 A pencil certainly has it's place and if you have ever been around a home builder you've seen the famous pencil on the ear, keeping it readily available to mark that two by four or piece of sheet rock. But in the world of furniture building it's different especially when laying out joinery. The problem I have with using a pencil for laying out joinery is the inconsistency a pencil line creates. With a traditional marking gauge it cuts a line creating as close to a zero inconsistency as you can get, while making a nice crisp edge for your joinery but like a lot of things in woodworking everyone has their ideas and or preferences. Marking gauges are made in several different styles and I'm not here to write that book, but I can tell you that my preference is a gauge with a knife over a wheel or a pin. It's that nice crisp cut line it creates removing the guess work that goes with using a pencil. Imagine taking a piece of stock and measuring in one inch then with your pencil and a square mark your cut line, the question becomes where in reference to that pencil line do you cut to be completely accurate ? Now using your marking gauge mark the same cut and if you take a minute at your bench and try this exercise the difference between the two approaches is clear. 
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 Over the years I have had the joy of using some amazing hand tools, the quality and precision even the way they feel in your hands can put a smile on your face. But no matter how good a tool may be there is something that just feels better when there is pride in the tool. A number of years ago I was given a Victor hand plane that belonged to my grandfather and the pride that over comes me as I find myself thinking about him with each shaving and pass across whatever project I'm working on, feeling his presence in that moment as if guiding me or looking over my work is something that money can not buy. I have thought about giving it a full restoration and maybe even fixing that crack in the handle but the sole is flat enough the blade is kept sharp and it always gives me those whisper shavings when needed so I think grandpas plane is fine just the way it is. And if you're wondering would I buy a new plane, I'm sure I will add one at some point but grandpas will always be my go to.   5 degrees last night and 42 degrees coming in a couple of days it's fun, but you get used to it living up north during the winter time and trust me when I tell you wood movement is alive and doing quite well. Having spent most of my adult life here I'm used to it and the only thing that I really fight with is the ability to heat my shop consistently through out the winter seasons. My general rule is if the temperature is below 30 degrees it's a good day for me to stay in the house and do a thing, but once the temperature gets over 30 it's game on. In Minnesota we can get weeks at a time where the temperatures may linger below 30 degrees, and if I'm in the middle of a project guess what I'm not doing during it. So something that might take me a week to build during the summer has taken me sometimes over a month to complete during the winter, but I've always been aware enough to never put myself in a situation that the time frame has been an issue with what ever project I may be building or undertaking. My current project is feeling the restrictions put on me by the temperatures we are having right now, and it shows with my posts in social media. But that's okay because I never approach any thing I build with a thought of how fast I can do it, I would rather take a year to build something than slam a thing together anyways. So this weather just helps me to take that time and not rush something that will leave me less then proud of it once it's built.  |
Tommy p blogI'm a woodworker, furniture builder and a maker of things from wood. Archives
January 2026
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