The Armour Archive

I posted a short photo essay about how I prepare wood by hand for period projects on my flickr site.

For woodworkers or anyone else who would like to see how it is done.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syrjustus/ ... 421219053/

Justus

*I have updated the link, and rewritten the text a bit.

Wow Syr Justus thanks for sharing that, truly informative.

Very nice sir, thank you.
I am lusting after the vise on your bench, gotta make one now that my workbench finally made it here from the storage unit.

Thanks, it makes the blisters worth while.

The vise is from record, it is not very expensive 50-60 bucks? I think the shipping was almost as much. Try and buy it locally and save some bucks.

I've also built an end vise that I will post pics of when I get moved up to MD

-Justus

Did you build the saw? or is that from Hartville?

Maeryk

No shooting board? Wow. YOu are either amazing with a jack plane, or simply don't worry about true edges so much.

Maeryk

I didn't square the ends with plane yet, I'll shoot the ends when the boards are joined up.

I do the edges by eye, and with practice you can get very close to 90 degrees. The only time it is crucial is when you are joining two boards together, and there is a trick to that.

Lay the two boards side by side as you would want them joined, then fold them back to back like a book. Plane them together, and the angles will cancel each other out. I'll post a picture of this later.

The saw is german made, and I'm very happy with it. I'm going to build a couple of these, it is very simple, and you can by good quality blades for less than 15 dollars.

-Justus

Very cool! Thanks!

Handsawing live oak had to have been tough.

I've been wanting to process some of the wood on our property, and some that can be reclaimed from nearby cutting and construction. I've been reading up on how to properly dry it.

"Lay the two boards side by side as you would want them joined, then fold them back to back like a book. Plane them together, and the angles will cancel each other out. I'll post a picture of this later."

That, gents, is cash money in the bank!

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

I've been wanting to process some of the wood on our property, and some that can be reclaimed from nearby cutting and construction. I've been reading up on how to properly dry it.

Depending on what you want to do with it, drying it may NOT be the right thing to do. Windsor chairs for example, are specifically designed so that you can make them wet, and they will hold together when dried.

If you are thinking of turning something out of it, and it is relatively straight grained, wet is MUCH easier to work, and less dusty.

Maeryk

Ah, beautiful.

I've taken pictures of myself splitting planks out of a log, I keep forgetting to turn them into a photoessay. This is the motivation I needed.
You way is much cleaner, though. Mine involves a broadaxe or adz, and winds up wasting a lot more wood.

That, gents, is cash money in the bank!

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

Dang man!, give a brother a break.

I couldn't find the book I was thinking of, so I just sketched out what I was talking about.

When edge joining boards, you have two options. Either make both edges of the joint perfectly square, (hard to do by eye)

Or you can plane them together and any angle you impart to the boards will cancel each other out. As a bonus, the two boards side by side also make it easier to maintain the balance of the plane.

They also make handy magnetic 90 degree fences and special planes that will give you a perfect edge, but I doubt they existed in period.

-Justus

I didn't reply to this, but I should have. No, that tip is awesome. It's the kind of thing that a guy could struggle with for a long time, especially if he comes from a modern shop mindset, where it would be logical to shoot for a "just so" 90 degree angle on both boards.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

I think that he just feels you are making too much about it---that tip that is not a hidden secret; I think that every book I have read about working wood by hand has it in it---exp "The Wood Wright's Work Book" pg 85

I'm more of an ax, adz and draw knife person myself. Just picked up a load of air dried dunnage lumber that will probably need to sit till winter to adjust to the arid clime we *usually* have. Mostly red and white oak. A big help since otherwise it's and 80 mile drive to the neares hardwood store and it's all kiln dried. Oh I also got all the propanel scraps that were sitting on the wood so I can expand the shop as well.

Thomas

Neither, I thought he was giving me a hard time for not getting back to the post promptly like I said I would.

Either way I was just teasing back. No harm no foul.

-Justus

Hey Justus, there is someone on the Yahoo medieval Sawdust List that is wanting to know about ripping and cutting stock with hand tools. I can't seem to get to your essay, do you happen to still have it up or in a PDF or something I could send to him?

thanks
II

It must be on my old flickr site, the one yahoo locked me out of...

I'll re-post it to my new one, but in the meantime I do have it as a PDF

I'll see if I can post it here.

Well that didn't work how about this:

https://secure.filesanywhere.com/v.asp? ... n%AF%B1%A2

Let me know if that does not work.

-Justus

Thanks for re-posting that Justus!

As an aside, you need not worry too much about getting your saw cuts straight, first off you are going to plane them off anyhow and secondly, if this board had been cut by pit-saw, trestle or A-frame sawing then you end up with a curved cut quite similar to a circular saw but definately not as regular in pattern!

Again, nice work!

Jon.

OK, I've re uploaded the pics and the accompanying text. The above link is correct now.

Or you can just click here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syrjustus/ ... 421219053/

I will have to transfer the other two essays over as well, but they are much longer so it will take a bit.

-Justus