George T. (Terry) Chapman

Terry Chapman is a Professional Engineer (Civil) and Land Surveyor who lives south of Atlanta. He has done woodworking for many years and particularly enjoys bowl turning and making Windsor Chairs. He currently works as Site Development Manager for a local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity and has one son who pastors a Church in Connecticut. You can email him at cdeinc@mindspring.com.

Saw Milling

Apr 232010
 

sawmill1b.jpgI love my truck when it’s full of wood. Look at all that walnut lumber. I had just about as soon have my truck full of walnut lumber as to have it full of hundred dollar bills. Look at that stuff!!

sawmill2a.jpg Let me tell you about this little adventure. Some friends down the road who know I enjoy wood working offered me two walnut trees off the family farm. The trees were out by the barn and blacksmith shop and had some electrical wires through one of them, so I knew taking them down was beyond me. I hired a professional tree service fellow to take them down and haul the good parts over to a friend who has a portable sawmill. Tree guy came out last week with his bucket truck and his small tractor and trimmed them up and then put the trunks on the ground. The grapple hook on the front of his tractor made short work of loading the tree trunks and they were soon at the sawmill.

Now understand the problem with walnut trees and particularly trees close to a house or a barn and in this case, a blacksmith shop, is metal. People hang horseshoes on limbs (that’s good luck for most people–just not for sawyers), drive nails in tree trunks, and nail fences to them. The sawmill guy is willing to saw them for me, but he knows about metal and before he starts, he wants me to stand good for the blades at about $30 each.
sawmill3.jpgWe struck a deal and he started sawing while I was still there. I walked around the mill a good bit trying to figure the safest place to be when the saw blade found the metal I thought was in there. I had visions of metal chips and blade chunks flying everywhere, but thank goodness I was wrong. When the blade hit the first piece of metal, it sounded like a bug zapper. Just a little short “bzzt” and it was through. After several more hits, that blade was done and he reloaded a new blade. There was some beautiful lumber in these trees and after a couple of slabs off the top, we started getting 12 to 16 inch wide boards at an inch and an eighth thick. We sawed one trunk right down the middle of the pith to make bowl blanks. Those bowl blank boards are so heavy, I will have to use the chain saw to cut blanks off the end of the board while it is still on the truck. Otherwise I will not be able to get it off the truck.

When I count up to see if this whole deal was worthwhile, I think it was. I spent about $600 and I have 23 boards which average 12 inches wide and 6 feet long. That computes to around 138 board feet. Plus I have enough for about 20 bowl blanks four to five inches deep. Even allowing for waste, I think you could not buy this lumber for $600. Maybe I can sell some of that dern metal and recoup part of my cost.

The Power8: A Workshop in a Suitcase

Apr 152010
 
The store loaned me a Power8 Workshop to take home and see if I could make it dance. I was skeptical since these all-in-one cutesy things have come and mostly gone for years. Having only seen the brochure, I placed it on that great continuum of woodworking tools somewhere just north of the deluxe Xacto knife set (the one with the saw blade included) and just south of the Shop Smith Mark 5. I took it home, watched the video and plugged it up so it could charge itself and waited, all the time thinking Easy-Bake Oven.


Power8 workshop
Well, here’s the verdict. If you ask the right question, this thing is the answer. First of all, I started out by asking the wrong question. Am I going to use this instead of my Delta Unisaw? Not if I am in my shop. Would I use it instead of my band saw to cut a curve in 8/4 cherry? Not if I can help it. But if I have to repair the upstairs bath cabinet in my rental house, then I will put this thing over my shoulder and save three trips back to the shop.

When I was in the store to pick this up last week, we had a good discussion about who would buy this thing. I never felt I had a clear answer until I got it home and started thinking outside the box (so to speak). (It’s all in one box, don’t you see?)
If you approach it from the standpoint of one of those kits of portable tools you might see on sale at the big box store around Father’s Day and Christmas, then it makes a huge amount of sense. The total price is right in line with the name brands for a kit that includes a cordless jig saw, circular saw, drill driver, and flashlight, all running on an 18 volt battery.

