Marking gauge with knife-edge.

 I don't have a knife-edge marking gauge only the pin type so I decided to try and make one following the method shown by Bob Rozaieski (https://brfinewoodworking.com).   It will be easiest if I show the finished gauge first and then go on to describe the construction.

The finished gauge showing the fence, arm and knife-edge.

I used kiln dried beech for the fence and arm and then some hardwood that I obtained from a pallet originating in India so I'm not sure what it is but I liked the colour and hardness. First I used some stock (3 inches by 2 inches and 1 inch thick) and measured out for three fences to make three gauges.

Stock for the three fences

I   drilled the 5/8 inch diameter holes for the arms centred 1 inch from the edge. I drilled these from both sides and then drew tangents to chisel a square base as shown. The top of the fence was shaped by scribing a 1 inch semi-circle centred 1 inch from the top and then using a coping saw to remove the waste and then shape with a carving file.

First stage on one of the fences. The fences were kept together until the main part of the woodwork was completed just because it was easier to handle them in the vice.

All the arm holes drilled and shaped ready to make mortices for the pegs

The next stage was to make the mortices for the holding peg. This was 1/4 inch wide and narrowed from 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch (slope of about 6 degrees).The mortice needed to enter 1/16 th inch into the arm hole on the straight edge of the hole so as to get a tight grip between the fence and the arm.. I did this by first filling the arm hole with a section of beech to prevent tear-out when using the chisel and then drilling a 1/4 inch hole close to the bottom of the  mortice (i.e. just above the straight edge). I then carefully chiselled out the mortice with a mortice chisel concentrating on the vertical side of the mortice and taking to about 3/8 inch wide. I then made the slope on the mortice working from the other side (1/2 inch width side). After removing the plug I made final adjustments to the mortice.  

It is difficult to describe making the tightening peg. I used some waste Indian wood, darker than beech and just as hard and planed a 11 cm piece to get the correct thickness (1/4 inch) and maximum width (1./2 inch). These were made to fit rather than to exact measurements. The slope was then cut with a carving knife / wood file and the ends shaped as shown below.

Tightening peg about 11 cm long and shaped to fit the mortice in the arm.

The fence, tightening pegs and knife edge. The knife edge was 1/4 inch wide and about 4 cm long and the holding peg about 4 cm long and 1/4 inch wide (sorry for the mixed units!1)

The fence was finished by putting a 1 cm x 1 cm  chamfer on the lower edge of the fence (on the side away from the cutter), and small (1 mm) chamfers on the edges of the fence. 

The arm was about 9 1/2 inches long (Bob makes his 8 inches I think) and 5/8 inches square and was planed  with the reference side (the flat side) at the bottom. The arm was planed and checked against the size of the hole. The curved side of the arm was shaped with a shoulder plane. This was done by marking the end-grains through the hole in the fence and then planing to the line being careful to check the fit and adjust by finally sanding to get a snug with no slack. This proved easier than I thought. I don't have a 5/8 th hollow plane to make it easier.

The cutting blade was made from a 1/4 inch strip of 001 steel about 4 cm long and shaped to a semi-circle cutting edge. This was held in place with another peg in a 1/4 inch sloped mortice made about 1 inch from the end of the arm. This was shaped as shown. 

The other two gauges were made in the same way but not separated until the mortices were finished.

Difficulties:  The construction is straight forward. Reference faces need to be good on the arm and fence so that all faces are at right angles and flat. The tightening pegs need to be made after the mortices and carved to fit. The mortice on the arm is tricky to make in particular to avoid tear-out when cutting the straight edge nearest the fence.

Three finished marking gauges for presents.

Large bulky mallet

 This was made from some spalted hawthorn wood for the head and ash for the handle. The head was turned on the pole lathe to get the shape I wanted that seemed to fit the wood. The wood was very hard and also pretty wet as it had been sitting outside since the summer but it did turn well.

Finished mallet after treating with linseed oil.

The ash was from the same tree that I made the picture frames from but this particular log was straight grained and ideal for this handle. I enjoyed turning this and finding different grip positions on the handle as I knew the mallet head was going to be big and heavy.

The end of the handle was turned to a diameter of 1 inch so that it could be fitted through the centre of the head. Drilling the hole for the handle in the head was tricky but proved straight forward by using the pole lathe centres to draw a line around the head and then drilling about half way from both sides. I had previously used the pole lathe and pencil to mark a centre line around the head. If you are practised with a traditional brace it is easy to get the holes to meet precisely. 

The handle was attached by glueing and placing a beech wedge across the grain of the handle and the head to reduce the chances of the wedge causing splitting.

Ash picture frames from a log

This is the starting material, a spalted log of partly air dried ash wood.

The log was split in half and then sections of the desired thickness cleaved off.

 Notice in the photo that this log had a well defined curved grain that would be followed when making the frame. The next step was to cleave one of the slices into about 3 cm widths so that each "slice" gave four pieces needed for the frame. I then selected the pieces for the uprights and top/bottom rails. and cut them to the approximate length and selected what would be the reference faces. These were prepared with a roughing or scrub plane first (using a straight edge to decide where to remove wood) and then a joining plane to get a flat surface. The second reference (the narrower of the two) was then planed with a spokeshave at right angles to the first. After this the dimensions were decided and marked from the reference faces with a gauge and then planed to size, finishing with the joining plane on the flat surface and spokeshave on the curved.

