Matthew's Blog at Workshop Heaven

New Workshop Build Part 1

2012-01-08T10:35:00.015Z

Here is the space that was alluringly titled 'workshop' on the plans, I have a general idea of how I want it to end up but for the time being everything is flexible and open to serendipitous influences.

The first of which happened last week when the builder kindly offered me a few boards of leftover timber that was otherwise destined for the skip – not very straight, blobbed with plaster, but a decent quantity of PAR pine nonetheless and very gratefully received.

In the true spirit of ‘use it quick before he changes his mind’ I have decided to press it into service as a secondary bench. As with all bench builds, the first thing you need in order to get started is a bench. This is my portable bench which is made from 5 x 3’s, (more skip treasure). Two simple A frames with splayed legs, two horizontals that drop onto 20mm hardwood dowels and a top attached underneath so that you can put tools down whilst still having the workpiece resting on the top rails. It’s rough but sturdy and you can clamp anywhere and screw stops onto it as needed so it is quite versatile. (All of the photos are clickable if you want a closer look)

The dimensions for the new bench were largely dictated by the space and the materials, I wanted something quite narrow so that the wall behind can be used for shelving and magnetic toolbars to keep the more commonly used tools visible and accessible. The ladder subframe is 3 x 2 PAR and will be supported on three box section legs. All of the worksurfaces in the shop are going to be 3 feet high so that work can be laid across multiple surfaces if required.

Having double legs presented the opportunity to install bench slaves in two of them to support large boards vertically for edge jointing. By drilling two offset lines of holes to accept pegs I can have a repositionable cantilevered support that sticks out of the front of each leg.

To drill the holes I am using a drilling rig to ensure that everything stays plumb and true. The 25mm Famag Bormax performed perfectly, each hole was cut with a single pass and the last hole was as clean as the first. By carefully clamping the boards in pairs with some scrap underneath I was able to prevent blowout and also transfer the hole positions to the next piece.

The ladder subframe is screwed to the wall for maximum strength and rigidity using BTI Drilltec screws. These have a drill point, an aggressive threaded section, a collar of rifling to eliminate jacking and milling ribs under the head so that they countersink themselves.

Without any pre-drilling at all they went through the timber, a sheet of ply, a sheet of plasterboard and bit home on the steels inside the wall. The torx heads fit over the driver like a spline joint over about 2.5mm, so the engagement is very much better than pozidrive.

The subframe was assembled with leather pads to elevate the ladder section slightly and provide some extra grip – any slightly compressable material will do but leather is ideal and easy to get hold of, a couple of old chunky belts in this case.

I also arranged the timbers carefully so that the bowing of the subframe and the top pieces would act against each other to pull themselves back into square when it was all screwed together.

Although this bench will be mainly used as a table to help keep the main bench clear, it was worth building it sturdily enough to be used as a working bench as well. The apron at the front provides ample clamping area and it is plenty solid enough to support morticing work or bolt machines onto if necessary.

Although the timber would probably have been recycled into paper or chippings anyway, I believe it has been put to much better use and will hopefully give many years of good service.

The New Workshop Heaven!

2011-12-14T23:26:00.016Z

We have recently moved into new larger premises at the Alkerton Oaks Business Park, situated between Banbury and Stratford upon Avon on the A422, about five minutes drive from junction 12 of the M40.

The local area is literally dripping with history, within a couple of miles we have RAF Edgehill where the top secret E28-39, powered by Mr Whittle's jet engine, was developed into the Gloster Meteor. There is also the field of the first pitched battle of the English Civil war in 1642 and the glorious Upton House which was built just 46 years later, developed and preserved by a family that started a little company called Shell, and is now a National Trust treasure.

The Upton Estate remains in private hands and has over 300 acres of woodland, managed in accordance with the higher level countryside stewardship scheme. The estate also farms 1400 acres of arable land, producing conservation grade cereals for Jordans.

The trimmings from the woodland management scheme (currently coniferous nurse trees planted to encourage straight growth in the main crop) end up in a biomass boiler that provides heat and hot water for our new offices and warehouse. As a result the only fossil fuels that the building consumes are a splash in the chainsaw and a dash the chipper. I am hoping that when the current batch of harvested hardwoods have been air dried we will be able to offer boards of premium furniture grade timber with the minimum possible wood mileage.

The building itself is incredibly well insulated, achieving an A rating for energy efficiency. The interior was custom built to our specifications and although we have had to wait a little longer than expected to move in, giving the contractors time to do their job beautifully has paid huge dividends in terms of the quality of finish achieved - heck if we can't appreciate and encourage good workmanship nobody can!

As before, we will continue to receive visitors by appointment and once the workshop area is complete you will have the opportunity to test out your purchases on the premises and receive free tuition in how to care for and use your new tools.

New handles for Narex 8116 Cabinetmaker's Chisels

2011-11-26T23:54:00.002Z

We really, really like Narex's 8116 Cabinetmaker's Chisels, superb steel, fine accurate machining, great profile and a great price, but I couldn't help feeling that the handles would be so much better if they were just a fraction smaller on the smaller sizes. We mentioned it to the management and before you could say "To bylo rychlé!" a sample of the new handle was resting comfortably in my hand!

The first shipment of the new ones arrived today, so we will be dispatching them with the smaller handles as standard when our new website launches (fingers crossed) on December 5th.

In the meantime, please use the shipping comments box to add 'smaller handles please' or 'larger handles please' and we will send you the appropriate chisels.

Lateral Thinking !

2011-11-24T16:29:00.012Z

One of the minor points levelled against bevel up planes is that their capacitity for lateral adjustment is limited becuase the cutting iron is nestled down between the side wings.

Here's a quick and easy way to give your bevel up plane as much lateral adjustment as a bevel down one.

First mark up the sides of the iron with a permanent marker so that you can monitor your progress.

Next carefully hold the blade over a linisher (a well secured upturned belt sander will do if you don't have one). Allow the shoulder of the blade to make contact first and then gently lower the blade until the sparks start just behind your thumb. You are aiming for this (click for a closer look):

A nice even taper running from about halfway up the iron to the shoulder, taking about 1.5mm to 2mm out of the width on each side at the shoulder.

The result:

About twice as much adjustment as you had with the parallel sided iron, and the front end remains parallel so it will still fit into a side clamping honing guide.

The Quangsheng iron I am using here is differentially hardened carbon steel (only hardened from the slot down so that the soft upper part dampens vibration). Air hardening steels are all or nothing, so if you try this with an A2 blade the whole thing will be hard and it may take a little longer to grind back.

Free Shipping Fortnight!

2011-11-14T01:04:00.005Z

...or you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

There are all mannor of things that can go wrong with an order - computer says one shelf says nil, lost in the post, defects, niggles and other fluff to sort out. True, it is rare, but it would be churlish to pretend that it doesn't happen occasionally.

We work incredibly hard to ensure that these problems never get as far as the customer, but if there is one thing that makes complete and total customer satisfaction easier to achieve it is time!

In order to sway the balance of time in our favour we are offering FREE shipping on all UK orders for the next two weeks (13 - 26 November) in the hope that we can persuade our regular customers to get their Christmas orders in nice and early. Just to spice things up a bit further we have waved our discounting wand over a selection of popular products and put them up on the homepage.

At the end of the day I don't want to spend Christmas day worrying about whether Mr Jones from Llandeilo received his Quangsheng No.4 in time. I'd much rather be enjoying the way my carefully waterstone sharpened carving knife will sever immaculate wafer thin slices of roast fore rib of beef with no downward pressure at all, or marvelling at the fact that my four year old son actually likes brussels sprouts! If you are prepared to indulge me this small favour I am more than happy to redress the balance with a bit of free shipping.

The Combination Square

2011-10-19T13:41:00.025+01:00

Invented in the United States in 1878 the combination square is a very versatile instrument indeed. I thought it might be fun to run through as many ways to use one as I can think of and then see if anyone can come up with any others.

As well as the obvious uses for marking lines square to or at 45 degrees to an edge, the combination square can also be used as a depth gauge:

A rudimentary marking gauge or panel gauge:

A protractor, dovetail marker or an extra sliding bevel if need be:

A graduated centre finder for both establishing and measuring from the centres of round materials:

Or a mitre gauge:

A small level, (and because it's a square you also have a means of gauging for plumb):

A greater level of accuracy can often be achieved by using the components independantly.

The square head can be used as an internal 135 and 90 degree square:

The centre finder as an external 90 degree square (note the cutout for the corner to rest in):

And the protractor head can be used as either a level or an inclinometer:

On a good one like this Moore & Wright 520, the anti glare rule is 2.2mm thick and the sides are precision ground so it is accurate enough to use as a straight edge too:

In almost all cases a dedicated tool probably will do a better job (assuming that you are looking at a similar quality level). However, for a lot of woodworking tasks the level of accuracy you can achieve with a decent combi square is perfectly acceptable.

If budgetary restrictions are a consideration then you may be better off getting one good quality combination set than struggling with lower quality individual tools.

The sheer abundance of things that you can do with a decent combination square make it a wise investment for the beginner and it will always be a useful tool to grab whether you are working in or away from the workshop.

If anyone can come up with any other ways to use combination squares, please feel free to share them.

Spoon Karving Cnives

2011-08-25T20:19:00.008+01:00

Spoonerism - spoon carving knives - get it? Oh well never mind.

What you definitely should get is a set of these wonderful new spoon carving knives from Ray Iles. I've only had a brief play so far, but when it comes to a tool that you work so intimately with as a spoon carving knife, starry eyed love at first sight is a pretty good starting point.

Let's begin with the handles. Plain double turned beech ovals, but the belly is offset towards the rear, so it nestles under the middle and ring fingers before narrowing again for the little finger - hand shaped in other words. Towards the business end, the handle narrows in thickness to a slender lozenge cross section, making your index finger very 'aware' of the exact angle of the blade and able to alter it very precisely by squeezing or relaxing the grip.

Next the blades, hand forged O1, a material Ray has been using for most of his working life, tempered to RC59-61, hollow ground bevels, polished to a shaving sharp edge. I'm wondering whether I wouldn't be happier with a left bevel crook knife as I'd kinda prefer to use this beastie away from my body - maybe I'm just not used to it yet? If you are used to Moras the first thing you will notice is how much thicker the blades are (3mm). The whittling knife and the spoon knife have rounded backs so you can comfortably lay a thumb or fingertip on the back of the blade for very fine control. These two factors make a world of difference. I'm sitting here with a lap full of boxwood shavings, alternating between carving, typing, and watching in amazement as the best teaspoon I have ever carved appears before my eyes. It feels like I have swapped hands with Jon Mac!

Lastly the bit that normally gets forgotten - the tang. The balance on these knives is just beautiful. All of them balance, as they should, slightly forward of the centre of the palm. The barest fraction of weight bias toward the blade gives the necessary registration, but keeping it as small as possible keeps fatigue to a minimum so you can carve in comfort for longer. 'Full length tang' is often touted as a selling feature, but a 3/4 tang that has been balanced to give perfect weight distribution trumps it by a country mile in my book.

Ray has been making tools from the moment he could pick up a hammer, he was one of the last people to be apprenticed to the little mesters of Sheffield and is possibly the only man alive to have apprenticed under them as a Smith, Grinder and Cutler - three apprenticeships - now that's deciding on a career. The jump from making things that are sharp on the end to making things that are sharp on the sides is quite a leap for a toolmaker, but I am so impressed with these that I have decided to stock almost his entire range on the new website.

Happy spoon carving!

Oops - nearly forgot, no photos - didn't happen.

Here's the finished spoon, could probably be improved with a bit of sanding but hopefully not too shabby for a first effort.

Work smarter, not harder.

2011-08-09T21:01:00.008+01:00

We have heard from a few people recently who have been trying to polish the backs of their plane irons and chisels to a mirror shine all over. This is a common enough misunderstanding and I have had to explain why it is unnecessary to some very experienced makers indeed. Most of them start out looking at me as if I have just come out of a tap and then the penny drops and they suddenly realise how many hours of unnecessary effort they have expended over the years and end up needing a cup of tea and a sit down.

The back of a chisel only needs to be polished for the first few millimetres under the cutting edge. This is achieved by hollowing the back by a couple of thou (no more) on coarse abrasives, preferably using a single line of contact to avoid the possibility of referencing off a bump. With the slight hollow achieved, you lay the blade flat on your finer honing abrasives and work just the underside of the cutting edge to a mirror finish. If you like to use the reflection in the back of the blade to gauge the geometry of your chopping cuts, then by all means carry on and polish the first 10mm. Zero to minus 2 thou is plenty flat enough for precision joinery so your chisel is still technically 'flat'.

