Sam, Sam, Sam, and Sam

A very well-known and successful woodworker passed away last week. His name was Sam Maloof. Regrettably, I never got the chance to meet him or visit his shop, although I came close once. A friend in Southern California, who was rather close to Sam, invited me to meet Maloof one weekend. Unfortunately it didn't work out, and I flew home a bit disappointed. Maloof reached the point in his woodworking that a lot of woodworkers only dream about. And he was a great inspiration to woodworkers everywhere. Rest in Peace, Sam Maloof.



Maloof was the son of Lebanese immigrants, as was my paternal grandfather, so meeting Maloof held some special significance for me. Both of my grandfathers were casual woodworkers. My paternal grandfather's middle name was Sam. That's him above, sitting below a carved and gilded frame he made (this is probably from the late 50's) to hold an icon of the Virgin Mary. A large portion of my grandfather's work had a religious theme and he built many pieces specifically for his church, free of charge in most cases. His father was also named Sam (that's him and my great-grandmother in the first photo--a stylish fellow if I do say so myself!)



My maternal grandfather was also named Sam. And he was the son of German immigrants. Sam fought in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge, and spent several months in a German POW camp. Although he returned home safely from the War, I'm thinking about his service this Memorial Day. And since he was also an avid woodworker, I thought I'd share some nice woodworking related items about Sam. That's grandpa above, sitting on his tractor. He farmed and raised cattle after the War.

A few years ago I came into possession of Sam's war memorabilia. Like many veterans and POW's, grandpa didn't talk about the war. I didn't know much about his service until after he passed away. Among the items that I received were Sam's medals, including two purple hearts and several medals for service in the European theatre, his recognition as a POW, a Western Union telegram announcing his liberation, his dog tag and POW identification badge marked "Stalag IVB". But the most interesting were the personal items that he brought back from his time as a POW in Nazi Germany. A small, aluminum cigarette case held some fascinating items. Aside from the case itself, which Sam engraved with the names of his close fellow soliders (which he dubbed "The Mighty Hungry Seven"--Sam weighed about 90 pounds when his POW camp was liberated by Russian soliders), his itinerary from Iowa to German captivity (including a train Sam was being transported in that was bombed by Allied forces) and an image of a dove with an olive branch in its mouth, the case contained German postcards with lists of sandwiches and recipes, and cigarette paper inscribed with names of dozens of ice cream Sundaes and other treats. It's quite obvious what was on Sam's mind during his months in German captivity.



A couple years ago I decided to build a small wall cabinet to display these items. I had the top rail laser engraved with Sam's rank and name. The walnut case is outfitted with Brusso hinges. It was a very enjoyable project to build.



A German post card with Sam's sandwich list. The peanut butter and bacon sounds interesting.



Recipes written on a cigarette paper wrapper.



Sam's progress from the States to POW camp, written in pencil on cigarette paper.



Around the same time I received these items, my uncle (Sam's son) gave me grandpa's old jack plane. Not grandpa Sam's, but great-great-grandpa Peter's jack plane. Peter came to America in
1870 on the steamer ship Hammonia.



Peter was a stone mason and in the 16 years he spent in northern Iowa (he died of cancer at the age of 40) managed to raise a family of seven, and build a stone church which unfortunately stands in ruins some 120 years later. I'm not sure how much woodworking Peter did, but I bet he purchased this Sandusky Tool Co. jack plane brand new. Perhaps he used it to build forms of some sort for his masonry work, or to do some of the trim work once the church was finished? Needless to say, its a piece of family history that I'll always treasure.



My grandmother wrote down the names of the last 4 generations on the sole, just behind the mouth. I suppose I'll add my name at some point.

New Lie-Nielsen Tail Vise Hardware

Rob Giovannetti has just posted a video on his new blog The Tattooed Woodworker showcasing the new Lie-Nielsen tail vise hardware.

My own frustration with typical tail vise hardware led me last year to reevaluate the traditional moving-block tail vise. It was during this quest that I decided to a try a wagon vise. The result was the Benchcrafted Tail Vise.

But my old bench was built with a traditional tail vise. And it desperately needs new "moving block" tail vise hardware (the old hardware is worn, sagging, and a major nag), and I've been patiently waiting several months for Lie-Nielsen to begin offering this hardware. Needless to say, the vise is incredibly beefy and offers some fantastic features that should make it run smoothly for quite some time. I can't wait to get my hands on one.

Check The Videos

I've added a list of videos (to the right) to make them easily accessible. These are videos that I've posted here in the past, and from the Khalaf Oud Luthiery website.

The New Czeck Edge/Benchcrafted Chisel

I'm proud to announce the final version of the new chisel designed for fine work from Czeck Edge Hand Tool. This tool is a design collaboration between Robert Zajicek and myself. I was looking for a small, well-balanced tool for fine work like dovetails and inlay. This tool fills the bill.

But don't be alarmed by the diminutive size of this chisel. It's a burly brute in a petite package. Bob's aerospace engineering background enabled him to pack some punch into this sweet little cutting tool. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say it's nearly indestructible. In fact, this past weekend the very chisel pictured above was tested for durability by driving it almost completely through a 3/4" thick walnut board. The tool's handle (which is made from acrylic-impregnated curly maple) not only showed no signs of damage, it showed no signs of any contact at all. And the mallet that did the driving was also an acrylic-impregnated wood. It showed no signs of wear either.