The frame was drawn on a piece of A4 paper so that the picture sat squarely and had a border of about 8 mm (for my pictures this was 210 by 140 mm). The pieces of the frame were then aligned with the drawing, made symmetrical as needed, and then the first cross-lap joint on the top was marked with a fine pencil. This was cut with a fine toothed tenon saw keeping to the waste side of the line and the wood removed by a chiselling and finishing with a miniature router (Veritas). The joint was then finely adjusted by chisel to get a tight fit.  When all four joints had been cut, they were fitted and the second half of the joint marked with a marking knife and then chiselled to get a close fit. The frames were sanded and treated twice with Danish oil to finish them.

Finished frames ready for hanging

Making a Bathroom Cabinet using Ash

 This is not green woodworking but I've included it anyway. Basically I wanted to try making something with kiln dried ash to replace a bathroom cabinet that had to fit a particular space in the shower room. This was about 60 cm tall, 35 cm wide and 20 cm deep with two shelves spaced for convenience. I decided to go with a standard box construction with the sides dovetailed to the top and bottom and a panelled door. The top dovetails were hidden (the first time I've done this since a built a bookcase at the Newark Technical college back in the 60's and in my Mum and Dad's front room for many years).

First I had to join the 10 cm ash panels (thickness 12 mm) for the sides, top and bottom. I checked the edges to be joined and then used a jointer plane to adjust before glueing with polyurethane glue. From past experience this glue makes a strong joint but it does entail some careful cleaning-up after it dries. For other joints I used standard interior wood glue. I then used a shooting board to square-up the end of the side panels and marked the dovetails. I allowed overlap when needed so that I could plane and adjust after glueing. The hidden dovetails were straight forward, The only thing I can say about dovetailing with ash is that it is more difficult than beech because, although ash is strong across the grain, it does splinter easily down the grain. The bottom dovetails were lap dovetails so they could not be seen from the side of the cabinet only from underneath. The back was also rebated to 12 mm to allow ash panels to be fitted later. Also before glueing, the housing joints (dados) were cut with a Dado plane to house the two shelves inside the cabinet. This is the first time I've used this plane (1/2 ") with a blade set at an angle and it worked perfectly. The method I'd used before was to chisel out the housing joint and use a router to get an even depth. After this I glued the box together and clamped to ensure that the sides were parallel and set at 90 degrees to the top and bottom. The back panels were rebated to allow movement and cut to size before pinning into the rebates.

I made the panelled door with two pieces of the 10 cm length ash for uprights (styles) and 8 cm pieces for the rails and centre panel of 10 mm thickness that was set in a groove (tongue and grooved). The frame was joined using mortice and tenon joints ( 4 mm tenons). The grooves were cut with a plough plane and mini plough plane (about 3 /16 inch) as they were stopped joints. Finally the panel was rebated to the size of the groove and also to allow it to insert a little in the frame with the back flat with the frame pieces. After glueing the styles were sawed to size but allowing some final adjustments with the plane after fitting the door to the cabinet. 

Finished cabinet before finishing with Danish Oil.

Details of the inside of the cabinet showing the shelves and brass piano hinge.

The door was fixed to the front using a 25.4 brass piano hinge and number 4 brass screws. Pilot holes were drilled carefully with a egg-beater drill to the required depth. I had to remove about 2 mm depth of wood from the side panel to accommodate the hinge. In retrospect this would have been easier to do before glueing. Once the hinge was fitted, the door was marked and planed to the correct size. Final adjustments were made with the door attached. A magnetic closing strip was then attached to the top right-hand corner.

The knob to operate the door was then turned on the pole lathe from a log of locally sourced ash. The log had been around the workshop for a couple of months and so not expected to distort much. The stem of the knob was adjusted to 3/4 inch diameter on the lathe and the door front hand-drilled from both sides to avoid tear-out. The knob was fixed by cutting a line across grain and using an ash wedge to secure once glued.

The final job was to fit four wheels and finish with Danish Oil to bring out the colour of the ash and offer some protection to water ingress.

Making a wooden set-square

 A very basic tool for joinery work and easily made from a stable hardwood. I made mine from two pieces of kiln dried beech.  The stock or handle is 9 1/2 inches long by 2 1/8 inches wide and 1 inch thick. The blade or tongue is 14 inches long, 2 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Bob Rozaiski mentions that a good size ratio of handle to tongue is 2 : 3.

Beech set-square with a blade or tongue length of 14 inches.

The preparation of the handle and tongue took most of the time to ensure they were straight and square. The reference faces are chosen as the inside faces as they are more difficult to adjust after the square is glued. The handle was finished first including squaring and planing the end grain. The tongue was carefully planed down to 1/4 inch thickness. Next the mortice for the tongue was cut in the handle allowing the top of the tongue to rise about 1/4 inch above the blade and to protrude out of the blade for trimming later. The mortice wood was removed using a fret saw and the bottom of the mortice trimmed with a 6 mm chisel making sure that the outer edges of the bottom were above the centre, i.e the base of the mortice was concave. to make adjustment of the set-square easier. Once cut, the tongue was tried in the mortice and adjusted to get a close fit by either planing or filing the tongue. It was then firmly seated in the mortice and the 90 degree angle checked using another try-square. The adjustment was made by chiselling slithers of wood from the appropriate bottom of the mortice,

The tongue was then glued and clamped in place checking that the inside edges of the set-square were at 90 degrees. I used fast-setting polyurethane glue. The next step was to mark the position of three dowels to further attach the handle and tongue. I used 8 mm oak dowels and a 5/16 inch bit in the brace drilling from both sides. These were glued in place and then sawn and chiselled to get a smooth fit to the handle faces. The section of tongue protruding from the side was planed off and finished level to the handle.

