Not quite a project, but definitely a handy tool. While making the box for the 2018 box swap, I decided I needed to add a little ornamentation, so I built a scratch stock to put a bead along the edge of some of the pieces. Because there were concave curves to follow, I needed to make the end rounded (I used a ½” radius to match the curved pieces I'd made). Then I cut the wood in half, stuck in a piece of steel filed to a profile I liked, and screwed the wood back together.

Here's a test piece I did in some walnut to see if I could follow a curve and to get a little practice before starting to use it for real.

I can pull out the blade and make at least three more profiles on this one piece of tool steel, and I can adjust it in and out, depending on what I need. Turns out to be a darned handy tool.

To use it, you just push or pull it along the edge of a piece of wood, letting the end of the metal take off a thin shaving of wood with each pass. You sharpen it by simply filing the edge square. Very simple, but a lot quicker and quieter than ordering a new router bit, waiting for it to arrive, and then setting up the router, the dust collector, and routing a profile in an edge. I'll do that too, but there are days when the scratch stock comes out and I'll spend some time making a new profile that previously only existed in my brain.

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As I attempted to get better at dovetails, one of the things that frustrated me was that I was continually cutting the back side either too low or too high. When I would stop cutting to look around the back, I would find that I had changed my position, and it would take me a stroke or two to get everything lined up again and that caused troubles.

So I got a great little tool for $6 at the drug store. A folding stand mirror I can set up behind the dovetail I'm cutting so I can see the back side of the cut without changing position. It made a huge difference in getting my initial cuts to the line without crossing over. Sometimes the simplest things can make a big difference.

Now, almost five years later, I mostly don't use the mirror any more, but I still keep it handy, and some days when I'm having troubles, I'll set it up and get myself settled down again.

I think it was Chris Schwarz who said :

...everyone on the planet is born with a certain number of sets of bad dovetails in their hands. And the only way to get rid of those bad dovetails is to make them. Eventually, you run out of bad dovetails, and you're set for life.

Some days, I guess I need to get some bad dovetails out of my system, but setting up the mirror helps get me back on track.

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I put a handle on a big froe last year, but I've been wanting to make my own dowels lately, and that's too big for splitting off small chunks of wood for dowels. So I asked my friend Jeff for a smaller tool. The result was this little froe.

When combined with a doweling plate from Lie-Nielsen, I can split a piece of oak or ash off a scrap, run it down the sizes to 3/16” and trim it to length in under ten minutes. I did a half-dozen this evening to peg the French cleat into my rasp and file till in under an hour, and that included the time to drill six 3/16” holes, too.

The main problem with this setup is that longer dowels aren't really possible with it. A length of more than a few inches tends to wander a little and not be straight. But the solution for longer dowels is a Stanley 77, which I'll write about later.

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[Originally written by Bob Summerfield in February of 2019]

I should probably say a little about sharpening this type of saw for anyone who may come along later and wonder. I researched the topic as best I could with the scant information available. One nationally prominent saw sharpener, whom I respect a lot, documented his approach. He sharpened the saw with “peg teeth”, that is with an equal rake angle on the front and back edges of the teeth. That would equate to a 30 degree rake angle, which would normally be thought of as extreme. The rationale was that the saw would then cut equally well on the push and pull strokes. That is true, but equally well doesn't translate to efficiently. It wouldn't cut great on either the push or pull stroke. He also put no set in the saw, so that it wouldn't scrape the miter jack. That might work fine in thin stock, but it seems the saw would bind in thicker stock.

If you think about a miter box saw, they could be filed to cut on both the push and pull stroke, but they are not. There's a reason for that – to cut more efficiently on the push stroke. They also have a light set.

In examining Kevin's saw, it was quite dull, but the teeth were very well sharpened (equal size and spacing). I doubt the saw had ever been resharpened since it was made. In looking down on the saw with the toothline pointed up, the teeth were pointed right to left with what appeared to be a “normal” rake angle for a crosscut saw of around 12 to 15 degrees. I would call this configuration suitable for a right hand push stroke. That is, if you grasp the handle in the right hand, with the toothline pointed to the right, the teeth are shaped to cut best if the saw is pushed away from you. Kevin's saw also had a very slight set.

