Handmade

[Prashun Patel]

Congratulations Derek. Well deserved. The thread was informative and inspiring.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Paul and Prashun

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John Kananis]

Beautiful chair, Derek - well-deserved and congrats.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks John

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Holbrook]

Very nice Derek, I am wondering which hand tools you used to get those perfectly matched curves. It must have taken more patience than I am thinking I could muster.

Ron, good to hear someone else shares my disdain for how pervasive the influence of advertising/politics/spin has become. Some of us appreciate that there are still people who take the time to do it the way they believe it "should" be done.

[george wilson]

Chairs are SO much trouble to make!!!!! Congratulations,Derek!!

[Malcolm McLeod]

Congratulations, Derek! Something I'd be proud to own.

I attempted to make my kitchen cabinets by 'hand', but it seems my fingernails just don't grow fast enough to scratch them out of the tree. So, I resorted to 'tools' (saws and planes) and store bought lumber. But again, I was betrayed by the advance of time (my wife was impatiently waiting on HER house to be live-able). Fearing for my life, I resorted to machines (TS and router). I lived. (And tongue is firmly in cheek!)

This thread has numerous references to 'the right way', 'thesaurus', 'sematics', 'advertising' etc.. No one seems to agree on the line between 'hand-made' and 'not-hand-made'. It is a vague reference to begin with, and I doubt it will get any clearer. What does seem clear is that we ALL use tools (please correct me if I missed the finger-nail mfg'd thread) - - powered by a variety of systems, but still tools.

Wouldn't it be easier to say something was built by a craftsman? And maybe a craftsman is defined as someone who gets paid to care about their work product, rather than simply for the time they spend on it?

...or Craftswoman. (Sorry ladies.)

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Mike, George and Malcolm.

I am wondering which hand tools you used to get those perfectly matched curves.

The Fiddleback Jarrah was so hard that I struggled to shape the arms with spokeshaves. Even a sharp drawknife couldn't cut the wood ...




In the end I sawed kerfs and along the lower triangle, and used a chisel.





Chopping out as much of the waste as possible. And then followed up with a Shinto rasp, and eventually more traditional Auriou rasps.










1 2




Only at the end was I able to use spokeshaves ...



... and smooth with scrapers ...







Regards from Perth

Derek

[steven c newman]

Nice work!

Sooo, how do I make sure a box like this
front view.jpg
Would be sold as "Handmade"? Does the fact I used a bandsaw to resaw the Cherry, or the use of a sander, affect whether the box was handmade.

[Mike Holbrook]

Thanks for the pictures and information Derek. Great idea putting a handle on the far end of the Shinto. I may follow suit on that idea. Those saw blades do cut through very tough wood. Did you try Iwasaki rasps/floats? They were one of the few tools I found that would work purple heart and I use them on dried hard wood all the time. They leave a surface that is closer to hand planes, although not that close. I have a glued up similar chair back, mine is just oak. I can appreciate the challenge.

Nice leg vise, glad to see it is working out for you as I have plans to make something similar.

[Mike Holbrook]

Derek, is that Pexto drawknife a bevel down? I use my "bevel downs" both ways too. Galbert insists that the bevel down drawknife, which has the handles in line with the blade as opposed to angled away from it, works better with the bevel down. Maybe you have it sharpened more like I tend to do with dubbing on both faces which may make the tool more versatile? Dubbing on both sides or a knife-edge drawknife, equal bevels on both sides, should be easier to get into and out of cuts in hard wood.

[Mike Holbrook]

The shavings are from the LV skew rabbit not the drawknives. I had cleaned up the drawknife shavings. Maybe pictures will help.

This is a Bar Tools knife-edged drawknife


Bar Knife-edged drawknife.jpg

This is an old Worth Bevel-down drawknife, which maybe the dubbing is visible on.

Drawknife dubbing.jpg

This is the beveled side of the same Worth drawknife

Worth BD drawknife.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

Derek, is that Pexto drawknife a bevel down? I use my "bevel downs" both ways too. Galbert insists that the bevel down drawknife, which has the handles in line with the blade as opposed to angled away from it, works better with the bevel down. Maybe you have it sharpened more like I tend to do with dubbing on both faces which may make the tool more versatile? Dubbing on both sides or a knife-edge drawknife, equal bevels on both sides, should be easier to get into and out of cuts in hard wood.

Mike, I used that very drawknife to demonstrate rehabbing and sharpening the blade of a drawknife. When done, it pared Radiata Pine endgrain with ease.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...Drawknife.html

The Fiddleback Jarrah was simply harder than the drawknife, which needed to take thick shavings. I was not interested in fine shavings at this stage. It also resisted paring with chisels. The only way to take it down was to chop it away.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Phil Mueller]

Thanks for sharing Derek...beautiful chair and congrats! I am really starting to love curved work and the sort of freestyle shaving with files/rasps/spokeshaves. I've got a long way to go...just completed some slight curve table legs...but really enjoyed the process. Seeing your work is inspiring.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Phil. Post your progress here.

Regards from Perth

Derek