The piece was finished by chamfering the top of the handle (1/4 x 1/8 inch) on both sides and making a curved portion at the end of the tongue. The angle on the outside of the square was checked and adjusted as necessary by plane or file. A hole was also drilled for storing the square. Finally, the wood was treated two times with boiled linseed oil.

I've made two other smaller set-squares, with about 8 inch tongues and 1 inch wide stocks and keeping the 2:3 ratio. These were made in the same way as the larger square taking care to get a tight fit of the tongue to handle.

Smaller set-square with 8 inch tongue.

Dual Screw Wooden Vice

 Dual screw wooden vices were often used in carpentry workshops before steel vices became common. A variant of these is the so-called Moxon vice that is portable and can be attached to an existing workbench or in fact any reasonably stable table or trestle. This vice gets it's name from a book published by Joseph Moxon, 1703 , apparently the first book published on English on woodworking. Amazingly the vice is still available but with steel screws, eg. Axminster Tools, although Lake Erie Toolworks in USA still make a wooden screw version.

My idea was to try and make a dual screw vice that could be attached to a workbench permanently or used as a portable vice. The big advantage of the vice is the wide gap between screws that allow the clamping of long boards, e.g when doing dovetails on cabinet sides. Another advantage that when it is clamped on top of an existing bench, it raises the work height a little making joinery easier on the back!! I will be using imperial measurements mainly because the thread cutters and brace bits are made to imperial sizes. However, I do revert to metric occasionally.

I made the vice using kiln-dried beech. The main stock was two pieces measuring 20 x 3 3/8 x7/8 inches for the front of the vice and 23 1/2 x 3 3/8 x 1 1/2 inches for the rear plate. These were cut and planed to get square edges. The threads were put in the rear plate and oval holes in the front plate. The screws were made from 1 1/2 inch beech dowel so the holes in the front were 1 1/2 inches and made oval by filing. Making them oval allowed the front to angle a little. Gaiters were not used, again to allow more flexibility in clamping varied shapes of wood. The holes in the rear plate were 1 3/8 inches to allow threads to be cut with a 1 1/2 inch box thread cutter. 

I started on the rear plate and drilled holes 15 3/4 inches apart (to permit boards of up to 14 inches between the jaws). I didn't have an auger drill for my brace of that size (I have 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 inches and don't know even if they made a 1 3/8 inch size) and so had to resort to a 35 mm Forstner bit that I'd bought in a Chinese store in Spain (after sharpening this did do the job). The threads did take some effort to cut even with oiling. I needed to release the cutter a few times to ease the cutter and remove waste. I found the best method was to cut say half a turn and then reverse a little to free the cutter and then turn forward again. I also removed the cutter several times to clean the threads. 

From top to bottom (1) the rear plate with the holes drilled and threaded, (2) the front plate with the 1 1/2 inches holes made slightly oval, (3) a handle turned to a dash under 1 1/2 inches diameter for the screws and 1 inch section for a larger handle to attach.

The front plate was easier as I had a 1 1/2 inch bit for the brace. I made the holes oval with a round rasp file. The front plate is a tad wider than the rear plate to make it easier to align with a work bench if it is sit on top of the bench.

The handle before threading. All components made from beech apart from the stoppers on the bar which are oak.

The handles were made from beech dowel (1 1/2 inch diameter) and some beech left over from other projects. The beech dowel was 12 inches long and divided into 8 1/2 inches for the screw and 3 1/2 inches for the handle itself. Firstly, the diameter of the dowel was adjusted to fit into the screw threader box (it was too wide and needed coarse sanding to get to a comfortable size to get through the box). The handle section (3 1/2 inches) was turned down on the pole lathe to 1 inch diameter. The main handle was sawn to 5 inches long and 2 1/2 inches square and then planed to an octagon cross-section (2.69 cm sides). A 1 inch hole was then drilled down the centre to a depth of 6.0 cm to accommodate the spindle. This would be glued into the handle (I used polyurethane glue for this) with an oak bar passing through the main handle and spindle to secure the joint further. Finally a beech bar (3/4 inch diameter) was located though the main handle (a hole 13/16 th inch was drilled to allow free movement of the bar) and fixed with 3/16 inch toggles on the ends of the bar and the end of the handle shaped to a dome to make handling more comfortable. 

The next step was to cut the threads on the spindles. The spindles were first soaked in "Butcher's Block " oil for 2 days and then cut (since then I have cut threads in beech with only 5 hours soaking). This worked well as shown below. The threads allowed a jaw opening of 6 inches.

Threads cut on the 1 1/2 inch beech spindle after soaking the wood in oil.

