Nice night, hanging with fellow woodworkers in Covington on the eave of Woodworking in America.
Stanley 113





The lever cap and the cap iron are different from those of #3, so you need pay attention to this detail when buying it. My # 113 was in good condition, just a lot of surface rust. I proceeded to disassemble the plane into its parts and treat them with a vinegar bath.The flexible sole should be dropped from the metal arms using a punch.

The sole is welded to a dovetail shaped piece; it fits in the body plane. To take it apart I first lubricated with a descaler (WD40) and then gently hammered it using a punch of a suitable form (for the purpose I used a more little hammer, placing a smaller cardboard piece 
to protect from blows; alternatively you can use a wood piece of suitable form). If your sole does not want to move, better stop the action for avoiding damages to the cast iron parts, very difficult to repair! A common #113 defect is a mismatch between the iron seat and the mouth.
The blade does not not rest properly and could create problems in planing (chattering). To solve this problem, I simply added a
couple of shims (business cards are great) on the plane seat. The flexible sole should be free from rust. Use sandpaper attached to a flat surface, paying particular attention to the mouth area. The plane must be used with straight shots following the workpiece horizontal axis. It is also useful for the chamfer job. 
On Workbenches Part I The Lesson of the Schwarz
As woodworkers we all have benches. Some are just a sheet of 3/4" plywood on saw horses and others are full blown hand made Roubo shrines. Until we come up with at least the most basic bench (just a horizontal work surface) were really of very little use as a woodworker.
My current bench is a factory made Whiteside that I picked up on Craigslist for $150.00 a few years ago. It is a basic Nordic style bench, about 24 wide by 60 long and has two (2) mediocre vises. Mediocre is in fact the best choice to describe the whole bench.While it is what I have and it usually gets the job done, it is certainly not what I want. What I want is a mutant with the ancestry of Roubo, the bones of modern materials and an eye towards the 21st century.
But before I go too far into describing my own bench design philosophy I would be remiss if I failed to first bring up Christopher Schwarz, for he is certainly the current authority on workbench design & construction on the interwebs & the greater woodworking community as a whole.As many of us have, Ive been influenced by Chris rabid consumption and propagation of all things workbench. While he has so far failed to convert me to total Roubo adoration, I think there is more actionable workbench advise being put out by Chris than any other source we have access to today.Beyond a general workbench philosophy, Ive taken from Chris two (2) main points. The second is a direct result of the first.Point #1: The workbench is a 3 dimensional clamping surface. Its job is to hold a work piece still so that any number of woodworking tasks can be accomplished without the piece moving.
Point #2: The legs must be flush with edge of the top. Without this feature youre left with a 2 dimensional clamping surface, or put another choice, you have 2/3 of a workbench.
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| Thats my current bench, under all those routers. |
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| An out of proportion hand drawn cross section of the bench design Im working on. |
Quick update on the Lego travel case
I was gone most of last week on vacation so I didnt get to work on the case much but I got a lot done the last couple of days. I stopped by Rockler and picked up 2 hinges, 2 clasps, and a handle for it. I go them all in bronze because that was the only color that I could find all the pieces in. I would have preferred the aged nickel but oh well. The outside of the case has 3 coats of Danish oil and now 2 coats of Polyurethane. The inside tray has 2 coats of Danish oil that needs 1 more day of drying time. It will then get 2 coats of poly as well. I trimmed the Lego plates down to fit the inside of the case and have some self adhesive sheets of felt for the insides of the case and the bottom of the tray. Everything should be ready for my sons party on Saturday. If all goes according to plan I should have a video out on Monday for the project.

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Wolf Achievement 5
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| Im proud to say the Plotke cars dominated taking first in class and first overall. |
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| Controlling the force of the hammer blow vs controlling the aim was critical for the Wolves. |
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| It took all the force they could manage to hand drive the Phillips head screw. |
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| Driving the straight head machine screws was much easier. |
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| These 1x6s will soon be birdhouses. |
Marcs On TV In My House
A few weeks ago it was announced that all of the Wood Whisperer episodes would be coming to YouTube. This is great news.
Im not the biggest fan of YouTube, but I will say that its ubiquity means that it is where I consume most of my internet video. With the advent of the ChromeCast, watching YouTube on my flat screen has now become the absolute easiest choice to consume video in my living room.
YouTube is also nice because its easy to watch in my shop on a mobile device and its easy to share via embedded video here on the blog.
This announcement means that its even easier to watch +Marc Spagnuolo. Now that the entire Wood Whisperer catalog will be available, Ill be able to watch even more.
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.






















