Wow, where did the time go? This year is just racing past.


It is nice to see that March is finally here, though. And no, that isn't a typo. Victoria has had the worst spring in 70 years. Cold, wet, rainy, and cloudy. It really has sucked.


We've been busy, though. The shop has a new floor that will make it easier to move things around. Paul helped to revamp my dust collection system. I've been doing a bunch of planing, both for the china cabinet and for some tool cabinets. Any nice day has seen us out in the garden. We finally have most of the irrigation system done, which will be good for when we go on holidays. And, our neighbors' friend did a bunch of trimming on the fir trees behind the house. That has really opened up the patio.


The trimming of the fir trees was a full day's work, though. Putting the branches into our neighbor's truck was a hard job. Ele and I were both dead by the end of it.


I have good news on the health front. It looks like I will be getting the deep brain stimulator to control the tremors on my right side. I finally had the meeting with the surgeon, and was approved on the spot. Ele and I were shocked. The surgeon was a little surprised as well, as he doesn't often recommend MS patients. It turns out that my ataxia, which the operation doesn't help, is minor enough that the operation will help my tremors significantly. So we should see a very big approved soon. I have an appointment at the end of June, and then we will schedule the operation for when I come back after our holidays in Europe. This is all coming just in time. My left hand tremors continue to get worse, and controlling the mouse on the computer is extremely difficult now. The operation will only help one side, but we are targeting my dominant right side.


In a little over a month, Ele and I will be in Europe. We are really looking forward to this holiday. I've never actually been to the continent. Ele's brother-in-law Jim has worked hard to plan this all for us. It sounds a little like he has become a self-appointed tour guide. I just hope he hasn't worked too hard at it. I'm sure Ele and I will enjoy whatever happens. I think I could be happy just sitting inside and drinking wine all day.


Rainer

Back in April, I got frustrated enough with the Precision Fasteners screws carried by Rona to complain to Rona about them. They are soft, don't bite, are hard to drive, etc. Well, the squeaky helix got the lubricating wax.

I was surprised to get an email from Brad Campbell at Paulin asking if he could phone and discuss my concerns. "Sure." (Paulin seems to be the parent company for Precision and Papco, I think.)

We had an excellent discussion about premium woodworking screws, the premium screws Paulin makes, and the possible reasons companies like Rona won't carry them. Rona will only carry the low-end SPF (spruce/pine/fir) screws. (Low-end only in quality--premium screws aren't really that much more money.) Then Mr. Campbell made a surprising offer, considering I had informed him I was just a lone hobbyist. Could he send me some samples of their premium screws for hardwood applications? "Sure."

So, after a long summer of doing summer things (more than usual, since we're in a new house, we finished the pergola, started our new irrigation system, etc.), I finally got to put these screws through their paces. I have to say, I _like_ them.

These are the Papco lubricated Aster screws. They have a combination Robertson/Philips head, and an "old copper" look to them. (So that you can see for yourself, the #8 1 1/2" screws are part number 1974-145.)

First off, Ive never been impressed with these combination heads before. This catering to our poorer Philips-restricted US-ian cousins never seemed to work right. That said, these screws DO work. They grip the #2 Robertson driver tightly, and there is no worry of cam-out. I never tried them with a Philips driver because, well, I think Philips screwdrivers are a sop--a poor attempt to "fix" slot screwdrivers.

As for strength and drive-ability, I could not be more pleased. I was unable to break, strip, or cam-out a single screw yet. That's driving them by hand, or with my power drill 1 1/2" into eastern hard maple. My little "Mighty Mouse," a 5V rechargeable driver whose battery is on its last legs, was able to drive screws deeper into the same maple than it could the old screws into pine. And that's all without pre-drilling!

I'm sure both the threads (cutting the wood fibers rather than compressing them) and the lubrication are to be thanked here.