Finished dual-screw vice after waxing the threads and treating the beech with linseed oil.

Vice clamped to the bench and in use. 

Showing details of the handle and screw. The so called Moxon vice is traditionally mobile and clamped to a bench. However, this one can also easily be permanently attached to a bench with coach bolts.

Finally some thoughts on the construction. The problem I had anticipated was cutting the long threads on the spindle without tear-out on the threads. In fact the threading was easy after 2 days soaking in oil and no tear-out. I can't say how soaking effects the threading but it is not difficult given some planning. Joining the spindle to the handle is tricky and needs care. This is because of the long hole needed in the handle and getting this central in the handle needs practise when using the traditional brace and bit. It would be easier to turn the spindle and handle from one piece of wood. Also in retrospect, it is better practice to drill the holes in the front and rear plates with a 1 3/8 inch bit with the plates clamped together. I didn't have a drill of that size so compromised by marking centres and drilling separately.  Having oval holes in the front panel makes fitting easier if there is a slight mis-alignment and of course this also allows the front panel to clamp at at an angle. 

I noticed that when clamping narrow pieces that only contacted the top of the jaws that the bottom of the jaw was pulled in. To stop this I later added an additional screw in the middle of the jaw and near the bottom that allowed the bottom part of the jaw to be held in place and not swivel. This I made from some green ash wood, turned on the pole lathe as one piece and then threaded with the 3/4 inch threader. This addition is shown below.

Ash screw added in the lower middle of the jaw to prevent the jaw swivelling when clamping narrower pieces of wood. This can be unscrewed in normal use on wider pieces.

Finally, after using the vice I decided that the front plate was too thin so I doubled the width and this worked perfectly. Since then, I have made two other vices similar to that described above but with thicker back and front plates and slightly longer threads but otherwise identical. I improved the alignment of the holes by being careful to get two reference faces planed correctly and marking the hole centres carefully to allow drilling from both side if necessary. This is particularly important for the back plate where the holes must align exactly to allow threading. My Forstner bit was too short for a direct bore-through so I needed to bore from both faces of the back plate. I haven't been able to get 1 3//8 inch brace bit and found modern auger bits are unsuitable. 

Since the first vice, I have made another two for family but the third one didn't go well because the threading tool cutter broke. The cutter blade in these tools is I believe made of mild steel and seems quite fragile. It can be sharpened but it is more difficult to repair when the edge or edges break off. Also the positioning of the blade in the tool is crucial to cutting a good thread that matches the female thread cut with the die. The spindles I cut were too tight and so I deepened the cut and in doing removed too much wood. Anyway, this gave me an opportunity to make new spindles from greenwood ash. This is the first time I have used greenwood to make 11/2 inch threads. I have done so with 3/4 inch threads in greenwood and this worked fine. I am concerned about the wood movement during drying even though the ash had been felled for several months.

 This time I planned to make the spindle and handle in one piece and use a new cutter to make the threads.

The starting ash log was split into four ready for sectioning and preparing for the pole lathe and turning a spindle and handle in one piece. The log had been felled in the previous spring and had been on the woodland floor all summer and autumn.

The wood was axed and ready for the drawing knife.

Turning to size on the pole lathe. The handle is on the right (about 8 cm diameter) and the spindle for the threads is on far left (1.5 inches in diameter). The remaining part of the spindle needs to be turned to 1.5 inches. The diameter is adjusted so the spindle passes through the bottom section of the threading box.

Ash spindle and handle after turning on the pole lathe and ready for making the threads.

After threading using a new blade in the threader.

Close-up of the threads. 

Initially the threads were cut in the top 10 cm and I found that they were too shallow as they were too tight in the threading box. It is difficult to judge the position of the blade accurately but I pushed it out a little and this seemed to do the trick. I checked the fit on the first vise and it worked well without problems. I have noticed that the exact shape or depth of the thread is more critical when threading through  thicker wood.

Finished vice. This is a smaller and lighter vice than the others. 

The second thread was cut without problems and checked in the vice as shown above.

PS. This is a copy of a note 77A32 given by Woodcraft in USA.  This is useful but the reinstallation method that is given didn't work for me. I had to adjust the cutter deeper so that the cut thread passed through the alloy threads without binding. I know if you go too deep the crests of the threads are damaged and produce a loose fit that cannot take hand pressure when tightening with the vice. If the cut is too shallow, the thread binds in the box i.e. the fit in the alloy is too tight and can bind very tightly and possibly get stuck in the box. 

 From Woodcraft literature:: Sharpening/Cutter Adjustment The thread box is sharpened and adjusted at the factory and should work well as taken from the box. With use, the cutter will need sharpening, which will require removal and subsequent readjustment. To sharpen the cutter, remove the guide by unscrewing the two brass screws which secure it. Undo the acorn nut and remove the cutter and cutter holder. Sharpen the cutter carefully, holding all the angles and bevels true. Use a fine grade, high quality, oil stone such as hard or black Arkansas. Reinstall the cutter and align the bottom of the "V" of the cutter with the crest of the inside thread. Tighten the acorn nut, replace the guide, and try the box on a dowel which is as true in size as possible. If it binds and breaks the thread as the box is withdrawn, the cutter is out too far and must be moved back. If it cuts thread with a sharp V crest and a shallow, rounded root, the cutter must be moved out.

