Research on Waterproofing Wooden Furniture

I'm working on a pair of knock-down benches on a design by my friend Sean. These are being built with the ash I purchased last fall. I've finished gluing up the tops in one big panel that will be ripped down for two bench tops and one or two stretchers (as yet to be determined) Once the cutting gets under way, these should come together in under a day.

Since the benches are intended as camping equipment, and last year's two-week camping trip included 6 consecutive days of rain, I need to waterproof these appropriately. Some quick research turned up a couple sources.

First, from the U.S. Government, I found a short piece on finishing wood for outdoor use. This one sticks with traditional Big Box finishes—paints, stains, and varnishes—rating them on appropriate use. This gave me some thought: did I want to paint the benches, as this article suggested. Not really. And Ash wasn't on the list of recommended outdoor woods. Hmm.

So I started thinking about wooden boats, and my trip to Mystic Seaport last year. What would a boat builder do? Assuming that a boat builder would use ash in the first place. I turned up two more sites of interest: one about spar varnish and the other about a homemade polymer coating. As intriguing as the homemade option is, I think I'm planning to track down some spar varnish. I found three brands that seemed promising: Sutherland Welles, Man O'War, and Z Spar. I think one of these will end up on the benches.

If anyone has suggestions or cautions on finishing these benches correctly, please chime in.

The Promise of Pinch Dogs

This week I conducted a quick experiment: I jointed a couple of warped scrap bits to see how the pinch dogs I received last Christmas would work. The first thing I learned is that pinch dogs want roughly even surfaces: I knew they could go around corners (for mitered joints or more difficult multi-angle glue-up), but it didn't seem likely that they would work on the ends if the surfaces were not relatively coplanar.

Out came the hand saw (it was late and children were sleeping) and I cut down the longer board to roughly the same length as the shorter board. Then I smeared both edges with glue and started pounding in pinch dogs.

Thats when I learned that this tool could benefit from a little help when being applied. I would have liked to have a couple straight pieces of wood clamped together on each end of the work piece to keep the boards in the same plane. It also would have worked better if the boards were lightly held in place on the bench and had not been cupped (and therefore more like a rocker than a pedestal).

Even with these challenges, I managed to clamp the boards using these glorified staples, and set the assembly aside to dry. That was Monday night. When I came back to it this evening, I set it on the bench and it looked like the picture at the top of the page. The joint looked tight in spite of the trouble I had during glue up, but the rough cut surfaces and misaligned edges could be hiding the reality.

To get a closer look at the joint, I planed the surface down until the joint was revealed. Sure enough, the pinch dogs had done their job and held the joint tight. If you look closely at the picture below, you might see the joint, but it is tightly glued. The holes are visible where two pinch dogs held the joint together on the surface, but there will be many projects where that holes like that will be concealed. I expect to use these for the bench project I'm working on now: the holes won't be visible on the underside of the benches, and I've rough cut the stock long enough that I can trim off the ends after glue up.

First Dovetail for an Eight-year-old

Here's a great post by Konrad Sauer about his son's first through dovetail. This is the kind of experience that blow me away about being a parent.

Pile of Boxes and Warping Lid

I went to an event that had a marvelous door prize: 18 boxes made by my friend Sean. These were intended as prizes for a tournament, but there were only 23 entrants total, so almost everyone went home with a box. These boxes were made from some of the ash purchased at the same time as my stock pile.

As a member of one of the tournament teams, I came home with one of these boxes. It sat in my front hallway for the last four days, looking pretty. But now that the heat and humidity have returned to normal levels, the lid and front side are starting to cup away from the box. In part, I think this is a case of grain orientation; in part, a case of excessive moisture. I've taken the box into the basement and lightly misted it with water on the cupped sides. I've also cracked the lid to get the inside drying faster. I don't know if either of these actions will help, but it's worth a try.

Now I'm worrying about the benches I'm making, and hoping that the better treatment of my lumber (painted ends and tarp over top) will mean less moisture content. I did some research to see if you can figure moisture content without a meter, and found a method for calculating moisture content with an oven and a scale.

Perhaps I'll try it before building my benches.

Box Assembly

Yesterday night I returned to the shop. The bottom and insides of the cherry dovetailed box had been finished with two coats of Tung oil finish and a coat of wax. The finished cherry glowed almost golden, practically begging me to glue it together.

Having come this far without incident, I wanted to be sure to get the glue up right. I checked my labels, still visible on the outside of the box, and laid out the parts in relative position with the bottom in the center. I placed the sides with the bottom slots of each piece laid alongside the bottom. I had clamps ready if I should need them; also a 12" rule, a mallet, four pine blocks cut with fingers slightly thinner than the tails, glue spreaders and glue cup cut from a small paper cup, a spray bottle of water, paper towels, and scraps of cherry created when I cut the dovetails.