The back of a plane iron is not a reference surface and only needs to be polished for the last millimetre. The back of a plane iron doesn't need to be flat, so elevating the other end of the blade by slipping a thin ruler / bit of paper / whatever underneath it when honing you can guarantee contact at the cutting edge.

The same goes for the irons of bevel up planes. The last couple of mm of the back is exposed in the mouth and doesn't register against anything, so there is absolutely no harm in using the Charlesworth ruler trick on them too.

If you find you are spending any more than ten minutes maximum preparing a new blade, there is a good chance that either the abrasives are inappropriate or the technique is not quite right. If you need some help, please get in touch and we will be happy to point you in the right direction.

Aside from saving a whole load of time and effort, the other advantage of minimising unnecessary polished surfaces on your tools is that polished steel is much more prone to pitting. A ground surface will tend to develop powdery surface rust all over, which if it does occur can be easily removed. The slightest imperfection in a polished surface (at a molecular level) will act like a sacraficial anode and fester away independently of the surrounding surface.

David Barron visits Workshop Heaven

2011-07-21T23:13:00.010+01:00

David Barron popped in today to drop off a copy of his new Dovetailing DVD and some Knew Concepts jewellers saws for me to try .

Man are these things light - but it's not just how light (120g vs 185g for our standard 5" jewellers saw) it's also how that weight is disributed. With a standard saw most of the weight is in the frame, resting on your index finger with 5" of mechanical advantage. With the Knew Concepts saw the majority of the weight is in the handle, so although it is only 1/3 lighter it actually feels about 2/3 lighter in the hand. They are also very stiff, so you don't get any compression of the blade on the forward stroke which is the biggest cause of blade fatigue.

Tension wise, they are about the same (although our standard adjustable frames do achieve a much higher tension than just about anything else on the market) with a heavier gauge skip blade installed what you really want to hear is a very short, high pitched 'plink', if it's still going 'pingggg' it's not tight enough.

The weight advantage makes the 8" version a no-brainer for me, the only disadvantage with a deep saw is the weight - take that away and you may as well just have one saw that will trim DT's in a 16 inch wide board. Having said that there will be those who don't want to stretch the extra few quid or never use boards wider than 10" so we will probably end up stocking both sizes.

All in all a very nice piece of kit, essential - no, best on the market - yes.

Anyway, once I'd got over the whole 'David Barron - in my workshop - how cool is THAT!' thing, we had a really good chat about all sorts of tools and techniques. Here's a couple of top tips I picked up for freehand dovetailing.

Always engage the knife in the mark and then move the square to the knife. This is much more accurate than trying to align the square on your mark and then striking a line wherever it ended up.

When securing your board for sawing, use your dovetail marker to set the angle of the board. This way your saw is working vertically (as it was intended to do) and gravity is assisting accuracy rather than hampering it. Cant the board the other way to make the cuts on the opposite side of the tails.

David's DVD covers guided dovetailing - a foolproof way of achieving outstanding results. It is a well thought through technique, with guidance on how to make the necessary workshop aides and also has a very good aside on bench design and configuration. The quality of production and clarity of tuition are both outstanding and I am more than happy to recommend it.

A Grand Day Out!

2011-07-11T17:08:00.011+01:00

Many thanks to all who came along to the Peter Sefton Furniture School open day on Saturday. It was a great day with plenty of demonstrations including Peter's live, public, review of the new Quangsheng 62 Low Angle Jack plane. I won't ruin the suspense for you, but as far as I'm aware this is the first time a new plane has been reviewed in front of a public audience, on some very challenging timber, by an independent expert suggested on a public forum, and then made available for members of the crowd to try out for themselves. The results will be published in Furniture and Cabinetmaking Magazine as well as on the various forums.

I was doing a bit of sharpening, showing some of the methods for honing trickier tools like cambered irons, skew chisels, fishtail chisels, shoulder plane irons and spokeshave irons with Richard Kell's honing guides. We also had some FAMAG drill bits available for inspection and copies of their new cataloge to hand out (if you'd like one just drop me an email and we'll pop it in the post). I love the way people's eyes light up when they see their first FAMAG drills.

Also demonstrating were Tom, Simon and Sarah from the brand new dedicated Festool dealer Intelligent Workshop Tools. These guys really know their stuff and have some seriously nice kit. Bob Jones (Bob the polisher) was teaching the dark arts of grain filling, staining and polishing, Russell Jones from Felder demonstrated the new Hammer A3-26. Chris Eagles and Paul Hodgson showed two highly skilled but very different approaches to woodturning, and Peter's excellent tutorials on handplaning and dovetailing gave visitors a feel for the sort of skills they can learn at the school and for Peter's crisply concise yet relaxed and friendly teaching style.

A fantastic free barbecue kept everyone topped up with first rate grub (Waitrose beef burgers - yummy) the weather held and the laid back atmosphere made it a really memorable day all round.

The event ended with the draw for a weeks training with Peter which, I'm delighted to say, was won by one of the people who entered through the www.workshopheaven.com site...!

If you couldn’t make it to the Open Day, you can read all about the Peter Sefton Furniture School in this article from F&C.

I'm already looking forward to next year's event; we will let you know as soon as the dates are announced.

Taste the Oak!

2011-06-28T22:43:00.006+01:00

Oh My God! If you haven't tried this stuff you need to - it is absolutely delicious! Our postman is quite into his beers and we occasionally swap tasting notes and bring each other a bottle or two to try if we find something a bit special or unusual. I read a fascinating article about the guy who set up Innis and Gunn in an in flight magazine on the way to a woodworking exhibition in Hannover last month so I have been keen to try his brew ever since.

I've also recently been experimenting by barbecuing chicken long and slow on the gas grill with the lid closed and a big pile of oak shavings smoking away on the other side. Incidentally barbecue is a noun - not a verb, you don't barbecue food, you gently smoke it until it becomes 'barbecue'! (an interesting factoid to drop into the conversation next time your neighbour offers you an incinerated sausage with a raw middle). The best result so far has been to marinade the chicken in 1 part Japanese Mirin and 1 part Worcester sauce with a pinch of salt and a generous twist of white pepper (the Ice Bear-Sefton Marinade).

The result is golden and succulent and utterly delicious with strong vanilla and toffee flavours. You can taste exactly the same oak imparted flavours in Innis and Gunn's original oak aged beer.

The concept originated when they were beer seasoning casks for distillers, the beer itself was supposed to be thrown away but the brewery workers were quietly siphoning it off for themselves. The boss's lad was working on the shop floor at the time (he had no intention of getting into brewing himself) but was so impressed that he ended up taking over the firm, abandoning everything else they were doing and focussing the entire business on what had previously been a waste product!

Net result - one of Scotland's most successful export beers ever! And I can see why. Hmmmm, maybe the postie can wait until I've been shopping again....!!!

Cambering Plane Irons

2011-06-22T22:08:00.011+01:00

A slight curvature on the cutting edge of a plane iron eliminates track marks produced by the corners of the iron on the workpiece. The most succinct description I have encountered of how a cambered iron works is as follows:

"Imagine a tub of ice cream and all you have to level it with is an ice cream scoop. First passes leaves scoop shaped hollows (width depends on how deep you go). Second pass you remove the top of ridges between the hollows - digging less deep. Third pass ditto." (Jacob Butler) posted on UKWorkshop. May 12th 2011

This is my method of cambering a plane iron, it is quick and easy to do and repeatable with quite a high degree of precision. It is informed by David Charlesworth's technique described in DVD#1 Hand Tool Techniques Part 1 and my own belief in honing guides with a wheeltrack wider than the tool being sharpened (making the guide master of the tool rather than the other way around).

Begin by wetting the lapping film with a few drops of HoneRite No.1, place a rigid steel rule (about 1mm thick) under one wheel of the guide as shown above and hone through 40 30 and 5 micron grades to produce a triangular polished facet on the opposite corner of the primary bevel.

Do the same again with the rule on the other side, then repeat the process using a thin flexible rule to create a shallower polished facet on either side. Finally hone the centre of the iron flat, just as you would for a square edge. This step is important as it broadens the shaving that the plane will take at shallow depths of cut. If you like you can also do alternate strokes with one wheel on the glass and one on the film to help blend the facets into each other. The result should be a plane iron with a smiley face. (please excuse the loss of picture quality, I was racing against the setting sun)

Take the iron out of the guide, turn it over, slip the thin rule under the safe end, and starting with the cutting edge off the sheet, draw the non-bevelled face of the iron onto the 30 micron film to remove the burr. Polish to a shine on the 5 micron again with the other end supported by the thin rule. (this bit is pure Charlesworth and saves a whole bunch of time and effort).

OK the light has really had it now, but this is what you are aiming for - a nice broad shaving that feathers out to nothing on either side:

In this case I'm doing quite a big camber for a jack plane iron, for a smoother the thin rule would be sufficient for the ends and maybe a sheet of good quality paper for the second set of facets. For block planes and bevel-ups you need more camber because the low bedding angle will reduce its effect. The Richard Kell No.2 honing guide I am using here can camber blades with up to 50 degree primary bevels using this method. It can also handle narrow or short bladed and tapered tools that many other guides struggle with.

First photos of the new Quangsheng No. 62 Low Angle Jack Plane

2011-06-14T19:47:00.020+01:00

The first shipment of the new Quangsheng Low Angle Jack Planes arrived this afternoon. I'm still unpacking the pallets but curiosity got the better of me so I stopped to have a play. Like all blokes the first thing I did was have a beaker under the bonnet - or in this case brushed stainless steel lever cap.

The lever cap has a countersunk keyhole so you can wind off anything up to three full rotations on the top knob, turn the whole plane upside down and shake it without any of the gubbins falling out - nice touch guys!

Lifting the cutting iron out we see the double threaded Norris type adjuster, This has a coarse thread running through the big dowel pin that seats into the casting and a finer thread through the small dowel that engages the cutting iron. The overall effect one minus the other, so you get roughly a 2:1 mechanical advantage and a fine, silky smooth adjustment. The one thing I'm not overly keen on about the Norris is that it combines lateral and projection adjustment in one, but as Norris adjusters go this is certainly a well engineered example.

Enough engineering, let's plane some wood!!! First up, a small piece of rippled sycamore yielded gossamer shavings with the 25 degree iron. I tried cutting with the left and right sides of the iron as well as the centre and couldn't make the blade shift position at all.

Time for something a little more exotic - this is a piece of Corrugatta or Rib Fruited Mallee, (RFM for short mate!) that I hit up with the 50 degree iron. If I had sharpened it first I dare say I could probably have got more continuous shavings, but in a sudden fit of pandering to the 'yebbut how does it work 'out of the box?' crowd' I was still able to take the top of this piece from bandsawn to this, with only the factory ground edge on the iron.

Since versatility is the whole point of low angle jack planes we are bundling a free 38 and 50 degree iron in with each plane as well as the standard 25 degree one that comes with it. After all, a Swiss army knife with only one blade is just another penknife!

Overall impression: This one's mine! Yours is here.

If you want a closer look at any of the pictures go ahead and give them a click (click a second time to zoom right in).

Oh, nearly forgot the price. £129.50 including VAT (and delivery if you are in UK, Eire, France, Germany or Benelux)

Win a 1 week course at the Peter Sefton Furniture School!

2011-06-08T13:48:00.008+01:00

Peter Sefton runs a modern, fully independent Furniture School in the beautiful Worcestershire countryside. He describes himself as a facilitator, keen to ensure that students are shown the full range of methods, combining quality of design and productive making.

The habitual selection of techniques that optimise safety, time, money and materials, along with the necessary skills and confidence to execute them correctly are the hallmarks of Peter’s graduates. There may be several ‘right ways’ of performing a task, but their training will help them to intuitively gravitate towards the one that suits them best without compromising results, whether they are making for pleasure or profit.

Highly qualified in both handwork and machining, Peter demonstrates for Felder and has taught me a thing or two about hand tool techniques. He is a natural teacher, very approachable and richly experienced.

The school itself is immaculate with plenty of natural light and a vibrant positive atmosphere. There are separate well equipped workshops for bench work and machining and bright comfortable classrooms for theory work and a student kitchen.

We are offering customers the opportunity to win a 5 day course with Peter, just follow the link on the homepage of our website and pop your details down.

Entry for the competition is free but not automatic so you do need to put your name down in order to be entered (even if you are already on our mailing list).

Email addresses will be used by Peter Sefton Furniture School and Workshop Heaven for marketing purposes, they will not be shared, sold or divulged to any other parties.

The winner will be drawn at the Peter Sefton Furniture School open day on 9th July 2011. Feel free to come along, we will be there demonstrating some sharpening and drilling techniques, along with Chris Eagles who will be demonstrating some turning techniques, and furniture maker Paul Hodgson will be doing a bit of chair making.

Just to give you a taste for Peter's teaching style here's a little bit of video from a lecture on veneering.