A perfectly formed 60 degree thread with proper root depth and easy withdrawal from the box indicates a properly adjusted cutter

Further notes

The important part of the description above is ""..align the bottom of the "V" cutter with the crest of the inside thread" is crucial because if the blade is further in, the cutting will be too shallow to go through the box and possible bind if forced and cause problems. If it adjusted too far out, it will cut too deep into the dowel making it a smaller diameter and too loose. The ideal is somewhere between with the bottom of the "V" near the crest. When I placed at the crest, the dowel was too tight in the cutter and couldn't be turned. When I pushed the cutter a fraction further in, maybe 1/16 inch, it formed a tight fit but turned OK. I noticed that in this position, there was no play when the dowel was passing through the cutter. This seemed to work OK in the vice but it is all quite difficult to get right.

The correct position for the cutter as viewed from the bottom of the box with the guide box removed. Placing a small ruler along the thread, the bottom of the "V" protrudes slightly. Moving the cutter further out will loosen the dowel in the cutter and make the "V" deeper but if taken too far will cause the crest of the threads to be removed and the diameter of the dowel reduced and produce a spindle that is too loose in the "nut" and will slip under pressure. The cutter position is even more crucial with wide nuts.

Great care is needed when trying to alter the cutter further out after the threads have been cut once. I found the best method was to view the cutter position when engaging the thread and turning with the cutter in one hand and the spindle in the other. At the moment I think it is important to ensure the cutter is a symmetrical "V" shape and also sharp. I use a fine diamond file for this. Another trick is to adjust the cutter and check it's position using an existing threaded spindle that screws well.  Carefully screw the start of the threaded rod into the threader box and observe the cutter through the waste hole to see how the cutter aligns with the existing thread.

Wide wooden spokeshave, particularly useful for green woodworking.

 This is an idea I found in Bob Rozaieski's Blog and I followed his method quite closely and can highly recommend watching his two excellent videos. The main changes I made was to use beech wood. extend the length of the handles to a total width of 18 inches and to use the Hock Blade (SP062). This blade has attached tangs, a total width of 4 1/2 inches with a 2 3/4 inch blade. As recommended by Bob, I shaped the handles to my own taste to fit my use of the spokeshave. The shape of the tool was very similar to a small Marley wooden spokeshave that I currently have and shown below to give an idea of the general structure.

Shape of a Marley 10 1/2 inch spokeshave showing tangs and general shape.

Base of Marley spokeshave showing the mouth and blade position.

This spokeshave's blade is adjusted by knocking the tangs into position and so can be quite difficult to get right. To overcome this problem, the larger blade of the new spokeshave can be positioned quite precisely using two set-screws on either side of the blade.

Two spokeshaves I've made all ready for use.

I won't go through all the details of making the spokeshave but just highlight some of the most crucial steps that I encounted. 

I use kiln dried beech stock and cut and planed to 18 inches long, 1 1/4 by 3/4 inch. I checked faces were flat and at 90 degrees.  I marked the position of the blade and tang and drilled holes for the tangs (5 mm) and checked their fit. I did this free-hand so was careful to get the drill perpendicular to the wood. I then drilled holes for the set-screws. These were 4.2 mm for M5 (1.5 cm long) with T15 heads. Some care is needed in positioning the holes as you need to be able to adjust the set-screws without having to remove the blade. The holes for the screws were then easily threaded with the M5 die. 

The next step was to mark-out the position of the escarpment that allows the shavings from the blade to escape. To do this I fixed the blade in place and scribed around it and marked the rest that needed chiselling out. By iteration I adjusted the depth near the blade to just see a slither of light between the blade and the wood; this will be adjusted later as a brass guard is set.

Cutting the escarpment 1/4 inch from the top edge and to the cutting edge of the blade. I concave aspect should help to clear shavings. At this stage the blade is not morticed into position.

Bottom of the plane before morticing blade into the bed.

Details of the base of the plane with the blade and guard in place. In the second spokeshave the guard just goes across the blade.

Final escarpment with the blade morticed in place.

 

Top of the plane showing the blade tightening knurled nut on the tangs, adjustment set-screws and shape of the wood. In the second plane I put the set-screws closer to the knurled nuts to give more room in the escarpment.

The next step was to mark the blade mortice so it fits flush in the bed of the plane. This is tricky and care is needed near the edges and also to make sure the blade sits deep enough. Again, this can be adjusted once the guard is in place.

 A slope of 8 degrees  right along the length of the plane was planed extending from the cutting edge to the edge of the plane. This is the surface in which the brass guard will be fitted. After this the brass guard was cut and morticed into the bed. It should be as flush as possible to the bed but can be filed down a little when glued in place. Also it is important to get a 8 degree angle on the guard. The glueing of the brass plate to the wood was also tricky. I used both super glue (CA glue) and also epoxy. Both worked but even though I was careful with the final filing, both joints failed. In the end I found that scratching the brass plate before applying glue helped and that the Gorilla two -part epoxy gave a good bond. When the joint was dry (left overnight) I carefully filed the edge of the guard facing the blade to the angle of the escarpment and also the rest of the plate so it fitted snugly in the mortice. Note: in fact the glue did fail after some use so I removed the glue from the wood and metal, used coarse sandpaper to roughen the surfaces and used a good covering of superglue (ethyl 2 cyanoacrylate) on both surfaces and then press fitted them together. Lastly, I files the brass to get a good smooth fit and polished to complete the job. Hopefully this will work.

