Things Made

Some fine – some not so much, some finished – some not so much

Chisels

A set of heavy profile 26c3 tang style chisels with large bolsters (for 18th century style handles).

Apple handled chisels leaning toward Seaton Chest style – ground slightly thinner after this picture (.08″ at the bevel)
5 paring chisels in 26c3 steel
5 parers finished with two others handled in gombeira
Two large 18th century style chisels with beech handles (bench chisel in the middle for scale)
Apple-handed bench chisels forge shaped and ground from vintage files.
Another set of 5 26c3 paring chisels with indian rosewood handles.
Large O1 mortising chisel middle, and high hardness (64) 52100 mortise chisel at bottom. Both with Side relief and forged in one piece from round bar.
Quick Paring Length rehardened socket chisel for scraping and freehand made, ground and filed edge float.

Paring chisel and handle (here) of louro preto, finished with varnish made in house (outside though!!) out of baltic amber, linseed oil and turpentine.
26c3 paring chisels with cocobolo handles

Planes / Irons

Stack of Stanley Plane Irons – 1084, 1095, 52100, O1, AEB-L and 26c3
Custom tapered iron with adjuster teeth (foreground – rear is original) for Metallic Plane Co.
Beech Double Iron Plan
125cr1 (file/razor steel) high hardness improved iron for Veritas shooting plane.
Gombeira Smoothing Plane – Shop-made 65 Hardness 125cr1 Iron
Indian Rosewood closed-handle Jack Plane – Shop-made 64 hardness 125cr1 tapered iron
Indian rosewood coffin smoother – 65 hardness shop made tapered iron and shop made 1084 hardened cap iron
Shop-made Indian rosewood smoother – 125cr1 65 hardness tapered iron
Beech try plane, 125cr1 65 hardness shop-made tapered iron and spring temper hardened 1084 steel cap iron.



Knives

Several Chef’s Knives-One in O1 steel and two in CTS-XHP. The point of making something that can be had cheaply is to get a very thin grind and a higher hardness than most commercial knives. There are people who make only knives and who do it well – it’s just a one off for me.
26c3 Steel Matching Marking Knife Set

Cabinets, Benches, Furniture, Instruments, Other Wood Stuff

Ash Bench – made fast and cheap (not entirely with hand tools in this case). Benches qualify as something I want to have rather than something I want to make well. About half made by hand, and half skimmed with a planer, etc. All viewable surfaces and legs are solid through their thickness.
Carved top single-cut guitar. Solid quartersawn indian rosewood carved top and rosewood peghead overlay. Limba back and laminated hard maple neck.
View of the top of the rosewood guitar while building buttonlac finish. Lucky to find such straight rosewood.
Back side of the rosewood -topped guitar. Guitar back is quartersawn limba/korina.
Solid spruce tele-style guitar (not drop top or veneer), cherry neck, shop-made true (violin) varnish finish.
Kitchen cabinets. One made by hand, and one with power tools. Can you tell which?
Frameless all solid cherry cabinet. All joinery hidden (frameless was wife’s demand – beyond tacky). Finish (french polish) completed after this -stain is artist pigment earth colors.
Frameless cabinet bits awaiting assembly.
Guitar pair – only the maple neck is manufactured. Rest is scratch made mostly by hand, down to hand mortised truss rod groove.
48″ frame saw from bench scraps and scrap sheet metal. Blade is 1095 coil purchased from industrial supply and teeth filed in by hand, 2 1/3 tpi (resawing door panels for cabinet doors)
Pair of Sharpening Stone Boxes for Ultrafine India stones (hard to find). Cherry Boxes, scroll bottoms, made only with hand tools (gouged and chiseled top and bottom to fit).
Photo of scroll bottom on stone to the right in prior picture. Cut with gouges and chisels, scraped and then filed to finish with a fine file.



Varnishes

Cooked Asphaltum Japanning – a true varnish that can be brushed or baked and not just a cold mix.
L. Bailey Boston re-japanned spokeshave
Close up of the dark color of the amber varnish on the side of the jar
Balitc Amber Oil Varnish with Linseed oil and Turpentine
Madagascar Copal oil Varnish (hard, waterproof and very high melting point – very durable)
Congo Copal Oil Varnish (also hard, waterproof, durable and with a high melting point – resistant to almost any damage)
Stanley Type 20 Plane Refinished with Varnish handles, tinted with micronized pigment. Japanning is Tung/Rosin long oil varnish with artist micronized red pigment, baked to finish in a toaster oven.

6 thoughts on “Things Made”

    1. Thanks, JD – I think it’s easier to keep things neat, clean and bright working by hand – you have to look at things while making them. The cabinet would’ve looked nicer framed, but the mrs. wanted frameless and no center rails – it just holds a bunch of board games and some other stuff the kids keep in the living room. I have to admit, it’s easier to get things in and out without a center rail – especially long boxes.

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  2. Nice work, David. Glad I found your blog. Will you be uploading your old videos somewhere else now they’re gone from Youtube? Always found them very insightful.

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    1. Thanks, John. At some point, I’ll get more of them uploaded to Rumble, which is a bit of a nutty mess itself, but you can ignore the flat earthers there more easily than I can tolerate the commercialism, constant badgering to pay for the platform and censorship on youtube.

      A good reminder for me, though. My videos are on a different PC and I need to open it more often and put more of them up.

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      1. David,
        I have been unable to locate your videos on Rumble…
        are they still there, or am I that incompetent at doing a search?

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