Shop made miter box and LV Norris adjuster Woodie - lots of pics

[Mike Allen1010]

I guess some people think dimensioning stock with hand tools is drudgery. Not me, I confess I enjoy using handsaw’s and planes to dimension furniture components.
I don’t have a tablesaw and used primarily hand tools. Recently I’m have been trying to be a little more efficient with my hand tool techniques so that not every project takes forever.
I recently built a very simple project (stairs to let our little dog get on the bed) that had lots ofmultiple parts of the same dimension.


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I realize that individually measuring,marketing and cutting these components would be a lot more efficient if I had something like a miter box with an adjustable stop that would allow me to measure once and then cut multiple pieces to the same length. I realize the simple answer would be to simply get an actual miter box, but space is at a premium in my small, one car garage shop and I wanted something simple and light that would make it easier to simply set it on the bench, use it when needed and put it away when you don’t.

I built a simple little jig, which is really just an embellished bench hook. It has a cross cut capacity of 6” and the extendable stop allows me to crosscut up to 40”which is fine for my purposes. I plan to use it mostly for smaller parts like drawer sides/backs, door rails/stiles in cabinet work etc.
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It is built of Poplar and maple for wearing surfaces. For me the challenge was precision;ensuring that the simple maple guides for the back saw delivered square, perpendicular cuts. The guides are simply glued and screwed in place – somehow it’s more difficult for me get them square than dovetails or M&T’s. I think it may be my lack of patience to drill proper guide holes for the screws in hardwoods like maple and securely clamp everything in place.

Here’s a couple pictures that shows that it turned out okay.
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I also made the backsaw; the tote is Mexican Kingwood (super hard – not something I would use again) .025” thick plate, 24” long, 4”deep under the back. I set it up at 12 PPI crosscut, 12° of rake and 25° fleam angles.
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This picture shows the mechanism for setting the length of cut – simple maple guide bar in a rabbit with a thumb screw to secure it in place.
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I had an aluminum channel that lets me lock the stop block in place.
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[Mike Allen1010]

For crosscutting at the bench I now have two tools; standard issue bench hook on the left (the tote for that saw is Claro walnut. When I win the lottery, I’m buying enough of that to build furniture out of), and the adjustable length bench hook.
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As a practical matter, both fit right under the bench, so there’s a chance I will actually use them.
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I also built a simple, laminated wooden, bevel up plane using the kit available from Lee Valley. I’m a sucker for shop built tools and I was hoping the Norris style adjuster might offer some advantages over the other Woodie’s I’ve built with simple wedge/abutments construction.

Here’s a couple pictures that shows the setup. It’s pretty simple to put together. I added a brass wear plate for the mouth (you have to do something with all that extra brass saw back you’re not using). I hope David Weaver will forgive me for the simple laminated construction. I still can’t trust myself to chop a workable plane out of a single block of wood.
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Bottom line; I was hoping the Norris style adjuster would make it easier than a simple wedge/hammer adjustment to achieve the small, incremental changes in blade depth that are helpful for a finished/polishing plane that takes very thin shavings. At least for me, that didn’t happen. Whether it is the slack in the overall blade depth adjustment mechanism or the pitch of the adjustment screw, it wasn’t any easier to get the fine advancement of blade depth you’re looking for in a finishing plane using this mechanism, versus a wedge and hammer.

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Admittedly, final finish planing is just plane esoterica, for anything less than very fine shavings the plane works great. I hope Lee Valley will make these available in wider blades and finer pitch adjustment screws for those of us who are forever chasing the elusive transparent shavings.

All the best, Mike

[Jim Matthews]

As a practical matter, both fit right under the bench, so there’s a chance I will actually use them.

Whatever could you mean?
It's not like I've got thirteen hammers, or anything.