 I then sharpened the blade from 250 to 1200 grit. At this stage I tried the plane on some waste wood to check the gap (also adjusting the set-screws) and operation. Final adjustments were made to the bedding of the blade and escarpement. I found it took a little time to get the blade position so it didn't clog and to produce fine shavings.

The final stage and most creative was to shape the plane. To do this I made some carboard cut-outs of half the plane for the shape of the top and side. I used the cut-outs to mark the wood ready for sawing with a coping saw and rounding saw and final shaping with a spokeshave and wood carving files. I based the general shape on the Marley spokeshave (photo above) and what felt right for my use. I found the little thumb grips either side of the blade useful for control when pulling the plane towards me.

 

Wooden Screw Clamp, antique design with wooden screws.

First Attempt.

 I thought it would be interesting to make an antique version of the Dubuque clamp and since I have never made threads on rods, it should prove educational. Below is one example of a clamp:

An example of a wooden threaded clamp.

 This isn't a variable angle clamp and operates in a different way to the Dubuque clamp. The arm nearest the jaw opening has a none-threaded hole on one side nearest the handle with a screw thread on the other arm. The other spindle furthest from the jaw mouth is threaded nearest the handle but the other end is stopped within the arm. As with the Dubuque clamp, the handles are on opposite sides of the clamp. Hence the threads on the two spindles are in the same direction. This also means that loosening the clamp means moving the arms to keep the spindles in place. One way around this is to fit "gaiters" that fit around the spindle in a groove made in the spindle close to the arm, e.g in the above photo these would be in the upper arm. However, the one shown does not have gaiters.

To start, I experimented cutting threads on some 3/4 inch ash dowel, first just using kiln dried dowel and then soaking the ash in mineral oil (Butcher's Block oil) for several days. I used the thread cutter from Axminster tools that is made in Taiwan. The initial cutting gave some intermittent tear-out on the threads as shown. This did not improve much after soaking for up to 3 days so I decided to leave the wood longer in the oil.  

 

My first attempt at cutting a thread on a length of 3/4 inch kiln dried ash dowel.  

In the end I left the dowels in the oil for two weeks but still experienced some tear-out on the threads. I then looked in more detail to the thread cutter.

View into the thread cutter. This shows the "v" blade position at the mouth and the die that the threads then pass though. The position of the cutter can be adjusted "in or out" but it is important that the threads that are cut can travel easily into the die and not bind..ask me how I know?

As far as I can see, there is not much room for adjustment of any kind, e.g. it is not possible to lessen the depth of cut much as the threads need to pass though the metal die. On my first attempt on the oil dowel, I noticed that the blade had been damaged on one of the "v" edges. Luckily I had a spare blade that I used to complete the job. I have since re-sharpened the damaged blade but haven't used it yet. It seems to be pretty soft metal and easily shaped with a diamond sharpener. This also means that the cutter blade will be easily damaged. Anyway, I will report on this later when I have more experience. 

(see footnote on thread cutter experience). 

The dowels that I'd chosen for the spindles fitted neatly into the box of the cutter but I noticed that other dowels bought at the same time did not fit and needed reducing just a little in diameter to get a frictionless and neat fit. The cutting went fairly easily remembering to chamfer the top 1/8 inch of the dowel and also to apply some pressure to get the threader started. May be I was lucky but the cutting went easily without binding. I think it is important to get the dowel the correct size and to know the amount of force needed to turn the threads. If the threader gets very hard or binds, it is no use trying to force it further. Later after doing some further trials it seems that the position of the cutter is pretty crucial so if the cut is not enough, the dowel will bind in the die. If the wood is not fine grained enough or too dry, tear-out will lead to binding in the die and the whole cutter will not work and just strip the wood.

Having made the spindles, I made the arms out of some used beech (oven dried). These were 11 inches long and 2 inches wide (1 inch thick). I drilled holes for the spindles 5 1/2 inches from the pincer jaw and 1 3/8 inch from the end. On the left hand jaw, the holes were 5/8 inch ready for threading and on the right hand jaw the top one was 5/8 inch stopped at a depth of 1 inch and the lower one was 3/4 inch for the straight through part of the spindle. The threads were cut in the beech easily and without any problems.

The spindles were 14 inches long. this allowed 2 inches through each arm, 8 inches for maximum jaw opening and 2 inches for the handle fitting. I made the gaiters from a 6 mm slice of beech about 6 cm long and to the depth of the arms. The grooves in the spindles were made 6 mm wide just inside the arm so that the gaiters were flush with the inside arm surface. The grooves were cut by a combination of sawing, chisel work and filing to a concentric channel. Finally, the gaiters were housed in a housing cut-out chiselled inside of the jaws. The fit was tested, adjusted and then screwed into place.

Finally the handles were cut from some green ash and shaped (about 4 inches long) and a 3/4 inch hole drilled into the centre to a depth of 2 inches to house the end of the spindle.

The final clamp made from beech (arms) and ash (spindles and handles). Some tear-out on the threads but this doesn't seem to effect its use.