I'll be honest: I did buy some premium screws from another company before these arrived. In every metric I considered, I prefer the Papco Asters. Admittedly, a few metrics I looked at seem subjective, but the above-mentioned real life metrics were consistently better in the Papco screws. They are a pleasure to use. (OK, I got ticked off once. And then I noticed Mighty Mouse was in reverse. sigh) I _really_ like not having to always pre-drill just to get the screw to bite. Don't get me wrong--I pre-drill a LOT. But when I can't, I need a screw that can cope.

And, it seems the Papco screws are made in the old Ontario plant of another company that sold the plant when they moved their manufacturing to China. And that's another good reason to use the Papco screws. So, if you need good screws for working with hardwood, avoid the big stores. Go to Acklands Grainger and buy screws that will Just Work(tm).

I wish I'd had these renovating our old house with the 90-year-old petrified fir.

Rainer

Over the last few days, we revamped the dust collection system in the shop. Along the wall, we replaced the flexible tubing with 4" hard pipe. A bit of plastic tape around the fittings made connections snug.

We also replaced all gates with the metal self-cleaning gates from Lee Valley. Of the 8 or so old gates (sold by Lee Valley and Busy Bee Tools), only one still closed properly. The rest were clogged open. Testing the new system by jointing and thickness planing the 2" walnut for the china cabinets showed marked improvements. Air flow is stronger and more efficient, and there's no loss seen by non-closing gates.

This was an expensive upgrade (partly due to the money wasted a long time ago on inferior parts), but will be well worth it. I have enough problems without restoring my old asthma problems via wood dust.

We already filled the collector bag 1.5 times with black walnut. Anyone want mulch? It's good stuff! You won't have to weed--or garden--for a couple years, thanks to black walnut's natural herbicides.

Rainer

The new woodworking bench is assembled and glued together. Finally!

The next step is to use flexible epoxy to fill the splits and other flaws in the top. As we were building the unit, the fir for the top continued to dry, and there is now also a slight twist to it. My pathetic eyes read about 1/4" using the Lee Valley aluminum winding sticks. If that becomes a problem, I'll look at fixing it. Paul has offered to help, as he now has a Lee Valley jointer plane. That can wait, though. First the epoxy.

After that, it's finishing the top with a spar varnish/boiled linseed oil/paint thinner blend. This will seal it well, and make a glue-resistant coating. Then, the bench and leg vise get mounted, dog holes get drilled, etc. I may mount a chisel rack on the back. That can wait, though.

I had to do some edge cleanup with the block plane before the epoxy. Boy, that tired the legs out! But that's a good thing! I'm hoping planing will help build up my leg muscles again. :-)

I can also start using the table saw again. (That's what we had to use as a "bench" for mortising the workbench top.) Time to start cutting the wood for the dining room cabinets. We already laid them out--now just cut at the lines. Everything was "over-measured" so we have lots of room to refine lengths, mark angles, and adjust for flaws in the wood that we may find with planing and jointing.

Rainer

Two quick items:

Today, I received a package from Paulin Industries. See, a while ago I complained to Rona about the fact that they don't carry decent wood screws (except for decking, etc.). I subsequently got a phone call from a rep at Paulin, who make the Precision Fastener screws Rona sells. it turns out, no pun intended, that Rona only carries the "regular" screws, good for pine and spruce, MDF, and plywood. I, of course,, work with hardwoods. The screws Rona carries can't do the job.

That said, Paulin *does* make both premium and hardwood screws. And they shipped me some to try out. While I didn't get any #6 screws, I got a couple #7, a bunch of #8, and a couple #10 lengths. Two are pocket screws, the rest are "Aster" screws. These are lubricated cutting screws with flat heads (with the combo Robertson/Phillips fittings). Unlike the lower-end screws, these cut the wood fibers going in rather than just compressing them. This, and the lubrication, reduces the torque needed to drive them. As a bonus, they all have an antique brass finish. And, they are all properly tempered. I expect the failure rate to drop dramatically, possibly to zero. While I have yet to test them, the tips feel like they will grab the wood readily rather than just spinning for a week.

