I found this nice Disston carcase saw in a secondhand shop a few years ago, and it’s been living untouched in my tool chest since. Yes, I paid $5 for it – there are still bargains to be had if you look hard enough! The tote was solid but covered in dark grime, and the plate and teeth were straight but needed cleaning and sharpening. One evening last week, I finally pulled it out and gave it some TLC. My first step was dealing with the dark coating on the tote. My best guess is that it is some kind of highly oxidized (and very hard) oil coating – linseed, perhaps? I tried multiple solvents – alcohol, xylene, and even wiped-on...
We’re pleased to announce that our newest course is now available for purchase – and we think this one is going to make a world of difference for every woodworker who signs up. Jigs can be valuable devices for guiding and aiding in repeatable, accurate cuts and joinery, but they can also become a hindrance to skill development. Just as training wheels can be useful for learning to ride a bike, eventually they should come off if you want to truly enjoy the experience. If you struggle with accuracy or efficiency without external aid – if your crosscuts dip and your kerfs wander, if you get paralyzed in laying out dovetails properly without a template, or if you just...
The six-board chest is another, albeit much lesser-known, example of convergent design. While most boxes and chests have six sides, “six-board chests” are identified as such not by the number of sides they have, but by the contradictory grain orientations of the front / back and side boards. The front, back, bottom, and lid all have horizontal grain orientation, while the sides run vertically, making them – as modern-day woodworker Christopher Schwarz puts it – the “platypus of the woodworking world.” Why is that so bizarre? Because they are made from wood, and wood as a building medium is subject to inevitable expansion and contraction alongside changes in humidity and temperature. Misaligned grain can cause cupping, twisting, and other problems....
A little while back, Front Porch Republic published a piece on Mortise & Tenon called “The Dignity of Craft”. The author, Will Lyon, seems to be more than a superficial reader – he’s quite attentive to the contours of our undergirding emphasis. I love reading such thoughtful interaction with our work. It’s by no means the case that all thoughtful interaction is wholly sympathetic to our vision, but Lyon’s is. If you’re not familiar with Front Porch Republic, I highly recommend you explore their site. They write on themes such as “place, localism, community, decentralism, and conservation.” I’ve been a fan for years, and if you’re here on this blog for more than the woodworking tips, I bet you’ll...
Birch trees are among the most versatile trees of the North Woods. Besides being extremely resilient (they are the last hardwoods standing before the Arctic tundra), their wood is valuable for handcraft, their leaves make a wonderful yellow dye for textiles (See Brendan Gaffney’s article in Issue Thirteen), and they can be tapped in the spring to produce birch syrup (cooked down, it tastes like molasses). One of the most useful parts of the tree is the bark – it has been utilized for everything from canoes to shelter to watertight containers to clothing (yes, birchbark clothes were all the rage back in the day). But most importantly, it is highly flammable. A piece of birchbark that has been...
