Upcoming Schedule
June
19 Show and Tell BBQ. Bring a piece of your work to show off and a
woodworking friend. 10:30-2pm at Chris
Kovacs’ shop in Groton.
We
will not hold meetings during July and August and will send you the September
meeting schedule this summer.
Our Last
Meeting
Our last meeting was at
Pat Everett’s shop and we were shown a vast array of planes that Pat has
accumulated over the years. Not only is
Pat’s collection fantastic, but what is more exciting is that Pat uses many of
these planes in his daily work. Pat
discussed the different types of planes, how and when to use a particular one
and then described tuning and setting up a plane. At the end of the meeting, Pat ventured down
the contentious road of sharpening plane irons and gave a brief demonstration
on his preferred method.
Tuning a hand plane
Here is a brief summary
for tuning a hand plane such as a Stanley #4, the most likely found at flea
markets and yard sales. These methods are a mixture of Pat’s and mine. For a great reference, Pat recommends Garret
Hack’s Hand Plane Book (Taunton Press).
Before starting to tune
a plane, first clean all of the parts with WD40 or some other rust remover and
steel wool. Since you will be
dismantling the tool, be sure to keep track of parts so you can reassemble the
tool correctly. Get all the parts as
clean as possible.
The next step is to
sharpen the blade. With any sharpening
method, the goal is to get the blade razor sharp and the back of the blade
flat. Sharpening is an exciting topic
for a future meeting and will probably be on next year’s agenda. Once the blade is flat, fit the chip breaker
to the blade. If the chip breaker is in
rough shape, it too will need to be sharpened.
Your goal it to have the flat side of the iron and the chip breaker fit
perfectly. When you hold the pair to the
light, no light should pass between the chip breaker and the iron. Tighten the chip breaker screw and be sure
the edge of the chip breaker is set no
more than 1/16” from the blade edge.
Install the iron assembly
and secure it in the frog. The frog, by the way, is the part of the plane which
holds the iron and chip breaker assembly.
The frog has lateral adjustments and controls the blade depth. Keep your
newly sharpened edge from protruding from the bottom of the plane. The next task is to flatten the bottom/sole
of the plane. The easiest way is with
self stick sand paper on your table saw or planer bed. Granite surfacing plates are even
better. Start with 120 grit and work the
plane back and forth as if you were planing.
You will quickly be able to see high and low spots in the sole. Keep going until the plane is nice and flat
and uniformly scratched. Check with a
straight edge. Depending on the plane,
this could be a long and arduous task.
Start raising the sandpaper grit and keep on polishing the sole. You can get the sole as shiny as you
want. I usually stop at about 600
grit. Wax the sole and clean up any
dust.
It is important to have
your iron installed in the plane when flattening the sole. As you lock the iron in place, the plane body
is stressed and deformed slightly. You
want to flatten the sole during the stressed state.
Readjust the plane iron
so it just barely protrudes through the mouth of the plane and see if you can
get shavings. Slowly lower the iron
until you are getting thin even shavings.
It takes a bit of practice setting the iron and making lateral
adjustments, but the work is well work worth the effort as you see the shavings
fly.
Happy planing!
-Chris Kovacs
Our Next meeting
The
Show and Tell BBQ is scheduled for June 19 at my shop in Groton. It is from 10:30-2pm and lunch will be pot
luck style. The Guild will provide basic
BBQ fare, hot dogs, burgers, veggie burgers and all the fixings. I am asking folks to bring along an item
based on the following:
Last
names beginning with letters
A-C
Drinks
D-K Side dish/appetizer
L-O Chips/munchies/salad
P-Z Dessert
Probably
the most important part of this year’s final Guild gathering is the show and
tell portion. I am hoping that as many
people as possible will bring something to show. It could be anything you have built, photos
of projects, a portfolio, or anything that lets the other members know what you
enjoy doing with woodworking. I will be
showing the two pieces I made during my stints at the Center for Furniture
Craftsmanship.
As
part of the show and tell, each person will have a few minutes to tell the
group a bit about their item.
