, even in the summer with the heat on my lower back. Ahhhh, my poor broken back need that.
On mine it is too easy, I can hit the right button a number of times and a LED bar display let me know at a curtsy glance, were it is set at, Hot---Cold. yes it can also blast cold air up the seat :-) I should try a kilt to have the full effect he he.

On this 2014 dumb thing, you have to navigate the various drop down menus to find it then access its setting!  Really! While driving!!?
I had to pulled over the road, grab the book in the glove compartment to figured out how to turn on the stupid thing!!
Ford, really blew it big time on that system powered by Microsoft.

Maybe younger generations can handle it easily while texting and driving (Please stop doing  that), but Lincoln owners tend to be slightly older shall we say...
It's long been the number one complain against these touch screen system in Lincoln and similarly equipped Fords.

2016, they ditched that system and introduced a better one powered by Blackberry, compatible with IOs and Android. You can scheduled you car to remote start via your phone. Hummm, do I really want to trust my car to my phone and SIRI? Lets just say, I'm in no rush to trade up to the newer model, thank you very much... So my local Ford/Lincoln dealer if you read this, stop calling me to trade up my car...

Now that you know where I stand with technology, back to our Christmas lights...
Instead of just putting on one string of idiot lites, I figured I should be hip and try something programmable, for the fun of it.

So I decided that I should act my age, and pretend I know what I'm doing with this outdoor light set which is programmable from my phone (with an APPs)
How hard could it be? Any teenager should know how to set that up. So I just have to act like a teenager (be myself in other words :-) and chill out man, I got everything under control.  Famous last words, like: Heh, hold my beer and watch this!


While I'm up there, I may as well see if the gutter need cleaning, I keep putting off going up to see. Still see some leaves blowing dear, I'll go up as soon as they stop. One of these days I'll install gutter leaf guards...


OK, so they needed cleaned up. Back to our lights, I got 24 ft of them, 24 bulbs in all. Visited AppLights site to get the App on my IPhone, installed it, but my phone doesn't talk to Bluetooth V4...grrr.  OK, it is an older 4S but still, would have to download the latest IOS upgrade I supposed, sigh!
Tried on my newer IPad Air, ah ah, success it work as advertised. And did not had to update my IOS like it want me every time I used it...
If anyone want to tell me I should always update IOS to get the latest protection...screw that, I use Norton! :-)

Plug them in inside to try out the app on my IPad, work like a charm... after I read the instructions (go figure)
I was going to install them above the garage doors, but she rather I put them along the front of the house. OK, so much for a surprise, but that is what she wants, so... Pst I can always upgrade my light show later :-)


Umpteen trip up and down my ladder later, I have my lights up, and sore feet, hamstring and back.
Now comes the fun part, programming a light show we both like.
Well it is for her after all, so she can have what she want....


There are 140 light show sequences programmed into this thing, the season may not be long enough to try them all :-)


What! That's it? Well, no, still got a ''few things'' to put up, but wanna see the effect before I commit more :-)  This APP control 3 different devices, hummmm... all from the couch, beer in hand, IPad in the other, puppy on your lap, yeah, I can get used to that...

Bob, back inside warming up with my little portable fluffy furnace, Rudy the warm puppy.




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Merry Christmas around the globe from the Demers family

December 24, 2015, 10:21 am
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As we quickly approach Christmas and the beginning of a new year, I want to take the time to wish all my readers around the world, Peace on earth and to all a Merry Christmas (or whatever you happen to celebrate)

Heather, Ruddy and myself

2015 has been a very trying year for us, here is hoping 2016 bring some better "news".

It is also the reason why I started this blog, as a much needed distraction to help me cope with everything going on in our lives. Some day it's working, some days not so much...

Nonetheless I managed to make some progress in my little hand tool shop in the basement, and we survived the Snow Armageddon on 2015.

Snow blowing my way up my driveway, 125 ft of it... 

Some people think that a beard keep you warmer in the winter.
I beg to differ :-)

Blogging has forced me to look at my shop surrounding in a different eye. Since lots of my pic are taken inside it, it has started a cascading effect of organization and beautification projects :-)

First was the bench wall makeover, I fixed the wall then primed and painted it.
I got two walls done and a third in quasi progress...

From this
To  this; Two plane tills and a saw till
and the next wall
and this wall...well lets just say I'm not done with it :-)
It looks a lot better with only those LEDs on :-)
Managed to also built two long needed shop projects:

A dedicated sharpening station
And a saw bench/mortising bench.
It often comes in handy as a small assembly table and finishing stand :-)

My existing small joiner bench also got a due over, and its leg vise got rehabbed


In order to complete my shop make over and make it even more functional, I still need to build a proper base for my small antique tool chest and, gasp, yet another till... A boring till :-)
Other projects will include a better way to store/use my growing collec...er I mean assortment of Miter Boxes :-) and probably more storage options.
Oh, and I also need a mate for my saw bench. This time I think I may do a Schwarz's traditional English version.

Another long overdue project is to start in earnest clearing up the garage, AKA the power tool shop.
This year I added two new additions, a wood lathe and a power jointer

The Rockwell/Beaver lathe

The Delta 6 in jointer kit from Ralph :-)
Still a work in progress, need more space...

This year, I also managed to squeeze in some renovations projects for friends, into my busy social calendar :-)

But I would be remiss if I did not mentioned some of my new friends I made thru this blog.

Ralph Boumenot of the Accidental woodworker and his wife Diane, which we met during our little excursion to Boston this past June.

Our wifes mentioned numerous times that we are very much alike :-)
Found out we even share the same birthday, if someone broke the mold after us, it was after we were both born, spooky (cue music from the Twilight zone :-)

Others I have yet to met, but share kind spirit from across the globe:
Ken Hatch of the I'm a OK guy from Tucson Oklahoma,
Jonas Jensen of the Mulesaw from Mors Denmark,
Brian Eve of the Toolerable from Germany 
Gerhard Marx of the Jenesaisquoiwoodworking from Namibia, South-Africa
Stefan Schreiber of the Blue Spruce woodshop, from North Rine Westphalia, Germany
And many others who have left comments on my numerous posts, I thank you all for your encouraging comments.

So here is to 2016 hope it brings to you all, health and happiness where ever you are.

Cheers

Bob, who should hopefully be back in the shop and on line blogging more often in the new year.

Peace on earth to men of good will


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New cordless drills

December 29, 2015, 1:04 pm
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I have long resisted buying into the cordless drill bandwagon, because I was afraid that I would not be using it often enough and that the NiCad battery would go bad on me (memory effect, if I recalled correctly? :-)

A few years ago, while I was in Bagotville Qc (2006-2011), I finally gave in and decided to give it a try.
Since I was sure the battery would eventually die on me, and that would mean a replacement drill instead of a new battery pack for it, I figured I should try a middle of the road model.  Not too expensive and not too cheap.
So in 2008 I bought a house brand name from RONA, a large hardware and construction material place in Quebec (like Home Depot or Lowes).

Model 2001516 made by Global Machinery Company
It is a 14.4 Volt 1.5 Ah NiCad Cordless hammer drill driver 1/2 in. chuck.

Came with a hard plastic case and spare battery. 
It was a good deal at Cdn $99, 7 years ago.
It saw lots of renovations projects... The side handle I long ago broke off.

The two batteries idea seems like a good thing, 
but then you end up not using either, regularly enough... 

Most of the time, the charger was plug in with a battery in it, for long periods. It was also a "speed charger" 1 hour charge from the ''too weak to operate satisfactorily'' the drill. That means rapid rise in heat, hard on batteries. And then you still have that damn memory effect to content with. As if I don't have enough memory problems at my age! :-)

It served me good all these years, and since then, these new fangled cordless 1/4 drive impact driver have taken over and having tried a few different models from my friends, I really like these. Makes driving screws with out stripping their heads sooo much easier... If you have a good fitting driver bits and lots of torque. they don't require too much downward pressure from you, the operator, to stay in contact with the screw head.

Problems is there are not cheap and most often comes as a pair with a cordless drill/driver, and I only wanted the impact driver...

So I figured I will just wait for my Rona NiCad drill to die...
In the last three years, one battery barely hold its charge and the other last OK.
The speed selector switch is hard to operate and the forward reverse switch is giving me fits ... Caused by the trigger switch not releasing forward all the way, all the time. Time for a replacement, I got well my money worth.

Trigger switch fully released, everything works great

Trigger switch stuck in slightly, both selector switches wont work

I can now buy a replacement pair, but which one?

