Technique: Dado joinery

A very useful joint, a dado can be through or stopped.  It's a joinery very useful for shelves or dividers (between drawers).

Many procedures can be used to achieve a dado with manual tools.  With this article we'll be looking at through dados and using two methods.

First method: This is the basic one that requires minimal tooling.  Here are the two boards that will be joined together using a chisel, hammer, square, marking gauge and a knife.

Restoration: Stanley 70, box scraper

The excellent website of Supertool describe the Stanley 70 like this:
«This is a tool used to scrape the markings from the wooden shipping boxes, which were the most common way of packing goods prior to the invention of corrugated folding cardboard boxes, styrofoam peanuts, bubble pack, and all sorts of modern wonderful shipping products. The owner or user of this tool could scrape the previous shipper's markings off and use the box over»

Supertool describe this Stanley 70 as a scraper.  Well...I have to disagree.  More on this later on.



A closer view of the plane (or scraper).  You can easily see the mouth and the blade bed angle and this helps a lot to know if it's a plane or a scraper.  For me, it's clear that it's a plane.



The blade is seated at around 45° which is not possible for a scraper.



The tune-up of this tool begins with sanding the sole on 120 grit sandpaper.



The sole has quite a convex shape.



Sole flattened.



The blade now.  There is no rust and I begin with the back.  I want to know if it's flat... it isn't.



The solution to this problem is to use the "ruler trick".



This blade is really convex.



After quite of some time, I can see that I'm going to have to spend a lot more.



Here is my solution, a hammer.  I've done that many times in the past but once I cracked a blade.



Ah!  In no time I have nice clean steel all the way across the edge.



Regular sharpening starting with a coarse oil stone.  For a small blade I help myself with the Veritas holder (It comes with their grinding jig).



Fine India stone.



Removing the burr with a translucent Arkansas.  Notice here that the ruler used is much thicker than the one used previously.  With this higher angle I'm sure that I'm honing the very edge.



Leather with green Veritas compound on both sides of the blade.



I go for a test cut and...it doesn't work!  The mouth is not straight and this part of the sole is where the blade seats.



This need to be filed straight and it's not easy because I can't find a method for holding this tool in a vise.  I end up holding it with my hands.



Getting ready for another test cut.



I want to do like a real journeyman who wants to reuse a box.



Humm... It does work but not like I was expecting.



The bevel side of the blade is facing the handle.  It was like that when I got it and the idea that it could be a scraper got me a bit confused.  I rotate the blade and, all of the sudden, everything is working great.



I really enjoy getting those old tools back to working condition.  All this took two hours but for me it was fun.

Normand

Technique: Tenon and Mortise

Tenons and mortises is a type of joinery used since centuries.  You need to master this technique because you will need this type of joint for many of your projects.

Here is my method.  I will use Douglas fir boards that have been planed and are squares.

Tool restoration: Disston back saw

Today I'm restoring a Disston back saw.  It's not an old model but the method is the same.  I should be able to do a good user's saw with it.  We will look at sharpening, rust/paint on the saw blade and how to restore the handle.

This saw has a 17" long plate and 10 TPI.  I will sharpen it as a crosscut saw.

The initial condition is typical.  The teeth are not straight, they form an arc.  I will need to joint them.  The saw plate is straight and there is hardly any rust.  The handle is in good condition but has lots of sharp edges and is not comfortable in my hand.

Tool review: Stanley 12 scraper

I bought a lot of old tools a while back and now have two Stanley 12 which were part of that lot.  I wasn't a very interested with that tools but, after sharpening properly the blade, the results are great.  If I need to scrape this is now my favorite tool.

My drilling tools

Manual woodworking requires a surprising number of drilling tools.  I don't know of a single drill that can do it all.  Quite a bit of money will need to be invested to get a full range drilling capacity.
When it comes to drilling, the first tool required is a brace with bits.