Harvesting wood in the raw

Lawrence and his wife Karen start the annual chore of cutting down logs on the property, junking it up, and carting it down to the homestead

 

April 28/26

Paul, Rick, Lawrence, Jimmy, Francis and Miles

The meeting started with a discussion on crown molding that Rick was installing on kitchen cabinets.

Lawrence then continued on the glued panel desk top. The two previously glued halves were planned down to 15/16. The panels were  then glued up , taking care to hand plane the edges that meet. Reposition the clamps if the  clamped panel does  not sit flat on the support sticks, moving the clamps up or down closer to the edges as needed.Stand the panel up on edge with clamps in place. Once dry, scrape and sand the panel before staining.

Lawrence then demonstrated some unique tools :

Scratch stock

Miniature instrument planes and Purfling cutters for making violins

scratch stock

scratch stock

Paul hand planes the edge!

Purfling cutter

Miniature plane

Miniature plane

This is the last meeting for the season.

We will reconvene this fall.

We thank Lawrence for the wonderful experience we have all had this year, thanks to the generous contribution of his time and workspace and the sharing of his knowledge and woodwork wisdom. Thanks also to the members for their contributions to the Blog.

April 21/26

Paul, Lawrence, Francis, Jimmy, Rick

Some discussion on the Radon gas detection. Lawrence pointed out that in some areas of Sydney River, there are large Gypsum deposits underground. This might have some effect on whether radon gas escapes into a basement. He reset Francis's detector to see how his workshop does over the next week.

Rick brought in two attractive bowls which he had recently finished. 

Lawrence proceeded today with the glue-up of the table top panel.

 The boards were arranged according to the marking lines that were placed after the planing step.

Yellow glue was used. This has a higher bond strength than white glue.
The glue was spread evenly on both surfaces to be matched and then the two boards were approximated and briefly rubbed back and forth to ensure a good glue bond
Small clamps were applied on the ends  where two boards met and larger clamps applied across the width, alternating positioning of the clamps on top and then on bottom of the panel
The bond takes 30 minutes or so and then the clamps can be removed.
Excess glue is scraped off the panel once the glue thickens  enough to peel off easily.

It is best to use a sharp plane to clean off the remaining glue once it is dry

Clamping method

Clamp the end joint

The bottom joints are clamped to maintain alignment

Best clamps

 April 14/26

Lawrence, Jimmy, Miles, Francis, Paul, Rick

Paul and Francis reported on the recent visit to Ranald Ross' in Margaree.

He has some wood that he offered for free for members

Lawrence continued to instruct on the glued-panel table top project.

He stressed the importance of sorting the boards  to maximize appearance and grain.

Trim off the edges on the table saw to eliminate bad spots

Mark the assembled boards with a triangle so that they can be properly re-assembled

Then joint one edge of each board on the jointer

Cut the opposing edge on the table saw

Once this is done, use a jointing hand plane to go over each edge, being careful to alternate the faces to the plane so that any angle discrepancy in the plane blade is compensated for.

Next step is to do the glue up, which we will cover next week.

Next Lawrence demonstrated how to use a coping saw to cut molding profiles. He used the Stanley miter saw jig to do the forty-fives. This is a sturdy accurate set up.

The visualization of the edge to be cut is critical. If necessary, mark the outside edge with a pencil so that you can properly see the line to be cut.

We then stopped for coffee and cookies, compliments of Karen , and had discussion on the State of the Union (USA politics)

Stanley Miter saw

Cutting 45s

Francis, Paul, Rick, Jimmy, Lawrence and Miles

Scraper sharpening Jig

Paul showed the finished birch bowl, made from the "Refrigerator-kiln" dried birch --thanks to Lawrence.

Rick brought some wood to finish the table top project but we decided that , although it looked like Butternut, it was in fact Elm so we agreed to wait until Paul gets more Butternut from Margaree. It was clearly much denser and heavier than the Butternut.

Lawrence went over the use of the grinder;

Wheels should be trued and balanced

Some  wheels should only be used to sharpen high speed steel as softer steel will leave particles embedded on the wheel, lowering is efficiency. In general soft steel should be sharpened on a hard stone and hard steel on a soft stone.

He demonstrated a diamond tool for truing the wheels.

He demonstrated the "Irish Grind" lathe tool and showed us how to adjust the grind with the specialized tool holder and an improvised measuring jig which allows one to adjust the distance from the grinder surface to the tool holding slot.

