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Hand Tools

Timber Frame Joinery: How to Make a Mortise By Hand

By Hand Tools, Timber Framing, Strawtron
Millers Falls Boring Machine

How to make a mortise with hand tools: boring machine and chisel

You can’t have a tenon without a mortise. They go together like peas and carrots. (Or insert your favorite “go together” cliche here.) Uh, anyway, I described how to cut a tenon by hand in a previous post, and in this article, I’ll describe the process for making a mortise in a timber by hand. A mortise is basically a slot for a tenon, which is later pegged to secure the joinery. It’s simple and timeless.

Mortises are arguably more difficult to make by hand than tenons. I’ll describe how to do it with a boring machine and chisel.

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AUTINE: Bladesmith John Neeman’s New Tool Company

By Hand Tools, Timber Framing
Autine Hand Forged Tools

John Neeman’s new wares

If you haven’t heard the scoop already, master bladesmith John Neeman of Neeman Tools, whose dazzling photos and videos of deliciously hand forged woodworking tools have whipped up a lot of excitement over the past year, has now branched away from his namesake company and is heading AUTINE, a new family company dedicated to creating stunning, and absolutely top quality axes, knives, chisels, and more.

It is unclear how the split between John Neeman and Neeman Tools has occurred, and it’s certainly confusing that his name is still the brand for the company that he has detached from, but regardless, we lucky tool fetishists now have two incredible sources for excellent hand forged tools.

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Hans Karlsson Makes Some Fine Tools

By Hand Tools, Woodworking
Hans Karlsson adze

Hans Karlsson 5cm adze for bowl carving

I like learning about new tool makers, and Hans Karlsson is a Swedish blacksmith whose high quality, hand-forged carving and woodworking tools are ones I’ve been recently taken with. I picked up a small carving adze and heavy duty bent gouge for bowl making, and the excellent quality is distinct from the get-go.

Here’s some information on Hans Karlsson and his tools that I have been able to glean. If you’re interested in bowl and spoon carving, or any kind of hand tool woodworking, take note!

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Restoring an Old Millers Falls Boring Machine / I ❤ Craigslist

By Timber Framing, Hand Tools
Millers Falls Boring Machine - Replacement Base

The partly restored Millers Falls machine with brand new base

First of all, I love craigslist. I actually don’t use it that often in my daily life (it’s less useful when you live in the country), but we’ve made a few real scores in some lucky searching stints. While in TN, I happened to do a Millers Falls boring machine search, and I found one… for $160, and it wasn’t terribly far away. The only downside is that it needed some work, namely a new base and one or two small parts replaced.

Considering these suckers can go for $400-$900, I’d say it was worth it. And they just don’t make any equivalent (hand-powered) versions of these things anymore, so I felt obligated to pick this one up, tune it up, and preserve it. (And use it, too, no doubt.)

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The Best Shaving Horse Plans

By Hand Tools, Woodworking
Shaving Horse

The “Smarthead” shaving horse design

During our time at Greg Pennington’s workshop here in Hendersonville, TN, I got spoiled using his awesome shaving horse, and knew that I would eventually have to make my own. Well, I had that opportunity over the past couple of weeks, and I based the design on Greg’s live edge seat, and Peter Galbert’s super sweet ‘Smarthead’ plans. This is the best shaving horse, I do believe. The beauty of Galbert’s design is that the user can adjust the size of the working area by simply ratcheting the head, without fiddling with pins. It’s also super strong. And very comfortable, which is equally important. I love it.

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Timber Frame Joinery: How to Cut a Tenon By Hand… Quickly

By Timber Framing, Strawtron, Hand Tools

How to Cut a Tenon by Hand

I’m a sucker for cutting tenons. Maybe because it provides me with a great excuse to swing an axe. Maybe because once I get into the groove, I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I’m able to cut and clean up a tenon swiftly. Cutting a tenon — by hand — is a great skill to learn and practice, and I want to make the argument that it can be done by hand rather quickly, too. After cutting tenon after tenon, I got to the point of being able to do the bulk of the work with a saw and axe. I skipped the chisel altogether at some point. Here’s my process for cutting tenons by hand, perhaps my favorite “grunt work” of timber framing. Actually, I like it so much I wish I had an excuse to cut some right now…

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Spoons, Shelves, and Other Carving & Woodworking Projects

By Hand Tools, Woodworking

Hand Carved Spoon

Now that my Windsor chair is done, I have bonus time to work on extracurricular woodworking and carving projects at Greg’s. Right now I’m in the midst of a Peter Galbert-style sawhorse with ratcheting head. Oh boy, this is a treat. But more on that later, since I have nothing to show just yet.

Above is a spoon I carved a few weeks back. It’s one of a handful I carved in the last month, and my favorite spoon so far. I have plans to continue making more, and my new shaving horse will be extremely useful once I get back home to continue the carving work.

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Windsor Chair Milk Paint Job Complete

By Photos, Woodworking, Hand Tools
Windsor Chair

Finished Windsor chair with milk paint and oil finish

Wow, I can finally claim that the Windsor chair I have been working on is… 100% done. In fact, I’m sitting on it as I type this. What a great feeling! (For my rear end, and my morale!)

Here’s a few photos of the final milk paint job. I’m really digging the bayberry green color.

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Windsor Chair Carving Complete!

By Hand Tools, Woodworking
Windsor Chair Hoop Back

Windsor chair… complete!

Many hours later, and my first chairmaking project is complete — check out these pictures of my hoop back Windsor chair. April and I have been visiting Greg in his timber frame shop here in Hendersonville, TN for several weeks now, making steady progress on our chairs under Greg’s expert guidance. It has been really, really fun, and it is thrilling to see the (almost) complete product. All that is left is painting the chair (with traditional milk paint, of course).

Check out these photos of the Windsor chair!

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