After trying a few, I decided on a 18-20 V Lithium-Ion battery pack and narrowed it down to four brands, to give me the best bang for my buck
Bosch, a tad pricey but I really like the other Bosch tools I own.
Makita, about the best combination of technology for the bucks.
Dewalt, rugged performer, and what most of my friends used.
Ridgid, because it has a lifetime replacement warranty

Milwaukee was eliminated early in the running because they are way too pricey.

One thing that always annoyed me when using my older cordless drill/driver was that I had to stop and switch the drill bit for a screwdriver bit often to complete a job.
There are two way to solve that dilemma;
1- Get another drill/driver, or
2- Get a flip drive drill bit/screwdriver bit combo attachment

I tried a few flip drivers but was never too impressed with them.

The current flip driver unit that I use.

My son Matthew, gave me a Makita combo set for Christmas,... Yippee, problem solved :-)

Looking forward to give it a spin in the new year on my next projects.

It is a Makita DLX2011SY combo set with a soft sided case
Each tools come with their own battery and there is a multi pack/voltage smart charger with it. Smart, because the battery pack has some built-in intelligence to communicate with the tool or charger to prevent damages dues to heat, cells conditions etc. Being Li-Ion technology and with these smart built in features, I'm confident that it would be my last cordless drill... :-)

The line up. All used 1,5Ah batteries, 
the Rona NiCad 14.4V,the Makita Li-Ion 18V

The 1/4 in Impact driver is Model DTD146
The Impact Drill/driver is Model DHP453
and both battery packs provided are 1.5Ah, but it takes the higher capacity ones, 3Ah, 4Ah, etc. I like these 1.5Ah packs; small, very compact and make the tools well balanced in your hands.

Talking of which, Makita claim that they are ergonomically designed for a better fit in your hands. I mostly ''always'' equated those statements to means: Pricey, look different, fit my hands poorly, and is painful to use. But it this case, bravo, it does fit my hands perfectly, and all the switch controls are right at my fingers.

I like the fit and balance in my hands.
A lot nicer than old clunky...

So there you have it, another addition to my stable of tools :-)
Now what to do with my small pile of LV gift cards which are accumulating...hummm

Bob, getting antsy to drill and screw something :-)
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Happy New Year

December 31, 2015, 5:55 am
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The New Year has already begun around the world, I believe that New Zealand was one of the first to ring in the New Year...

Here is hoping that the New Year, 2016, finds everyone in good health to enjoy some peace and happiness wherever you may be residing anywhere on this planet of ours.

From our family to yours, Happy New Year


I recently started to index my 2015 posts by adding labels. Also found out that I can go back and fixed typos etc without screwing up the date time stamp, yeah!

So I will slowly go over my 177 posts and make some small corrections as needed. For example I relocated Ken from Colorado to Arizona :-)
Apparently it is warmer in AZ...

Coming up in the new year, I will shortly kick start my ongoing shop re-organization by making a few more shop projects:
A bottom chest for my small antique joiner tool chest and a couple of boring tills;
one for my hand tool shop and another for the power tool room (garage).

I plan on finishing this on going re-organization and start in earnest on some woodworking projects: I want to try making a chair and get some turning experience under my belt. Then there is that long awaited harvest (dining) table that she want, and Oh, want to experiment with veneers and inlays.

There will also be more posts on various tools, as I acquire new ones or restore some...

So stay tuned, more coming into the new year



Bob, wishing everyone a Happy new year and peace on earth in our lifetimes.

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P.L. Robertson, Henry Ford and the birth of the Phillips

January 1, 2016, 11:03 am
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Although most Canadian are familiar with good old Robertson's fastener for umpteen years, his name is not so well known outside our country and to add to our exasperation, they are referred as Square drive in the US... Sigh!

P.L. Robertson was a Canadian inventor who was one of the first to solve successfully the major drawback of the common slot screw fastener; its annoying tendency to cam out and strip the head and damages the surrounding surfaces.


Its invention, the Robertson square drive fastener, was simple to manufactured, requiring only two blows from the stamping head to shape the head and form the tapered recess for the driver.

Original patent drawing 1909

He was so assured of the superiority of his invention, that he tried to sell it to Henry Ford to facilitate the assembly of his automobiles. Henry Ford saw the merit of his invention and the time he could shaved off the assembly line, so he offered to buy outright the rights to his invention.

PL Robertson refused, wanting to keep the rights to himself. So the Robertson never made it in the US, while it became a staple here in Canada, and Henry Ford, still liking the idea had someone else come up with an alternative... The Phillips (or star) fastener.

When I was a young man in the 60s the Robertson screw was already well entrenched in our day to day life. You knew something had been built in Canada if it featured Robertson screws in it. Radio, TV you named it.
Ironically not in cars built in Canada since they were for the most part, US design assembled here with Phillips screws (yuck).

That is its history in a nutshell, now lets have a look at what made it so superior.


Beware that there are lots of cheap imitation out there, but the genuine Robertson has a slightly tapered recess and the driver bits has the same taper at the business end. They are meant to have a tapered interference fit.
That is the beauty of its design, try to hold your screwdriver up with a fastener on its end while reaching for its intended location. Easy peasy with a Robertson!

Screw was just put in the end by hand, not forced

Hold even upside down.
Try that with any other screwdrivers Ah! :-)

A Phillips or a common slot screwdriver cannot do it, the fastener will fall off.
There as been numerous patented gizmos contraptions to hold the fastener at the end, but it is totally redundant with a genuine Robertson screw and a matching genuine driver bit. That taper interference fit is deep enough to afford lots of retention without any force. And in use, the taper force the bit tight into the fastener head. Simple, elegant and hard to cam out, unlike Phillips and the common slot.

Here in Canada these screws are the de-facto head you will find in any hardware stores. They are plentiful and cheap.


Are they perfect? Well not if you don't use the proper driver bit sized to the fastener... For example you can use a No 2 (Red) to drive a No 3 (Black) but if you are not careful you can damaged the square recess and you will cam out when torquing

Moral of this story, learn your sizes and always uses the correct one for a given application. Oh and beware of cheap knock off, both with the screws themselves and the driver bits

Robertson are color coded and Numbered from No 3 (largest) to No 0 (smallest)

BLACK No 3

RED No 2

GREEN No 1
The second from the left is made in USA and does not have the correct genuine taper, it is a Stanley P.O.S. All others, in various sizes, regardless of brands name are Made in Canada even the other Stanley's, and fit right!

These 3 are the most common sizes used, but they have smaller also
YELLOW No 0

Interestingly, that P.O.S. Stanley in the No 1 size (Green) is the only one that differ in its construction. All others have the tempered bit insert into the screwdriver shaft, while that Stanley has the end of the shaft machined down (roughly, shows machining marks).

The genuine Robertson drivers always had their bit inserted into the shaft. I am not sure why, but it has always been like that... Never had any issues with gorilla forces on it neither.

The typical inserted bit ends on real Robertson screwdrivers

Poorly machined end, does not hold the screw very well

Screw is wobbly at the end. 
NOT your typical Robertson experience!

If you have never tried them, I urge you to give this little known (outside Canada) invention a try, you will never look at a screwdriver and screws the same way. But again beware of cheap knockoff.

Just insert a screw at the end of your screwdriver and it should hold itself without forcing it. If it does not, pass! Either the screw or the driver or both.

Bob, who still used common slot screws because, lets face it, a Phillips or a Robertson can look out of place in certain application. But for everything else, I used Robertson and I hate Phillips... Oh and I love maple syrup :-)
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Screwdriver for woodworkers

January 3, 2016, 9:06 am
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There is a bewildering variety of fasteners out there, some were introduced to "solve" a problem, which introduced another and, and...
Others were in an attempt to make dis-assembly or tampering more difficult (there is nothing foolproof) but as far as we are concerned with woodworking, there are only a few fasteners (screw types) to be concerned with.

THE SLOT OR COMMON SCREW

The Slot screw is probably the first one that came out.

The first ones had a blunt tip (pre 1837)
Later the gimlet pointy shape we are now familiar with is post 1848.
Approximate dates.

Since they were mostly hand made by a blacksmith, there was a lot of variations. Both in the thread and in the location and size of the slot. This variety of slot sizes may help explain why the tip of our common or slot screwdriver were flared in two directions: In width and in thickness, in an attempt to accommodate them all.

My Sargent No 40, 4 inch screwdriver

Unmarked example, typical of North American style of screwdrivers

Typical construction.
The blade was loose, so I took it apart to fixed it 
with some judiciously applied epoxy. 


