Recent content by Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)

Consider Perth, Western Australia .... how could you resist a good Scottish name like that?! :) Laid back life style. Big city features in a large country town (population around 2 mil). Best weather in Oz - summer 9 months of the year. Best timber in Oz - look up Jarrah and SheOak. Lively...

Doogs, what machines are going in? You need space for assembly. Do you need space for storing timber? Is your bench for hand tool, power tools or both? Where are power- and hand tools to be stored, and what in? Dust extraction? Combination machines save space. For example, my router table is...

As a shrink, I deal with these issues daily on a professional level. There can be a number of reasons, but the main one is poor organisational skills as you have identified. This is principally a lack of planning and a lack of direction, which leads to feeling overwhelmed by a world of seemingly...

The Dashboard Hinge is a gorgeous piece of kit. It is expensive but I would argue that it is worth every penny. Several months ago I was curious about an MFT and built a bench. Since it was not going to replace my Hammer slider, laying out for a quality hinge was hard to justify. As a result...

Hi Pete Since you state that the main use for the sander lies with edges, my recommendation is NOT to go with a ROS, but either ... 1. An orbital sander, if hand held, or 2. A small belt sander/disc sander combination, if you prefer a machine. Both can be had far cheaper than a Festool or...

This is a thread about beautiful tools in one's ownership. Japanese tools have a special place for me - their simple appearance has an elegance I love ... and of course they work so well. These slicks were made for me by by Watanabe Kiyoei, the maker of Kiyohisa chisels (taken about 18 or so...

Comment on the grain direction One point I have not drawn attention to, but was important for me, is the grain direction throughout this build. If you look at the arms and legs, the grain has all been oriented so that the blanks are quarter sawn. For example, the arms will show the long side...

Hi Pete Yes. I have make templates for all parts. There may be more in the future. Who knows? This time I will know how to proceed. :) Regards from Perth Derek

The Arms (part 2) This is a last post before I return from three weeks being dragged over New Zealand mountains by my wife and her family. I used the Easter Weekend to get as much done as possible, but I needed a few more days. So there is more to come, later. It is helpful to remember what...

Hi Mark I chose the grain direction which would be stiffest. It just happened that this was also best for wedging (the risk of splitting is reduced). Shrinkage was never on my mind as all the wood is the same. Regards from Perth Derek

A little more as it is getting closer. The first step is to align all the arms and mortices ... There was a lot of scribing, fitting, scribing and more fitting. Finally the shaping of the underside of the arms was possible as it was now possible to determine the general position of the...

Jester, as far as I can tell, the original arms were also made in three parts, which I have replicated as closely as I can (from photos). Regards from Perth Derek

Arms - part 1 The key piece is the top rail, and the key element here is the rear curve. Here it is smoothed on the belt sander. It will be a reference side for marking curves ... The angles I have had to guestimate have been the tilt, front and rear, of the top rail. This is what I came up...

Hi Dan A reply in spite of you being a Man City supporter! :) It sounds as if the problem lies with the blade moving or a saw tooth being misaligned. 1. Look over the blade to see if a tooth is out of alignment (it has happened to me). 2. Check that the blade is fully tightened and that...

More of the arm jigsaw Here is the work done today, which was preparing the arms before shaping. Critical work, and the day went well. This was mainly due to working methodically. Looking back it all seemed so logical and straightforward, but it didn't feel this way before hand. The first...