And then on top of that (and beyond any of the other kits), you can turn the drill driver into a drill press, the circular saw into a table saw, the jigsaw into a scroll saw and the flashlight into a table light, and you can see where this is going. If I want to get a set of portable tools, then why not add the table saw/scroll saw/drill press/table light functions on top of it for no additional charge?
If you are a handy-person with limited funds, live in an apartment or small house with little space and big dreams, or a student starting out in woodworking, or a modelmaker, then this would make an excellent tool system for you. And say if you have a cabin at the lake or in the mountains, or work on boats, or go traveling in a motor home, or handle other folks’ home repairs out of the back of your truck, well, you get the idea.

It’s versatile, it’s very compact, and it’s highly portable, and there are really cool functions built into this box. A large canvas tool bag containing all the basic tools stores in a sturdy steel-reinforced padded case with a total weight of about 30 pounds.
Take the soft bag out of the box and plug the battery/handle into the corner of the table where it powers any of the tools mounted on the table. If you purchase an extra battery/handle (for $49.99), you can plug the second battery into an alternate extension on the back corner of the table so it will charge while you use the table.

Changing tools is a snap – lift the table top, pull back one slide, pop in the tool, plug it up inside and you’re ready to go. I timed myself changing from the table saw to the jig saw and it took me 29.2 seconds.

The saw fence is the post for the drill press, a saw fence, a carpenter’s level, a post for the light, an iPod speaker system, (well, maybe not) and it stores out of sight on the bottom of the box when not in use. The miter gauge doubles as a protractor, there is a plastic shield for the scroll saw that fits onto the post, there is a plastic blade guard for the table saw in addition to the retractable blade guard for the circular saw, the push stick for the saw is also the handle for the drill press – it just goes on and on.
Oh yes, there are two plastic storage boxes full of drill bits, nut drivers and jig saw blades and they snap neatly into the back of the hard case. I love the way this thing fits together.

So, do you need versatility? Compactness? Portability? Affordability?

There’s even a video. CHECK IT OUT

And hey, Father’s Day is just around the corner.

My New Leather Apron

Mar 292010
 
I am trying to get my new leather apron dirty and more worn. I am considering tying it to the back of my truck and dragging it down a dirt road for a bit. I may leave it on the floor of the shop and walk on it a while. Maybe leave it hanging up in the weather outside for a few weeks.

What brought this on was a visit to the shop last week by a couple of potential customers. I was wearing my new apron ($49.99 on sale at Highland) when they came in about some custom turning work. Now when you are considering hiring someone to do custom work, you want an experienced worker, someone who has been around the bend, a dirty apron kind of person. You don’t want someone learning how to do wood work on your dime. A couple of hundred years ago, when you asked for proposals on work, the bidders brought their tool boxes with them for your inspection. They would spread their tools out for you to inspect, including the tool box itself as a sort of portfolio of the type of work you could expect. Probably not a bad idea.

Even today, when you go to a Habitat site you can tell in the first five minutes who knows what they are doing by the tool belt they are wearing. If you want to get something done, find someone with an old leather belt and a smooth worn hammer handle and follow them around.