This of course introduced two major problems:

Depending on the slot width and the thickness of the blade tip taper,
the driver is only engaging near the top of the slot, which means the all too familiar cam out and damaging of the slot walls.

Because there is essentially no registration for the tip to remain centered on the slot, it is also all too easy to slip out and damages the surrounding wood.
If you attempt to sink the screw head below the wood surface, that width taper is going to cause more problems.


The best way to avoid these damages and frustrations is of course to uses a properly fitted screwdriver and screw. The slot has parallel walls, you will have a much better fit if your screwdriver tip had too (no taper) and was sized correctly for the screw slot (in width and thickness)

That is why in woodworking, your best bet are a set of parallel tip screwdrivers.

An older English engineer screwdriver (parallel tip)
that one is also ratcheting and reversible, I love it.

A typical English set of cabinet maker screwdrivers,
Marples. Pic is from the Ebay auction that I won.

For some reasons I never understood, these typical English Cabinet maker set of screwdrivers are not cheap, commanding good price on the used market (supply & demand?)
The good news is that you can buy excellent parallel sides screwdrivers from Brownells and etc. Take a look at gunsmith suppliers.
One brand in particular which is now available from some woodworking supplies store are the Grace screwdrivers. I got mine from Lee-Valley.

Well worth the small investment if you are using slot screws for that period correct look. For everything else stick to Robertsons!!
Since being "discovered" by the woodworking community, Grace also now make specialized screwdrivers for handsaws.

My Grace saw screwdriver.

Of course we all know that numerous saws makers have been using split slot nuts for eons, and the only way to tighten properly without damages is to use the appropriate split slot screwdriver... Problem is there were no real standard, so you may required a few to handle all your saws.

Typical saw wrest with a split slot driver at the other end

Nice idea, except that in a ill attempt to accommodate a wide range of slots,
 they put a rather steep bevel on the end.

A much better fit is with using the correct fitting parallel blade screwdriver, available from most saw makers.

Such as this Lie-Nielsen No 2 to fit my LN dovetail saw.

But what about the older saws makers such as Disston and all?  The good news is that it is easy to make your own properly fitted split nut screwdriver armed with a file. I use a rat tail file to make them. How deep to make the slot? deep enough to clear the saw nut post with some room to spare.

There is nothing more injurious to a saw handle than to continued using it with a loose handle. It will caused the saw nuts hole to widen compounding the problems. That saw handle being made of wood is going to expand and contract with the humidity levels in your shop throughout the seasons. That in turn will cause the handle to loosen in time. Similar problem with wooden totes and handles on a plane.

Another specialized area for slot screwdriver is for handplanes.
If you ever struggle not to slip while tightening or removing the screw holding the blade and back iron (chip breaker etc) you gotta try this clever design from LV . Simply brilliant! It capture the screw head ensuring no slips. NO, it would not fit every plane iron screws out there, but it will for the majority of modern design (think Stanley, Record and etc)

Love this little plane iron screwdriver from LV

 There are of course other screws to adjust on your typical Stanley design planes, so a pair of dedicated screwdrivers that fit correctly your planes is a very good idea.

Set from Woodcraft. Made to fit their WoodRiver lines of planes.
NO it does not fit all my planes...


If you are intent on using a cordless screwdriver to fasten or loosen these slot screws (or any screws types for that matter), you better have a good fit between your driver bit and the screw head or you will damaged them in a hurry.

And finally, if using brass screws, it is always very wise to pre-drill and uses a steel screws first to tap in the threads BEFORE driving in your brass screw, or be prepared to cry over (or uses appropriate expletives:-) when you snap the head off.

And remember for everything else, you cannot beat the Robertson...

ROBERTSON

Incidentally, I have since discovered that the so called Square Drive screws in the USA are NOT true Robertson copies.
Only Robertson and its licensees makes Robertson screws and drivers, the others are generically called Square Drive and are made by several manufacturers and brands since the patents have expired on the Robertson.
The Square Drive is an American clone of the Canadian Robertson that has a square recess but not tapered and has very sharp corners.
Likely this difference was to avoid patent infringements. The patented Robertson driver has slight taper and slightly rounded corners

Correspondingly, there are two similar looking driver bits.  The two methods of fabrication are:
The machined one piece and the two pieces, which is a forged steel tip pressed fitted into a steel shaft.

Several companies each with their own select brand names produced Square Drive. ALL true Robertson power bits and insert bits are of the 2 pieces variety, they have NEVER produced the one piece machined bit design.

Robertson look alike, but it is NOT.
It is a Square Drive bit. To add to the confusion they are sometimes marketed
 as suitable for both Square drive and Robertson... SQ2 means Square Drive No 2, and R2 is supposed to means Robertson No 2, but beware.

The typical 2 piece end bits are Genuine Robertson and are often color coded

That revelation probably explain why I considered that Stanley Made in USA a P.O.S. It was designed for Square drive screws NOT Robertson.
If your driver says Made in USA it is made to fit Square Drive screws

Of course this now is creating a problem here in Canada, since with the arrival of the giant US retaillers Home Depot and Lowes, they are no doubt introducing these inferiors Square Drives screws and drivers unto an unsuspecting public.
They somewhat look alike, but they are not upon close inspection.

PHILLIPS

Now if you think that this is all confusing, ever experienced the joy of stripping a Phillips screw?
Easy to do since there is a variety of similar looking but slightly different types.
Uses the wrong one and you will damages the screw, the driver or both...

Phillips, Reed & Prince, Frearson, Pozidriv (as often found on European hinges)
and if you ever work on consumer electronics, you ran into the slightly different Japanese Phillips imitation: JIS B 1012.

BUT if you enjoy cursing and swearing in any language, then go ahead and use the same screwdriver on all these different types :-)

Bob, with a rather large collection of screwdrivers, and now you know why.
Choose your weapons wisely :-)







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The many faces of PHILLIPS

January 12, 2016, 5:11 pm
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Or, when close is just not close enough. Will the real Mr Phillips please stand up...

Seems I raised a few questions worthy of  a tad closer scrutiny, with regards to some of my statements referencing the Phillips look-A-like confusion...

So here is what I meant by "close but not close enough".
You must use the right driver for the fastener type, or....
Curse(s) to follow for sure :-)

The Original Phillips

Well actually, it should have been known as the "Thompson" screw, for its inventor, but instead it became better known as the "Phillips" as in the business man Henry F. Phillips who bought the rights from John Thompson, inventor, who could not interest anyone with his invention.

PHILLIPS 
PAT 363264
PATENTED 1927
STANLEY (in notch corners box)
MADE IN CAN.


Phillips went on the start the Phillips Screw Company in 1934, tweaked the original design slightly and promoted its adoption in the industry.

Code PH

As in PH2 (Phillips No 2)

By then Henry Ford had been seduced by the Robertson. The Ford operation in Milton Ontario Canada was using them and saving $2,60 per car, but Henry could not buy it from P.L. Robertson, rights and all, so he went looking for something else that could save him time on the assembly lines. He found the Phillips, it became "the" fastener to use on the assembly lines (including in Milton On), and the Robertson never became known in the US, only in Canada and abroad (mostly British Commonwealth countries).

Back to Phillips, the reason all these various fasteners have multiplied and evolved to replace the common or slot screw, is because of industrialization and the rise of the assembly lines...
With the introduction of the assembly line Ford reduced the time to manufactured a Model T from 12.6 hours to 93 minutes with a completed car rolling off every 3 minutes.
Now consider this:

- With a slot screw it is difficult to center the driver in the slot, takes trial and errors to keep it centered; Take time.
- With a slot screw it is difficult to have he fastener standing at the driver tip, while handling the driver. You have to hold it, put it on perhaps a few times, losing some, take one more hand to use; Wastage of fasteners and, Take time.
- With a slot screw it is all to easy to cam out and damage the slot.
Need to slow down and be careful, possibly replacement: Take time.

These are some of the reasons for increase efficiency on the assembly lines, which saved Ford $2,60 per car using Robertson. Multiply that by, say 4000+ cars and that is a sizable amount... (almost $10.5K)
In 1926, Ford produced 1,911,705 Model T and sold them for US $260
(approx US $3,510 in 2016)

The Model T made by the Ford Motor Co, was one of Robertson's first major customers, it used over 700 Robertson screws.

Get the point about efficiency and savings ? :-)
But that was not good enough for Ford, so the Robertson were phased out (in Ford Canada also) and the Phillips took over.

The importance of the Robertson and the Crosshead screw (Phillips) design
lies in their self-centering property which is very useful on automated production lines that uses powered screwdrivers.