Please
send me a quick email to let me know what you will be bringing. I will make little tags to identify the
maker.
Finally,
if you have a friend who might be interested in the Guild, this would be a
great time to bring them along.
-
Chris Kovacs
Directions to Chris Kovacs’ shop:
132 Whitman Road
Groton, MA
(978) 448-2567
From the south:
Take I495 north to exit 31 (Rt. 119). Take a right at the end of the ramp onto 119
west.
From the north:
Take I93 or Rt. 3 to I495 and head south to exit 31 (Rt.
119). Take a left at the end of the ramp
onto 119 west.
From the Boston area:
Take Rt. 2 west to I495 and head north two exits to exit 31 (Rt.
119). Take a right at the end of the ramp onto 119 west.
Once
you are on 119 west, head towards Groton for 5 miles. Watch your odometer and
the street signs on you right.
As
you near five miles, take Gay Road on your right. The sign is high on a
telephone pole. This is more of a veer right as opposed to a sharp right turn.
There are also signs for the Grotonwoods camp on the right as well. If you come
upon a CVS, you have missed the turn.
Stay
on Gay road for about 3/4 of a mile and then take a left onto Whitman Road.
The
house and shop are toward the end of the road on the left. I have no idea what
color the house will be on the 19th, currently it is white with the words Tyvek
splashed all over the place, but my shop is barn red. Park in my driveway or along my side of the
road.
SOCIAL WOODWORKING
It was late 1992 or
early 1993. I was fresh out of college and working in a research lab at the
Harvard School of Public Health. Much to
my folks’ dismay, I had moved back home after college. The rent was great, the fridge was stocked
and the basement was full of my woodworking equipment I had accumulated during
my college years. I was working in my
basement shop nearly every weekend churning out furniture for the impending
shove out of the parental nest.
It was around this time
that a new researcher started working in the same lab and over lunch one day I
learned that he enjoyed woodworking. I
invited him out to my shop one day and thus began a friendship and woodworking
partnership that lasted for three years until we each went our own way. He went
to Sweden for three years and I went to graduate school for three years. During the first three years, we made many
pieces together and helped each other on many more. We greatly enjoyed this “social woodworking,”
as we called it. We spent a great deal of time together figuring out how to
build/design a particular project. We helped each other and kept each other motivated
to do our best.
During our three years
apart, we continued our woodworking discussions via email. By the time he
returned to the United States, I had finished graduate school and hung out my
woodworking shingle. We picked up where
we left off building projects together and discussing the business side of
woodworking and its effects on the way one views woodworking. To this day, my friend still comes to my shop
and works on projects. Our friendship is
going on a dozen years and counting.
For those who have been to my shop and have seen the massive work bench
leaning on the shop wall, that is our latest venture together. How we will ever get that bench up to his
small apartment has not yet been figured out, but when the time comes, we will
put our heads together and come up with a solution.
I share this story with
you because I know that woodworking is often a solitary activity and we
sometimes feel that we are working in complete isolation. However, it does not have to be so. Having someone to work with is a great way to
share ideas and experiences, have an extra pair of hands around and a great way
to build lasting friendships. Let’s not forget the safety side as well.
In the past couple of
months I have had two other people work with me in the shop on business-related
projects. They are both extremely good
woodworkers and have helped me get projects done on time. It has been good to have them in my shop and
I have learned some nifty tips and tricks and have gotten advice on tools and
business strategies. They also double check my work which is very helpful,
especially when they find a mistake I have over looked. Catching a mistake early in a project is much
easier to fix than discovering it late in the process when repairs are
time-consuming and costly. I have also had a great working relationship with
another cabinet shop which has worked out great for both of us and has allowed
me to do projects that might otherwise not be possible in my shop by
myself. All parties concerned can only
benefit when you combine you ideas, resources and knowledge.
I have found social
woodworking to be a valuable part of my life and work. Sharing ideas and working with someone on a
project is lots of fun and at the end of the day, you can pat each other on the
back and say “job well done” and proudly look at what you’ve accomplished
together.
-Chris Kovacs