These screws are supposedly made in the old Robertson plant in Ontario. Robertson apparently sold the plant when they off-shored everything. As I test (and the company sent lots of each size for testing), I'll let you know what I find. Oh yeah, they threw in some beeswax in case I need more lubrication on a tough job.

On the other note, Ele and I finally got around to finishing and hanging the two shelves for my statuary in the bedroom. Brandy and the three other statues are in their proper homes now. The shelves look nice, even if a bit too green.

Rainer

On Tuesday, Ele and I drove up to Port Alberni to pick up 8 6'6" lengths of 4x4 Douglas fir. The steam mill has great prices. (It basically just pays for the actual wood, since the cutting is done by volunteers that use the operations to demonstrate the mill.) All told, I paid $70 for the lumber, and $30 as a donation. That's a small fraction of the cost anywhere else. And the trip is nice. We had lunch on the waterfront in Qualicum Beach, watching the people wandering the sand.

Today, we finished the planing and started the gluing. It turns out I'll only need 6 lengths--less cleanup than I thought. I'm sure I'll find a use for the rest. For those of you wondering, yes the wood is a bit wet yet. Christopher Schwarz suggests building a bench this way. Ass the top dries and shrinks slightly, it racks the legs a little. This makes the whole workbench more stable in the long term.

Based on our workout jointing and planing, Ele and I think it will have lots of mass when done. Luckily, all that's left for today is gluing. It's 33C. Hot!

Rainer

Greetings.

It looks like I'll be able to get even more into hand tools. My Dad is thinning out tools he doesn't use anymore. When I asked, he still had his old brace and agreed to give it to me. He included the five bits he had as well. This was a great bonus, as the others I found were at Tools For Working Wood. They range from US$30 to US$40 a bit. That's on top of some $60 to $80 for a new plastic-handled brace. Yes I have a drill press, but this will help keep my arms strong, and my tremours won't cause real issues with a brace (and angles can be a pain on the drill press). The last time I used this brace was some 30 years ago. It is still in great shape, not really a blemish on it other than a bit worn on the handles.

He also threw in two saws. I cleaned them up a little with a rust eraser and gave them a wipe with camellia oil. There was nothing rusty about them, but the patina was a bit heavy for my liking. They would have lasted another 30 years without getting rusty in Vernon, but here on the coast... Winters are a bit more humid. So, now I can also try to train my left arm to saw.

My brother and sister-in-law brought them along on their trip out here to visit. We had a great time with the whole troop on Tuesday. Tomorrow, they're taking us and their son to the Cowichan Valley for wine tasting. I think my niece has to work.

More soon, Rainer

Greetings all, and my apologies on the long silence. My eyes have been bothering me a bit too much at the computer, and my left hand has developed a twitch.

Luckily, I think I know the cause of the former. "Woodworking Magazine" has the entire collection done up into a 3 volume book set. Since this was by far the best woodworking magazine on the market in many ways, and it never consistently got to the shops I went to, I got the set. I've been reading them cover to cover, and so my eyes have been working over time. I'm half-way through the third volume. It is now getting rolled into "Popular Woodworking," with whom there has been a strong relationship since day 1.

I am now out of the wheelchair AGAIN, and have no desire to break any more bones. My physiotherapist says I'm really doing well. I do have fluid on the knee, though. Hopefully we can get that under control.

Ele spent a week in Penticton at a bridge tournament. Which is more insane, a week in Penticton or a week playing bridge? Tough call...

I'm ready to assemble the frame of my planes and scrapers cabinet. A friend with a jig for his router will hopefully do the dovetailing this week. (Once I can train my left arm to saw straight and clean, I want to learn to do dovetails by hand.) Then I can start cutting the mortises for the filing cabinet carcass. I'll leave the tenons for when I can do them all in one go to avoid errors between boards due to setup variations. (I can leave the mortiser set up for a few days.)

This week, we also have to design the dining room cabinets so that we can get the oak and allow it to acclimatize in the shop. At some point this summer I may get fir from McLean mill for the top of a new workbench. I had to leave my old one in Edmonton. It wasn't a great loss, with its MDF top...