Surveying the scene, I ran through the process in my head. It seemed that everything I needed lay in front of me. I used some poster putty to temporarily attach the paper glue cup to the bench top (have you ever chased a glue cup under the bench while your open time was ticking away? I have.). Then I poured enough wood glue into the cup and started spreading glue on the long grain of the pin boards. Perhaps I should have also spread glue on the tail boards, but I chose not to do so. I knew the tails had a fairly tight fit, and I wanted to minimize squeeze out.
After adding glue to all the pins, I lightly inserted one set of tails into the corresponding sets of pins, first on one side and then the other. Using one of the pine blocks to protect the cherry side from the mallet, I tapped the end home, working alternately from one edge to the other. When that end was set, I turned the box over and slid the bottom into its slot, then repeated the process of inserting the tails and driving the second end home.

I now had a box. Using the 12' rule, I tested for square. Then I looked at the inside for squeeze out. At this point I realized two sections were not driven all the way home, so I applied the mallet just a little bit harder to drive them into place. The box was still square, and there was only one spot of squeeze out. Since the inside was already finished, cleaning this was no big deal. I sprayed a paper towel lightly with water and wiped away the glue spot.

At the last, I looked at the dovetails critically. Only one spot looked like it needed significant help, so I made a small wedge from one of the cherry scraps. I dipped this in glue and lightly tapped it into the gap (making sure to line up the grain so it would appear to be part of the pin – I think end grain hides better than edge grain and its easier to make the wedge that way). So now the assembly is done. My only worry is that I may have driven this wedge a little too far and deformed the tail enough to be noticeable. We'll see tonight when I trim it flush.

Counting My Blessings

I'm blessed with a very full life and a variety of interests. As a result, nothing gets as much attention as I would like and woodworking shares its favored slot with many other pursuits. This week's schedule illustrates what I mean:

Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Drive to upstate New York to camp and engage in some medieval armored combat and socializing with friends.

Monday
Work on the dovetailed box, but also mow, weed, and edge the lawn, play kick with my nephews, cook for and clean up after a barbecue, shower the kids, have family movie night, and facilitate bed time (a time consuming endeavor included in every night when I'm at home).

Tuesday
Work followed by Karate training. Home and showered by 10 p.m.

Wednesday
Work followed by medieval armored combat practice. Get sucked into the end of the Red Wings and Celtics games. Home and showered by 2 a.m.

Thursday
Work followed by Ballet pickup (daughter 1) followed by bed time. Maybe glue up that box at last.

Friday
Work followed by family movie night followed by packing for the weekend.

Saturday
Drive to even further upstate New York for my grandmother's 90th birthday party. Socialize and camp the night.

Sunday
Socialize, take down camp, and drive the five hours home. Maybe start bevelling the box lid and cutting the thumb notch.

I suppose this explains why my list of completed projects seems so short and my list of planned projects seems so long. I think about woodworking quite a lot, but I can't do much of it: too many other things compete.

Dovetailed Box - Progress Report

I continued work on the box as much as possible this weekend (amidst a two day camping trip, yard work, and a barbecue):

• All sides of the bottom, and the insides of the box sides have been finished with two coats of tung oil finish and a coat of lightly buffed wax.
• My maker's mark has been stamped in the bottom.
• The profile on the top sections of the box sides has been beveled. One of the bevels is slightly steeper than the other two, but trying to correct this would just cause problems. It looks fine as it is.
• I cut pine blocks that fit the tail fingers of the ends. These will be used to protect the box from the clamps I will use to set the box square and keep it that way until dry.
• I set out the clamps and set them to the right size for the project, cut a paper cup (both for a glue dish AND glue spreaders), and laid out the parts: ready to glue (possibly tomorrow night).

In all, I'm happy with the progress, but I'm anxious to finish so I can move on to the bench project. I want the benches for Mid-July for a test run, and I don't have much free time between now and then.

First Quality Ash: Surfacing Reveals a Treasure

Back in November I wrote about picking up what I hoped was top quality ash (firsts and seconds). It was rough cut, so even though my first impression was that it was a bargain at 95¢ a board foot, I couldn't be sure. This isn't a great shot, but here's what it looked like then:

A few weekends ago I pulled about 5 boards for a bench project (more on that later). I marked out the lengths I needed for rough cuts and set to work jointing, chopping, ripping, and planing. When the work was done, I was very happy with my purchase. Here's what those 5 boards look like now:

I don't know what I expected, but this is better than I imagined. The wood has been in the shop acclimatizing for a couple weeks. I'll soon start glue up for benches that are real furniture, but break down entirely. These will replace the cheap folding camp chairs we have to replace every other year.

Chuck Bender's New Blog

I just stumbled across a blog by Chuck Bender, who runs the Acanthus Workshop. He has started posting step by step as he builds an Oxbow chest. Already in the two main posts Chuck has introduced a couple of techniques that had not occurred to me, including the modification of router bits to create a custom profile, and erasing part of a profile with a well set straight bit.

