Hi and welcome to the Word Press version of Working Wood. I’m happy you’re here.  Feel free to wander through these last two years of writings, workings and rumaging around my small woodshop here in Toronto, Ontario. If this is your first visit enjoy the work and ideas presented here. If you’re a frequent reader you should re-set your bookmarks and the like to my sister blog site at www.tomfidgen.blogspot.com.

That is the platform I”ve been using to update my current works. I tried to maintain both the Blogger platform as well as this one but the truth is I don’t have enough time in the day!

I’m also getting close to launching a new website as well,

www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com

This new site will incorporate all of my on-line workings and activities; the blog, my new book, Made by Hand: Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop as well as a contact and gallery area for anyone interested in a custom piece of furniture.

Thanks again for visiting.

Tom Fidgen

From La Crosse to Belle Cote

Offcuts of Khaya from the boat building days welcomed me home to my shop on the coast. I left the city behind, those garbage-strike-dogs-days of summer…
Timing you know, really is everything.

What better time or place to unwind and decompress from the year we just had. Of course ‘we’ in this context is referring to my hand tools and I.
I kicked open the door to my shop in late June to a dusty old table saw, stuffed to the nuts with sawdust and splinters-
“Did I leave it like this?”
It’s hard to remember now, leaving last year in such a hurricane of circumstance and curiosity. Unanswered questions that were left to unfold, pages and pages (my book is finally being printed as I write this!)

Full circle now returning like the seasons or an ocean; the seafood alone…my God, I keep turning around expecting to see Santiago drifting into the harbour. Three different varieties of potatoes this year and lots of wild berries from the field. Fresh cherries picked from the limbs just footsteps from our door, our bellies are full while the company of good people and great friends are the real attractions around here.

Summer has crawled away like a quota-crab pushin’ and lerchin’ just to follow the tides. Down off the strand for another year passing- I’ll think of him next week while I motor back to the city near the lakes; Upper Canada where more friends and projects are patient, in a shop full of Oak for my door project waiting.

Last week from Wisconsin, a parcel arrived with 100% recycled packaging…that in itself is worth a few words around here! The Bad Axe arrival, saws from a friend- seriously adding fuel to the burning fire of a perfect summer now crawling to close.

I’ll fill you in on all of the details next week…

Thank you for waiting.

This is not Paul Simons Door

Well I’m busy as hell and goin’ crazy like a bag of hammers…chopping out the mortises these last few days I don’t have time for a full blog so I thought I’d post a video with a few minutes of real time working. The quality is ‘Blair Witch’ shaky and the audio track is my old record player in the corner…I was listening to Graceland-Paul Simon’s wonderful album from way back when? How old am I now? This is one of the best parts of a hand tool shop, being able to work and listen to records. Bet you can’t say that over the deafening drone of a table saw!
In this clip I’m chopping the haunched portion of the mortise using a massive Hirsch Mortise Chisel,(by the size of these things I can only assume they’re manufactured in the magical land of Giants where everyone has hands like silver back gorillas.) Then I establish the depth of the haunched portion with my Veritas Large Router plane. I clean out the waste with a swan neck chisel from Henry Taylor in England and some paring with a large Japanese bench chisel. I think that covers it…sorry for the rushed post but I’ve gotta keep going on this.
Cheers.
***Once again I’m having problems uploading video to this blog…

you can see the entire clip at www.tomfidgen.blogspot.com

I was recently commisioned to build a full set of cabinets for a kitchen in an older Arts and Crafts Style Bungalow. This is a large project that I’ll document here as it develops. The first step was going to the home, discussing design elements, wood species, special requests from the clients etc..After this first meeting I designed, with lots of input from the home owners, a set of cabinets that I thought would complement the Home style while incorporating the owners lifestyle. The cabinets will have a very much Arts and Crafts feel being made from Black Cherry, which I was quit happy about. Building a full kitchen is quite different than building a one-off cabinet. First of I’ll be using 3/4″ Cherry plywood for all of the cabinet boxes. These will be fastened using dadoes and rabbets cut into the panels to accept the mating pieces, with glue and pocket screws to fasten. All of the cabinets are furniture quality, meaning each box is it’s own enclosed space seperate from the next. This is a bonus for a kitchen by way of containing any smells or spills from one area to the next. A rock-solid building method that will last for the next hundred years.
Once the boxes are built, they’ll get a full solid Cherry face frame, no plywood here, just solid wood. A full 7/8″ thick this will stand up to any abuse. From this point on it’s all traditional joinery, frame and panel, mortise and tenon doors with centre stiles; hand cut dovetailed, solid cherry drawers with half blind dovetailed fronts. The finish is going to be a hand rubbed oil and varnish mixture. I find it really brings out the wood grain without adding too much gloss. I use a safe, non-toxic finish from a small company out of New York. Tried & True Traditional Oil and Varnish finish is a combination of highly refined polymerized linseed oil and natural-resin varnish (modified pine sap). Its high resin content produces a durable water-resistant finish that buffs to a warm semi-gloss sheen. It strictly adheres to the standards established by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and qualifies as non-toxic and safe for food-contact surfaces in both their uncured and cured (wet and dry) states. A perfect finish for a custom made kitchen.

After I ‘Scrub” the rough stock down removing and twists or warps I move on to my Jointer Plane. This is the tool of choice to follow with. It will remove all of the highs and lows from the surface of your piece. Again my Jointer is made by VERITAS here in Canada. This Jointer is unique in the fact that its blade is set ‘bevel-up’ on a 12° bed and when combined with a 25° blade bevel, it creates a cutting angle of 37°. I mostly use this plane with the optional 38° Blade, combined with the 12° bed angle, creates the so called ‘York’ pitch, perfect for dealing with difficult grains in hard wood and the result is almost no tear-out. Another great feature of the VERITAS Jointer is the adjustable throat plate. This makes it super simple to close up the throat so you can take a real fine shaving. Another factor to consider when using any Jointer Plane is the size. The VERITAS is 22″ x 2 7/8″ and weighs 7 1/2 lbs. A big plane to handle, but once you get it going, the extra weight of the tool itself helps to keep it moving along through the wood. I also wax the sole every couple of minutes with just a standard block of Paraffin to help reduce friction.