Speaking of Edmonton, it was a year ago tomorrow, I think, that we left. Or was it today? Close enough, either way. It's been an interesting year, but other than missing friends we don't regret it at all. Missing friends is hard, though. :-(

The garden is doing well. I should really post some pictures; maybe next time. The bergamot is about to bloom, and the passion flower is close. The golden mound is blooming more than it ever did in Edmonton. Ele says the roses at the back are out. Now it no longer rains, we aren't cutting the lawn twice a week, which is nice.

Almost forgot; I'm in the middle of season 2 of Battlestar Galactica. VERY well done series. I never did get to see it when it was on TV. It is so well written on so many levels.

I'm planning on another rum night--I got two more supposed sipping rums, a Mount Gay 1703 and an El Dorado 21 year old. I also got another bottle of the Zaya, even though the first bottle is still half full. (See, I'm not the lush you think!) The Zaya was on a promo discount at the local store. The other two, I had to get shipped from the Oak Bay store.

And that's my brain, emptied again. Ele did her usual trick of making pasta (extra dishes) on a night where she's left to play bridge, so I suppose I should get to them before I forget them completely.

Rainer

In the last three weeks, Paul has alerted and taken me to two planes events. The first, held at Westwind Hardwoods in Sidney, was the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Event. The second, held just down the road at Lee-Valley Tools, was a demonstration on hand planes by Jim Tolpin.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the Lie-Nielsen rep we talked to. I know the other was Deneb, who is in many of their YouTube videos. The person we talked to was similarly knowledgeable, informative, and skilled. I learned a great deal in the two hours we were there. I also learned how easy it was to use a scraper effectively, when to get a toothed blade (for example, when the grain goes everywhere), and how to properly sharpen using water stones. Dad had an Arkansas oil stone I learned from, and water stones are very different. Reading about these things just doesn't give you the same understanding that watching a skilled worker does.

I have since found the Lie-Nielsen YouTube channel, which is excellent.

Jim Tolpin was similarly a joy to watch. No longer having to make a living from woodworking, he has been focusing on traditional woodworking techniques. This isn't as easy as it sounds; there are some two or three generations' gap between 1900 and today, where these skills were not handed down. While much is obvious and simple tasks like how to use a plane are clear, how professional shops with two or three apprentices made money is not so clear. There is a fair bit of speculation and hypothesis. Two things are clear from looking at antique furniture: what didn't need to be perfectly cleaned up wasn't, and there was a lot more care and attention paid to the wood that was actually bought from the sawyer and taken into the shop.

While I certainly agree with this latter point, I do have my problems with it. The old growth is mostly gone, and modern tree planting and harvesting techniques do not produce the same quality of lumber. Truly sustainable tree/lumber operations are still sadly few and far between. Much of what was normally tossed into the fire must now be made to work. Luckily, the planing techniques still work, and I don't have to try to make a living at it. Doing the initial work with power tools will also help. I don't do work that requires elaborate setup and adjustment of my power tools all the time; they're usually ready to go.

These two presentations really inspired me. What I need to work out now is whether I can control a plane with the tremours in my right arm. I did some work with a shoulder plane yesterday, and had to use my left hand. (The Lee Valley shoulder plane has a push rest that can swing to either side.) Can I control a two-handed plane? I don't know, but I'll try it out. I do know I'll have to use bevel-up block planes. They not only have a lower center of gravity that will help, but setting the chip breaker in a bench plane will be nearly impossible with my tremours. Bevel-up also means I can have spare blades with different angles for different woods, turning one plane into multiple planes. Jim Tolpin's three angles are 25, 35, and 50 degrees.

Rainer

Second blog of the day--making up for lost time... The drawers are in. The cupboard door isn't on. I decided not to do the latter, as the tremours in my right arm made putting the drawers in less relaxing than it could have been. I really didn't feel like fighting more with a screwdriver. So, I coloured the shop pink. OK, that may take some explanation.