Ford Assembly line circa 1913. 
Note the uses of braces, and Yankee types screwdrivers. 
The later Robertson and Phillips design enabled the introduction 
of powered drivers, and much saving in time.

These early automated drivers, mechanically belt-driven or by the newly introduced small portable electric motors, revolutionize speed on the assembly line, but it only became possible with the introduction of self centering screw head designs (Robertson and Cruciform(s)).

Whereas Robertson failed to take hold as it should, Henry Phillips major contributions was in driving the crosshead design forward to the point where it was adopted by screwmakers and the automobile industry in the largest market... the U.S. of A.

One of the first Phillips's customer was General Motors, who used the innovative design (Excuse me while I puke) in 1936 for its Cadillac assembly lines.

By 1940, 85% of U.S. Screw manufacturers had a license for the design.

Here's the irony, the Phillips Screw Company, established in 1934, never produced screws or drivers, they just licensed others manufacturers to produced them to their standard. By then the Phillips screw was clearly established to take over the world by storm... Well, then there was that thing called WWII...

AS good as they are to center and engage the pointed tip. Get anywhere close, and it should slide in. Here is probably the ONE, albeit, small advantage over the Robertson.

BUT The cross-shape indentation is so shallow that, when you are fully in (Max torque), the driver pops out (Cam-out). That is great on assembly line during fastening, but is a pain to unscrew by hand. The screwdriver often slip and damages the slot. Remember it cam-out at a given torque.

So... There must be a way, to invent a better way, by modifying the original Phillips... And they sure tried...

The REED & PRINCE

Also known under the name of Frearson:

Code PH and RP or F


NOT so easy to tell, is it?

Notice the change in the angle at the tip, that is to reduce Cam-out at higher torque. Problem is they look so alike, if you use a Reed & Prince driver on a Phillips screw, you will not engage very deep and you will cam out faster.
Ironic, it's the problem they were seeking to solve! Notice the slight difference in the middle of the screw. A Phillips may not fit on all Reed & Prince but a Reed & Prince will always fit (poorly) on a Phillips.

It was developed by an English inventor, Frearson, in the 19th century and produced from the late 1930s to the mid-1970s. Why so much time between Frearson invention and R&P manufacturing? You had to wait for the American Screw Company of Providence Rhodes Island to efficiently produces the Phillips screw. Other screws manufacturers of the 30s dismissed the concepts of the Phillips because it called for a relatively complex recessed socket shape in the head of the screw, as distinct from the simple milled slot of a slotted type screw.

In comparison, Robertson "production complexity problems" were solved by 2 drop forge blow to the screw blank to shape the head and stamped the tapered recessed square drive. It is even faster than milling the slot...

The Reed & Prince Mfg Company of Worcester, Mass. was put into bankruptcy in 1987 and liquidated in 1990.

The POZIDRIV (Tm)

Having not really solved the problem with the Reed & Prince, but introducing confusion, the next bright improvement was the Pozidriv



Code PZ


The Pozidriv screws are visually distinguishable from Phillips by a set of radial indentations (think of tick marks) set at 45 degrees from the main cross recess on the head of the screw.

YES, that makes the manufacture of driver bits slightly more complicated.
Attempting to use a Phillips screwdriver bit on a Pozidriv is likely to cause damages, because the differences in the design are fairly significant.
even if at first glance they somewhat look alike.
The Pozidriv was designed specifically to allow much greater torque to be applied, because of its more positive engagement.

A Phillips driver has an angle on the flanks, a pointed tip and a round corners.
A Pozidriv driver have straight sided flanks, a blunt tip, and additional ribs at 45 degrees to the main slots. (Take away the extra tick marks and you have essentially a JIS screw)

Pic from LV site

A chief disadvantage of the Pozidrive is that they are quite similar and often confused with Phillips. People are not aware of the major differences and uses the wrong driver tip with the resulting damages done, to both driver and screws.

If you own or install European hinges, you owe it to yourself and the poor adjustable screws on them, to invest in the proper screwdriver bit...

Blum hinges, pic from LV site

Japanese Phillips

In the confusing world of look alike Phillips screwdrivers, one must make mention of the Japanese version; the JIS B1012:1985 Cross recess for screws.
Japanese Industrial Standard "B" is for Mechanical Engineering, 1012 is the applicable standard Nos, and the last 4 digits are the year of latest revision.
There is incidentally a 1974 version of this document


If you ever dissembled Japanese equipment in the past 30 or so years, you came across it probably without knowing.
Yes, screw and driver bits look like a Phillips, but surprise, they are different and yet again, damages will results if you uses the wrong driver.

Decades ago, the Japanese camera industry designed a different plus/cross shaped (Cruciform) screw head and driver to prevent cam-out and allow more torque.

It looks like a Phillips screw, and are often referred to improperly as Japanese Phillips,  but it is designed not to cam out so easily and will therefore be damaged by a Phillips screwdriver if it is too tight, because it will not afford enough purchase on the screw head.

The JIS screws are usually, but not always, identified by a recessed dot on the head

See the dot on the two screws on the left and the one on the right.
The two red colored ones (Panasonic) are also JIS but do not have the dot.

Notice the dot position. Hard to see but the walls of the cross slots 
are more vertical than the Phillips.

or the fact that they are completely damaged beyond recognition and will only come out with a pair of Vise-Grip :-)

Totally mangled screw recess, not a Phillips, a JIS. 
Or I should say... was! Start to look more like a Robertson :-)

The difference are in the wall of the slots, they are parallel and will cause the regular Phillips to cam-out of the screw as you try to turn it.
The corners at the center of a Phillips head screws have a slight radius supposedly designed to allow the Phillips head screwdriver to cam-out as a sign that maximum torque as been applied.

The JIS also has shallower depth preventing the taller head design of a Phillips head screwdriver to properly grip the sides of the fastener slots.

Phillips driver holding JIS Screw: Poor fit.

The biggest give away is the lack of enlarged space where the two slot meets. Very similar to... YES... the Reed & Prince, but again the angle of the driver wings are, yet, different.

And yes, you can buy specific driver for this type of screw. Electronic servicing supply stores or Japanese bike shops are a good source for these.
And if anybody is trying to sell you a regular Phillips telling you that...
they are the same... Run don't walk out of there...

The Ultimate Phillips

And here is the final proof of what was perhaps the best fastener all along...

The final solution to the cam-out problem was solved by the "Revolutionary" (Excuse me while I puke again) Anti-Cam out Recess (ACR) which was developed for the aerospace industry to avoid costly head stripping and to assure easy insertion and removal of screws during assembly and maintenance. The ACR system creates a stick fit that makes screw driving easier

WOW, Brilliant!
The ultimate solution to the Phillips deficiencies was to add a Square Drive (Robertson) into the middle of the Phillips head, pure genius :-)

The Phillips/square, or Quadrex, or ACR, 
or Pozisquare or Deck Mate and etc.

The original Robertson (Tm)

Holding on to screws effortlessly since 1909

Bob, who you may have guessed, find his Robertson much superior to the many flavours of Phillips... :-)
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Saw maintenance tools

January 17, 2016, 7:40 pm
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In the days before the chainsaw...

We used Felling saws and Bucking saws, and before that; Felling axes and Bucking saws.

It has been said that the North American frontiers were won by the axe and the saw. It defined us as we pushed further West. The size of the virgin's forest trees was something never really encountered before, it created a totally different and unique style of felling axes and saws, as compared with the similar tools overseas.

The saws, either felling or Bucking, were made in one (1) or two (2) man version. Depending primarily on the size of the logs to be cut.

Both Felling (to cut down a tree) and Bucking (to cut the log in manageable pieces) are essentially a "crosscut" (to cut across the grain) operation.

Felling on top, Bucking on bottom.
The concave back of the felling saw is to introduce
 quickly wedges as the saw progress

The sizes of the trees encountered and the growing demand for timbers, created a push to make these tools to cut more efficiently.
If you ever saw a Lumberjacks style competition, you probably witnessed how fast one of these two man crosscut saw can be, when maintained in peak conditions.

Two woman crosscut saw, because it's 2016 :-)

The types of operations carried out by lumberjacks was also done for the most part on freshly cut logs. The moisture contents would be quite high, but the sap would be low when cut in winter (as it was the customs, one of the reason for it)

In order to cut efficiently, the fibers cut by teeth must be cleared right away for the teeth to engage new wood, not torn fibers.

There was all kind of variations of teeth patterns (most patented) in order to best accomplished that;


PLAIN TOOTH PATTERN
Cutter teeth only. Best for cutting dry, very hard or brittle small diameter wood.
Also known as Peg tooth pattern.