Peter Sefton Matching and Taping Veneers from Peter Sefton Furniture School on Vimeo.

Charity Auctions for Clic Sargent

2011-06-08T13:00:00.005+01:00

This week we are auctioning a few items for a wonderful charity called Clic Sargent that provides fantastic support for children with cancer and their families.

Limited Edition Clifton Anniversary No.3 Bench Plane.

Lansky 8" natural Arkansas Bench Stone.

Boxed set of Famag 1622 Bormax Forstner Bits.

Cedar boxed set of Smiths Arkansas slipstones and a pair of bench stones for carving tools.

100% of the money raised will go to the Clic Sargent, so please do your bit to help support these amazingly brave children by visiting the auctions and placing a bid.

Nautilus

2011-06-05T10:19:00.006+01:00

Four thousand individual strips of veneer, carefully overlapped, systematically sanded through in waves and then polished to create a solid structure that realistically represents the appearance of a natural nautilus shell. The exterior is carved to replicate the effect produced as the natural growth rings are eroded by the sea, the internal chambers are formed with delicate Japanese lace paper.

Nautilus, a limited edition of 2 coffee tables, is the latest piece to be produced by Marc Fish at Robinson House Studio and was awarded Guild Mark number 435 by the Worshipful Company of Furnituremakers on Thursday 19th of May.

To the best of our knowledge this innovative construction technique has never been tried before but has been executed with consummate precision and skill. Our congratulations to Marc and his clients for giving the world yet another achingly beautiful piece of furniture.

Holdfasts

2011-05-17T22:51:00.004+01:00

I have just received these wonderful holdfasts, tenderly hand crafted by Richard T of UKWorkshop fame (who says they don't make anything in the Midlands any more eh!)

So the next thing I needed was a 3/4" bit to make the holes for them, but believe it or not, between my collection, the collection I inherited from my Dad, the odds and ends box and the stock in the shop there was not one 3/4 inch bit to be found!

Not to worry, a quick purchase order to the nice people at FAMAG and a big box of goodies arrives. I plumped for 19mm (3/4 inch = 19.049mm) so they are only half a gnats undersize and will slot neatly into our existing product range. If anyone ever needs imperial bits we can get them in in about a week - just drop me an email.

I suspect there may be others in a similar predicament so I have taken the libery of ordering a few more, listing them on the site and putting them on special offer.

Now comes the next question. My benchtop is about 50mm thick, and I've got a sheet of 12mm MDF and a sheet of 9mm ply winking at me and suggesting that they would love to be glued and screwed to the underside in a double sandwich taking it up to 82mm - nearly the full depth of the apron. The forstner will happily do 60mm on its own or up to 410mm with an extension, so either way putting the holes in is no problem.

Will the extra mass be worth it?

Will the holdfast holes wear better if they are in thicker material?

Have I got the time to do it, or will it become just another job on the list?

Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted.

Saw Handle Design

2011-05-14T21:33:00.009+01:00

The interface between tool and user is a critical component of tool design and even subtle changes can have a marked effect on how the tool works.

Take this beautiful Thomas Turner tenon saw for example, the grip is reasonably vertical with a pronounced bulge in the back. To understand the reason for this we need to consider the 'hang' of the handle. A tool with a straight handle (like a gents saw or a carving knife) gives a great deal of control. Wafer thin slices of roast beef or finely executed joinery... In contrast a tool with a more vertical handle (like a steel framed bowsaw or a plane) is all about maximum transfer of power.

In this example we have a bit of both but the emphasis is on power. English backsaws can be steered left or right for the first few strokes, after that the kerf, gravity and the set (the amount by which the teeth protrude left and right from the saw plate) take over and do all of the steering for you. To begin the cut with this saw you would grip at the top with your thumb and extended forefinger and relax the rest of your hand to maximise your control.

With the workpiece secured in the vice so that the cut is plumb , all you have to do is feel for the zero moment when the back is directly over the teeth and gradually allow more of the saw's weight rest on the workpiece. With a new saw you have the advantage of being able to observe the reflection of the timber in the side of the saw plate too - if the reflection seems to carry on straight through you know the saw is plumb. With an old one you need to be more conscious of feeling for vertical, the weight of the saw is all in the heavy brass back, making it more 'tippy' so the point of balance should be relatively easy to feel for.

Once the kerf is established you can relax your thumb and forefinger and tighten up a touch with your little finger and the heel of your hand, this changes the grip from the top part of the handle to the bottom part - from control to power. By this stage there is no steering to do, the kerf is holding the spine perpendicular over the teeth, the spine is providing the weight to keep the teeth engaged and the set is ensuring that the left and right teeth are bearing equal measures of the work so the kerf stays straight. The faster you go on the push stroke, the more material you will remove with each pass, and as long as you don't grip too tightly and pull it off course, the cut will continue dead plumb and true.

Whether you are squeezing at the top for control or at the bottom for power, your grip should always be relaxed enough that you can feel the soft flesh of your fingers give a little each time you switch from pull to push, it really is a very light touch indeed.

With sharp teeth and a well balanced set I'd be happy to bet this saw will easily eat half inch oak at a rate of an eighth of an inch with each stroke. A new one with a much thinner plate and harder modern steel would possibly manage double that.

If you fancy having a go at fine tuning your own saw handle shape we have Atkinson Walker tenon and dovetail saws available in kit form with full instructions and downloadable templates. The Pax 1776 range were also designed to be adjusted to suit the individual user, the finish on the handles is just straightforward Danish oil (tung oil) so any alterations you make can be easily blended into the original finish.

The $300 House

2011-05-04T12:25:00.005+01:00

There are 13.5 times as many people living in slums around the world as there are people in Britain. They live in houses made from little more than rubbish and ingenuity. Poor sanitation and lack of electricity promote disease and illiteracy and if they manage to evade those two ills they have a good chance of being injured by their own roof falling in. To still have a problem this fungible, on this scale, in this day and age is not a very impressive record for humanity.

The 300house project is the brainchild of Vijay Govindarajan and has developed from a thought he posted on the Harvard Business Review Blog into a well organised project gathering ideas from business, individuals, universities, governments and professionals.

The idea isn't new, post war prefabs were a response to a similar problem. The execution however is very different, using the internet to join up freely given ideas from around the globe to provide a complete solution. From governments finding ways to facilitate land ownership, banks to provide microfinance loans and blokes in sheds to come up with ingenious ideas like bean tin methane stoves or everlasting biological light bulbs.

So if you happen to wake up one morning with an idea for a universal multi-material joinery system but don't have the means or desire to make it a reality, here's a way that your idea could be shared and contribute to changing the lives of a whole lot of folk.

Workshop Heaven Spring Prize Draw

2011-04-08T11:04:00.006+01:00

1st Prize: a one week training course with award winning Cabinetmaker Marc Fish

Runner up Prizes:

*A Quangsheng Block Plane of your choice (low angle, std angle or rebating).
*£20 Narex Voucher
*Your chice of 2 Continental hand stitched rasps or Bahco files
*Pair of Ashley Iles 7/16 Fishtail Skews
*£20 FAMAG Voucher
*Shield Technology Corrosion Control Kit
*1 Kilo of Arizona Desert Ironwood
*£20 Ochsenkopf Voucher
*Workshop Heaven cabinet scraper set & wallet

The Draw will take place on the 28th May at YOKBII

Competition Terms and Conditions:

*For every £10 spent on the website while the prize draw is running (8th April 2011 to 25th May 2011) we will put another ticket into the hat (if you don't want to be entered please let us know via the shipping comments box).

*Free entry: just click the link on the homepage of the Workshop Heaven website and enter your name and contact details. Being on our mailing list does not mean that you are automatically entered for the competition, you need to submit your details again to enter.

*One prize per entrant (i.e. In the event of the same person being drawn for two prizes the second prize will be drawn again).

*Any information gathered during the competition will be shared by Workshop Heaven Ltd and Marc Fish only.

*Prizewinners will be contacted by email after the draw. Prizes will be shipped free of charge to countries within our normal free shipping for orders over £100 policy. For any prizes shipped beyond these countries the winner must pay shipping fees.

*1st prize includes training but not accommodation or transport, Marc will be happy to recommend suitable B&B's in the area.

*No cash alternatives available.

Good Luck!

Rasps & Files

2011-03-31T21:12:00.012+01:00

We have recently been paying a bit of long overdue attention to the Rasps and Files section of the site.

We have brought in a new range of Continental rasps - a little dearer than the old ones admittedly, but really, really beautifully made in the traditional manner and I'm confident that they still represent excellent value for money. I am going out on a limb regarding the cleaning of rasps, some say that they should only be cleaned with a nail brush but I have never found this gets them sufficiently clean. Given that wood debris is likely attract and hold moisture against the surface and therefore promote corrosion (far more dangerous to carbon steel than the mechanical abrasion of a file card) we are recommending that you use something a bit more aggressive and get them properly clean. We are also offering a resharpening service on the new ones (as long as it hasn't been abused a rasp can typically be resharpened a couple of times) so if you pop them in the post to us with a couple of pounds per tool to cover return postage we will sharpen them, passivate them and send them back to you.

We have simplified matters somewhat by only offering one type of handle, but it is without any doubt the most comfortably shaped file handle I have ever used. Turned from walnut with a brass ferrule it is based on an old design from the turn of the last century. Judging from the feedback we have had so far they are going to be very popular indeed.

Our range of Bahco files have also received a little attention, again the new walnut handles and we are gradually introducing a wider range of shapes, sizes and cuts. One top tip that was sent in to us was to break in a new file by using it very gently on a piece of brass to ease any high teeth (we are talking fractions of microns here) into line with the others before bringing the tool to bear on ferrous metals. Apparrently this simple step will greatly extend the usable life of the file. I haven't tried it on a saw sharpening file yet, but the next time I start a new one I'll definitely give it a go.

Up to now we have concentrated on relatively coarse files as these are the ones that tend to work best with wood. However we are gradually introducing more metalworking files for specific jobs, files for preparing cabinet scrapers, opening the mouths of planes and filing knife backs for example. It will be a gradual process of defining the best tool for each job and then adding them to the range, so if anyone has any particular favourite cuts or shapes please do let me know.

My personal favourite remains the Bahco Oberg cut file (if you only have one file in your workshop this one should be it) halfway between a float and file it cuts quickly, can be used on anything from wood to hardened steel and yet produces a supremely smooth finish, a truly remarkable tool.

Incase you were wondering who the best is...

2011-03-23T07:26:00.009Z

Congratulations to Marc Fish for winning the 2011 Claxton Stevens Prize with his exquisite and brilliant L'Orchidée desk.

This highly prestigious annual award is given for the best piece of guildmark winning furniture from the preceding 12 months, it is the furniture equivalent of the Top-Gun Trophy.

The L'Orchidée desk is particularly important because it is simultaneously fresh and contemporary and yet unmistakably Art Nouveau inspired. The elegant sweep of the aluminium legs, invite you to the desk in much the same way as a ballroom dancer would invite his partner to the dancefloor; slightly bowed, arm extended with one toe pointing outwards.

The drawers inside the desk are crisply dovetailed from aluminium and walnut. The use of Aluminium and the shape of the tambour invoke the beginnings of speed and streamlining. Yet here we are a century on, in a streamlined high-speed future beyond their wildest dreams, still unable to detach ourselves from the classical beauty of highly figured English Walnut.

Marc has broken new ground by using a veneered tambour to create a seamless solid surface that behaves like fabric. Historically this is not Art Nouveau because it has never been done before, but stylistically it is a perfect fit.

Anyone can make a piece of 'Art Nouveau style' furniture that is no more than a copy of something old. What Marc is doing here is different, he is not copying Art Nouveau, he is harnessing it and using it as a stylistic tool to push new boundaries. If others are able to follow his lead, this piece could very well be one that defines furniture style for the next ten to fifteen years.

Blonde, French and Horny !!!

2011-03-10T08:12:00.016Z

No, not Amelie Honore, the missus wouldn't let me play with that in the shed!

I've had this knife blank knocking about for ages and have got as far as cutting out the scale blanks in various materials but always changed my mind.

Anyhow, the tuit finally rolled around and I decided to clad it in some lovely translucent French cowhorn.

I cut and filed the bases as accurately as possible to give a neat fit against the bolsters and ensure that the handle would all fit within the scale blanks. A quick trim around with a Jewellers saw brought everything to within a few mm.

I decided to conceal the pins within the scales, giving the strength benefit but still retaining a cleaner look. The holes were drilled to half the thickness of the scales using the tang as a guide.

After glue up it was on to the rasps to refine and develop the shape.

Then a fair bit of coarse sanding to smooth out the transitions and fine tune the shape.

Before moving on to finer papers and finally mops and compound.

