Products From The Mind of Chris Wong
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About a month ago, I got an e-mail from a couple who had the maple tree from their yard cut down and milled into boards. And they wanted to turn it into something useful. So I ventured into New Westminster to have a first-hand look at what we were dealing with. The maple that they … Continue reading Natural-Edged Maple Slabs
I have been experimenting with different types of joinery. On my second prototype of a seating bench, I experimented with triple offset tenons and wedged triple offset tenons. I liked the cleanliness of the triple offset tenons but didn't care for the complicating detail of the wedges. When a finish is applied, more soaks into … Continue reading Exposed Joinery
This box was built from butternut using only hand tools. I started with green boards of butternut and planed them down with a jack plane, cut the half-lap joints with a chisel and skew-rabbet plane, and glued and nailed the joints. I glued and nailed on the bottom with two nails - the other two … Continue reading A Box Called “Tolerences”
I have been working on developing a line of furniture for my company. Inspired by some Douglas Fir I found in my wood pile with green iron stains, I built this bench. If you look closely at the inside of the left leg, you can actually see evidence of the square steel spike that was … Continue reading Prototyping – Bench
Okay, I know that it's been a while since I updated you on the progress on my smoother. I've ground the blade to a shorter angle which works much better. I installed the wedge, set the blade with light taps, then secured the wedge and blade with one knock to the top of the wedge. … Continue reading Making a Lignum Vitae Smoother (Plane), Part V
Today, I finally got back to working on my plane. I started by turning a dowel from lignum vitae. I cut out the billet (blank) from the straightest-grained stock I had available, then turned it round on the lathe. It ended up being 11/32" diameter. Then, I located a good position for the pin in … Continue reading Making a Lignum Vitae Smoother (Plane), Part IV
Well, I spent another few hours in the shop yesterday on the smoother and got a lot done. I am very happy with how it is coming.I started by fitting the blade. I wanted a good fit between the blade and sidewalls - not so tight that I'd have to strike the blade to get … Continue reading Making a Lignum Vitae Smoother (Plane), Part III
Today I trued up the body. I have never before been so glad to have my power jointer. I moved the fence all the way back to use the less-used blades and was rewarded with a much smoother cut. But it still required a little cleanup. I trued up the body with the table saw … Continue reading Making a Lignum Vitae Smoother (Plane), Part II
I have never worked with Lignum Vitae before, but have read about it and talked to other woodworkers who have. Nothing could have prepared me for actually working with it though. Let me tell you, it lives up to its nickname of Ironwood. I am building a smoother plane and started with a 4" wide … Continue reading Making a Lignum Vitae Smoother (Plane), Part I
Yes, I realize that the temperature is hovering around 5 degrees, there's still snow on the ground, and the sun doesn't come out much. But what I mean by summertime is that I can spend my day out in the yard doing my darnedest to cover the ground with sawdust and wood chips. I started … Continue reading Feels Like Summertime