(Twelve - maybe)

[Karl Andersson]

Hi Mike, those are great projects - thanks for taking the time to photograph and write about them. I think I'll have to make a similar cutting jig for an upcoming project with a large number of same-size drawers; beats measuring and marking each face, side, and back. This looks to me like an evolutionary advancement of Jim Koepke's fancier story stick (with the sliding stop). I suppose that the next generation should grow an angled miter box end. Or maybe just Kingwood uprights to match that beautiful saw handle, so they look like a "set". Keep these posts coming - I wish I made time to do the same more often, but this is the kind of material that makes this site worth reading every day, in my opinion, of course
Karl

[Malcolm Schweizer]

That kingwood handle looks amazing, and I love the miter box. I am building some very simple cabinets for the laundry room that have to be mitered and notched to fit around beams and against an oddly-angled ceiling. I can snap a line and cut it with the hand saw before I even get the fence set on the table saw for the smaller cuts. I had a buddy over who is a carpenter by trade. He laughed when I got out the hand saw, but when he saw how quickly I notched a board to a weird angle, he said, "so where did you say you got that saw again please?"

[Barry Dima]

I love every little thing about that miter box/crosscutting panacea. It's absolutely brilliant, and executing it must have been a bear. The saw is darn good-looking too. Please stop making me doubt my current dedication to Japanese saws.

If you don't mind, may I rip off your idea wholesale when I'm good enough to do so? I'll gladly scribe "c/o Mike Allen1010" onto the side.

[Bruce Haugen]

Nice job on everything, Mike! I have an ECE block plane with, I guess, a Norris adjuster or their own equivalent thereof. I can't get the fine adjustment that you're frustrated with, either. I've tried different stuff, but it just won't take that fine shaving, either, same as you experience.

[Jim Koepke]

Great idea on the miter box.

Plane making has crossed my mind a few times as it looks like a fun project. My Stanley/Bailey planes give such good performance a reason for making another plane never presents itself.

The inability to take a fine shaving makes me wonder if there might be a slight concavity to the planes sole. This was a problem a block plane of mine had. It too wasn't able to take a fine shaving.

jtk

[Bruce Haugen]

I suppose it could be a concavity, but in my case, i think it's more of a little slop in the hole where the adjuster sits. Pam N has one just like mine and she told me she loved hers.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Mike! Working in kingwood is definitely not for the faint of heart. I have a chunk of it laying around that I basically avoid using.

[Jeff Bartley]

Mike, this is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[Mike Allen1010]

[QUOTE=Barry Dima;2408824.

If you don't mind, may I rip off your idea wholesale when I'm good enough to do so? I'll gladly scribe "c/o Mike Allen1010" onto the side.[/QUOTE]

Barry, thanks for your kind words, but I can't take any credit for the benchook jig.

I got the idea for this from Derek Cohen who built a MUCH better, more elegant, beautiful and more effective tool - I think his post might be "steam punk miter box" or something similar. Derek's is functional art with friction-less metal blade guides and a rotating turntable like mechanism for cutting angles. You should check it out- Really Derek's miter box is so much more evolved and sophisticated, my jig is a blunt instrument in comparison.

Best, Mike

[Mike Allen1010]

[QUOTE=Jim Koepke;2408868

Plane making has crossed my mind a few times as it looks like a fun project. My Stanley/Bailey planes give such good performance a reason for making another plane never presents itself.

The inability to take a fine shaving makes me wonder if there might be a slight concavity to the planes sole. This was a problem a block plane of mine had. It too wasn't able to take a fine shaving.

jtk[/QUOTE]

Jim, I was thinking the same thing. I flattened the sole pretty carefully on a granite with sandpaper, which as worked for my other smoother. I think challenge is too much slop in the depth adjustment mechanism.

I'm very happy with my Stanley's, they work great. I was motivated to make woolies to fill some gaps in my metal planes. My most used woolies are : two larger "fore" planes with chambered blades that are useful for smoothing rough surfaces (kind of between scrub and jack), and a couple 50 degree smoothers of various widths. The size between a block plane and a #4 are especially handy for getting to lower areas on wide panels that would otherwise require a wider plane to remove a lot more wood.

All the best, Mike