Not perfect, but this is my first attempt and it is going to be useful. Next time I will try the following:

1. Try beech for the spindles. This is likely to be closer grained and more amenable to turning threads and hopefully reduce tear-out.

2. Try using greenwood ash.

3. Prepare the spindles better by turning on the lathe to make integral handles and the grooves for the gaiters. 

4. Try making gaiters differently by using two pegs on each side of the spindle but positioned half-way across the arm so they intercept the groove. This looks to be a neater method.

Meanwhile I did a couple of experiments. The first was using a log of  ash (probably a few months old after felling) and turning small section it on my pole lathe to 3/4 inch diameter (19.05 mm). I checked the diameter with a vernier so it was a snug fit and then passed it through top section of the thread cutter (i.e. unscrewed the top of the cutter and checked that the dowel passed through easily but not too loose). Also I had a section of ash thread I'd cut when I first got the cutter and used this to position the blade in the cutter by screwing it through the tool and checking the fit. 

Piece of greenwood ash dowel (3/4 inch diameter) and handle made on my pole lathe.

I then dipped this is some Butcher's oil for 10 minutes and used the cutter to make threads. I applied pressure to start with and had a few crunching sounds but then it turned smoothly producing a thread of wood shavings from the cutter. This didn't happen with the dried ash used to make the screw clamp as described above. I then coated this with some boiled linseed oil and left to dry. At this stage the thread went smoothly (not overly tight and a snug fit) through a nut I'd previously made from dried beech. 

Dowel after threading.

Close-up view of the threads cut on the greenwood ash.

The other experiment was using a piece of kiln dried beech that had been stored for some years in my unheated workshop. I rounded this with a drawing knife and turned to 3/4 inch on my pole lathe. Again I checked the fit through the cutter box and made adjustments on the lathe so the fit was snug and not too tight. I then immersed this in Butcher's block oil for two days.

Kiln dried beech dowel (3/4 inch diameter) and handle turned on my pole lathe.

 

After threads cut on the beech spindle

Close - up of beech spindle threads.

The thread cutting was successful and went without any problems. 

(see footnote on thread cutter experience). 

Second Attempt

I tried another wooden clamp, this time using some waste beech and the spindle shown above together with another spindle made in the same way. The advantage of making them on a pole lathe is that the handles can be turned on the end of the dowel and also the grooves in the spindles to hold the gaiters can be positioned easily. Hence the spindles can be remounted on the lathe at any point when making the clamp.

The clamp is smaller (6 1/2 inch mouth and 8 1/2 inch arms) but similar in design to the one I made above apart from the method of holding spindles in place. The gaiters were basically rods either side sliding in the grooves in the spindles. I drilled the holes for the rods in the arms before I drilled the holes for the spindles and then checked the positions for the grooves in the spindles before turning them on the pole lathe. The rods were 1/4 inch square, the grooves just over 1/4 inch wide so the mortices were squared with a 1/4 inch chisel.

Finished clamp showing the positions of the four gaiters on the left-hand side.

I did make some mistakes. One of the holes for the spindle was not aligned correctly. As these are hand drilled it would have been better to drill through both arms clamped together, so lesson learned. The other mistake was to make the mortices for rods for the stopped mortice closer to the inside rather than in the centre of the arm to give more clearance of the gaiter from the end of the spindle. The end of the stopped spindle was 15.1 mm diameter as determined by the internal diameter of the 3/4 inch cutting box and with a 1/4 inch rod, the groove was 8.7 mm diameter so not a lot of room to spare.

I treated the wood with linseed oil and the threads with wax (applied the wax and then threaded it through to remove any excess wax). I had to enlarge the stopped hole a little because of the misalignment making it stiff to turn but the clamp works well now it has been used a few time. 

Comparing the two, I would say the beech spindle clamp has tighter threads and there is less movement. Both are easy to use. I think the "peg method" of gaiters is better and more robust in use but is more difficult to make. Anyway, each time I make one I learn something new !!

Third attempt.

I made a third attempt this time using beech spindles and handles and using oak dowels for the gaiters. The jaw opening was 11 cm and the total length was 23 cm. I used thinner wood for the arms, about 1 by 1 inch and made the handles out of a 1 by 1 inch beech off-cuts, about 3 inches long. I planed the arms to size and made 3/4 inch threads in one arm (at the centre and one about 1 inch from the end). The other arm is more complicated as it involves positioning gaiters to hold the spindles. I did this by marking the centres of the main holes using the first arm to get the exact position. I then marked the arm to show the position of the spindle edges, i.e. the top stopped spindle would be 15.1 mm diameter and the lower spindle 3/4 inch diameter. I centred the 5/16 th inch (6 mm) holes for the gaiters on the outer edges of the spindle and drilled from both sides. This gave a 3 mm channel in the spindles to allow the gaiter to hold the spindle in place. I then drilled the main holes, i.e. 15 mm and 3/4 inch for the spindles, intercepting the holes for the gaiters.

 I then mounted the beech dowels (8 inches long) on the pole lathe; these had been soaked in oil for 24 hours, and I sanded them to the correct diameter as they were supplied slightly over-size. The top spindle was to be threaded from stopped side, i.e not the handle side, so the spindle was reduced to 15.1 mm diameter on the pole lathe for the last 25 mm and then marked in the arm to locate the channel for the gaiter. This channel was then turned on the lathe and the depth checked against the arm. 