An Irish grind (or Ellsworth grind) is a specialized, swept-back sharpening profile for bowl gouges, featuring long, tapered wings and a nose angle usually between 

${55}^{\circ }$

 and 

${65}^{\circ }$

. This versatile grind allows for, shearing cuts, shaping, and finishing, often created using a jig to achieve a fingernail shape. 

This video explains the Irish grind and how to achieve it with a sharpening jig:

Irish Grind Jig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0g4V5P5KUA&t=277s

Lawrence showed another jig that is useful for mounting a scraper so that it can be sharpened on the grinder.

Lawrence helped Rick split a piece of 2 inch Poplar  down the middle to make two boards. He used the table saw to make a cut on each edge and the band saw to divide the piece.

When the 2 inch stock was run though the table saw, it was easy to see that there was "stress" in the wood as it seemed to bind a little half way through the cut and left burn marks at the bind site.

March 31, 2026

Rick, Jason, Paul, Miles, Jimmy, Lawrence, Francis

Jason brought a beautiful unique bowl made by his late father, Jim Hiltz.

We each were puzzled as to how Jim did this piece!

Rick brought a spectacular spruce burl bowl, intricately turned to perfection. I noticed that the inside of the bowl was perfectly turned.  

Miles demonstrated his solar heating panel, made of an array of tin cans, painted black, with openings cut in the ends. They are joined end to end with silicone bond, The photos explain this better

MAIN EVENT:

Lawrence conducted a workshop on how to prepare boards for a glued panel-specifically a table top.

He stressed choosing the wood carefully, looking for warp, twist, wind, cupping, bowing , grain pattern, knots and defects.

Paul had brought some butternut to restore the top of a small desk/table.

The boards should be cut with adequate extra length and width for proper jointing and matching of grain pattern.

Site down the edge to reveal deformity 

Cut strips so that defects are eliminated or minimized

Arrange the boards on a surface in the way that they will be assembled and glued up

Carefully joint the faces. It is often necessary to pass just the end of the board over the blades for a short distance until the surface is flat enough to pass the board fully over the blades

Put a pencil mark down the length of each board in the direction that the grain should travel across the cutting knives

Joint one face of each board

Then use the thickness planer fo finish up

Pass the boards through in the opposite direction from the jointer cuts-i.e flip the jointed surface end to end

As the board passes through, mark a line at the end to indicate which end goes back through the planer

For the next pass mark a double line and for the next a triple line etc

After successive passes use circles or triangles etc to mark the sequence and direction of the cuts

This is important if you have many boards that need to be planes

Once the boards are planed flat, the edges can be jointed:

TO BE CONTINUED!

Assembling boards for jointing

Mile's Solar panel

Cross cutting the members

Mr Hiltz's bowl

 Paul's table  is 35 1/8 long  x 23 1/8 wide  x  11/16 thickness

It has two drawers.

The top is held with threaded inserts through enlarged holes to permit some movement in both directions, The inserts and bolts are 1/4 inch. The bolts are 1/4 x 25 threads/in

The top is a glued panel: 23 1/4  x 37 3/8  x 11/16 thickness

Paul's Birch bowl

March 2, 2026

Attendance: Francis, Arno, Jason, Paul, Rick, Miles 

Today Rick brought in the old  table that he mentioned at the last session. It was a simple end table with a clean , uncluttered ,  aesthetically elegant design. He got it from a schoolhouse in Louisbourg. He used it as a template to build an identical one of his own,  downsizing the dimensions a little. The top was held on the aprons using "Buttons" that fit into the rails and stiles to allow for some dimensional movement without splitting the top. Jason decided that he might use this design to build a long, slender coffee table which has been commissioned by his wife and therefore has to be done expediently! (Get cracking on that Jason!)

Rick also had a piece of wood that he found in his shop and passed it around for identification. The consensus was that it was "Whitewood", a type of American Poplar which is often used  for the hidden members in furniture construction.

Lawrence showed his almost finished painted, Gold Leafed vase. It was quite a beautiful piece. He said that he had trouble with the Gold Leafing but it certainly was not obvious to me!

Francis discussed his progress with Radon Proofing his basement and home. His radon radon readings have plummeted since hs vented from under the basement floor to the outside.

Bottom view

It was agreed that in the next session we address how to do a glued up table top.  Paul suggested we might consider a session on how to read measurement tools such as Micrometers and Verniers.

