I paid for the Ulysses desktop and iOS apps a long while ago. I’m fine with their new subscription model and respect why they went in this direction. I don’t think it’s for me, however. It led me to evaluate my needs.
I came across this sticker today. Got me thinking about the hope I felt for our nation in 2008. And now, in 2017…
Cheap Scrub Plane
Here’s an example of a really cheap scrub plane. I made it with a $5 old hybrid I picked up from an antique store. The hardest part of this was grinding the iron into a concave shape using a (you guessed it) grinder. I had some trouble getting mine evenly ground, but it worked great after I sharpened it up on my stone. I did have to widen the hole in the bottom up so it didn’t get all clogged up.
Here’s a pic of it in use on a slab of maple.
Here’s the iron after I ground it with a grinder and sharpened it up on a stone.
And here’s the mouth I opened up with a chisel so shavings don’t get stuck.
One of these days, I’m going to pick up a weightier plane for a few bucks to make another one with more mass.
I swear it looked good at THD, but this wide poplar had some pretty bad cupping to eradicate. Took me an hour to flatten two pieces this size. #handtoolschool
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Lights are back on in the shop after more than a week of no woodworking. I've missed it. Finally starting the saw til build this weekend ... But first need to go get some 12" wide poplar. #handtoolschool
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Purchased Transmit and MarsEdit this week. First Mac app upgrades I’ve bought in a long while.
I’ve started posting to my blog again after a four year hiatus.
Royal and Gray Wulff tied last night. Most interesting thing about this is the reflection of the underside of the flies on the white surface. Sorta shows what they might look like to a trout. #flyfishing
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New Ladle Handle
Here’s a small project to replace a handle on a Chinese-style ladle. The handle I had to replace was a cheap bit of pine pushed in to the metal part of the ladle. Instead of trying to replicate that, I decided to make a handle that would house the ladle. So I grabbed a scrap of walnut, cut it down to size with my rip saw, and then scratched my head for a while figuring out how to secure it.
My solution was to first drill the hole that would house the ladle. I locked it in my vise and used a brace I recently picked up for a few bucks to drill the hole. I also got an auger file recently and had just sharpened up some bits I had also picked up at the local flea market … so I was eager to try it out. It worked surprisingly well.
Then I took a length of 3/4" oak dowel and used a spokeshave to shave it down a bit so I could mount the new handle on the face of my workbench to work on it. I shaped the handle with spokeshave, chisels, and a file.
This is the handle in rough form mounted on a dowel. I used a chisel to slim it down.
Then I worked on it with the spokeshave.
I tapered it with the spokeshave, then smoothed out the rough edges with a file and chamfered the edges with a chisel. I finished it off with some flexible sand paper.
And here it is attached the to ladle.
