Overcoming One's Vices

 

Finishing the Moxon Vice

I finished the Moxon style vice. Actually I ordered some belly leather scraps to put on the jaw faces today, and they won't be here for a few days. But I finished the woodworking parts anyway. I chopped out the hexagonal nut shape in the other handle and the back of the back jaw. I smoothed off the handles with a plane and spoke shave. Then I glued the back jaw down to the base.

Link to SketchUp model

 

I used a bowed piece of wood for the front jaw.

 

A better view of the inset nut in the handle.

 

I inset the nut on the back of the back jaw, and added another nut to keep the rod from turning. 

This shows the handles spinning action and a board being clamped.

Starting to Carve and a Moxon Vice Build

My First Carving Exercise

I had drawn an acanthus leaf on a piece of black walnut a while ago and I thought I should go ahead and try to carve it using the new carving gouges I built the case for. I quickly found the advantage of holding the gouges the way people on the internet demonstrated, and to be mindful of the grain direction. I am sure it will take a lot more practice to be ready to add a carving to a project.

I will post more pictures as I progress with the carving.

Cheap Moxon Vise

I looked at the myriad examples of Moxon vices on the internet, and I thought I would give one a go. I paid about $20 for a 3/4" 10tpi 24-inch-long threaded rod and some nuts and washers and started cutting stuff up and drilling some holes.

Link to SketchUp model

 

I threaded two of the bolts onto the rod so it would be easier to hold in the vice.

 

I measured 12 inches to the middle of the 24-inch rod.

 

I cut the rod in two.

 

I cleaned up the ends a little so there wouldn't be any sharp points or edges.

 

I drilled some holes in some scrap wood, and chopped out the nut shape most of the way through a piece of red elm for a handle. 

I still need to make another handle and secure the back jaw to the base so I can clamp the whole thing to the bench by the base instead of the back jaw. I also need to secure the nuts behind the back jaw so they don't turn. I will probably chop some more nut-shaped holes. I used a piece of oak that had a slight bow to it for the front jaw. I oriented the bow toward the back jaw.

Trash Can from a Moving Box

One Man's trash is piling up

I was cleaning up the shop getting ready to start my next project, a mission style display case, and I had been using a moving box as a trash can. The problem was that it was over-flowing and there wasn't an easy way to get its contents into trash bags. I had to sit there and hand transfer everything into two large trash bags. I don't want to have to do that again, so I made a top for the box so I can fix a trash bag to a wooden hoop that is slightly larger than the hole in the top. I used scrap wood for the lid, and cut a 1/8 strip of wood off a 3/4" x 7" x 60" piece of oak left over from the bed slats. I just formed a loop with the strip and glued the ends together with some twine wrapped around a few times for good measure. Works like a charm.

 

This shows the design and what it looks like with a trash bag installed.

I didn't have a 22" square piece of plywood lying around, but I had a piece I could cut 4, 11-inch squares from. I gang cut the 8" radius arc in all of them at once on the band saw.  I screwed them to the lap-jointed rectangle I had screwed together earlier. I then just had to cut the 1/8" strip of oak and make the loop. I attached a garbage bag by sticking the bag down through the loop and lid hole, and tucking the top of the bag over the loop and down into the lid hole again. The weight of the stuff in the bag helps pull the loop against the lid, securing the bag. 

I spent the next twenty minutes sweeping up around the shop and testing it out. 

It will be a lot easier the next time it gets full.

Storage Chest 5 Plus a storage box for my carving tools

Last Look at the Chest

Well, I added the cross piece to the lid to make the Z pattern. I threw a couple desiccant bags I get from work in there with my hand planes and have been using it for a week or so. I set it up on the floor on a couple of pieces of wood to make it easier to get into. I love the way the lid and lock works. That was a fun project.

  

Storage Case for Carving Gouges

A while back, I got a set of Ashley Iles dove-tail chisels plus a couple optional chisels making the total set have 8 chisels. The little chisel roll that came with the set had six pockets. Last year I got a Two-Cherries 6-chisel set which came in a nice leather roll with, like, twelve pockets. I swapped chisels and rolls and now my chisels all have a home. I also keep a cheap 1/4 inch bench chisel with my dove-tail set because I use it for any heavy chopping I need to do if I leave too much waste after sawing out the waste with the jeweler's saw. Now I just needed somewhere to put my carving gouges.

I bought the gouges a while back and have just kept them in the postage box they came in, in there individual plastic sleeves. I saw the chisel case that David Barron uses to keep his dovetail chisels handy, and I thought I would make a similar deal for my carving gouges and other carving tools.

I used some scrap for everything, because I am not confident enough to tear into the nice wood I bought in St. Louis a few months ago. I get a piece of zebra wood, birds-eye maple, and wenge. I can't believe how expensive that was. The scraps I used were from my bed project, plus one old piece of Alder (I think), from an old bed repair I did years ago for a friend. Anyway, here is the finished case. I stained it with Gun-Stock Minwax stain, and then a couple coats of shellac.

 

I made it roughly 12 x 16 x 2 1/2 inches. The lid was from a piece of oak that was 3/4 inches thick, and 6 inches wide. I resawed it to make book matched, 5/16 inch pieces that I edge glued to make the panel. I used the alder for the sides.I used plywood for the bottom.

