Building a Colonial Style Lantern
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Lanterns of all shapes and sizes have made a resurgence in recent years. In the past, especially before electricity became common, they were used to illuminate homes and other buildings. Now they are more decorative than functional, but they can easily be made functional by adding battery or solar powered LED lights.
This version is loosely based on a colonial style of lantern that emulated a tiny house with windows. An interesting design with many sharp angles that makes it an interesting project and with the added feature of brass hinges, a brass clasp and even brass fittings for the hanger, it makes an attractive piece.
I could have used 3/4" material to make the frame for this lantern, but I wanted something that was a bit "beefier" so I custom planed some rough wood down to 7/8". Not much bigger but big enough that it is noticeable, and I used the same thickness for the top and bottom.
I tried to plan this project so I could do some glue-ups but still keep working on on other parts, so began by gluing up the boards that would later make the base, which ended up being 8-1/2" square. Next I began to work on the main body of the lantern and agonized over what method to use.
Follow-up To Joint Testing and Hand Planes
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I try to cover off as much detail as I can in each video, then follow-up with a written article, but sometimes people are more interested in the video details that what I provide ... hence a follow up video like this.
On Joint Testing ... Many people were interested in the joint testing and there were lots of comments and suggestions ... as I expected. The one joint that received a lot to comments and questions was the pocket hole joint. I did NOT glue that joint because it is an edge grain to long grain joint.
And as most of you know, there is little advantage to trying to glue end grain to long grain, seldom does the glue hold it very well.
Using a Electric Hand Planer
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Hand planers come in a couple of varieties, electric and hand and they really serve 2 different functions. Hand planes have been around in one form or another for a centuries and are used in many areas of woodworking. Electric hand planes are a somewhat recent addition having been around for the past 30 or so years.
The electric version, which is what we are dealing with here are more associated with building type construction and carpentry and even home renovation, than they are to fine woodworking. That's not to say that many of us don't have them, just that they get used less frequently by woodworkers than a carpenter might or renovator might. For example, I do a LOT of woodworking and I'm not sure I use mine more that a couple times a year, but when I do, it works great for what I need.
One of the issues with electrical hand planers is their short length and the amount of wood they can plane down in very little time. The short length, like any plane, does not allow for a huge amount of control in terms of making a board straight and flat, and if the blade is set to a low depth, a person can sometimes do more damage than good when working with fine tolerances.
My plane gets most used when I have some rough lumber that I am planning to run through the jointer and later of the stationary planer. Sometimes this wood gets some nasty jags in it as it comes from the mill. Rather than run these boards dozens of times through the joint, sometimes it's quicker and easier to hand plane these down to a workable stage with the electric hand planer.
When using the electric hand planer that are a few things I have learned ...
Joint Testing
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As woodworkers, we often seem to be obsessed by how strong joints are, and in many ways this is good. Of course we don't want people to be hurt sitting on a chair that could collapse, but in many cases the joints are many times stronger than actually needed. This is in part because of the way we need to make them in order for them to be secure.
In the associated video, I put together a variety of joints, all of them with Red Oak, just to see how well each kind of joint holds up. All of the joints were end grain to long grain, with the exception of the lap joint (which I will talk about later). End grain to long grain are the hardest joints because end grain does not glue well to long grain, well at least with much strength, so other means of fastening must be adapted.
In order to be fair with each joint, all the end grain pieces are 3 inches wide. This was selected for a couple of reasons, first of all it would accommodate the largest wood biscuit commercially available; the other reason is that by using 3" viewers could use the info to associate it with both 2" or 4". I just don't have time to run all the tests of both 2" and 4" material, so 3" seemed like a good compromise.
The lap joint was slightly smaller because I felt it was unfair to have 3-1/2 inches of long grain glued to long grain so it is slightly smaller at 2-1/2 inches ...
Refurbishing A Hand Plane
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I don't know how many Planes Stanley must have made, but it seems like I am always running across at least one at every garage sale and flea market. Sadly, not all of them have been nicely looked after over the years and between rust, broken and warped bases and broken wooden handles, many are not worth bringing home except as a collectable piece, but their are exceptions. As much as I love Lie-Nielsen planes and their excellent quality, sometimes it's nice to rescue some of these old planes too.
On a recent tool swap meet adventure I found ... in excellent shape ... a Stanley Bailey #3 Plane. It really caught my eye because it is narrower than the other Stanley planes I have and something about it caught my attention. The price was only $20 for this little gem, at that price I figure I could afford to just bring it home and leave it as an ornament in my shop if nothing else.
After disassembling the plane, I could see it really was in pretty good shape. I set the blade, chip breaker and lever cap so I could concentrate on the base. The base of a plane needs to be ...
Buying Tools at a Tool Swap Meet
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Everyone loves to "get a deal" and one of the best ways is to find tools and equipment that is pre-owned. There is a plethora of used tools and equipment in the world and a small fraction of it comes to market in the form of garage sales, yard sales, flee markets, swap meets as well as the huge variety of on-line listings.
Buying used tools is really no different than purchasing new tools, except you will get no warranty and usually no return options. You either need to know what you are buying, and even then you still run the risk that what ever you buy will end up being unsuitable for your needs. Just one of the risks you run, so be careful on how much money you are willing to risk.
The more complicated the tool ...
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