Off with the tape, a quick clean up and it's job done. I'm not sure why the bolster looks so scratched, it's not perfect but it's nowhere near as bad as it looks. Apart from being a bit smelly at the rasping stage the horn was a lovely material to work with. Now that it's all polished up you can just make out the brass pins through the handle scales.

Price increases set to hit the tool market

2011-02-16T11:56:00.009Z

First of all, apologies for the long break from updating this blog, I promise you I have not been idle and there are lots of fantastic new things in the pipeline - all of which will be revealed here on the blog in due course. For now we have some important news that I wanted to share with everyone as quickly as possible - I just wish it were better news.

The offer price for high-grade iron ore passed $200/tonne earlier this week (Reuters). To put that into perspective, 12 months ago a tonne of iron ore on an annual contract was going for as little as $61/tonne (FT). Supplies of coking coal, another essential ingredient for steelmaking, have been interrupted because the floods in Australia have inundated mines which usually crank out 1.6 million tons of the stuff a week (Bloomberg).

Steelmakers and manufacturers have already soaked up as much of this price volatility as they can, so we are now being warned by several suppliers of imminent and substantial price rises with the possibility of more to follow. I understand that the price of wolfram (an ingredient of tungsten carbide) is also skyrocketing.

In an effort to give our customers a chance to respond we will not be adjusting prices until the end of the month, stocks permitting we will try to hold out for longer.

New Quangsheng Adjustable Spokeshave

2010-12-11T15:46:00.008Z

I managed to find a few moments today to try out the new Quangsheng adjustable spokeshave. As usual the quality of the casting and overall finish are very good. At 484grams (1lb) it's a touch heavier than I was expecting but has a reassuringly solid feel in the hand.

The cutting iron was sharp enough to work with straight out of the box and with the capscrew slackened off by half a turn the adjusters give a sufficiently fine degree of control over the blade projection. The only thing I did need to do was tighten up the adjuster screws into the body, a dab of threadlock may be useful here although so far just nipping them up finger tight seems to have done the trick.

The sole is flat and nicely finished. It did occur to me that there is plenty of meat there if you wanted to file it convex, if this proves a popular idea we may even get some made that way at a later date.

The 12% Days of Christmas

2010-12-03T16:40:00.026Z

The 12% days of Christmas is a series of one day only offers on selected product ranges. The offer will change daily at midnight and are only available while stocks last.

Simply enter the appropriate code on the appropriate day at stage 1 of the checkout to claim your 12% discount. If the item is already on special offer you still get 12% off the offer price.

There's another load of fantastic offers in our Workshop Heaven Christmas Sale!

Tell your friends!

December 6th

12% off Ochsenkopf Axes
Discount Code: 12DC01

December 7th

12% off Bessey Clamps
Discount Code: 12DC02

December 8th

12% off Atkinson Walker Saws
Discount Code: 12DC03

December 9th

12% off Famag Drill Bits
Discount Code: 12DC04

December 10th

12% off Shield Technology Products
Discount Code: 12DC05

December 11th

12% off Narex Chisels
Discount Code: 12DC06

December 12th

12% off Ashley Iles Chisels
Discount Code: 12DC07

December 13th

12% off Quangsheng Planes
Discount Code: 12DC08

December 14th

12% off Gyokucho Saws
Discount Code: 12DC09

December 15th

12% off Clifton Planes
(Including Anniversary Planes)
Discount Code: 12DC10

December 16th

12% off King Waterstones
Discount Code: 12DC11

December 17th

12% off ARNO Products
Discount Code: 12DC12

Free Shipping Fortnight

2010-11-16T16:47:00.007Z

After a spluttering start Free Shipping Fortnight is now well and truly underway. All orders for delivery within Great Britain and Northern Ireland qualify for free shipping and we have extended the period of the offer by 24 hours so it now finishes at midnight (23.59hrs) on Monday November 29th.

Extra Time

2010-11-15T13:27:00.002Z

Unfortunately we have had to take the website down temporarily whilst we investigate a technical problem.

In the finest footballing tradition we will be adding 'extra time' at the end of free shipping fortnight (15th to 28th November inclusive).

Whilst the site is unavailable you can still place orders via our ebay shop or by telephone on 01295 780003.

My apologies for the inconvenience, the site will be restored as soon as possible.

The 5 Minute Guide to Axes

2010-11-09T14:28:00.009Z

There is a wealth of information about axes on the internet, but here's a 'quick n dirty' bullet pointed guide that gives you as much info as possible in the briefest form I could manage. If you still have questions please feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to help.

Types of Axe

Felling Axes: Thin blades for slicing through the fibres of the timber.

Splitting Axe: Axes with fat triangular heads for driving timber apart along the fibres.

Universal: Halfway between a felling axe and a splitting axe and surprisingly effective at both jobs.

Hatchet: Small highly accurate tools for trimming and fine splitting.

Blade Shape

Broad: Broad faced felling and universal axes tend to work better on softwoods like pines and firs.

Narrow: Blades with a short cutting edge concentrate the power and are generally better for harder timbers.

Length Vs Mass

The power of an axe blow is a function of the head weight, the handle length and the amount of energy the user puts into the swing.

Heavy head: Lots of power and momentum, takes more effort to use.

Light head: Easy to wield, but less effective.

Long handle: Multiplies the energy of the swing

Short handle: Greater accuracy

A big heavy head on a long handle with a skilful and fired up user (eg OX 440 Competition Axe) will make the maximum amount of progress in the minimum amount of time but is exhausting to use.

A relatively light head with a long handle (eg OX 16 H-1008 Iltis Canadian Felling Axe ) will give the most efficient transfer of the users energy into cutting power but may require practice to control.

A relatively heavy head on a short handle (eg OX 395 E-601 Carpenter’s Bundle Axe) gives the best possible accuracy.

A relatively light head on a short handle (eg OX 25 H-0806 Harz Pattern Universal Axe) is light to carry, easy to wield and accurate, although the size of workpiece that can be tackled is limited.

Handle Materials

Ash: Has a very high strength to weight ratio (which is why it was used to make the frame for the Wright Flyer and still is used to frame cars like the Morgan +4). A very traditional timber for axe handles it's only drawback is that when it does break it tends to break in two.

Hickory: (shown above) is massively strong stuff, good quality Hickory (the best comes from North America) is capable of 3-4 times the physical loading of Ash. It also has a very long fibre structure which means that it splinters apart but is unlikely to break fully in two.

Fibreglass: Modern synthetic handles are virtually unbreakable, immune to the cold and wet and on paper they seem the obvious choice. They just don't have quite the same feel as wood though.

Sharpening

Acute angles: (typically found on felling axes) are sharper but more delicate.

Obtuse angles: (typically found on splitting axes) will be more durable.

Axes should be sharpened with convex bevels, which are stronger than flat or hollow ground ones.

Axes should never be reground on a powered grinder. If you get a big ding in the edge an aggressive file is the best way to remove it.

Safety

No steel on steel, hitting two pieces of hardened steel together can cause chips of steel to fly off. By all means drive aluminium, plastic or wooden wedges with the back of a splitting hammer or hit steel axe heads or wedges with a polyamid or wooden mallet, but no steel on steel please.

Eye protection: Speaks for itself, big impacts, unpredictable materials, one pair of eyes.

Gloves: Not woolly ones, proper rubberised work gloves that give an effective grip and provide some protection against splinters.

Check your equipment: Make sure that the head is securely fixed to the handle and check the handle for any signs of damage before starting work – every single time.

If it doesn’t feel safe don’t do it: Think about where the axe will go if you miss or the material moves, if a body part features anwhere in the plan for stopping the axe – make a new plan. A knee high chopping block is an essential safety aid for chopping.

Postage Charges Reduced

2010-11-04T11:56:00.004Z

We have recently started franking the parcels that we send out by Royal Mail (usually anything under 2Kgs). Although it is delivered by the same postie, franked mail runs through an entirely seperate system within Royal Mail, so it is faster as well as being a bit cheaper.

We have now adjusted the shipping calculator, so all of the prices are lower than before - some by a considerable margin. It doesn't make much of an advertising headline because the rates are individually calculated according to the weight of the order and destination, but it will still save our customers a bit of money which can only be a good thing.

By the way - using the second class service where available you can save even more and if your order is placed before 2pm you still have a 90% chance that your package will arrive the next day.

Saw Handle Instructions

2010-11-02T02:30:00.005Z

Thanks to some very generous assistance from Aiden (The Tiddles) of UKWorkshop, we finally have handle plans available for the Atkinson Walker saw kits. My apologies to those who have been waiting for them.

The handle templates can be downloaded here.

A step by step guide to the process can be found here.

And the guide to sharpening and using your new saw is here.

For an intermediate woodworker these kits are great fun to make and you end up with a fantastic set of saws that you will enjoy using for many years. They also give you an appreciation of how much work goes into producing top end handmade saws and perhaps even a few new skills that you can transfer to other projects.

Supersize Me!

2010-10-28T17:24:00.008+01:00

The new 12, 14 and 16mm Narex mortice chisels arrived the other day (along with some new sizes of bevel edged chisels) and being an inquisitive sort I had to have a play!

I had expected the 16mm chisel to be a bit of a brute to wield, it is after all an enormous chunk of steel, but in it's working position the weight is all borne by the workpiece. Making the initial cuts with the blade pinched low down between thumb and forefinger, you can feel the chisel start to 'swoon' if you get too far from vertical, when it feels weightless, you know it's perpendicular.

The intial cuts suggested that making progress wasn't going to be a problem, 3mm at a time into English walnut with nothing more substantial than a sharp tap with the mallet.

Having cleaned out the first layer of chips to create the shoulders of the mortice I moved on to heavier blows and the chisel just ate its way in. A handy tip I picked up from Jacob Butler is to chop through the waste rather than trying to clear it as you go. This saves a bunch of time and preserves the shoulder as all the force is going downwards. The chips gradually get more and more finely chopped too, so most of them will fall out when you turn the workpiece over and give it a sharp tap on the bench, especially if you made a cut lengthwise through the middle of the waste with a broad bevel edged chisel first. What little did need levering out at the end was done by using the kevlar reinforced head of the clamp as a fulcrum, again to preserve the crisp finish.

Considering that this was all done with the factory finish on the cutting edges I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with both the efficacy of the tool and the results. A little judicious honing of the primary cutting edge and the first inch or so of the sides will no doubt yield further performance.

If you haven't tried cutting mortices by hand I can thoroughly recommend it. Morticing machines have their place and if you are doing production work they are invaluable, but if you are only doing a few slots to cut then chiselling them is a quick, inexpensive and rewarding alternative.

Sneak Previews

2010-10-26T21:39:00.007+01:00

Our New Continental Hand Stitched Rasps will be available shortly, there has been a minor delay as we altered the handle design slightly at the last minute. That said the results will be beautiful and it's better to get them absolutely spot on from the outset than rush them through and have to make changes later.

The new range of Narex Cabinetmakers Chisels are in production and will be available shortly. The edges are finer than the originals and the backs are correctly hollwed by around 6 thou in the length so they are very quick to prepare using 100 micron film and rapidly come into tolerance for fine work. The steel is the same bainitic chrome manganese steel used on the originals, austempered to RC59 for a deep even hardness and very high strength. The handles will be hornbeam, stained black with gold lettering and brassed ferrules.

Coming soon - the new Quangsheng Low Angle Jack! This is the first photo we have of this new addition to the Quangsheng range and although it's unlikely to be here in time for Christmas, I'm sure it will prove to be a very popular tool.

The mouth is adjustable by means of a movable front sole, and depth of cut adjustment comes courtesy of a smooth and precise V2 mechanism similar to that found on the new block planes.

New Quangsheng Bench Planes

2010-10-13T07:05:00.009+01:00

Please click images to enlarge

The new Quangsheng bench planes are now available and will completely replace the original versions once existing stocks run out. The pressed steel lateral adjuster has been replaced with a fabricted one made from steel and brass with a guide bearing. The yoke that advances the iron is a little more meaty and we have switched from grasstree handles to Chinese rosewood. The lever cap is cast stainless with a fine brushed finish. We have stuck with the original 40cr cast steel bodies and T10 cutting irons as we believe that they are more highly specified than any of the alternatives.

Time well spent

2010-10-06T22:22:00.025+01:00

Time spent with good friends around a fire is invariably some of the higest quality time you will spend in your life. If you happen to poke a few bars of really nice steel into the fire and then bash them around - well, lemmetelya, it just gets better and better.

We popped in to visit custom knifemaker Chris Grant on the edge of the Cairngorms this week and once we had got over the spectacular scenery:

We settled into a couple of evenings of hard but rewarding prototyping. This is both enjoyable and really hard work at the same time. Commercial decisions need to be made on the spot and although the results can be seen almost immediately, time is very limited so the pressure to get those decisions right every time goes through the roof. It's a mentally demanding process but the results are well worth a thousand mile round trip and a spot of pressurised thinking.

