Woodworking

A group of 25 hollows and rounds arrived at my shop a few days ago. They are in remarkably good shape for being somewhere near 140 years old. A full set of H&Rs is 36 planes, with a half-set being all the odd numbered, or all of the even numbered pairs. While more than a half-set, this collection does not contain an actual half-set. Yet, it contains many of the frequently used sizes or nearby neighbors.

The maker’s mark is CROW. William and Edward Crow, of Canterbury, England made planes from 1847 until the late 1880s. They used the mark CROW and CROW CANTERBURY. These are thought to be (by collector and “iron monger” Tony Seo) of the early part of the CROW business, with a CANTERBURY mark being added later.

Other marks on these planes indicate that they were kept together by at least two owners. W.A.P. Chuter was the first, with R. Woodward overstamping many of Chuter’s marks. Many of the irons are stamped T. HILDICK – LONODN.

They are in very good shape, have well shaped (and sharp) irons, and have no really serious rust. Remarkably, only one wedge has a broken finial and all  bodies are free of serious damage. They came to me via the well known old tools dealer Patrick Leach.

Someday, they’ll be used to shoot moulded parts for clocks.

  

Subtitle: The Apprentice System is Not Extinct

Last August, I wrote about a tragic oily rags incident where two elderly people lost their lives. I come back to it now because a trial has been held and has a finding of “neglect.” To us woodworkers, that was obvious from early reporting.

What makes it interesting is that we’re seeing lots of old woodworking books being republished, some describing the apprenticeship system of centuries past. Well, dear readers, that system is not extinct. It is still being practiced, in some aspects, today.

In this case, a “master” joiner had left an “apprentice” to apply some oil finish to work in progress and then close up the shop. The master then went to visit another customer. The master testified that he gave complete directions to the apprentice about materials disposal, and warned him of the possibility of combustion. There seems to be some dispute on this point, according to recent news. (hint: use Google translate if you don’t read German.) The apprentice disposed of most materials properly, but swept up a few rags and put them in a dustbin inside the shop. The resulting fire quickly engulfed the shop and the living quarters above where two people failed to get out.

I found it interesting that part of the defense was the point that current teaching about the danger of materials is in the third year. This was a first year apprentice who was apparently using materials without understanding their danger.

It’s not my purpose to determine any sort of blame, but to spread these cautions so you don’t have to wait for the third year of your apprenticeship to learn them.

Please dispose of oily rags properly.

1. Submerge them in water until you have time to collect them all, wring them out, and BURN them.
2. OR, spread them out flat, in a non-combustable area outdoors, and let them dry completely before adding them to the refuse for pickup.

Using small boats is great when weather is good for flip-flops and lift offs, bikini tops and cutoffs (Thanks Travis). One needs to wade into the water a bit to launch, have water drip off the paddle shafts into your lap, and even though the seats in the boats are off the bottom, there’s usually enough water brought aboard that it wicks its way up pant legs that hang over the edge of the seat. It’s no longer that kind of weather, and the water temperature is dropping fast. We could outfit ourselves with cold weather gear, waterproof breeches, boots, and such, but that’s not our style.

Our wardrobe is not full of special purpose costumes for each of our activities. Watching bicyclists in their brightly colored spandex costumes brings chuckles. Good lord! They’re riding along NY country roads, not the Tour de France! The spandex must be helpful in keeping jiggly parts in place as they bump and bounce along the potholes and ruts of our horrendously maintained roads. (Did anyone ever tell you that the tax rates in NY are the highest in the nation? Don’t know what they do with all the money, but it’s not used on roads.) Those bright colors must be so they won’t get shot by the turkey hunters or run down by the Bentley drivers.

So, without special costumes, our boating season is over … and it’s the time of year to start thinking about building another boat. Well, not exactly. There are lots of boats that I think would be fun to build, but we have a couple of constraints. First, some are too large or heavy for cartopping and there’s no place to park a trailer on our property. Second, the boat shop is getting full and I’m not yet keen about building outside storage for a flotilla of boats. And no, I’m not going to start renting storage space.

Hmmm, maybe I should sell boats to make more room? Nope! That could bring liability problems and New York has way too many lawyers. NY is second only to D.C. with 20.4 lawyers per capita. OK, 20.4 for every 10,000 capitae.

Woodworking includes a huge number of variations. In fact, boatbuilding is a relative back water when compared to many other variants. Maybe the most popular, if the magazine rack at the bookstore, or the number of blogs mean anything is “fine” cabinet and furniture building. Unlike boatbuilding, all of that furniture stuff needs straight boring lines right angles and fancy joinery. No sweeping sheer lines, no wonderfully twisted planks, no rolling bevels, no intriguing acute joins, just straight lines and square corners. I don’t think I’ll ever want to master the dovetail joint. Besides, our house is already full of furniture, and I have no interest in building it for sale, dealing with 20.4 lawyers, etc.

Of course, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other interesting wood working paths to follow: houses, decks, specailty furnishings (think Shaker), boxes, decorative devices of all sorts, and more! Kari Hultman, “the Village Carpenter,” is a one woman show about the variety of woodworking one can enjoy.

Wood turning? Maybe soon. That partially finished treadle lathe only needs this ole crank to make some cranks and finish fitting it out.

Wood carving? Getting warmer (as in the Hot & Cold children’s hunting game). More in the next posting.