Another little gem from 1866.

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Buying used books on amazon has been a great choice to expand your library. Since last summer I’ve been using it to expand my design library. For as little as $5.00 per book (with shipping) I’m able to pick up used copies of books ranging from Fine Woodworking to Sam Maloof to Jeff Miller on Amazon.

You need this book. Its fantastic.

It was an low used price which first led me to buy Jeff Miller’s Chairmaking & Design book. When I bought it, I can’t say I had too much interest in chair making, but it was reviewed well and was quite affordable.

Once it arrived, I knew it was a masterwork when I first flipped through it at my office. Now, having read it I know it’s a brilliant reference and instructional guide for beginning chair makers. It has been my goal to make a chair this year, and Jeff Miller’s book is the reason.

My finished version of the Jeff Miller Benchtop Bench.

When I was researching designs for benchtop benches before Father’s Day, I ran across Jeff Miller’s Benchtop Bench and ended up making a version for my Dad as a Father’s Day gift. After Chairmaking & Design the Benchtop Bench cement Jeff Miller as a master of instructional woodworking. His work has made him a master of woodworking itself.

Given my esteem of Jeff, it was with great excitement that I learned he would be teaching a class, Designing and Building Chairs with Jeff Miller, at Highland Woodworking. When I realized that the class was only two (2) days, on a weekend and only $195.00 I immediately signed up.

These are some of Millers wonderful Chairs to be discussed in the class.

The added bonus for me is that it means I’ll be making my first trip to Atlanta where I’ll not only get to experience Highland Woodworking first hand, I’ll also get to hang out with my good friends of the Atlanta Modern Woodworkers Association (some of which have been kind enough to put me up for the weekend).There are only 25 spots available for the class, and I’m not sure how many are left or how long they’ll last, but if you’re anything like me, this class will scratch many woodworking itches and should provide a wonderful weekend with a knowledgeable instructor and good friends. I can’t think of a better choice to enjoy my first formal woodworking class.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.

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During a visit to a friend of mine, Michele, owner of a Record 778 plane, we enjoyed to compare it with my Stanley 78 in order to verify technical differences and performances.Both planes are suitable for cutting rebates up to about 3 cm wide.

Looking to two planes, leaps to the eye the difference between parallel guides. That of Stanley (left ) is supported by only one circular bar , unlike the Record that provides two circular bars support.

In both planes there is  a stop on the right side for rebate depth adjusting.

Another difference  regards the depth adjustment system: The Record 778 has a comfortable wheel for finest regulation,

while in Stanley 78 the task is

provided by a coarser lever, easy to  move downward accidentally during the pushing action , compromising the blade adjustment. The blade sits on the bed with a double contact, on the top and on a machined

area just above the mouth. We measured the extension of this area, important for the good stability of the cutting edge. For Stanley 78 this portion was about twice than the the Record one . If we look  at the two parallel guides more closely, we see that the Record guide has three holes useful for adding an auxiliary  wood fence, important to increase the plane stability while planing . Unfortunately, both guides were out of square (more for Stanley 78)  but for Record 778 the gap can be easily correct,

adapting the auxiliary hard wood fence.

Both planes also have a spur just before of the mouth, for  cutting cross grain  rebates (but we have not tried to). We then sharpened blades with  25 ° bevel and 30 ° microbevel and tried the  planes  on a well flat and square pine board (Michele in the pic).  We not  found very different performances (we even tried to exchange blades to highlight any differences in steel quality ) . The Record 778 seemed to us better prepared in technical solutions , especially for the two supporting bars, the possibility to add a larger hard wood fence and the more accurate  and easy to operate cutting depth adjusting system. However its cost in online auctions significantly exceeds that of  a Stanley 78.

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The shooting board task is to allow planing a piece square to the surface that rests on the table. There are various models, with different building solutions. The board I am proposing is useful for planing and square end grain sides or to finish a 45° angle, such as is necessary for frame assembling. As the shooting board fundamental characteristic is plan and angle accuracy, using pre-worked material can be convenient.

I used lamellar beech, but plywood is a good alternative. For the base I used a 3 cm thick board, while the plan upon which the

workpiece is held is 2 cm thick. The length is about 60 cm, width about 25 cm. The support board is narrower to make room for the plane side.

After screwing the upper board to the base, I installed two holders (3 x 4 cm section) that will serve for workpiece supporting. Their precise positioning is critical for proper shooting board working. The pieces are screwed flush with the upper board edges and have an elongated hole at the rear to allow a fine angle adjustment. Place the two holders to exactly 90 and 45 degrees respect to the sliding edge. Chamfer the holder rear edges (not that one where the piece rests) in order to prevent their damage when the plane will produce the first shots.

Another holder is placed under the board so that it can be hooked to the workbench and/or locked in the vice. In my case I have used two holders, so I can firmly held the board between the vice and the bench well. A useful operation will be to cut a groove at the plan intersection in order to collect chips and dust and avoiding problems with plane sliding.

The first shots will remove some shavings from the sliding side, but only until the lateral sole portion under the blade will not come in contact with the edge.

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Wood Talk did the Modern Woodworkers Association a big favor by helping to promote the MWA teams for the Fine Woodworking Live Build Off.

Yep, these guys want the online community to rock.

I trust that if youre following the +Modern Woodworkers Association you already know who the Wood Talk guys are. If not, be sure to check them out. Youll be glad you did.

In their most recent episode, #141 - Quality Control Is Boring!, Marc mentioned our build off.

Like us, they want to demonstrate how thriving the online woodworking community is. Were looking to show everyone by assembling a number of four (4) person teams for the Fine Woodworking Live Build Off. Our goal is to not only have online woodworkers win, but to have them play a major role in the build off so that everyone in attendance at Fine Woodworking Live learns of the community and the fun we have.

If youll be at Fine Woodworking Live on Friday Night, August 9th, please joing us for the build off. You can sign up below. Youll make some furniture, meet some friends and have some fun.

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Richard Proenneke Using only hand tools to build his life in the Alaskan Wilderness.

All in all they sound like a good buy...BUT ... would I regret buying them down the line?

So ... what to do?

Any readers own a Quangsheng plane or have any experience with them? Anyone know anything about them or can offer any advice - it would be greatly appreciated!

On a slightly different note - all progress on the Stools has been delayed due to me making the school boy error of running out of glue - doh! I did intend to order some more glue online, but thought I might include a plane order...

Looking forward to your thoughts on the above...

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