Now it happens that I know what I am doing in the turning field, but the problem is that my apron does not yet convey my skill level to potential customers. It needs more wear and signs of usage and I am doing everything I can to get it there. If I can just find a muddy dirt  road. leatherapron.jpg

Candle Stands and Tools

Mar 182010
 

candlestand2.jpgWow, learn something new every day. A few weeks ago, my son the seminary student, asked me to make a candle stand for his church. It was not something I was familiar with, but he and I looked it up and after several back and forth discussions settled on a design we both liked and I could make. The only design issue was making sure the proportions were right and it looked good. I mocked one up full size out of scrap to check the shape and then I made one to match the pulpit furniture at his church. It was kinda fun and not too difficult and I was pleased with the final product. And then just as a lark, I put it up on my Etsy site (www.thewoodshop.etsy.com) and put a price on it. Well, guess what! It is still a couple of weeks until Easter (everyone wants them for the Easter season) and I have sold three more of them. Churches in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Massachusetts will enjoy my handiwork during the Easter season. I had to set up a virtual assembly line. Thank goodness I measured the original and made a quick drawing of it before I sent it off. (Guess I coulda used Sketch-Up.) In fact I will try to make an extra one or two in case I get more orders in the next few days. Bead system.jpgThat leaves only one other question to be answered — what new tools shall I buy with my profits? (Remember, tools are ALWAYS a worthwhile investment!) I’ve been watching that new beaded face frame tool at the High, and I sure could use a new router. Maybe I could make some more church furniture. Turns out to be more profitable than bowl turning. Triton router

SketchUp Time

Mar 022010
 
clock.jpg

OK, people, it’s time to get SketchUp. I know you have been putting it off because you think it is hard to learn and it is new and different and you had rather get shop time than sit in front of the computer learning to use something new. I know — I’ve been there.
Here are the facts. First of all it is free. Google offers a basic version free in hopes you will buy the more robust professional version later (for $495). You can buy the pro version if you want, but the free one will do 99% of woodworking stuff. Just go to Google and type SketchUp in the search box. That will take you to the download area and it is painless to get loaded and running. Just open it up and go to work. Once you learn probably four basic tools in the program, you can design most things you will want to do in your shop. If you draw all the joints in detail, it is just like building them in the shop. Plus you can get a really good sense of the scale of any project by adding people, trees, furniture, cabinets and anything else which might be helpful. You can look at your piece from any angle, turn it 360, put it in x-ray mode to see inside (if you drew the joints), add texture and color, and pretty much anything else you may have ever wished you could do when drawing plans on paper. If you are careful with the scale of everything as you draw, you can pull any dimension directly off the drawing. Plus you can take a file of your drawing to a blue print/engineering printer company and they can plot it for you at full scale. When you have that, tape it to the floor and build the project on top of it like lofting a boat.
Sean Headrick writes a very good monthly column in Wood News Online published every month by Highland Woodworking. Follow his detailed instructions to get a good start and get an idea of what this thing can do. Another site I found on the internet is sketchupforwoodworkers which has excellent tutorials for rank beginners. Spend a little time with these tutorials and the ones inside the program and you will be up to speed very quickly.
clock2.jpgYou will not be the first to use this program and many people who use it enjoy posting their finished projects on the internet for other people to use. Go back to that Google search box above and look for the SketchUp Warehouse. You can find a huge number of finished plans there including the one for the clock I built that’s pictured at right, which my friend Lorraine drew for me (Yes, that’s the SketchUp version she drew pictured at the top of this entry). We only had the hardware and a picture and we scaled everything else from those items. Plus you will see that many magazines and blogs offer SketchUp files you can download for use in building the projects in the articles. You’re gonna like this program.

I Met Thomas Lie-Nielsen at Highland Woodworking

Feb 212010
 

Who is the most well known person you ever met? I met an ex-Senator once at work, and I was with a Congressman the other day when he brought a large check to our community. Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity came to town a few years ago and he autographed the hammer I use to help build Habitat houses. I should have framed it (no pun intended) because Mr. Fuller died awhile back, but it is too expensive not to use. I do think he would want me to continue to use it to build houses.

When I narrow the field to woodworking, I met Norm Abram once, and I’ve taken a class at Highland from Roy Underhill and another one from Mike Mahoney. I read several books by James Krenov and bought one of the planes he made, and once I sat in that Sam Maloof chair at Highland.

