#shop aides

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Yet Another Chisel Case

Since I got another Japanese mortising chisel, I now need a somewhat larger case

This is based on an idea from Facebook, although it turns out my choice of hinges interferes with the intended use as a stand

Ideally, the front cover should also create a stand...

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Atedai 当て台 - Japanese planing bench

Since I've been doing more hand planing, I got interested in work holding for the purpose. The solution I came up with was an atedai (当て台), which is a Japanese planing board.

Dominic Campbell has a pretty good description, and this picture

which gives some idea of scale.

I made mine by gluing together some planks of the thickest maple I could find, and using the same wood for the legs

The legs still need to be flush trimmed, and I'm not completely happy with the stops. But I'm overall reasonably happy with it.

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Tool Chest,Ground Floor: Planes, Saws....

Traditionally, the bottom of the chest contains planes and a saw till. While I can't put the big panel saws in the chest at all, as they're to long, I left space for the dovetail saw and another (probably a tenon saw, if I ever get one).

There's also space for another row of something ... maybe cabinet rasps and a small box for the router planes?

And the drawers still move...

The next steps will be finishing the drawers (probably just a coat of wax) and then the lid. My current plan is to put measuring and marking gear there. Nothing heavy, but stuff I grab regularly

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Traveling Tool Chest

Several years ago, I had the chance to pick up a rather battered chest, probably originally a traveling tool chest. While it's a pretty good-sized box, it's not big enough to be a cabinet maker's tool chest. It was clearly set up for some interior fittings that are no longer there, although they don't really make sense to me.

After cleaning it out, I have a box.

I've been reading about tool chests, and am finally starting to make sense of The Anarchist's Tool Chest. So I decided to try filling the interior along those lines.

The first discovery is that my inherited panel saws are not going in this chest, as they're too long. That was a disappointment. But planes will still go nicely in the bottom and a couple of tills look feasible.

In using the Christopher Schwartz method of building runners, which is simple (if not light), and added a deep till and a shallow till on top. Despite making some silly mistakes, a day of work has the beginnings of a usable system.

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Bench Hook / Shooting Board

This is a project pretty much straight out of Vic Tesolin's The Minimalist Woodworker: Essential Tools & Smart Ideas for Building with Less (Whites Creek, TN: Blue Hills Press, 2020). For various reasons, mostly related to using lumber available in the shop, I've modified the dimensions somewhat.

I did experiment with some variations, although none of them made it into the final build.

There were a couple of things about Tesolin's design that I used, but still don't fully understand as design choices:

Since I expect this to be a shop aide that hangs around for a while, I used an oak board left over from an earlier project, and finished it with linseed oil and beeswax.

[fabricusrufus]

The main vise in my shop is a good sized machinist's vice. It was a gift from my father, and I've gotten plenty of use from it over the years. I love its versatility, and holding power.

But ... when working in wood, the vice jaws bite into the wood, which is okay for rough carpentry, but not so much for fine work.

A solution is simple hooks to go over the jaws. Once again the scrap pile comes to the rescue....