First up was an idea that I have been mulling over for some time - a marking knife that can be presented perfectly flush to a left or right corner and naturally balances correctly in either position, can be rolled or drawn over an edge or surface and is possibly the wierdest looking but simultaneously the most 'now why didn't anyone else figure this one out before' idea that my twisted mind has ever wrought. Can it be made commercially? I have no idea as yet, but seeing the idea fleshed out in both O1, piano wire and cut-throat razor steel certainly brings things a step closer.

Yes, the photo doesn't give much away - but at this stage of production it would be foolish to do so. Suffice to say I am very excited about bringing this product to market.

Next was a forged carving knife for green woodworking - we used the same razor steel for this and it takes probably twice the effort to forge that O1 would (guess who was swinging the hammer to get this one from round to flat) - "s'your spec pal, you've tae bash tha bugger oot!!!" People talk about steel 'flowing under the hammer' well this stuff flows like a glacier on a cold day, even at 900 degrees c, but it was well worth breaking a sweat over - I have seen edges that would slice free hanging tissue paper before but it's still very impressive. The next step would be ball bearing steel which is only just forgable by hand if you've got really big arms and a chip on your shoulder, but may just be viable under mechanised production. I've gone for the longest blade I thought was viable on the principle that you can always make things shorter, but we will see how it goes once it's handled.

While we were at it, I thought that the most ultimate, ultra-gucci spoon knife in the world would be a lovely thing to do, so here we have a differentially hardened white paper steel (which I also learned began as mass produced tamahagane) spoon knife blade, complete with hamon line. It was a right little tinker to make and took hours to get right but if your smith can knock one of these out you know you are dealing with someone who really knows their business, £125 a pop unhandled if anyone feels the need. Here it is roughed out and quickly etched to find the hamon, once fully polished I have no doubt that this will become one of my my most treasured posessions. I went for a longer shank than usual as this allows you to swoop in for the really low cuts that enable you to hollow oval shapes as well as circular ones.

Last of all was something for Her indoors, a stock removal Santoku from AE 1095/15N20 Damascus which turned out better than any of us could have imagined.

Stock removal is a cheaper manufacturing method than forging but more wasteful in terms of raw materials, forging would however have produced a larger blade. Nonetheless, this little chap will see some serious testing once it is handled and it will be enlightening to see how it performs as an everyday kitchen knife. Updates to follow.

Chris is shortly going to be moving workshops, so if you want anything made it's probably best to be both quick in placing your order and prepared to wait a while for it. I can however give my personal guarantee that he will stop at nothing to ensure that the quality of your finished item is second to none in the world.

Quangsheng V2 Block Planes

2010-09-25T23:08:00.010+01:00

Please click to enlarge

So what's the difference between the V1 and a V2 Quangsheng block planes?

The photo above shows the two side by side, V1 (left) had a fixed threaded rod with a solid brass nut that engaged a single through slot in the top of the cutting iron. V2 (right) has a screw that runs directly into the plane body, with a captive bracket that runs in a machined groove in the top of the pillar.

The new adjuster is smoother in use and has a finer thread pitch, so the cutting iron advances a shorter distance for each turn of the knob, giving more precise control over the depth of cut. It also has less tendancy to alter the lateral setting while altering the depth of cut. The bracket engages two out of 10 slots in the underside of the cutting iron - finer threads means less travel, which means you need more slots in order to use the full length of the blade.

Here's another photo showing the two threads:

Please click to enlarge

The standard and low angle V2 versions are both supplied with a 25 degree and 38 degree cutting iron, the 25 degree blade gives a 37 degree pitch in the low angle for predominantly crossgrain and endgrain work. Although personally I don't find a huge difference from 45 to 37 I admit that it does make the tool a little easier to push through the cut. Install the 38 degree blade and you are up to 50 degrees (york pitch) for predominantly long grain work.

With the standard angle plane, the 25 degree iron gives you common pitch and the 38 degree blade takes you up to just a couple of degrees shy of cabinet pitch (60 degrees). I am very much convinced of the benefits of steeper pitches for working very hard timbers and interlocking grain.

We have also had 38 degree irons made for the V1 version for those that want them, as well as 50 degree irons for V2's that give 62 degree pitch in the low angle block and 70 in the standard angle. Although you are still technically planing at 70 degrees the tool functions more like a scraper plane - I'm sure that this option will be popular with instrument makers.

The rebating block plane is supplied with a 25 degree iron. As these tools are usually used more like a shoulder plane it seemed to be overkill to offer the irons in different pitches. Replacement 25 degree irons are available for both the V1 and V2 versions and steeper piches could be obtained by honing a secondary bevel.

The other tweek was changing the cap screw from flat to countersunk, which has helped to keep the cap in place whilst adjusting the iron and reduced the chance of the cap shifting in use - this modification did sneak into some of the newer V1's.

So that's it for the block planes, I'm happy that we have now got them pretty much to where I wanted them to be. I will try to get some toothed irons done though for both the block and the bench planes as I think this would expand their versatility even further.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

2010-09-16T21:06:00.007+01:00

Whilst researching the history of my W.B. Haigh chisel morticer I came across a copy of their 1872 catalogue on the University of Reading website - link here. This was also the year of President Grant's re-election, the great fire of Boston, Louis Bleriot's birth, Samuel Morse's death and the first FA Cup, won by Wanderers beating the Royal Engineers 1-0 at Kennington Oval before a crowd of 2000 spectators.

By nibbling the end off the URL I found my way into a fascinating and rather large repository of such catalogues here!

There are many things to tickle the interest of the casual observer in these publications, the language is fascinating - 'stuff' being commonly used for timber, 'Rabbiting' still apparently in common usage in England, before it gave way to 'rebates' and 'housings', only to be perpetuated in the US and reintroduced to the UK by Norm Abram - much to the disgruntlement of those of us who are used to rebates and housings!

The other thing to strike me was how similar these machines are in design to many of their modern day counterparts - and much more solidly made. Even though they only had belt drive or hand power, the design of many recognisable machines was devised by these guys and in most cases remains virtually unchanged.

In many ways I'm sorry to part with the morticer, it really is a beautifully made thing and I would have loved to restore it to concourse condition. An icon of that fleeting moment between hand chisel morticing and the arrival of the hollow chisel morticer. Nonetheless, the decision has been made and I'll just have to get used to the concept of being a bloke who used to own a W.B. Haigh chisel morticer - made in Oldham - by men in hats.

I now know how Mr Clarkson of Brierfield felt about his wall mounted spindle moulder when he wrote on October 26th 1877: "I beg to say that I like your "wall spindle" very well.....In fact, I should not like to be without it on any consideration".

The Atelier System

2010-08-29T16:22:00.004+01:00

An atelier is a group of students working through a highly ordered series of activities with a master who is also a working practitioner. The system works by building knowledge and skills through a blend of research and practice, with the bias towards research in the early stages and practice in the later stages. It is common in this system for tasks from seemingly unrelated disciplines to be used to illustrate and develop skills that are pertinant to the craft being learned. Another unusual feature is that students of different years are taught together. You cannot learn a skill and learn to teach it at the same time, but revisiting a skill that you have already perfected in practice helps you learn how to teach it to others - and only when you have cracked both can you truly consider yourself a master of the skill.

This is the system employed at Rowden Farm Workshops, where David Savage and Master Craftsmen Daren Millman and Steve Perry teach enthusiastic young makers. The workshop has a powerful energy that is apparent the moment you walk through the door, it's not like the fleeting slap of a wave but more an irresistable tide of inspiration - within minutes you have a sense that you couldn't spend more than a few hours there without developing an uncontrollable urge to make an exceptional piece of furniture. This is not David's energy, nor Daren's or Steve's, they would be drained in minutes if they tried to invoke this sort of atmosphere, it comes from the students. All the masters do is direct and focus their ambition - like a lens focusing the energy of the sun to make gentle warmth into fire.

The first thing that David does is teach students to draw - life size and accurate. This is exactly the same starting point that Rembrandt set out from and David is adamant that if you don't have the observational skills, sense of proportion and scale necessary to draw an object as it is, then you cannot even begin to conquer the comparatively monumental task of making something that barely exists - a mere concept in your mind - three dimensionally in wood.

Here's an example of an early lesson on drawing curves:

Lovely Figure

2010-08-03T15:55:00.003+01:00

For me one of the most appealing things about working with wood is that you can never be quite certain about what you will see when you cut into a piece of it. I freely admit to staring at trees and trying to envisage what the grain would look like if it were sliced in a particular way. You can have a rough idea from the species and and obvious factors like a bend in the bole will cause cathederal grain. If there is a branch sticking out you will get endgrain in the face with a knot at the centre gradually shrinking back in a cone shape to the pith that runs down the centre of the tree. When you get further into it though there are more subtle differences that can be predicted by looking at the tree in the ground.

Trees that grow out of a hillside tend to have a curve at the bottom of the bole, this produces compression timber which is valued by boatbuilders and Japanese temple builders for it's unusually high strength, it is also less stable than straight grained timber and more prone to variation caused by the elements. A heavy snowfall or high winds increase the strain on the bend, all of which causes localised variation in the width of growth rings and the resulting figure can be quite stunning. Trees that grow very close to water are prone to mineral deposits in their timber which causes flecking in the surface of the board and various fungal and viral infections can produce ripples, quilting or fiddleback grain variations.

A particular interest of mine is burrs (burls in 'murca), the cause of these is not well documented so I have been experimenting with a couple of holly trees. I pollarded them about 18 months ago which has delivered the expected vigorous regrowth. As well as shooting from the top where the branches are they have produced shoots all over the previously smooth trunks. In a couple of places I'm just letting the shoots go, but on the rest of the trees I'm removing them as they appear, replicating the activity of animals grazing on them or brushing up against them in the wild. Nipping the shoots of as soon as they appear doesn't stop them coming, a couple of months later they are back and seem to be all the more vigorous for it. I'll persevere and see which method produces the best burrs, if only to convince myself that burr formation can be managed to maximise the value of timber.

Clifton Anniversary Planes

2010-07-26T17:47:00.002+01:00

The first delivery of Clifton Anniversary Planes arrived this afternoon and are packed up and booked for collection by UPS tomorrow. Once the sold ones have all been processed we will receive the remainder for stock. We still have one complete numbered set available, if this has not sold by the time the planes arrive we will split the set and offer them individually.

Quangsheng Block Planes

2010-07-23T20:51:00.002+01:00

This morning we received a shipment of planes from Quangsheng, Megan has been working like a Trojan getting all the back orders processed and booking the rest into stock, so if you had one on back order it was dispatched today.

The production department managed to get all of the V2 upgrades into the low angle block plane but couldn't get the 38 and 50 degree blades ready in time for this shipment. The V2 low angle comes with a 25 and 38 degree blade as standard, so we are sending them out with the 25 degree blades installed and the 38 degree blades will follow automatically as soon as they arrive.

The rebating and standard angle block planes have some of the V2 modifications but not the fine thread adjuster, so we have put them back up on the website as V1's and reduced the price accordingly. Customers who had V2 standard or rebating blocks on order will be sent a plane and given the option to swap it (all expenses paid) for a new, full V2 spec one when the next batch arrive. We will put up seperate listings shortly so that customers who want to pre-order full V2 spec rebating and standard angle blocks can do so.

Apologies for the confusion, the guys in China have worked extremely hard to accommodate us and have carried out our instructions beautifully. I managed to find a few moments to play with one of the low angle V2's today and it is just the sweetest little thing in the whole world.

Mastercrafts Series 2 Petition

2010-07-21T02:01:00.004+01:00

For some reason the BBC have seen fit to abort plans to film a second series of Monty Don's wonderful series Mastercrafts, shown a few months ago on BBC2. I believe that they should revise that decision and go ahead with the second series.

If you agree with me, just add your name as a comment at the bottom of this post. I will forward the list of names to Janice Hadlow, Controller of the BBC2.