 

The lid slides along the slots cut into the back and sides. The supports are made from the leftover pine from the storage chest. I just drilled 1 1/4 inch holes for the handle supports, and 5/8 holes for the smaller supports that keep the pointy ends from touching. I made room for 9 gouges, but only had six, so I was able to put my carving knifes and small carving tools/pouch in there as well.

 

The Alder I used for the sides (or what ever that old wood was) didn't take the stain very well. It didn't really have a visible grain, so it looks kind of splotchy. This was the first time I used shellac. I like it.  The dovetails turned out pretty good. I am trying to perfect my technique so I can use some of that fancy wood I bought.

Here is a link to the SketchUp model at 3dwarehouse.sketchup.com:

Model of Sliding Lid Dovetail Box

Storage Chest for my Planes and Sharpening Stones 4

Wrapping It Up

I almost finished the chest last night. I made a tray for my planes to sit in, and added runners on the inside sides of the box for the tray to slide on. I glued and nailed the bottom on. I got my cut nails and they seemed to work great. I pre-drilled the holes and aligned the nails so the wide sides ran parrallel to the grain. I didn't get any splitting. When I made the lid, I attached the battens by hammering the nails  about a 1/4 inch through and turned the lid over and bent them over, then finished driving the nails from the pother side, turned it over again and hammered the bent bit down into the wood like a staple. I glued everything as well for good measure. I ended up using a piece of 1/2 inch Birch plywood for the lid panel, since I messed up and needed it thinner than I planned initially.

Here is the locking pin being slid out to allow the lid to slide forward.

 

With the pin removed, the lid slides to the right, freeing the left side.

This shows the gap left by sliding the lid to the right, allowing it to be lifted out on the left end. 

 

The tray slides left and right to allow access to the bottom of the chest.

Here is a link to the SketchUp model:
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=ud8b5d59e-53a5-43b9-bc71-803d37fd5902

I might have one more post on the chest after I add finish. I might add the cross batten piece to the lid to make the Z pattern but I don't think it is needed.

Storage Chest for my Planes and Sharpening Stones 3

Putting it all together

I chopped the remaining mortises, and added a 6 degree slant to the inside faces.

I decide to just add wedges to the inside (toward the center) of the tenons. I don't think that pine would flex very well without breaking or splitting, if I tried to put the wedge in the tenon. I cut the wedges by putting that peace of elm I was planing earlier in my tenoning jig and cutting off enough for 16 wedges. I kept the saw blade at the same 6 degrees I used to make the chisel guide.

Here is a drawing of the setup of pairing down with the chisel against a guide to make the slant on the side of the mortises consistent.

Here are the sides and ends put together with the wedges inserted.

Now I need to glue all this together and trim off the wedges. Then I can start on the handles and the lid assembly.

Yea! Its square!

Now I can trim up the bottom and glue it on. I know at some point I have to decide what other fasters to use. I tend toward regular wood screws, but all the traditional boxes of this kind use cut nails. I have never used them and am afraid they would split the wood. Would cut nails split these cheap pine boards? I know I will need to pre-drill the holes either way.

Storage Chest for my Planes and Sharpening Stones 2

Putting a plan into action

I had originally figured I would use the 3/4" oak I had left over from my bed project, but after piling up the pieces that I would use, and trying to lift the pile, I decided that oak was too heavy/dense for this project. I went to Home Depot and bought 8 1"x12"x4' pine boards. They were actually 3/4" x 9 1/4" x 4'. I got all of them for a little over $24. They had knots and stuff, but I figured this was just a storage box, and not anything fancy. I really wanted to practice using my hand tools and thought the wedged through tenons on the sides would be a challenge.

I brought the wood home and started cutting it up and gluing it together.

While I was waiting for the glue to dry enough to scrape it off, I practiced planing some Red Elm I cut from fire wood I got from Mark and Patrice. I made a make-shift bench hook too.

I am not sure how strong pine edge-glued joints will be in the long run, so I made sure to stagger the glue joints on the sides and ends so that solid wood would straddle the seams. I drew some pencil lines on the end-grain seams for the picture.

I decided to add a dado where the ends meet the sides. I only made it about 1/8" deep. I used a stop block on my table saw sled to cut the dado outer edges consistently.

I used my small router plane and a pairing chisel to clean up the dados.

Test fit with just the dados. Now I need to cut the tenons.

I used a marking gauge to set the length of the tenons using the width of the side minus the dado depth.

Than I marked the ends of the end pieces.

Then I used a tri-square  to mark out the positions of the tenons.

Then I used my nifty 90-degree magnetic  sawing guide and my Japanese razor saw that I got from David Barron to cut the tenons.

Then I sawed out the waste between the tenons. Then I chopped and paired with chisels to clean up the tenons.

After marking out the position for the mortises, I drilled a hole where each one will go, and started chopping out the mortises.

I got one corner mortises and test fitted. I still need to add an angle to the side of the mortises, so I can add the wedges to the tenons so as to create dovetail shaped tenons.

I made good progress this weekend. I am really enjoying slowing down and taking my time to make my projects. No rush.

P.S. to this post:

I chopped two more corners worth of mortises last night (8 total mortises) before the Black List came on and I had to stop. I didn't pre-drill the holes this time. I just chopped the traditional way and it worked a lot better.