![]() My recent project was to replace the broken handle of one of my hand saws. I had borrowed the saw to friend of mine and well, the rest is history. Over the years I have borrowed tools out before without any issue and this is a practice that I will continue, because generally someone asking to borrow certain tools are attempting something for the first time and not having the tool they need prevents them from taking on the task at hand, preventing them from learning this new skill they wish to acquire. I remember as a small child my fathers shop he had and also how amazed I was by even the little things he did with his tools, and always wanting to learn he always had the time to teach me. Whether it was learning how to cut a mortise for a hinge with his chisel or just cutting a board with his hand saw. If he had not allowed me to use his tools these are skills I might not have acquired. But to learn a new skill all that is required is the proper tools and guidance, and for this reason I will continue to borrow tools out and give what ever guidance I can offer. As to my saw, I am very pleased with the final results of the project that was presented to me and honestly the handle that now resides on the saw is much nicer than the one that originally came with it. To view the project : http://youtu.be/jNk3bnUOxfc
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![]() With sometime on my hands waiting on parts for my next project I thought I would take a second to reflect on my last project the joiner's mallet, this was built out of a need to replace the one I had recently broke. It was constructed from pine scraps I had laying around the shop at the time, and looking back at this I realize now how bad of a choice it was to constructed a mallet from pine, and to someone who does joinery the issues of this should have been fore seen but this was one of those lessons I learned first hand. With the new mallet I wanted to improve on the short comings of the old one. First there was the choice of stock, with this having been the down fall of the previous mallet I decided to use oak this time a hard, dense wood that will certainly take whatever abuse I could put it through, but not too heavy as to allow for a soft tap to a chisel when needed. My next thought was how could I maximize the impact blow of the mallet, to achieve this I looked at the natural pendulum motion of the mallet when swinging it and quickly realized, if the face of the mallet was at an angle I would achieve a better impact then I would with a square faced mallet and this would also allow for a more comfortable and accurate situation when using it. Next was the handle and for this I used walnut with really only two things in mind, first I wanted the handle to be a little longer then the previous version to allow for a better leverage when swinging, and second was comfort it had to feel comfortable in my hand. With all of my thoughts worked out I was in the shop cutting, shaping and carving then finally finishing it all off with a coat of oil. Since completing the new mallet I have used it several times and I'm very happy with the feel of it, very comfortable to use and more then capable of delivering a hard accurate blow or providing a gentle tap where needed. This was a great project producing a joiner's mallet that I will certainly be using for a long time to come. To check out this project video click this link http://youtu.be/v7KGiVU-38Y |
ShavingwoodWorkshopWoodworking with Tommy P Archives
April 2016
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