A Visit to David Charlesworth

2010-07-11T09:35:00.013+01:00

I dropped in to visit to David Charlesworth's superbly appointed workshop on the beautiful Hartland Peninsula in Devon last week. David and his students were examining the task of sawing to a line. David has a painstakingly methodical approach to woodworking that drives some people nuts, however the result of his academically thorough analysis is often a simple 'now-why-didn't-I-think-of-that-before' alteration of technique that saves a bunch of time and effort. Here's an example:

When sawing to a line you normally rest the saw on the compressed side of the cut. If you are holding the saw with a light touch, have the timber perfectly horizontal in the vice and keep the blade perpendicular to the workpiece, the saw drops in diagonally during the first couple of strokes and the left hand side of the kerf proceeds along the line. Rob Cosman advocates starting the saw on the solid timber adjacent to the knife line to take advantage of the way it naturally moves along the path of least resistance until it reaches the mark like this:

Now consider a situation where you are forced to cut on the uncompressed side of the knife line - for example cutting dovetail pins that have been marked out using the tail board as a template:

If you try to balance the saw on the waste it will naturally want to fall towards the unsupported side and you will end up cutting the component rather than the waste. One solution that David picked up from Robert Ingham is to offset the template component to compensate at the layout stage. The amount of offset required varies depending on the kerf of your saw and the angle of your dovetails but Robert's rule of thumb is to have the tail board overhanging towards you by about 1.5mm. The alternative method that David and I arrived at was to mark out on the line that you want to cut and then lay a chisel into the layout line to guide the saw for the first couple of strokes until the cut is established. Metal on metal is not ideal, so making a simple wooden chisel from something harder than the workpiece for the purpose would be the best solution. Because the fibres on the bevel side of the cut have merely been compressed rather than cut, they can be made to expand back to their original position with the application of a dab of water after the joint is assembled, indeed the fact that they are compressed makes for easier assembly and a reduced chance of damaging the edge during the process:

David runs short 5 day courses throughout the spring and summer and a long 12 week course starting in September.

And the FAMAG quiz winner is......

2010-07-01T11:25:00.005+01:00

Many thanks to all who took part in our FAMAG quiz, the response was fantastic and the standard of entries very high so we did end up having to draw names out of a hat. Before we announce the lucky winner here are the correct answers:

1, Benjamin Forstner - 1874.

2, 3mm and 30mm.

3, Friedrich August Mühlhoff.

4, Close to the edge.

5, FAMAG 2183 Multi-purpose bits.

6, 3mm and 8mm.

7, Drilling a hole at an angle.

8, Freehand.

9, HSS-G.

10, Remscheid.

And so, without further ado...

the winner is...

Alastair Hislop!

Congratulations Alastair and well done to all who entered.

Clifton Anniversary planes update

2010-06-28T08:57:00.005+01:00

News just in from Sheffield - The first of the Clifton Anniversary planes are nearing completion and will ship in the next couple of weeks.

The planes are having the final touches applied - etching the cutting irons with the number of the plane that they will be supplied with etc. Planes that have been pre-ordered already will be dispatched first, the remainder will follow a week or so later.

The factory have asked us to supply them with VanGuard to provide extra protection for these tools as some of them may be stored for a long period of time.

We were lucky enough to grab an additional allocation of planes, so we still have one or two of each size available.

Carpe Diem

2010-06-21T17:35:00.004+01:00

Amid speculation as to whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer will raise VAT to 20% in tomorrow's budget (Tuesday 22nd of July), we have extended our Father's Day promotion on all British made products until after the announcement. It would be pointless for me to change all the prices and then have to change them again 24 hours later. So if you are thinking about a Clifton Plane, Atkinson Walker Sawblade or some Ashley Iles Chisels, sieze the day!

FAMAG Quiz!

2010-06-17T01:44:00.014+01:00

The person with the most correct answers wins a bottle of bubbly and a selection of FAMAG goodies! In the event of a tie, names will be drawn from a hat by our new Sales Manager Chris when the competition closes on the 30th of June. The winner will be reported here and informed by email.

Questions:

1) Who invented the Forstner Bit and when? (2 marks)

2) What are the smallest and largest diameters of bits in the 3500 series? (2 marks)

3) What do the letters F, A and M stand for in FAMAG? (3 marks)

4) Should a plug cutter ideally be used in the middle of a board or close to an edge? (1 mark)

5) I want to bore through timber, thin metal and brickwork in a single pass, which series of FAMAG bits should I use? (1 mark)

6) What range of bit sizes will a 2202.000 Vario countersink fit? (1 mark)

7) The photo above shows a set of hollow Bormax forstner bits that allow the centre pin to be replaced with a standard drill bit. In what situation would this be useful? (1 mark)

8) Bormax3 are the only carbide tipped forstners in the world that can be used safely in which type of drill? (1 mark)

9) I want to drill a hole in some Lignum Vitae, should I use CV or HSS-G bits? (1 mark)

10) In which German town have FAMAG been continuously producing drill tooling since 1865? (1 mark)

Please email your answers to matthew@workshopheaven.com or use the contact message form on workshopheaven.com.

VanGuard

2010-06-06T11:51:00.006+01:00

I recently heard about a guy who was having problems with tools going rusty. They were stored in his van overnight so condensation forms on them each morning and he lives on a small island so the water vapour in the air is salt laden, making it more effective as an electolyte - one of the conditions needed for corrosion to occur. I contacted Paul Prince at Shield Technology who suggested the 'belt braces and jockstrap approach' was called for, i.e. surface protection, contact corrosion inhibitors and VCI (airborne) protection - all in liberal measure.

I emailed Paul back suggesting that a huge VCI pot which would protect anything stored in a van would be a popular product - after all, how many tradesmen have vans? I lightheartedly suggested he could call it something like VanGuard. He said the concept wouldn't work as vans are too draughty and even if the pot were the size of a biscuit tin, a good stiff breeze would have all the corrosion inhibiting vapour drifting off down the street.

He did however come up with a new product which is the 'belt braces and jockstrap approach' in a tin. It has a viscous high quality mineral oil base so it will provide barrier protection, plus it has both ferrous and yellow metal corrosion inhibitors and a VCI additive, so your treated tools act as VCI emitters themselves, if you miss a spot then the VCI chemical will condense on it and prevent the water vapour from acting. Wipe it on with a rag and store your tools in a sealed box so the VCI element can do it's thing. To my great surprise he kept the name, so VanGuard in 125ml and 250ml tins will be appearing on the website shortly!

A Bit Different!

2010-06-02T16:05:00.010+01:00

We have stocked FAMAG Bormax 3 carbide tipped Forstners for a while now, on the basis that no-one else was carrying them and they were just too good not to be available in the UK.

Recently I tried out one of their 1594 series HSS-G lip & spur bits and was quite astonished at how cleanly and quickly it cut. No picking out curls of compressed timber from the flutes here! In fact quite the opposite, a plume of chips erupt from the hole as you drill and the bit comes out as clean as a whistle - even in hard oily exotics.

The difference is that the flutes are not U-shaped as they would be normally, instead they are relieved behind the cutting edge - adding nearly 50% more space for the waste to clear, they are also very finely ground. Because the flutes are functioning correctly the chips clear properly and the bit stays cooler...which also helps with edge retention...which was already excellent because they are made from a material normally only used for metalworking bits. Percentage wise they are more expensive than most of the cheap imports on the market, but in real terms it's not a huge amount of money, the difference in performance however is phenomenal!

Anyhow, the net result was a little spending spree and the next thing I know we have the largest selection of FAMAG products in the UK. We have ended up re-organising the warehouse and install new walling and shelving to fit everything in! Isn't it amazing how a little drill bit can change your life?

The impact on your life may not be quite as pronounced, but I hope you will give them a try. We have put several lines on special offer and are even offering some bits at below cost, because I believe there is no better advertisement for them than having one in your workshop and trying it for yourself.

Chisel Backs

2010-05-07T16:44:00.007+01:00

We've had a couple of questions this week about preparing chisels, specifically the hollow ground Ashley Iles chisels, so I thought it might be worth covering it here. Lets start off with what we are aiming for on the back of the blade.

The backs of chisels used for paring need to be sufficiently flat that they can take a full length cut without diving into the wood or pulling up out of it by more than 1/10 of a mm over the length of the blade. The tolerance for chopping chisels is a little wider as there is a limit to how accurately they can be held a 90 degrees to the work.

When it comes to honing, a very slightly hollow ground back is preferable to a convex or perfectly flat one, the word ‘slightly’ is key here because it still needs to be flatter than a tenth in order to remain accurate. Dead flat itself is no good because you need to remove material over the entire back of the blade in order to polish the important bit that forms the underside of the edge. Also any imperfections in your technique will tend to cause bumps or drubbing of the corners, which are self perpetuating and eventually get worse if you are working on a sharpening medium that is larger than the tool. Bumps in the back will register first against whatever material they come into contact with and then wobble around looking for another point of contact in order to become stable. A lot of people think that bumps are an insurmountable problem, they are not, they simply call for a different technique. Nonetheless, in an ideal world, somewhere between dead flat and one tenth of a mm hollow is where we want to be.

After a great deal of time and effort the team at Ashley Iles eventually managed to achieve a reliable 0.04mm (+/-0.02mm) hollow on their cabinetmakers chisels. Although still perfectly accurate from a woodworking perspective, they are just hollow enough that when you lay the back on a dead flat surface, they only make contact at two points.

To polish the edge lay most of the length of the tool on the sharpening media and draw it off the edge, lift off, go back to the start position, and repeat. The underside of the cutting edge is in contact with the sharpening media for the full length of the stroke, so it gets polished within a few strokes. The edge of the sharpening media also makes contact with an area inside the hollow and wears away a little material there too, so over many years of sharpening the back will gradually get closer and closer to dead flat but never quite get there – perfect!

So a dozen or so strokes on a fine stone to remove any grinding marks that extend through the cutting edge when you first get them, then a couple of strokes on a fine stone after each honing and that’s it.

More Haste – Less Speed

2010-03-30T15:15:00.006+01:00

When you first start working with handplanes it is inevitable that sooner or later you will come across the problem of tearout. It is a common problem and every time you think you’ve cracked it another tricky piece of timber comes along that doesn’t want to play nicely. It usually happens because the grain of the timber is not all flowing in the same direction so the cutting edge of the plane iron is no longer cutting the fibres but instead is splitting them away from the surrounding material.

There are a broad range of weapons in the cabinetmakers arsenal to tackle this issue but it’s all too easy for experienced makers to omit the first and easiest way when they are advising others on how to tackle it, probably because they do it habitually and without thinking.

Assuming your plane iron is sharp, the first port of call when you experience tearout is to slow down – right down. Nothing else changes, your stance, distribution of pressure on the plane, angle of the plane to the work, all remain exactly the same, you just take your good old time - perhaps ten seconds or so per foot of timber planed.

Observe the shaving as it emerges from the mouth, the shaving contains a wealth of information about what just happened at the cutting edge. Holes with flowing shapes and very thin frail edges indicate low spots, changes in the texture of the shaving indicate patches of reversing grain that the plane is coping with already and jagged holes with thick edges indicate areas that it is not coping with.

Quite often the simple act of slowing down is enough to either make the problem disappear completely or reduce it to a couple of thumbprint sized patches that can be cleaned up afterwards with a thin cabinet scraper.

The next simple step is closing up the mouth to a slit and backing off the depth of cut so that the plane is only just cutting, a really light wispy shaving invariably produces a finer surface finish than a thicker one.

Honing your cutting iron is the next step, as the first few passes with a freshly honed iron are much less prone to tearout. The final finishing passes on a piece of timber should always be taken with a freshly honed cutting iron, regardless of whether you only honed it five minutes ago or not.

Only when you have worked your way through the 'low hanging fruit' that requires no additional kit and the bare minimum of extra time should you start thinking about steeper pitches or scraping.

Latest deliveries

2010-02-25T22:21:00.004Z

Just a quick one to let you know that we recieved a delivery from Ashley Iles today. So if you have been hanging on for bevel edged chisels or a particular carving or turning tool, the chances are that we now have it in. Stock levels on the website will be updated within the next 24 hours.

The delivery also included the new Peter Benson 1/32" V-Tools, as advertised in this month's Woodcarving Magazine. As far as we know these are the smallest V-Tools ever made, perfect for details like the veining on feathers, fine hair and subtle foliage textures.

Also recently arrived are a small top up of Clifton no. 7's (already up) and a selection of lime carving blanks which will be photographed and listed over the next week or so. Our Clifton promotion finishes at the end of the month, so if you want to place an order for one at the sale price (regardless of whether it's in stock or not) please give us a ring and we can backorder it for you.

Micron Grit Conversion

2010-02-15T22:04:00.011Z

We have had a couple of questions recently regarding how the micron sizes used in our 3M lapping film equate to waterstone grits. Adrienne has done a little research and plotted the line of best fit between several sources (which were very close anyhow) and established the equation of the resulting line as 11139 times the micron size to the power of -0.9393!

I'm not sure if direct 'this = that' parallels are entirely appropriate in this case, my experience has been that lapping film produces a noticably finer surface finish than the equivalent waterstones. This may be a result of the particles all being extremely uniform in size, or the resin on the sheets being more durable than the clay of a waterstone.