Czeck Edge will have the first batch of chisels (in various widths) at the upcoming Lie-Nielsen show in Cincinnati, OH, the weekend of May 16-17. See this link for more details.

British Traditional Benches

The history of British woodworking is quite interesting to me. I haven't read much about it, admittedly, but the appeal factor alone is enough to conjure up nostalgia for things such as afternoon fox hunts, great paneled rooms of finely joined walnut, being served lunch in a country gazebo after the hunt and other things I've never experienced outside of movies like Gosford Park and The Remains of the Day. Okay, so I know next to nothing about historical British woodworking. Yes, I've read Joseph Moxon. But that's pretty-much it. I still have a nostalgia for British woodworking though, and I always feel like British woodworkers really seem to know what they are doing. Almost like it's in their blood.

I got that same feeling when I received an email recently from Richard Maguire, an English woodworker and bench-builder. Richard builds massive benches out of English Steamed Beech (that has appeal in and of itself) in the style of Andres Roubo and the Dominy family of cabinetmakers. Since I built my Roubo bench a year ago, I've come to greatly appreciate the pleasure of working on a massive bench. It's elevated my work, no doubt.

So it's nice to see this trend continuing. I think the age of the wimpy bench is perhaps behind us, thanks in no small part to Christopher Schwarz's recent contributions. And I can't think of a better time to usher in a new age of massive, serious benches to go along with all the fantastic new hand tools being produced by meticulous artists such as Thomas Lie-Nielsen, Chris Vesper, Ron Brese, Wenzloff and Sons, Dave Jeske, Ed Paik, Czeck Edge, just to name a few.

Please check out Richard's website.

Latest bench project. And a new vise from Benchcrafted

Over at my other blog, I just announced Benchcrafted's latest product, the Benchcrafted Glide leg vise. Pictured above is the prototype of the vise, on the travel bench I just finished for some upcoming woodworking shows Benchcrafted is participating in next month:

Benchcrafted at Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Chicago May 1-2

Benchcrafted at Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at Popular Woodworking Magazine, Cincinnati May 16-17

Take a look at the Benchcrafted blog for more info.

Making Rope From Wood--Carving Rope Columns by Hand

I hate turning.

Bowls, spindles, boxes, pens, definitely not pens, doesn't matter. I just never had the desire to turn for interest or fun. And I still am not crazy about it. I've watched videos of Richard Raffan make it look easy. I've spent hours trying to work a skew chisel with skill only to have it catch on the last cut. Nevertheless, I have to do it for certain projects.

Recently I got a commission for a piece of carved furniture that included some carved rope twist columns in basswood. Here's a quick step-by-step on how I do it. Nothing revolutionary here. I had the camera in the shop and thought I'd snap a few shots.



These half columns start out as split turnings. Before gluing the two halves together I lay a single layer of newspaper in the joint. This is an well-known technique and it works great. The center points need to be dead on center and each half must be precisely dimensioned for the finished columns to match. Here I've turned down the major diameters so I can bandsaw a curve in the capital and still have a flat reference surface for cutting on the bandsaw.





I cut the curve into all four sides.



Then I remount the column in the lathe.



Roughing out the shaft of the column.



The shaft completed.



The base of the capital is transitioned into the bead at the top of the shaft.



Here I'm getting ready to turn the large bead at the base of the shaft. I hate this part, since it's really easy to catch the corner of the square base, especially in this basswood.





The shaft and beads complete after a little sanding.



To lay out the spiral I begin by drawing a grid on the shaft. The less squares, the wider the bines (these are the individual "ropes") will be. I shoot for a chunky bine at about 45 degree pitch that will catch the light nicely.



To draw the spiral lines I use some cardstock or other heavy paper and connect the corners of the squares.



The spiral layout line.



I begin carving the bines with a 90 degree V-tool, about 12mm wide. I don't go too deep, because on one side of the bine I'm cutting with the grain, the other side is against the grain. I don't want to tear out the grain to extent that I can't get below it later.



Here I've done almost all the bine valleys. Notice that I terminate the valley in a nice point short of the beads.



If I didn't carve deep enough the first time around, I'll make another pass and deepen the valley slightly.



I switch to a #3 sweep fishtail gouge (again, about 12mm) and knock the top corners from the bines, making them as round as possible with the carving tool. Since I'm now only working one side of each bine (with the grain) I can only do half the bines before switching to the other side of the lathe and doing the opposite half with the grain. It's easier to carve clockwise spirals than counterclockwise for me since I'm right handed.



This is what the spirals look like after the #3 gouge work.



Next I take some 120 grit paper on a convex sanding block and refine the bines.



I've sanded about half of them.



After sanding all the bines to shape, I go back with 180 and 220 (this goes quickly) to further smooth the carving.



To give some crisp definition to each bine I go back with a 60 degree V tool and make a light pass in each valley.



Once the carving is complete, I split the turning. I drive a chisel right into the end grain of the glue joint.



Once it starts to give way, I'm careful so I don't crack the narrow section below the bead.



Pop!



Works like a charm.





It's fun to see 3 columns multiply into 6!



Here's a pic after carving the capitals.

And here's a couple pics of the finished piece.