BobSmalser

I true all four square surfaces before attempting to shape the tote into an oval

The soot and pare technique is continued, the soot marks removed with whatever tool is appropriate. In the photo above, mortises are cut to accommodate the

In the first installment below, I converted a 30-dollar Stanley No. 4 1/2C parts plane to 50 degrees in preparation for a big job that involves hand planing dozens of birds-eye and figured maple panels. The plane worked perfectly, but was harder to push in comparison to the Stanley No. 4 I usually use. In this final installment, I

The mouth and throat are cleaned with fine mill files

In previous articles, I described rehabbing older Bailey-pattern planes acquired from Ebay to replace all the family

In previous articles, I described rehabbing older Bailey-pattern planes acquired from Ebay to replace all the family

Youngest son Jake heads down to Central America next week on a two-week church mission to build a stick frame house for a poor family. He

My last task with metal is to hone the blade and chipbreaker iron. It doesn't matter whether you use sandpaper/glass, waterstones, Arkansas stones or carborundum stones.... all can be made to work well and easily.... I see more need to practice rather than to spend big bucks on "systems". I use the set of 4 Arkansas stones because I have them...but were I starting from scratch, I

You

All mating surfaces are cleaned thoroughly with file and sanding disk to expose fresh metal

When cool, I rough out my wedge shape by removing excess steel on the grinder and sanding disk, taking care not to reduce the thick edge

When finishing highly figured wood, I generally prefer panel surfaces to be planed and not sanded. There

<insert wink here>

OK, Doc....I'll try to do better....but I'm the type who thinks out loud and throws half the ideas out later once I have other opinions.

I'll post an excellent comment from a pro engraver on another forum. He suggests cutting a tapered countersink, leave the screw long, and merely peen it into the hole without solder. Through as opposed to blind holes would be best done from both directions, and the interior surface of the relatively thin receiver would have to be backed up with a hardy or other steel block prior to peening.

Will this be strong enough? The solder I

I then test the quality of my surface using a little cold bluing for color

This article deals with restoring metal surfaces. It

For a perfectly level finish, each coat of varnish is rubbed back to the grain surface of the wood. You can see the sunlight reflecting on the residual dents remaining

Now for the more difficult task of equalizing the color. For this and other finishing inspections, sunlight is essential

Next day, I reinforce the repaired inletting with epoxy for strength, bedding the receiver tang in the process. First, I rout the wood to receive epoxy with Dremel ball and point cutters to expose fresh wood and to provide enough epoxy thickness to prevent chipping from recoil forces. Fortunately, this inletting is relatively clean and not soaked in linseed or motor oil as is common in old firearms. If it was saturated in oil, I

Have a valuable piece of old boat bright work or furniture that is broken around the hardware? Yes

Das Schnitzelbank, by Drew Langsner, chairmaker...I built it to his plans using old-growth DF with Madrone dumb head/treadle and lined the wear surfaces with brass or copper: http://www.countryworkshops.org/CWshavehorse.html

Now we do the second critical part