The blog is called Parings - A woodworker's journal. Check it out.

Pounce Wheel and Pounce Bag: Another Marking Technique

Christopher Schwartz wrote an article about pouncing a while ago, over at Woodworking Magazine's blog. This is a technique that seems like it could speed the process of transferring dovetails. Probably not significant in a basement shop, but definately relevant to makers who may be laying out and cutting multiple dovetail joints.

In the comments on the article, someone mentioned a pounce wheel:

I've used a pounce (pronounced pöns, I believe) bag before, but never for dovetails.

My usual use for one is to transfer curved patterns from paper to full size templates. The technique is to lay the paper plan onto the template stock, and trace over the line with a pounce wheel. A pounce wheel is a spiked wheel on the end of a stylus. It sort of resembles a Texas cowboy's spur, in miniature. Anyway, the pounce bag is bounced on the row of tiny holes, and a clear dotted line shows up on the template stock, ready to bandsaw to shape.

This is a very cool way to transfer curves from a full-sized paper pattern to a template or workpiece. The pounce wheel is something I've seen when browsing the tools section of the fabric store while my wife improved her stockpile of fabric, so if you want a pounce wheel and don't know where to find it, try calling your local fabric store.

A Classic Tool-lover's Novel

I'm travelling this week to attend my grandmother's funeral. At a time like this, when one is away from his home and spending too much time in airports and airplanes, it's good to have a freindly and inspiring novel that doesn't require too much brain power. I chose to reread a tool-user's classic, Trustee from the Toolroom by Neville Shute, and I'm glad I did.

The story's protagonist, Keith Stewart, engages me from the start; he has a heart of gold, and a passion for tools that have me rooting for him immediately. Maybe best of all, he has done what I haven't the courage to do: stopped the well-paying job and lived his passion. He eeks out a living designing, building, and writing about minature machines (that work!). Keith is so like people I know and like, and has such a clear sense of what is important, that I'm thrilled to be his virtual companion on an adventure that would make me proud to have done.

Neville Shute either had or acquired enough of an understanding of machinery to provide detailed descriptions of proceedure (most notably when Keith is turning five metal eggs), and must have had a sense of wonder for the world. His novel brings me in contact with several disciplines—machinist, engineer, pilot, seaman—and in all cases makes detailed and fascinating description of how these trades are exercised. And through it all, I get to follow my talented and unobtrusive friend, Keith, see what's interesting about what he sees, and celebrate the successes of this everyman, this tool user, this ultimate inspiration for what life could be if I were just brave and dedicated and talented enough.

This novel has helped take my mind off the funeral. I'm glad to be visiting an old friend at a time when I've lost one. If you haven't read Trustee from the Toolroom, give it a try. I can't garantee you'll like it, but it is a good bet.

Patching a Poorly Cut Dovetail

I've been practicing by making boxes with half-blind dovetails and frame and panel bottoms. Although I was taught to cut near the line and approach slowly and carefully, I know it is faster to cut perfectly with the saw. So I've been cutting right to the line and dealing with the consequences, knowing I will spend more time now for reduced time in the future.

The first two joints came out quite nicely, but on the third joint my hope for the best didn't work so well. I wrote last week about cutting on the wrong side of the waste line. The good news is that my practice of cutting to the line meant I was only one saw's width too wide instead of more. But there was a saw's width gap.


I didn't think that could be fixed with a simple wedge (as I plan with the bottom side of the same tail), so I decided to patch it with some of the waste generated while cutting the pins.

The first step was to identify a waste piece that would fit, and make sure it fit snugly. I chose to patch the pin rather than the tail, because end grain is less likely to show noticeably. Then I made sure the side and corner of the tail were square and flat.

Even though my chosen waste piece had a flat section, there was a notch where I had started the chop. I needed a safe way to flatten this, and a chisel was definitely not that way. While puzzling over this, I remembered a miniature plane that might work. It looked to be just right for this application, so I tuned gave the blade a quick flattening and sharpening. Then I clamped it in the vice and ran the intended patch over it until it was flat.

Note: Looking at the picture, I realize this probably is not safe for the ends of my fingers. I was lucky and did not make finger shavings. Let me know if you have a safer idea for how to do this in the future.

Then I used a chisel to cut a matching angle for the bottom edge and test fit the patch to the tail.

Glue up was next. I used Tightbond II and a small c-clamp to attach it.
After letting that sit for a day, I trimmed the patch flush with the pin.

Then marked it for a new cut.

And trimmed to the line with a chisel. Actually, I trimmed past the line on one end (insert a favorite string of curses here) but the result is much better than I started with. The remaining gap can be wedged during glue up or hidden by peening the end grain.