CHAMPION TOOTH PATTERN
Large cutter teeth and unset raker.  Best for heavy sawing in extra hard, dry or frozen wood. Also known as a Tuttle tooth pattern.

M TOOTH PATTERN
Competition saw.  Very aggressive cutting as teeth cut and rake.
Depends on arm strength, fatiguing. Best for cutting dry, medium to hard wood.

THE LANCE  TOOTH PATTERN
Best for cutting soft green timber. Fir, Spruce and redwood.

GREAT AMERICAN TOOTH PATTERN
Competition saw. Very aggressive cutting as teeth cut and rake. Depends on arm strength, fatiguing. Best for cutting dry, medium to hard wood.

PERFORATED LANCE TOOTH PATTERN
Bridge strengthen cutter teeth. Best for all but hard and frozen woods.

These fancy tooth patterns all have similar requirements; For best performance their heights among each other tooth, is critical.
It beg the question, if so? How does one ensure that relationship is not lost during subsequent sharpening?

With the uses of simple jointer and rake jig. Often combined together into a small patented cast iron jig. You just have to add a mill file, two if you want to be more efficient and leave one set in the jig.

How did Rudy got in there? :-)

With one of these and a file, you can joint all the teeth tops to be in the same plane, even in an arc, then file off all the raker's teeth at the correct height 

The screw retaining the file in the jig for jointing operation, can apply enough force to gently bend a file. The saw's tooth line is curved, but it is a big radius, does not take much bend to joint that curvature with the short jointer jig.

These three jigs will all joint the teeth of a saw flat, but the top two (one antique and one modern Lee Valley jig) are designed for handsaws, full size and panels.
The one in the bottom is designed for the big cross cut saws.

Once the teeth are topped or jointed (all at same height), the jig also contain a raker tooth height gauge on the other side. Both the Champion and Lance tooth pattern have the raker set slightly below the cutting teeth. Put the raker tooth inside the slot and file flat with guide.



Once all the teeth have been jointed and shaped, raker height adjusted, the set is checked and adjusted as required.
A plunger type saw set, as used on regular handsaws,  would be inadequate for the size of these big teeth. A small anvil and a hammer is used.




Then the spider is used to gauge the amount of set.

Various models of Spider gauge



That saw is now ready to go back to cut some wood...

For a complete description of the process see The cross cut saw manual by the dept of Forest.

The other thing that a well equipped sawyer would take with him, was some sort of oiling device, usually an oil flask with a grooved cork stopper, to lubricate the saw plate in use. 

Bob, the lumberjack
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Object of percussion for woodworkers

January 22, 2016, 7:04 pm
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Lets face it, there are numerous occasions where a judiciously applied "love tap" is going to save your bacon. And I am not talking about young children misbehaving, I am talking about woodworking of course...


Hammers, mallets, maul, commander etc. all accomplish a similar operation thru the application of a localized force (impact) to budge, nudge or drive down some tool edge or fastener into the wood.

Simple task, but one that required specialized tools to accomplish our task without injuring the object, the tool or ourselves

Hammer like object are probably the oldest tools known to man, how about
a 2.5 millions year old stone hammer
Some animals species are known to uses similar technology to crack open food stuff. But we only have to concerned ourselves with woodworking applications, and their current forms have evolved to what we commonly recognized as hammers and mallets

HAMMERS

The simple carpenter claw hammer that we are all familiar with, comes in a variety of weight (the head weight, not the whole hammer)
It also comes with a variety of pan: from the classic nail puller either straight (ripping hammer) to the familiar curve jaws, the ball peen and the cross peen, and etc.

For a simple looking tool, a good modern one is the combination of carefully designed elements to produce a tool that will not injure yourselves or the material you are hammering.
From the weight and its distribution in the head, the shape of the handle and how it absorb or transmit the vibration to the non slippery feel of the handle in your hands and how it is securely attached to the head and the overall shape of the head for its intended purpose, all these design elements have been refined over hundred of years to produce our modern and familiar claw hammer.

THE HEAD AND ITS SHAPE

A good hammer has a hot forged head which has been properly tempered in the right places. When looking at antique ones, careful, some were just cast iron (the cheap ones) and can break out chunks unsuspectingly. And that is a good indication that it was indeed cast!
Similar fate happens to cast iron holdfast, when beaten with a hammer. Stick to forged or cold roll holdfasts (Gramercy) for safety and durability.

Because the striking face of a hammer is hardened to resist deformation, it is dangerous to hit two hammers face to face, as small pieces may fly off.
That statement is apparently subject to a recent controversy but nonetheless, depending how well and to what degrees the striking surfaces were hardened, it remain a No-No to hit two hardened surface together, so don't try this at home folks and wear your safety google...
And in case OSHA is reading this; Wear a full face mask, leather gloves, steel toe boots and wrap yourselves in bubble wrap...There you are now compliant and safe :-)

FLYING OFF THE HANDLE

It is not just an expression, it did happened with hammers routinely...
Numerous designs were concocted in an attempt to solve this flying off the handle thingies; Metal straps on the side of the handle etc.

Two examples of antique strapped hammers. 
Photos from Ebay.

But the best and perhaps the most elegant solution, was to simply shaped the hammer eye (where the handle goes in) in a tapered fashion, the Adz-eye (think oval dovetail) Today every hammer is made like that (unless you buy your tools at a Dollarstore), but the credit goes to Maydole , who never patented it. Soon every hammers were made like that ever since.


For the longest time, hammers were made with wooden handle, mostly hickory.
But a wooden handle of course can be broken...

Replacement handles often comes with wedge(s), if not, you need them or you could dig out the old metal ones. Wooden wedges should be simply replaced.

Single fat metal wedge

More often seen, a wooden wedge then intersected by metal wedge(s)
Notice also this one has the slot, normally parallel to the handle, running at an angle. That is in an attempt to expand in two directions to better filled the hammer eye shape. 

At other way of accomplish this multi direction expansion 
with a wedge is to use a circular one! 

Today, steel metal shaft and fiberglass handles are common, but it is hard to beat the qualities of a properly seasoned wooden handle. Not only in how it feels in your hands (balance) but mostly in how it can absorb the impact and not transmit the full force to your arm.

Antique claw hammer, handle is a modern replacement

Modern (70s) claw hammer. Notice the short distance between 
the head face and the shaft.

Modern (80s) fiberglass hammer. It is technically Heather's but 
we are always borrowing it back and forth between us. 
Yes, we both love the balance of this hammer :-) 

The one I bought to solve that "borrowing". It is not a curved claw hammer 
but technically a Rip claw hammer.

In the mid 90s I bought that framing hammer (26 Oz) when building my "retirement" garage. The trade's crew I hired to help me out laugh at my puny little 16 Oz hammer and told me to get a proper framing hammer if I plan on continuing helping them... They said my arm would thank me later, and they were right!

 
The first thing they asked next day, when they saw my new hammer was: 
Did ever used one of those before, young man? 
I said no, why? Because with a regular hammer if you miss, you get a black blue finger, with one of these waffle head if you miss, you get a trip to Emergency for stitches... Live and learn :-)

These waffled head are suppose to reduce glance back when striking slightly off, because of the grippy surface, instead of just having the head glance off the nail.
Sound good, but really, besides leaving ugly marks on wood , objects and fingers, they are not much different in use than your regular smooth head.
Given the choice, I'll now always pick the smooth's one. BTW on my hammer the waffle hash marks are pretty well rounded thru use (see pic above), but when new, they are really sharp and cut easily.

WARRINGTON PATTERN HAMMER

Another very useful woodworking hammer is the cross peen or Warrington pattern hammer.
Just like the claw hammers, they come in a variety of weight,
the one I use is a 12 Oz

Similar construction and looking like a mechanic ball peen hammer,
except for the narrow pointy peen.

The idea behind the cross peen (also spelled; Pane, Pein) is to easily slip between your fingers without hitting them when nailing small brads, nails, etc.
If you ask me, that is still a hit and miss proposition! :-)
They share much DNAs with the familiar mechanic's hammer; the ball peen.

The top twos are vintage, they were my father.

Notice how the handle is reduced in two planes (sideways and top/bottom).
It really add balance and finesse to the hammer.

Even if we restrict ourselves to woodworking, ball peen hammers comes in handy in the shop: Driving pins in and out on machinery or when used on a small anvil to bend or straighten metal pieces of hardware etc.

A small anvil comes in very handy in the shop.

