Month: December 2011

Miter Box Restoration

Almost 2 (2.5?) years ago, my Uncle Bob gave me his dad’s miter box and miter saw…  It took me awhile, but I finally felt up to the task of breaking it down in approximately 5000 separate pieces, soaking them all in Evapo-Rust, and then letting them sit in a box for 2 months. THEN, I spent an evening using a wire wheel on everything, and piecing it back together.  I think it came out pretty well, and I didn’t even lose any of the hardware. Well, I thought I had, but then I went and fished around in the bucket of Evapo-Rust, and found the final bolt. Two months sitting in the solution didn’t seem to harm it at all.

Anyways, it came out pretty well!

I made a quick base for it from some authentic Lucinda, PA white pine (thanks Uncle Mike). The Evapo-Rust actually leaves a dark gooey coating on everything, but some scotch-brite pads or a wire wheel gets it off pretty well. I like things shiny.

The best thing about getting tools from family, is well, they’re from family. My uncle Bob’s dad was a carpenter, so he actually used these tools… I love that I’m able to put them back into service.

I sent the saw to sharpening savant Mark Harrell over at Bad Axe Toolworks, and it came back “sticky sharp”. Maybe I’ll learn to sharpen saws someday, but in the meantime they’ll go to Mark. Here’s a quick video of the sweet cutting action.

It cuts like a dream, and I doubt I’ll be using that loud, noisy, dusty compound sliding chop saw anymore..  Thanks for the tools Uncle Bob!

– Matt

More Shaving Horse progress and other happenings

So, a bit of progress on the shaving horse this afternoon.  I’ve had very little shop time over the past couple weeks, but more on that later.

I’ve almost got it finished up.  I still need to fashion a seat, and cut the dowels to size and wedge them, but that’s pretty much it!  Here’s some pictures in the meantime.

I left some bark on the ratcheting lever and liked it, so I decided to leave some on the bottom of the foot bar as well. I’m not totally sold on it, but I think it looks ok. For whatever reason, chair making seems very “appalachia” to me, so I’m more inclined to leave these folksy details on.  I dunno.

One very important detail that I copied from Greg Pennington’s horse was a place to put your drawknife / spokeshave while you’re working.  After using his horse for a week, it was obviously a very good modification, and almost an indispensable one.  If you don’t have a place to set your tool, you’ve got to have a little bench or something next to you to sit everything on.

All in all though, it seems to have come out pretty well. Another afternoon in the shop and I’ll be done. One final detail that I added was on the bottom of the ratcheting head.. It’s the same detail that Chris Schwarz puts on his English Try Square. I thought it looked nicer than just a squared or rounded over end.

Moving on, the reason I haven’t gotten much shop time lately is because another project that has been in the works for a long time finally came to conclusion..

Porter Edward O’Neill is here! Arrived Nov 29th, 8lb 8oz.  Gratuitous fan back rocker picture, of course.  Hopefully I’ll be able to impart to him that “shabby-chic” is not a style of furniture, something I’ve been unable to do with my wife.

So, that’s what has been happening around here.  I’ll post some finished pictures of that shaving horse in a week or so; I’m building a walnut trestle desk next, so that should be a fun project to document (and won’t be too hard either).

– Matt