Either way, here's the graph and conversion table:

For abrasive paper, an approximate comparison to European grits:

5 micron is around P1200
30 micron is between P400 and P500
60 micron is around P240

If you are using the American grit system:

5 micron is 1500
30 micron is 360
60 micron is between 220 and 240

The Eagle Has Landed!

2009-12-10T20:56:00.008Z

Finally! The first pallet of planes arrived today from Quangsheng and I have been busy unpacking and inspecting a sample of each type, taking photos etc.

First impressions;

Better than expected - a lot better than expected; I was hoping for a budget alternative to the big three, a compromise that would suit folks with limited funds, something that would need less fettling than a vintage tool and might perhaps appeal to pro-cabinetmakers for rougher jobs like Jack planing.

What we have ended up with are a very serious range of tools indeed.

My concerns about the irons were completely unfounded, they are beautifully ground, rock hard and take that spine chillingly sharp edge that you only get with properly heat treated carbon steel.

The machining on the bodies is excellent, I stripped a low angle rebating block plane this afternoon and put the sole up against a straight edge – a nice triangle of light between the mouth and the back indicating that the casting had been correctly pre-tensioned as it was ground. After re-inserting the iron and lightly nipping up the cap to working tension (less than half a turn past the point where the blade advance is free enough to work) the triangular gap was gone. It may not sound like much, but getting that just right is a really clever bit of metalworking.

I would have absolutely no qualms about putting these tools in front of some of the top cabinetmakers in the country, they really are that good.

So, perhaps we had better make that the big FOUR from now on!!!

Free Shipping Fortnight

2009-12-02T13:42:00.002Z

Ordering early for Christmas makes our lives so much easier. So as a thank you to those who help us out by not leaving it until the last minute, we are offering Free shipping on all UK orders, until the 14th of December.

Sticker Shock !

2009-11-22T12:58:00.004Z

I recently read a post on a forum about the gold stickers on Ashley Iles chisels. The poster said that he thought them unnecessary and that if anything they cheapened the look of the chisels.

I'm not overly fond of them either and there didn't seem to be any dissenting voices from people who particularly liked them, so I thought I'd experiment by removing them from the chisels that we send out for a while and see what the reaction was. - Nothing, no complaints, grumbles or comments whatsoever.

I mentioned this little test whilst on the phone with Barry at the Factory the other day and he said:

"Good! I've never liked those blooming stickers."

So, henceforth the cabinetmakers tools we buy will be produced without stickers.

Job done!

Footnote: They are also now available with beech handles if you prefer, I haven't had time to take photos etc but if you want them in beech just drop me an email.

Quangsheng Planes

2009-11-13T00:25:00.007Z

Today we have made the final payment and received shipping information on an order of planes from Quangsheng Tools in China. We have been looking for an acceptable range of budget handplanes for a couple of years now, and after six months of intense questioning these guys seem to have come up with the right answers.

The planes were originally developed with the help of Woodcraft in the USA, where they are marketed as Wood River planes. Unusually they are cast from steel rather than iron, a very good but expensive way of doing things that I had previously thought to be the preserve of infill planes. I asked for a copy of the specs and it is a low carbon steel (anything under 2% carbon is steel) with a high chromium content so it should have reasonably good corrosion resistance too.

I also asked about their grinding and was told that they anneal the castings before grinding them and was sent this photo showing a nice big solid bed grinder - important as it acts as a heat sink as well as pretensioning the body and holding it absolutely rock steady as it passes under the grinding wheel. A steady flow of coolant again reduces the chance of the body being stressed by the introduction of heat.

For the handles I have opted for Chinese grasstree wood, they also offer rosewood handles which they apparently buy in from England. From an environmental perspective I couldn't justify using a far eastern timber that has been transported here, shaped, sent all the way back to China and then brought all the way back here again, it seems ludicrous. So the stuff that is local to the place of manufacture, and apparently grows like a weed seemed by far the best bet, I have used grasstree handled tools before and although somewhat plain, it is stout and perfectly acceptable.

The one thing that does concern me is the use of T10 (the Chinese equivalent of W1) for the irons, this can vary hugely depending on the heat treatment, specifically the hardness of the water that is quenched in. Soft water does lovely things to tool steel whilst hard water tends to do the opposite. I haven't been able to find any definite information on the hardness of the water where they are made so we shall just have to wait and see. If it comes to the crunch we can always replace the blades or re-do the heat treatment.

The big question now is how fast TNT can get them here. They rather unhelpfully quote 10 days plus, which could mean anything.

*Update* We have upgraded the shipping optionso they should be here at the beginning of December, just in time for free shipping fortnight!!!!

West Riding Woodcarvers Association

2009-11-09T21:18:00.011Z

I was chatting with a customer from Yorkshire recently. He lives just down the road from Richmond, where the HQ and museum of my family regiment is housed in a beautiful old church, I was reminded of taking the train up there as a mustard keen 19 year old for an interview with the Regimental Secretary. Anyway, the conversation turned to carving clubs and he mentioned that he was a member of the West Riding Woodcarvers Association.

The club is currently working on a series of carved panels depicting scenes from the first and second world wars which will eventually be displayed at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Each member takes a pre-sized block of timber and a design and carves it in their own time, the whole is then assembled and displayed. The club have already created similar panels for several local hospices which are donated free of charge and have earned them royal recognition in the form of a Queens Award for Voluntary Service.

As well as providing an enjoyable project for the club members, the panels add warmth and interest to the environment in which they are displayed in a way that a two dimensional image couldn't match. They also serve to draw public attention to both the club and carving in general.

I believe this is a fantastic way for carvers to help their local communities and bring a touch of warmth to people who so desperately need it. Another amazing thing that we can all do at this time of year is fold up a donation, drop it in the tin, and 'wear your poppy with pride'.

By the way - a wee dab of superglue is all it takes to keep the leaf in the correct position and stop you looking like a politician.

It's all coming together!

2009-10-26T17:40:00.007Z

I absolutely love this time of year, there is so much going on. It's like the point in a run where you have just broken through 'the wall' and seem to be pulled along by a wave of momentum.

Christmas is a real make-or-break time for us and the work that began at the end of August is now coming close to fruition. Thankfully this year we have had a very strong third quarter, so cashflow for Christmas stock is much less of a concern than usual.

Around now we start receiving stock deliveries from our suppliers. All the new products have to be photographed and listed, the magazines need artwork for the Chistmas advertising campaign and in the warehouse there is lots of work to do pre-packaging kits and making room for new lines (including selling off all the odds and ends on ebay).

The C.I. Fall bevelled firmers are already up on the website (must re-do the photos though) and the first of the morticers will follow shortly. The new Famag carbide tipped augers and forstner bits are up as well and we have just added new website sections for Christmas gift ideas and stocking stuffers.

A huge box arrived this afternoon from Mora of Sweden with lots of new knife blades and assorted goodies and we are eagerly awaiting a pallet of planes from Quangsheng Tools in China (don't worry we won't be trying to fob anyone off that they are American!). They have however been developed in close conjunction with Woodcraft, who are American, and are tipped to be reasonably good copies of early Stanleys made in cast steel, bronze and brass. Combined with a selection of optional upgrade blades by Ray Iles I think they could prove quite popular.

At the same time there are family traditions to keep up with as well - last weekend we got together with some mates and pressed a batch of cider for Christmas 2010, I reckon 80 gallons should be about enough to slake our thirst from next years Christmas campaign!!!

Stamjarns and Teardrops 2

2009-10-08T22:32:00.009+01:00

At the end of last week two big parcels arrived from Sheffield full to the brim with beatifully turned beech teardrop handles. I have some wallets on order for the individual ones and our French suede tool roll supplier was finally able to make a delivery last week as well, so I've got something to put the sets in too. The latest batch of rolls are a tadge lighter in colour than the old ones but still a superb example of hand workmanship.

I wasn't happy with the grinding on the morticers, so I reground a sample and sent it off with a couple of originals to a very talented bladesmith in Scotland called Chris Grant. We'll see what he comes up with but I've got a feeling it will be rather good!

The finishing on the bevelled firmers is still not perfect but bevelled firmers were never intended to be used for fine joinery, they are supposed to be affordable general purpose chisels that can take a bit of stick.

With Chris sorting out the morticers and John sorting out the wallets, I can get on with the finish for the handles. I tried about a dozen different finishes but the winner by a country mile was oiling with sun bleached Swedish linseed oil, followed a couple of days later with pure beeswax polish. I use 25% first grade beeswax and 75% natural pine turpentine warmed in the sun until the two blend together. It brings a warm golden hue to the timber and a really comfortable feel in the hand. The turpentine is also Swedish - distilled from pine roots - so even the finishing has a strong Swedish element and reflects the Swede's passion for nature and aversion to unnecessary complexity.

Here's the first batch after handling and finishing, 120 down and about 500 to go!

New Mora 2010MG

2009-10-06T23:34:00.006+01:00

Just in, news from Mora of Sweden that the military green version of the new 2010 is going into production. The 2010 uses the same stainless steel blade as the popular Mora 2000 but has a more ergonomic handle with a finger guard and small ridged areas for extra grip with a variety of holds. The handle is made from a similar material to our Gyokucho eva-grip saws - a hard plastic that feels soft to the touch and is amazingly grippy, even with wet hands.

As a general purpose knife I reckon they have got these just about spot on, the scalloped tip means you have a strong blade for heavier work but a fine, slightly flexible tip. We are be among the first companies in the world to stock the civilian version of this knife and will have the military version in stock as soon as the first batch are finished.

Chop Chop!

2009-09-29T23:35:00.010+01:00

In accordance with my policy of ‘if I wouldn’t use it in my own workshop then it doesn’t go on the website’, I thought I should treat myself to an Atkinson Walker industrial blade for my mitre saw - and a very satisfying piece of engineering it is too!

The industrial blades are all heat treated at the factory and cooled under pressure, forcing the crystalline structure of the steel to form flat. They are smithed and tensioned by hand (see above) to fine tune the internal tensions in the steel. The result is a blade that is not only very flat and very round to begin with, but stays that way when you generate frictional heat around the perimeter but not in the middle.

Huge chunks of carbide are then trifoil braized onto it and ground by some seriously clever machines to a tolerance of one hundreth of a millimetre, before it goes back to the Smithing shop for a final fettle and inspection.

The saw is listed as requiring a 254mm blade but Chris informed me that almost without exception a 255mm will fit. The whole 254mm thing started out as a marketing ploy to try and restrict customers to buying blades from the equipment manufacturer. Sure enough the standard 255mm fits just fine and the performance is out of this world.

It does take a little bit more grunt to get it spinning (it’s nearly twice the weight of the CMT blade I took off) but once it’s moving the blade runs soooo sweetly, it produces beautiful, almost planed, surfaces with barely a whisper of fluff left behind on the exit side, absolutely marvellous!

The thing that continues to astound me is how the Italians and Americans have managed to gain such a strong foothold in the UK market when we make sawblades of this quality in Sheffield. What's more, I can post it back to the factory to have it resharpened up to ten times for a fraction of the price of a throw-away blade.

A Good Workman Never Blames His Tools

2009-09-19T12:57:00.008+01:00

In one form or another, the proverb “A good workman never blames his tools” dates back at least as far as the 13th century but in recent times has often been misinterpreted as “if it goes wrong it can’t possibly be the tool’s fault.” Or worse, “if you think the tool is at fault, then you must be a bad workman.”

The real message is that a good workman wouldn’t have bought a shoddy tool or allowed a good tool to fall into a state of poor repair in the first place.

The market for ‘disposable’ tools has flourished in recent years, but the concept of buying a tool, using it for one job and then throwing it in the skip and buying another one remains utterly unfathomable to me. The souls I really pity are those who buy cheap tools that are designed for this market and then hold themselves accountable when the work isn’t up to standard “because a good workman doesn’t blame his tools, right?” Wrong. Digging back through the earlier incarnations of the expression I found this one, which is less open to misinterpretation:

“A bungler cannot find (or fit himselfe with) good tooles.”
R. Congrave, French-English Dictionary, 1611

And let’s face it, no-one wants to be thought of as a bungler do they?

Custom Mora Kitchen Knives

2009-09-01T22:01:00.013+01:00

Most knifemakers tend to focus on outdoor knives so this really is a stab in the dark (if you'll pardon the expression), but I've just taken a punt and ordered some food industry knife blades from Mora of Sweden.

I've tried out a sample set of the complete knives and my first impression was 'not really sure about these', I think it was the green handles that caused me to waver - those Swedes and their handles again! But after a week or so I got used to them and gradually started to use them more and more and leave the Wusthofs in the block.

They were designed by a famous Swedish Chef, and I must admit the ergonomics and blade shapes are absolutely spot on.

(OK you can get that image of Bork from the Muppets out of your mind now!!!)