If you don't have an anvil, sometimes on a mechanic bench vise,
 there is a special place to be used as such.
Record No 74 Autovise shown.

A good set of centering or transfer punch is very handy.

So are driving punches


SPECIALTY HAMMERS

Other useful forms in the shop are this picture frame hammer.


Its triangular head rotate in order to use it laying flat on the backing while kicking the handle up to drive the metal pins or special fasteners around the frame to retain the pictures. Very slick and practical. I certainly don't use it much, but it is a joy to use when required.

And various forms of plane hammers

My crappy Woodcraft's knock off 
of the Glen Drake design. NO comparisons...

We could not leave this hammer subject without looking at some useful additions to our hammering arsenal...

Useful additions
 From Left to Right:
The crow bar comes in real handy for demolition, its shape makes it handy as a lever or pry bar. At each ends there are the familiar V shape slot to capture the head of nails, it can also be used as a nail puller. 

Next to it is a Estwing Cat's paw, nail puller. Super heavy duty, will pull the biggest framing nails, but it will leave some marks if you have to pound the claws in to reach under a nail head.

You are probably familiar with the regular nail sets, but this is a Japanese nail set. Its head shape allows it to be use in close quarters. Often used as a small anvil to straighten nails.

Typical nail set...set. Stanley shown

A good pair of nail cutters/puller is very handy. The round shape at the end of the faces makes it easy to rock the nails out. This is a cheaper pair of end cutters, the real nail pullers/cutters have a flush cutting action, end cutters have double beveled cutting edge, leaving a bit sticking out. Very easy to transform the end cutters into a flush cutter with a powered high speed grinder... if you so desire.

This yellow plastic thingy is a real fingers saver...
The various slots around its shape have small serrations to better grip the nail to hold it in place with your fingers out of the way. Made in England, where they have been smashing fingers longer than here in North America :-)

And finally a good stout marking awl (Think scratching awl on steroids).
This particular model has a metal strike cap on the end, so I use my regular hammers to gently tap it. Yes, some of us anal's people like to set precisely the location of their nails :-) Other than  that it also help to avoid splintering. In some case I will pre-drill using a nail, but in most case a prick of the awl is sufficient.


Next will look at mallets.

Bob, hammering the point home.
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Mallets will set you free ...

January 24, 2016, 4:04 pm
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...of all kinds of aches and injuries. But only when used correctly and when using the appropriate one for the task.

That's right! Using the palm of your hands to drive a chisel or gouge into wood by tapping on its handle, is a sure way to cause damages to your hands. You may not notice it since you are unlikely to break skin, but do it repetitively and nerves damages will occur.

Beating pieces of wood apart with your fist may not damage the wood, but it will make you sore.
Using the wrong weight of a mallet or hammer to do a task is fatiguing for your arm, and not holding the tool correctly on its handle will also tired you and your wrist.

I could go on with similar woes and injuries that you could developed, but all of these can easily be avoided by using the correct tool properly...

As with hammers, mallets come in a variety of sizes and head weight.
Lets look at a few and their usage, as they relate to woodworking operations.

TRADITIONAL CARPENTER MALLET

These are the squarish beech mallet with a rectangular handle.

A Footprint  16 Oz and a Crown  10 Oz.

Easily made and an excellent shop project. The form, while being traditional, has all the required elements done with a specific purpose, you would be wise to respect them and not tamper with its form. Today's glue probably would let you get away with a laminate construction, but the solid head with a mortise is still the best IMHO.

The head, of a specific weight, has a rake on each ends (it is a double face striking tool). That is to allow the head to hit squarely since our arm swing in an arc. You may have notice on my two shown, that the angle is slightly different on both. That is because of the different length of the handle.

Some text books advocate tapering to meet the end of the handle, as in the smaller Crown, but what is more important is that the angle feel right for your arm swing. Some trial and error experimentation may be in order if you want to make your own. And don't go anal, it does not have to meet perfectly your swing.

The striking faces of the head are end grain for the most dent resistance, and the edges of the striking faces are beveled to avoid chipping. Do not skip these details.

The handle is tapered and fit into a similar tapered eye (mortise) in the head. While the head may get loose from time to time due to wood shrinkage, it cannot physically becomes separated (fly off the handle) while in use. Just hold the head and tap the end of the handle on your bench to tighten the head.

The rectangular form of the handle serves a distinct purpose.  Some don't like it and advocate rounding it off... Don't!
Its rectangular shape ensured that you hold the mallet in the correct orientation and hit squarely with the head. A slight bevel relief on the edges where your hand fit is all that is needed.
The bigger size, 16 Oz is one of my preferred tool to uses with my chisels.

My next favorite whacking tool on chisels is this one from Lee Valley

18 Oz cabinetmaker mallet 

You would not think that 2 Oz is going to make much of a difference, but it sure does. The combination of a brass head and its shape contribute to the heft and balance of this mallet, which if you know LV, the idea came from an antique in their collection.  Both faces are raked like the traditional carpenter mallet and have replaceable end grain wood plugs. This is the one I reach for the most for chiseling mortises.

TRADITIONAL CARVER'S MALLET

Although uses primarily for carving with gouges,  you may find many uses for this one in your chisel work.

My shop made (by a friend) maple turned carver mallet.

Again, the shape has been refined thru the years, don't mess with it.
Its major characteristics are: The head cylinder is tapered (by now you should understand why)
Since the striking face are not end grain, they tend to get chew up in use.

The handle shape is peculiar, notice the bulge in the handle where your hand cradled it. Perhaps not so evident and sometimes missed is the all too important detail at the head and handle transition. More on this later.

So why the round head versus a square one for carpentry? Because in carving we are more concerned in watching the tool cutting edge progress than looking at the tool head when striking. The elongated rounded shape ensure we will hit the tool regardless of its orientation.  This reason alone is why some woodworker prefer this shape to the traditional carpenter style mallet. Myself I use both.
If you never uses one, give it a try and see how you like it. Again head weight varies, depending mostly on the wood species used, Lignum vitae was once the preferred material, but it is hard to find in suitable chunks now a day. Various exotic woods substitute are used. In a bid to prevent cracking and splitting some commercial ones comes with a thick waxy coating, and some advocate keeping it inside a plastic bag when not in use.

Mine was turned from a piece of maple firewood by a friend and I am only on my second one in more than 20 years. Now that I have a lathe, I will turn my next one.

Here is perhaps a little known better way (some circle would say the correct way) to hold this mallet, instead of using a full grip on the handle.

Not easy to hold while taking pics :-)

The grip I am talking about is wrapping your thumb and index finger loosely around the small depression where the handle meet the head. The remainders fingers can be wrapped around the handle shaft, but do not grip. In use simply let the mallet head swing within the confines of your circled fingers. These small resulting taps still pack a sufficient punch but best of all, will not tired your wrist as when using a regular grip around the handle. Easier to do than to write about, trust me! Give it a try.
You can see how that shape in the transition between handle and head meet is helping this grip. It must be smooth.

A recent take on this carver mallet is the uses of a polyurethane sleeve around the wooden head.

Same tapered shape as before, the small recess on the handle 
I was talking about is clearly visible in this one

Head shot showing the sizes differences.
The Shop Fox is 18 Oz, the maple one about 14 Oz.

The urethane sleeve idea is to give some cushioning effect on the tool head to better transmit the full force, since the contact is longer (no rebounce). Nice theory, but in uses some swear by them, while some swear at them.
Some claims that it is less fatiguing in uses. BUT any mallet will fatigued you quickly when improperly used...
Most often I will reach for my maple one, because that is what I learned carving with.

If you haven't figured it out yet, mallets are a very personal choice, uses the right one for your style and scale of work. Whichever one is not causing you undue fatigue, because it is more comfortable and fit your hands better, that is the one to use for you!

Another take on carver mallets are the brass journeyman styles.

Lee Valley brass journeyman mallet

Their small size and brass head pack quite a punch in a small package.
Not intended to be used by swinging by the handle but rather to be cradled in your hand.

Proper hold.
Pic from LV site.

In carving we are more intent on applying small localize force than whacking with greater force. Control is all this is about. You will also probably notice that stone carvers used similar shaped mallets, except of course that they are slightly larger, heavier.

DISASSEMBLY TOOLS and other means of persuasion

Other mallets comes in handy during glue ups and for taking things apart.
BUT these tools to be effective should not mar the surface.
Enter various forms of plastic and rubber mallets

A modern double faced one. Hard plastic removable insert on one face, 
softer rubber on the other. Some prefer this form for chisels works, I don't.