Lawrence's vase

The Original  School table

Top Left is Original school table: Right is Ricks end table project

Whitewood (American Poplar)

Rick's Spruce Burl

Mahogony insert on bottom of bowl

 Woodwork Topics

Jointer/Planer use

Milling/Glueing/Scraping/Sanding

Scrapers

Finishing-brushes etc

Sanding Papers

Hand planes

Lathe basics

Sharpening lathe tools

Chisels:how to sharpen

Wood identification

Wood drying

Grinding wheel use

Shop machinery

Safety and cleanup

Measuring

Drawing Plans: How to read them

Hand tools adjustment

Types of furniture

Bending wood

Raised panel doors

Dovetails

Car-case joinery

Gold Leaf

Patterns

Sharpening

Laying out work

Veneering

Clamping

Carving basics

Types of abrasives

Shop techniques

Mortice and tenon

Glues-uses

Stains-uses

French Polishing

Making shop tools

Spraying and Finishing

Preparation of the workpiece or surface is one of the most important things

Remove any plane marks with a scraper before sanding

Start sanding with #80 , then 100, 120, 150, 180.  Finer than this leads to burnishing the wood. Clean off the dust before going to the next grit.

Ceiling tiles make good sanding blocks.

When the surface is ready you can start the spraying eg lacquer, varnish

If staining, it can be applied with brush, rag, spraying.

Start by applying with the grain and then with a rag go across the grain. The final application should be with the grain.

Spraying equipment

A good spray gun is important. One with a regulator to adjust the air flow and finish flow (eg paint, varnish, lacquer). The compressor should have an air reservoir so that you can adjust air flow.

Types of Lacquer

Nitrocellulose lacquer is what one usually uses.

It comes in three sheens: Gloss, Medium rubbed, and Flat

These lacquers are made from ??? with an acetone base(thinner). It dries by evaporation off the thinner which would be volatile ( acetone for example).

On the other hand varnishes dry by polymerization.

Spraying should be done at about 40 lbs pressure.When spraying inside a closed surface ,eg inside a drawer or cabinet, the pressure should be??????

Make sure that the lacquer is thin enough to spray” too thick will clog the gun and too thin will it will run n on the surface being sprayed. Hole the gun about eight (8) inches away from the surface. Always spray with the grain if possible. Spray beyond the ends of the workpiece so that you don’t get a build up of product at the ends. let dry. Sand between coats. Generally one applies 2-3 coats at least.

Use Stearate sand paper with Varsol to sand between coats and clean with rags and vacuums between coats.

For a polished finish one can use 600 grit wet paper followed by rottenstone and a light wax as a final step.

February 17, 2026

Miles,Paul,Rick,Francis,Jim MacLean,   Lawrence

Miles's Scroll saw project

Rick-Spruce Dish

Rick Spruce,-Birch

The meeting today was excellent.

Lawrence demonstrated a charcoal pouch he made to use with the perforations carving template he showed us at last session. He used a lump of charcoal from the fire place and pulverized it and wrapped it in  cloth. One dabs it on the paper template and when the paper is removed one connects up the dots which are left on the workpiece.

Lawrence discussed the salient issues with respect to spraying finishes:

1    Use a good spray gun, one that has a regulator to enable changing the spray field.
2    Make sure ventilation is good so that the air is evacuated as needed
3    Use a good face mask to trap fumes: one with filters that are replaceable is best
4    Spray beyond the workpiece and with the grain pattern
5    Before spraying, sand the workpiece with 120, 150 paper. Using finer grits is usually not needed
6    Let the piece dry-20-30 minutes before proceeding to a new coat
7    Lay down lots of coats
6    After each coat, cut the last layer with finer sand paper and Varsol lubricant
Rick brought several of his burls and discussed how he goes about turning them...paying strict attention to grain patterns and preserving intricate patterns and knots etc

Francis discussed the issue of radon gas in a home. He has been getting high readings and has had to get a ventilation system installed.  The Passerini Company is local and will do a 90 day radon detection analysis at a cost of $500.(Paul's information)

He also had questions about the use of several chucks-The McNaughton coring system and the Barracuda type chucks. Lawrence was able to explain  how to use the systems.

Lots of discussions about the late  Leo Macneil's expertise and teaching skills and some of the past (deceased) members woodwork skills.

Lawrence demonstrated several pin chucks made of wood and jam chucks.He also demonstrated several turning tools which he made from Vehicle struts!

Lawrence took Paul's bowl out of the refrigerator kiln. The humidity was down to 10-15 % in various spots. He had coated the bowl inside and out with white glue diluted with water to prevent too rapidly  drying the wood.

Rick suggested he bring in an old school desk and use it to go through a finishing session.

Some Canadian Sources:

Bandsaw Blades 

Tufftooth blades

Woodessence

Finishing Supplies

Exotic Hardwoods Canada

Burlington Ontario

Above:  Paul's  improvised Polishing system