I looked at as many pictures of this type of saw as I could find on the internet. You could see the teeth on several of them, and they were all shaped just like Kevin's saw. Based on these observations, I concluded that a standard crosscut sharpening with very light set is what these saws were supposed to have. All that I saw were sharpened for right hand use. But what if you were a left handed sawyer? Then you would either have to use the saw on the pull stroke or have a left handed saw made for you.

I hope that is helpful information for anyone who may have a need to sharpen a French miter jack saw, or scie à recaler.

To further illustrate the above, I'll use this picture from the Lee Valley website. If you were standing on the left side of the picture, you would be using a right handed grip (though both hands may be on the saw) and a push stroke. If you were on the right side, you would be using a left handed grip and a pull stroke.

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I have written a number of articles about handy woodworking tools I've found over the years. This is where they're collected. A number of them are things I developed myself to build a special project (such as an octagonal box I built for a swap in May 2018).

• 45 degree jig for workholding
• Angled Carving Rest is also for holding pieces at a 45 degree angle.
• Bedan for a Buddy
• Bowl Horse
• Carving Skew Gouge
• Circular Saw Track Guide
• Curved Strop
• Dovetail Marker
• Dovetail Saw Handle
• Fast Phone Holder
• Fixed ⅜” marking gauge
• Fixed Fence Kerfing Plane
• Fixing Loose Ferrules
• Hand Cranked Grinder
• Ixion Eggbeater Drill
• Katalox Spokeshave
• Little froe and doweling plate
• Mini Marking Square
• Mirror for cutting dovetails
• Miter Jack
• Octagonal Guillotine
• Post Drill
• Quick Mortar & Pestle
• Sharpening a miter jack saw (aka a scie à recaler)
• Scratch Stock
• Scrub Plane made from a Stanley Global #3
• Small Miter Box Bench
• A pair of squares
• Stacked knife handle tools
• Stanley 77 Dowel Maker
• Stitching Pony / Clamp
• The Truck Kit

To be continued...

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In late 2017, I bought a miter jack, thinking that I would need to be making some 45 degree miters for the box swap in early 2018. Since then, I've changed my plans for what I'm going to build (I got better at dovetails, mostly) and might not be doing miters, but figured that I would play with my miter jack a little before I get started on the box construction for the swap. After all, who doesn't enjoy a little procrastination?

For those who aren't familiar, a miter jack is basically a vise with angled jaws. I've read of ones that have both 45 and 60 degree angles, but the one I found on eBay just had 45 and 90. That's probably just as well. I don't plan on making hexagonal boxes. And the 90 will mean I don't have to dig out my shooting board as often.

While waiting for oil to dry on another project in February 2018, I set it up and took it for a spin. I clamped a piece of ½”x6” poplar in the jaws, got out my jack plane (pretty sure the jacks aren't related) and started removing wood.

It works pretty well. One thing I need to watch out for is some spelching if I don't chamfer the far end, but that mostly gets trimmed away when I get down to level with the jaws. The other is that if I'm not paying attention, I can end up planing off a bit of the miter jack, which might change the angle from a perfect 45°︎ over time. Shouldn't be too tough to avoid though, and I can see where previous owners have dinged up the jaws a little.

But if I do my part, it looks like creating near-perfect miters is pretty easy. Here are my two test pieces of poplar, just standing up next to each other on the bench. That's a good enough miter that I should be able to make a nice box corner with almost no extra tuning. And while it's basically just another configuration of shooting board, having it be a vise means that I don't need a bunch of extra hands to hold the piece I'm working on.

Finally, my square says that's 90 degrees. It's just the photograph that looks a little off because of the extreme close-up.

Bob Summerfield wrote a good post on sharpening a saw for use with a miter jack.

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I made a pin vise, useful for both hand drilling holes with small drill bits, as well as holding small parts while working on them.

The chuck is a small chuck bought off eBay that will hold a bit up to ¼ inch in diameter, and down to the smallest drill bit I have (a 1/32 inch bit).

The handle is ziricote, a Central American hardwood that has interesting “spiderweb” grain patterns and a piece of 1 inch brass tubing as a ferrule, epoxied onto the handle. Finish is a coat of tung oil and a few coats of shellac.

It will likely be a gift for a friend, and I’ll make another for myself using some domestic hardwood.

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