An antique hardwood one. A smaller version of 
the Whack-A-Mole circus version :-)

A modern No bounce hard rubber one.
The head has lead shot inside to make this no rebounce 
effect possible. It also leave ugly black marks on your wood :-(

Dead blow Unicast 2 lbs.
The whitish residues on it are from the plasticiser, 
which means the rubber is hardening. That one is 18 years old.
Chris Schwarz call them clown hammer for using on chisels :-)

And rounding up our mallets, a brass one is handy when you don't want to damaged the metal parts you are striking. Brass being rather soft, it will damages and mushroom over time. A quick work with a file will take care of that.
If yours is made of Beryllium CAREFUL don't do that, the filings and dust are very toxic !

Beryllium is non sparking and non magnetic, hence why we used them in the military.  You should keep them out of your shop, not worth the risks...


My day to day Whack-A-Mole collection 
of mallets in its rack.
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Kid playing Whack-A-Mole.
Photo credit Emil Ovenar, Flickr creative


Bob, who suddenly has an urge to whack something :-)
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The Yankee Spiral screwdrivers family, the original cordless screwdrivers

January 26, 2016, 4:42 pm
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Recently, Gerhard at the Je ne sais quoi woodworking blog, asked my help for dating various specimen of this iconic tool.  I thought it would make a good post explaining how I go about establishing some sort of timelines for any tools.
Unless your tool happens to have a serial nos on it, we can rarely pin point an exact date, but we can certainly dated them within a given time period based on the features, patent Nos, boxes or other paraphernalia that originally came with them. Most paper products, leaflets and boxes did not survived, were often toss out, hence why tools are much more valuable when found complete in their packaging with manuals etc.

And doing some research on line, I noticed some confusion with regards to the spring returns models and the A and B series. So lets hopefully set the record straight.

Although mostly associated with Stanley, the name Yankee was registered to the North Brothers Manufacturing Co of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1880-1946, commonly known as North Bros for short.
That is because Stanley acquired the company in 1946 and kept production of many of their tools for a long period of time.  Some will says that the quality degraded somewhat when Stanley took over, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

First, a SHORT HISTORY OF THE TOOL IN QUESTION

The origins of this tool, goes back to a Maine inventor, Zachary T. Furbish who received a patent on April 16 1895 and had his invention produced by the Forest City Screwdriver Co.
That company screwdrivers first appeared in announcements and advertising in 1896.

Forest City Screwdriver Co 
Patented April 16 1895


Zachary was not the first one, there is another form of spiral screwdriver that came earlier from Christopher H. Olson of the Decatur Coffin Co .
But his was inside out, the spiral was inside the surface of the casing where as North Bros design has the spiral on the rotating shaft.

North Bros who was in the foundry business, entered the tool manufacturing business by purchasing Forest City Screwdriver Co in 1897, enticed Zachary to move to Philadelphia in 1898 and began marketing their spiral and ratcheting screwdrivers the same year. They had started to expand their product offerings, but their "Name" was built on Yankee screwdrivers. By 1910, their familiarity with the ratchet mechanism let them expand their line of drills: Push drills, egg beater drills and breast drills, most with ratcheting mechanism.
To this day they remained the most technically sound and mechanically innovative designs. With this experience the next logical development for North Bros was the ratchet bit braces. They excel at it and produced some of the best design, which became used exclusively by telephone linemen working for the Bell System. A testament to their excellent design.

Take a look inside a Yankee Handyman spiral screwdriver to see how the mechanism work. Simple, rugged and elegant, and a reminder you are looking at the cheaper Handyman model...

LOOKING AT RELEVANT PATENTS

Whenever patents Nos or date are to be found on a tool, it gives us a starting point. Here are some of the patents dates found on these spiral screwdrivers
Keep in mind that these patents are on the average good for 20 years and are often stamped for many years after being granted (often 5 or so years).
Patents Nos were not laser etched they were stamped or cast at the foundry, they wanted their money worth :-)
List is not all inclusive, but these are the ones I see most often on these tools.
Looking them up by year in DATAMP we find:

Nov 2 1897 Ratchet mechanism
Sep 5 1899 Chuck
Oct 9 1900 Ratchet mechanism
Jun 6 1905 Spiral push screwdrivers or drills
Nov 3 1908 Locking mechanism for ratchet
May 4 1915 Chuck
Dec 11 1923  Securing the mechanism to the casing, the 'A' models

I found 427 patents on screwdrivers alone, of which 110 are for spiral screwdrivers. (Click image to expand as usual)

Or if looking at patents issued to North Bros we get, 132 patents.
That by the way, is the beauty of looking at patents thru DATAMP first.
It was designed by tool collectors for tool collectors, it is a pretty comprehensive
Data Base of all the US Patents related to tools, so if it is about a woodworking tools, it's in there!

Most industrial countries have their own patents database which you can access for free. The other ones I visit often in my research are the Canadian and the British ones.
Keep in mind not every patents issued was ever put into production and the resulting article may differ slightly from the patent drawings.
Then in both Canada and the UK there is such as thing as Registered Design (RD) which are not patents but are protecting a specific "design" look from being copied.

Within DATAMP you can look at it by patent date or numbers, or by category, or by inventor or manufacturers and etc.
Once you have the patent number you are looking for you can then look at it via Google patents or the official US patent site.
Some plug-in may be required to see the pictures (on the USPTO site), but DATAMP is a great online resource.

One last thing about patents on tools:
Why is there a seemingless numbers of patents on what appears to be very simple tools to begin with, and why do they keep tinkering with the designs?
Answer in one word; For competitiveness.
Everyone has to find ways to market similar product, the best way to demarked themselves from the competition is to come up with some gimmick or real improvements. There are no shortage of either...
Also as the patents expired and everybody else start making similar tools (A good example are the countless Bailey No 4 plane designs), you need more than a different colour on your tools to stand out.
That is one reasons Stanley keeps re-inventing itself and why it dominated the hand tools market for so long. And if they could not outdo the competition, they just bought them outright.  Stanley, the tool box of the world, or the Microsoft of its days :-)

Sometimes they get the jump on it and simply mark their tools with "Patent applied for" or "Patent pending" probably as a warning to other would be copy cat :-)
Industrial espionage and copying successful designs is nothing new and today it is still alive and well...

I have yet to figured out when the Quick return feature was introduced...
All I know so far, is that it predate the model improved 'A', so pre 1924.
I have seen on line someone claims 1912 as the date, but I have yet to confirm it anywhere else.
I DID NOT go thru all the relevant patents...yet :-)
I will update this post when I figured it out.


A SHORT LIST OF YANKEE MODELS Nos

Nos 35, 135
Nos 30, 30A, 130, 130A
Nos 31, 31A, 131, 131A, 131B, 1310

From top to bottom
No 135A Quick return, Light model
No 130A Quick return, Standard model 
No 131A Quick return, Heavy pattern

The Nos 30 series were produced in three sizes;
The smallest being the No 35, the next size No 30 and the largest heavy duty version No 31. There are a few more variations of these tools and Models Nos but they ALL share the same three size bits.

The sizes of these screwdrivers varied slightly throughout the years
Sizes measured with the screwdriver bit in the chuck and screwdriver  fully extended

No 135 343 mm (13 in 1/2)
No 130 508 mm (20 in)
No 131 Before 2002 712 mm (28 in 1/32)
             After 2002    672 mm (26 in 29/64)


They came in a cardboard box with 3 flat or common screwdriver blades

For a fairly complete list of various North Bros tools look here

THE 'A' SERIES

Starting in 1924 the Suffix A was added to the models Nos, E.G. 35A, 30A and 31A

The 'A' denoting the changes to the means of securing the mechanism to the casing, patent date Dec 11 1923. The New, Improved Yankee.

Top the older pattern
Bottom the new pattern, 'A' model

From 1926 North Bros catalog


These No 3Xs series DO NOT have a return spring inside the handle, and NEVER had.

THE 13X SERIES, THE SPRING LOADED VERSIONS

The similar tool Nos 13Xs series (130, 131, 135) have a return spring inside the handle. The quick return spring facilitate one hand operation, and keep applying pressure on the screw head, but the return motion can be sudden (keep it under control) and cause the bit to slip marring the surrounding surfaces of the screw being driven. Without the return spring you mostly uses two hands and having a hand holding near the bit you are less likely to slip, but you have to keep supplying the pressure on the fastener. Once proficient with it, you quickly realize how much of a time saver this can be, having the quick return feature.