Likewise, the lower spindle was reduced to fit through the threader box top and the gaiter channel on the handle side marked using the arm and then turned, again checking the depth using the arm. On both spindles 1 1/2 inches of 3/4 inch dowel was allowed to fit into the beech handles.

The threads were then cut as described before taking care to keep their appropriate length. The arms were then chamfered as needed and the oak dowels for the gaiters inserted and checked for movement and the channels adjusted as needed. When finally constructed the gaiters were a tight fit but in addition a blob of glue was applied to each side before inserting and when dry, the dowels were chiselled to fit the arms.

The third clamp made from kiln dried beech and oak dowels for the gaiters. 

The clamp with dowels for the gaiters looks better and is easier to make. However, there is still a problem centred on making the gaiters. The gaiter on the stopped side is a smaller diameter (9 mm) as determined by the threader but seems fine and is not subject to shear. However, the gaiter on the handle side of the spindle closest to the jaw opening (13 mm diameter) is subject to sheer stress as the handle is tightened. Unfortunately I had made one of the gaiter holes too close to the centre of the spindle and so a deeper channel had to be turned that compromised the spindles strength. It hasn't sheared the spindle at the channel yet but fear it may well do so in use. To address this in the future I will take more care to position the gaiter holes relative to the spindle centreline and also move the centre for the gaiter dowels 1 mm outside the spindle edges giving channel depths of 2 mm (rather than 3 mm) and diameters of the spindles at the gaiters of 11 mm and 15 mm. Hopefully this will give more strength when tightening the jaws.

Final Attempt!!

Since writing this I have made two more similar clamps. In fact the one just described did shear as the channel for the gaiter was too deep. I made a new threaded spindle and this time omitted the the gaiter. Hence there was only a gaiter on the spindle on the stopped side. This worked fine and so in future I will only use gaiters on the spindle on the stopped side, i.e. on the spindle furthest from the jaw.

Spindle for the stopped side. The end diameter going into the arm is 15 mm and the channel about 6 mm wide and 2 mm deep (cut on the pole lathe). The spindle does not go completely through the arm and the threads only go as far as the inside surface of the arm. Two 8 mm oak dowels hold the spindle in place.

On the two further clamps I used beech dowels (adjusted to the correct diameter) that had been soaked in oil for two days, kiln-dried beech arms, 8 mm oak dowels for gaiters and dowelling the handles, and I turned four inch long ash handles on the pole lathe. In fact turning the handles from green wood is the most time consuming part of the project. The diameter of the handles was adjusted to allow the clamp to sit flat on a bench as sometimes it is necessary to clamp the clamp to the bench!

I guess this is the final version of a clamp with 8 inch arms and jaw opening of 6 inches that seems to fit the bill. It has been treated with linseed oil.

Beech arms, ash spindles and sycamore handles.  I found ash more difficult to thread even after 2 days soaking in oil,

Some notes as I make more clamps: 

1. The single gaiter works well but needs careful measurements to get right. I allow 2 mm overlap and I drill from each side.

2. Better to make handles the same diameter (or slightly less) than the arm depth so the clamp can sit flat on the bench.

3. It is essential to adjust the diameter of the spindle dowel so it fits through the thread- turning tool comfortably.

Based on this I made two more clamps. The holes in the non-threaded arm were enlarged slightly to compensate for minor misalignment of the screws and ease the turning when clamping, i.e. they should not be a tight fit especially when drilling by hand without a drill press.

Both of these have beech arms but the upper one has ash screws and handles.  Both the screws and the handles were turned on the pole lathe. One has 9 inch arms and the other, 10 inch arms. This seems to be a good design and both work freely.

Foot note on experience with using the thread cutter.

 

Since writing the above I have used the small thread cutter a lot and have come across one major problem apart from the fragility of the blades. I found that the cutter blade came out of alignment with the screw threads because of either movement of the barrel of the metal screw thread and also partly by wear of the beech base where the blade sits. This led to the effective threads per inch changing very slightly during cutting and causing the thread to bind when screwed into the "nut". to remedy this I removed the metal barrel (carefully punched it out using a wooden dowel) and reinserting with araldite adhesive being careful to adjust the position to seat the blade correctly. The rear of the beech seat for the blade was worn a little and so a small strip of brass was inserted at the rear to raise the blade as needed. Another strip was inserted nearer the blade tip to raise it a little. After several attempts to get the right position and adjustment, I compared the screws with those that had been cut when the thread cutter was new.

This shows the blade cutting when in good order. The wood was hazel cleaved from a tree trunk felled last winter (now late May) and rounded on the pole lathe and left for a week before finally rounding and getting to a diameter suitable for the thread cutter. The important thing here is the depth of the cutter adjusted by looking at successful threads and so that the blade is cutting right to the external surface of the dowel producing a deep thread without tear-out at the top of the thread, 

I did find the green hazel and sycamore available locally also gave clean cuts. Basically, cleaving green and doing some initial shaping with a drawknife and then on the pole lathe so that the section for threading is about 1 inch diameter. This was then left to dry for a week or more and then finally shaped on the pole lathe before threading.