Thomas Lie-NielsenThen a couple of weeks ago, I dropped by the store and got to meet Thomas Lie-Nielsen, founder and owner of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and maker of some of the finest woodworking hand planes and tools made in the world (and they’re made right here in America, up in Maine). He was in town to teach a class at Highland, and also gave some hand tool demos at the store’s big winter sale day the day before. I stand in awe. Everybody in woodworking knows about these planes and they are beautiful.

Lie-Nielsen No. 102 low angle block planeI picked one up and the weight and feel is such that you just know they are the best. The finish is outstanding and the blades are honed to perfection. After I picked out the one I wanted, a No. 102 low angle block plane, Thomas autographed it for me with one of those electric engraving pens right on the spot. I suppose I will have to decide whether to frame this one or actually use it like I do with my Fuller hammer.

Given enough time and energy, I can pretty much make anything I want out of wood. But when I look at one of these planes, I cannot even imagine how to begin. The scope of the metal work, the foundry work, the machining, the fitting, not to mention the actual design to make it beautiful, is just beyond me. Then on top of all that, it has to cut wood perfectly. Oh, and by the way, the Lie-Nielsen factory makes a hundred planes a day, which to me is amazing!
I really enjoyed talking to Thomas and I admire his work, but I feel like he did leave all of us short on one thing. Go look at Chris Schwartz, the editor over at Popular Woodworking magazine and see the clip of him throwing double bit axes at a target. Thomas taught him how to throw this week when Chris went to visit the Lie-Nielsen factory. (By the way, we’ve got plenty of those kinds of axes at Highland. You’ll need one of the double bit ones.)

It just occurred to me to wonder: Will Thomas ever be back down here to show the rest of us how to throw an axe?

Woodworking Tips: Tool Ignorance vs Tool Stupidity

Jan 202010
 

All woodworkers know if necessity is the mother of invention, then laziness is the grandfather and stupid is the father. (I think I’ll try to get that added to Bartlett’s Quotations.) All jigs, templates, shortcuts, power tools, dumb moves and safety practices are heirs of this illustrious family.

I must admit that grandfather laziness is high in my gene list, but father stupid works quicker for me than the other two. Fifteen years ago, in the very first two minutes I had my brand new table saw in the shop, I stuck a scrap of 1/4 inch plywood in the blade free hand. It kicked back into my midsection and the palm of my hand and I learned a good lesson very early. I instantly gained an immense respect for the tool with thankfully little damage. Good lesson not soon forgotten.

band saw.jpgLong as we are on stupid (ignorance can be cured, stupid is forever), I was working on the switch on my new Steel City band saw a few weeks ago, and like a good boy, I unplugged it first. When I finished I pushed the “on” button to check my work, and to my surprise and horror, the saw started. Totally not logical and I instantly looked to see the plug still on the table where I put it before starting to work. Now I only had one course in electricity in college a long time ago, but transmitting electricity through the air is not common even if it is possible. Soon as I got back from the bathroom, I turned the saw off and checked the cord. There are two cords on the saw, one to the task light attached to the back of the saw and the other for the saw itself. They are identical and both were next to each other in a filled four socket outlet. I had unplugged the light but not the saw. Another lesson not soon forgotten. (I taped the cords together so it wouldn’t happen again.)

Then yesterday when I put a new piece of old wood on the lathe, I failed to note sufficiently the crack across the top of the wood. Ever stand out in the yard and watch a vee formation of geese fly over (never do that with your mouth open) heading away for winter vacation? I remember standing there and watching that chunk of wood fly across the top of the shop like a flock of geese. Seemed like it took a week. I have learned instinctively to stand out of the line of fire and I always wear a full face shield and thank goodness for that.
spax screwsWhen it finally landed, I picked that missile up off the floor and screwed it to the wall (love them Spax screws) behind the lathe to remind me of what can happen. At least there was no blood or brains on it. Maybe that started curing stupid.

More Free Woodworking Tips