From 1926 North Bros catalog

 In addition, you should always store these spring loaded tools with the driver fully extended, spring uncompressed. It is better for the spring and the No 131 especially, pack quite a punch when suddenly released into the hands of the unwary. Try it at home if you have one, then marvel at the simplicity of the Yankee bit design while the bit stay solidly attached. Now try one of these Hex 1/4 in adapters with no other means to hold the bit than a magnet, and watch as the Yankee tool launch the unsuspecting bit across the shop! Hours of fun looking for that bit... if you find it!
I think you can appreciate the value of a good locking collet mechanism on these adapter thingy. Just saying, says Bob still looking @@#?#$.

Size of the spring in the No 131, at 12 in long 
it pack quite a punch...

Yankee extended

Yankee collapsed & locked 

The 13X series is characterized by a big screw on top of the handle to insert the spring.

Screw at the top of the handle denote 13X series 
with a return spring. 


Very often they are shown collapsed and locked to fit inside tool bag, boxes what have you, but leaving the spring uncompressed in storage is a wise thing.

And in case you ever wondered; NO you CANNOT add a spring inside the handle cavity of the 3X series, not enough room

THE 'H' SERIES

Handyman is often associated with Stanley, but in this case, North Bros did used the trade-name Handyman, while Stanley was using Four-Square.
Hence the first H models were made by North Bros prior to Stanley's resurrecting the name Handyman in 1959.
The Yankee Handyman spiral screwdriver models they made were the 133H, 233H, 433H and the 633H
Ad from North Bros 1939

Box from No 233H, clear plastic handle.

No 233H


They used the same sizes bits as their full fledged brothers

In the early 60s Stanley re-introduced a line of lower cost tools destined for the homeowners, The Handyman line.  It was preceded in the late 20s and 40s by the similar Defiance and Four Square lines.
YANKEE and HANDYMAN was often marked on the tools.
The Yankee spiral screwdriver models they made were the 133H, 233H, and the 433H, 46
Later Stanley models had a "1" in front of the equivalent model nos such as 1131 (No 131) or a "0" at the end such as 1310 (no 131).

Later Stanley Handyman No 46 with plastic handle and 
provision in handle to store bits

THE 'B' SERIES

Generally 'B' is the newer version with a plastic handle,  although near the end of their production they are fitted again with wooden handles. They were
mostly made overseas including England, Germany and near the very end of production years in Japan. The 'B' have metric internal measurements and the chuck are slightly bigger internally.

The last version from Stanley came in a plastic pouch, no more boxes.
They still come with 3 spare tips, but no longer all common (slot), now Phillips (N.A. Market) or Pozidriv (European market) in addition to one common (slot).

When the packaging is present, we can further gleams some infos by the listing of an address which contains a Zip code (USA) or Postal code E.G. B0P 1R0 (mine in Canada), place of manufacture, price paid and nowadays by the addition of a UPC code etc.

The last Stanley version made, wood handle.
Still come  with 3 bits but, 2 sizes of Phillips (or Pozidriv) and a common (flat)


MODERN VERSION

Today both the Japanese and the German produced their own version of the Stanley Yankee. Schroeder of Germany and JET in Japan
Here is one modern version with a standard 1/4 Hex bit chuck made by Schroeder in Germany, who now own the rights to the tradename 'Yankee' from Stanley. That's right the name "Yankee" was own by North Bros, then Stanley and now Schroeder

My Japanese JET SD-1300
Yankee No 130 size, takes regular Yankee bits.

Throughout the years, Goodell-Pratt , Millers-Falls and Greenlee all made similar models starting around 1920s. There were also models made for Sears (Millers-Falls) and Ward etc.

THE BITS


The 3 standard bits that came with them.

These three sizes models take different size (diameters) bits.
In addition ALL the other various models will fit one of these three sizes.
Sometimes the applicable models Nos are stamps on the bits but they can be hard to see.

5.5 mm 7/32 in ---- Nos 33, 35, 133, 135, 233
7 mm 9/32 in ---- Nos 30, 130
8 mm 5/16 in ---- Nos 31, 131

Some of my Yankee bits

Cross section inside the chuck showing how the bit engage the driving shaft and the ball detent securing the bit. It is released by pulling back on the spring loaded sleeve

Stanley discontinued production in 2007, tool and bits, but there are third party bits still being made. Spear & Jackson in the UK under the brand name Spiralux, Schroeder in Germany and another in Japan (maker unknown).
See this typical selection at Lee Valley 

You can also buy various makes of Yankee screwdrivers adapters to uses modern 1/4 hex bits. One problem with some of these adapters, is using a magnet alone to hold the bit is not sufficient, a No 131 has plenty of force in the quick return to flung the bit across the shop... This one from LV locks the bit which is then released by pulling back on the sleeve. Inexpensive and work great.
And of course they make them in all three appropriate sizes.

Yankee to 1/4 in Hex adapter from LV

The numbers of accessories and which ones included is also a clue that help us establish a probable time frame.

MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS

See this link.

STANLEY SHORT HISTORY with regard to international operations
Ref, Stanley Tools by John Walter, Stanley official site
and Encyclopedia.com 

When a fairly new Canadian firm, The Roxton Pond Tool & Mill company, offered to sell to Stanley it was an opportunity too big to pass up, as it opened the whole Canadian market and British Commonwealth. (tariff war is nothing new)
They completed negotiations in 1907 and the following year a team of Stanley Rule & Level Co went to Canada with several carloads of machinery reorganized the factory and train the workers. By 1920 the Roxton plant in Quebec, Canada was providing to the Canadian market almost the full line of Stanley tools.

By then The Stanley Works had grown into an international company supplying hardware and steel products to markets in Canada, Germany and England.
As exports grew in importance Stanley looked for overseas manufacturing sites in order to better compete in foreign markets.
When a German manufacturer of hinges and builders hardware offered to sell, the Stanley Works quickly accepted and by 1926 Stanley was operating its Velbert, Germany plant and began cost effective production and distribution to European customers.

In 1936-7 Stanley began hand tool manufacturing operations in Sheffield, England with the purchase of a controlling interest in J.A. Chapman Ltd. During the same time Stanley was forced to reconsider the future of its Velbert plant in Germany as that country radical nationalism was encouraging government appropriation of production facilities, especially companies of Non-German ownership. While the plant stay in operation until 1939, Stanley actually removed its full $600,000 value from their balance sheet in 1936 anticipating the loss of German goodwill.        

In the post WWII period, rapid expansion of foreign industries created unprecedented competition for Stanley. In response they restored the Velbert plant in Germany and now had operations in Canada, Germany and England and expanded manufacturing facilities in the USA.

In 1946 Stanley acquired North Brothers Manufacturing Co, makers of the famous Yankee brand tools.
in 1957 Stanley introduced a new line of economy home owner tools, the Handyman line. They acquired the rights to the trade name Handyman with the purchase of North Bros.

In 1963 Stanley formed a joint venture Stanley-Titan Pty Ltd for production of hand tools for the Australian market.
In the 60s-70s Stanley formed sales companies in France, Holland, Italy and New Zealand.
In 1970 Stanley-Titan acquired Turner Tools in Melbourne Australia.

In 1984 Stanley closed down the Stanley Co manufacturing plant in Roxton Pond Qc, which had been running since 1907. By then most hand tools production had been moved from the US and Canada to England.
In 1986 Stanley sold its South-African interest to local management.
In 1986 Stanley move into the pacific Rim with its acquisition of Taiwan based, Chiro Tools manufacturing corporation.
In 1991 Stanley negotiated a a joint venture agreement creating Stanley Tools Poland Ltd, for the manufacturing of carpenters tools. The new plant in Krakow, was the first for Stanley in Eastern Europe.

Between 2005-7 Stanley discontinued production of these Yankee tools and sent the tooling to Stanley Works, Japan.

The 'Yankee' name continued to be used by Stanley up until the early 2000s before they sold it to Schroeder tool company. To this day Schroeder of Germany continue to sell 'Yankee' brand push drill and screwdrivers

ESTABLISHING A TIME LINE AND DATING GERHARD'S YANKEE TOOLS

We should now have enough information in order to establish a probable time frame for his tools.

Gerhard's tools From L to R
(1) YANKEE NO 131A, Stanley Works (GB) Ltd Sheffield England
(2) YANKEE NO 1310, Germany, plastic handle
(3) YANKEE NO 131B, Germany, beech handle
(4) YANKEE NO 131A, Stanley Works (GB) Ltd Sheffield England
(5) YANKEE NO 131A, Stanley tools, 
(6) YANKEE NO 135, made in USA

And that would be our next post, I still need time to analyse the pictures he sent me...

Bob, the tool historian


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