The blades are made of 12C27 high carbon stainless which they carefully heat treat to avoid the formation of large carbides. The end product takes and holds an edge like carbon steel and yet still has high corrosion resistance.

In the end, my wife and I decided to give the Moras to my mother in law as her kitchen knives had seen better days, but by the time it came to actually hand them over we were both a little hesitant to part with them.

We will be getting some of the complete knives over in the next few months, but in the meantime it will be interesting to see whether the knifemaking fraternity show an interest in the blades.

Saws to make your mouth water!

2009-08-27T22:44:00.009+01:00

I've just received a big pile of parcels from Gyokucho in Japan. I don't want to let too much out of the bag yet, but this little treasure was among them.

The Kuroko is an ultra lightweight yet incredibly fast pistol grip saw. The whole thing including the sheath weighs 10 ounces and the saw itself only five, but boy does it get through timber at a rate of knots! A mate popped round while I was taking pictures of them for the website, took one look and bought the one I was photographing on the spot.

Speaking of saws, I've also fixed a date next week to go up to Sheffield for product training with Atkinson Walker. Their range of circular saw blades is mind boggling to say the least, but if we are to list their full selection of hand smithered loveleyness, I am determined to understand every aspect of them in order to ensure that customers can get the best advice possible on which blade to choose.

Stamjarns and Teardrops (fixing a very old problem)

2009-08-23T22:30:00.012+01:00

People sometimes ask me how I select products for Workshop Heaven and I have always had difficulty giving them a straight answer. Traditionally retailers look for shiny, nicely packaged products that are heavily marketed and available at the drop of a hat from the manufacturer or wholesaler. I will forgoe all the above for a product that is made right, or has fixable issues, and is preferably not widely available.

The Swedes are naturally blessed with some of the purest iron ore on the planet, they make excellent high carbon steel from it, which they forge into really solid chisels that will last a lifetime. Then they put atrocious uncomfortable handles on to deter rational people from buying them. It has always been so, whether its a 90 year old A.E. Berg or a new C.I Fall, the handles let the side down every time.

I asked C.I Fall if they would consider having a redesigned handle made, similar to their (surprisingly good) turning handles, a very polite 'not at the moment' came back from Anders Fall - one of the most down to earth guys you could ever want to meet by the way. Much to Anders' dismay a purchase order for tangs followed and my quest began to find the perfect handle.

The original handles are assymetric and I wanted to retain this feature as it would mean the handle could be rotated 90 degrees and used for the morticers as well - matching set sir? Very nice.

I liked the knurled ferrule on the originals so that will be staying although the square section, clarty dipped finish and the hoop are all deeply and profoundly wrong so all of those concepts have been binned. That left me with:

*an oval section,
*a rounded top,
*something that would be suitable for heavy malleting
*would work with bench chisels and moticers.

Then it clicked, teardrops! Mouthwateringly comfortable, directional, very traditional, sold!

A couple of calls with Colin in Sheffield and the deal was done. They will be double turned from beech, which fits with the best bits of the Scaninavian ethos. Carefully sanded, fitted with thick knurled brass ferrules, given a good soak in tung oil and then hand rubbed to a soft sheen. I've bought a thumping great cast iron Victorian lever press by W.B. Haigh of Oldham to fit them, which reminds me, I must remember to get Len Cooper to machine me a new part for it.

All in all, not too much effort to fix something that has dogged Swedish chisel manufacturers for well over a century. The grinding is still miles off from cabinetmakers chisels but good quality bevelled firmers that can take a thwacking are a surprisingly rare treat these days, so with a bit of a marketing to let folks know about them, they should be quite popular.

Now THAT'S a tenon saw!

2009-08-20T22:28:00.012+01:00

14 inches of best CS80 high carbon spring steel, toothed for hardwoods, with a hand polished, folded brass back and a hand finished, closed handle in selected elm.

I commisioned these saws in response to a request from a customer for a pair of big saws with closed handles, specifically for cutting tenons in hardwoods. Whist doing my research I soon discovered that over the last 100 years or so, tenon saws have evolved to meet the needs of joiners as this has historically been the bigger market. It hasn't been sudden, just a gentle process of allowing cabinetmaking saws to drift out of the catalogue pages, but process has now evolved to the point where people think that a tenon saw is 'wrong' if it doesn't conform to the joiners standard of a fast cutting aggressive saw that is rarely, if ever, actually used for cutting tenons.

By all accounts, a proper cabinetmakers tenon saw is a finer toothed beast that relies on a long stroke for its efficiency. It should start easily and flow smoothly and accurately through the cut, leaving a perfectly square edge and a barely repressable urge to go and cut another one right now! (handy if you've got several to do).

I was on the point of making the commercial decision whether to just have the two made for the customer, or to go the whole hog, put in a proper production order and stock them, when I read this in an article by David Savage:

"It will be a sad day when a cabinet maker can't actually pick up a saw and cut a piece of wood dead straight, trim the end of a tenon or cut a mitre just shy of the line. But sometimes it feels like that day isn't too far away"

Well sod that, I thought, and promptly put my money where my heart was and ordered the first batch.

Christian Ellis has been an absolute pleasure to work with on this project. Even with my "sorry but the handles are not quite right, can you re-do them please" shenanigins, he has been a consummate professional throughout, and should be more widely recognised as one of the rising stars of proper English toolmaking. The first batch arrived last week and the rest are trickling in as and when Christian can get hold of elm that is of an acceptable quality for the handles.

So here it was, the moment, the first test cut! I selected a nice piece of oak, stood it up in the end vice and....judder. All that effort and I've managed to come up with a saw that flippin' judders!!! Then it hit me, new saws need a run in period of slow feed rates and thinner workpieces, they are too sharp to begin with and that is why they grab at the timber. Switching to the front vice, I made a series of perpendicular cuts through the narrow section, every one getting progressively smoother than the last. Finally I gave the blade a coat of ProtecTool wax, including the teeth, and switched to a piece of english walnut. What a world of difference, the saw started well and continued to cut smoothly right down the cheek. Back to the oak, same thing again, and it was making much better progress through the timber than before.

A week or so later I am loving this saw more and more every time I use it, it just gets better and better! After correcting the set for my cutting style with a single stroke down the left side of the teeth with 40um lapping film it cuts absolutely square and true and we have developed a comfortable smooth working rhythm.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased with how these saws have worked out, and I hope that with them we will be able to fend off David's sad day for another generation.

Clifton Prices

2009-08-20T22:15:00.006+01:00

Just a quick heads up that the new Clico pricelist is due out at the end of the month. They are normally pretty reasonable, just normal inflationary corrections, but if you want to grab a nice new Cliffie at the 2008/9 prices, now's the time!

I have put in an order to top up our stock at the old prices. I will show the new prices as soon as we get them, but then put everything on special at the old prices until we run out. This seems like the fairest way of doing it for all concerned.

Scary Sharp

2009-08-12T20:52:00.009+01:00

We have had a lot of interest in our 3M scary sharp kits recently, mainly thanks to an article by Mark Fish in Furniture and Cabinetmaking Magazine and various referrals from alumni of the Barnsley Workshop.

For the benefit of those who would like to learn more about it, here is a pdf of the instructions that we send out with the kit. I wrote these back when we only offered the non PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive) backed versions of the film, as soon as I update them I will upload the new version.

The PSA backing does make life a lot easier, it's like a heavy duty version of the stuff used on post it notes, so you just peel off the backing and stick it down rather than having to spray aerosol adhesive onto the film. Sticking it down is a one hit deal though, it will come off cleanly when you've finished with it, but it's worth taking your time to get it in the right spot when you apply it and roll it down onto the glass to avoid trapping any air bubbles.

I recently had the good fortune to meet up with Rob Stoakley, better known as woodbloke (check out his blog here) and demonstrate the system to him. Rob has had an interest in the scary sharpening for some time, along with a healthy dollop of caution. Given the number of 'revolutionary new must-have universal sharpening systems' that have been touted in recent years I don't blame him one bit. The only difference I can see with scary sharp is that it evolved naturally, no one seems to have invented it, it just happened. The lapping film was originally developed for polishing fibre optics, float glass was developed for making windows and Richard Kell designed his honing guides long before it became popular. All I have done is procure the best kit for doing it with and put it in a box.

Rob had tried scary sharp before but couldn't get on with it, but the moment that I pointed out to him that it works best if you touch the blade to the abrasive on the pull stroke, and then lift it to return to the start position, everything suddenly 'clicked'. After a few minutes he had the whole thing cracked and was starting to come up with his own modifications and solutions. I'll leave Rob to finish the story on his blog, that way you'll get it straight from the horses mouth.

Phew what a scorcher!

2009-08-11T18:19:00.005+01:00

Today's flawless blue skies from horizon to horizon, along with a beautifully timed and completely unexpected delivery of a 4 pack of assorted Badger Ales from my neighbour (in return for what I thought was a fairly modest favour), have put me in a particularly good mood this evening. To celebrate I have decided knock 10% off all Shield Technology products and Ashley Iles Registered Firmer Chisels, until such time as I feel grumpy enough to reverse the decison.

Shiny Treats!

2009-08-10T17:49:00.017+01:00

There is something deeply attractive about using tools that have been made with care and passion by highly skilled craftsmen in small workshops. Each time you use them there is a subtle appreciation of the fact that this object was created with skill and judgement by a human being. They make you quietly receptive to the mindblowing concept of human skill and craftsmanship, which is precisely the right emotional plane to be on when you are working.

Given the ongoing (and rapidly growing) popularity of Richard Kell's outstanding honing guides, I thought it was high time we started stocking some of his other products.

Richard's adjustable bevels, plate squares, centre finders and dovetail markers are all are carefully made in solid brass to a standard working tolerance of one thousandth of an inch. The elegance and simplicity of their designs, combined with their functional accuracy make them a true pleasure to work with.

Sharpening and Using English Backsaws

2009-08-04T22:41:00.010+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I put together a set of guidelines on how to sharpen, care for and use English Backsaws. Sharpening is easy enough once you know how, but can be an onerous task the first time around, similarly people often have problems starting a cut, but with a little explanation the problem is easily solved. We now send out a paper copy of this with both our PAX and Atkinson Walker ranges of backsaws and backsaw kits.

For people who are not yet customers and those who have bought these products from us in the past but didn't receive a copy with their order, a pdf version is available here.

Speaking of backsaws, I have just finished carving some lambs tongues into the handles on the prototypes for the gorgeous new PAX 1776 heavy tenon saws, which will be available shortly. One final prototype has gone down to Mark Baker of Furniture and Cabinetmaking to be reviewed in a forthcoming round up of all the top tenon saws on the market. The other is on its way up to Sheffield to be used as the sample so that Christian can carve and sand the production ones to the same spec.

Peter Benson's detail selection carving tools were an absolute godsend for this job, so I've included some in the package going to Sheffield.

Prices for the new saws will be £125 each or £225 for a pair, including VAT and carriage.

Bessey Clamps Range Extended

2009-08-04T21:50:00.006+01:00

Just finished adding another 9 lines to our range of Bessey clamps including:

Pipe Clamps

Compatible with standard 3/4" steel gas pipe so you can make a heavy duty clamp as long or as short as you need. Although I am far from being a fan of the bearded one, there was a New Yankee Workshop show a few years back where he made a tablesaw fence using this type of clamp.

Vice Clamps
Portable Vices that can be attached to any surface up to 50mm thick. The jaws can be used with guide bars to keep the jaws square, or without for clamping oddly shaped objects. Ideal for site work.

Table Clamps
Designed for fixing KR body clamps to the worksurface, these dinky little clamps can also be used anywhere where an 8mm hole can be drilled. The obvious job that springs to mind is making forms and jigs for gluing up laminates or steam bent components, where you need a large number of inexpensive clamps that can be pre-arranged or slid into place after the workpiece has been initially secured to the form.

Wooden Klemmy Clamps

Inexpensive wooden clamps, designed for protecting delicate, easily damaged workpieces. Ideal for restoration work, they are available in decent bar lengths of 40cm, 80cm and 100cm.

and the new longer Kliklamps

These tick all the right boxes, featherlight, powerful, controllable and now available in much more useful 30cm and 40cm bar lengths.

Having a brief surf around, all of these products are either not available in the UK yet or we are better on price than anyone currently offering them, so they should be quite polular!

Welcome to Matthew's Blog!

2009-08-04T17:49:00.005+01:00

Hello, thanks for stopping by.

This is my new blog and gives me a little more space to burble on about woodworking tools and other related topics than our main website www.workshopheaven.com.

I will be covering topics like how to use, care for and get the best from your tools and giving some extra background info on how our products are designed and made. I will also be offering sneak previews of new product ranges.

I hope it will be interesting and fun, please feel free to add your own comments.

All the best,

Matthew